EDITORIAL PRISON GUARD PANDERING ANGELIDES GETS THE MONEY AND THE PROBLEM.

NOW that Phil Angelides has secured the backing of the powerful prison guards union, perhaps Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will stop pandering to the group's pressures.

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association and its deep, deep pockets are a political coup for Angelides in his uphill fight to topple Schwarzenegger in the November election.

But with the money comes the curse of being associated with a union that's given prison guards a worse reputation than the prisons themselves.

This is a union considered to be the single most powerful special interest in Sacramento, a fact it has used well to win fat paychecks for its 31,000 members and to fight against prison reform. The CCPOA is expected to spend $15 million in the gubernatorial campaign, which might help Angelides combat the taint of taking money that comes with a price tag.

Schwarzenegger and the CCPOA have had a rocky relationship. He tried taking the guards on last year and got whipped. Since then, he's tried pandering to the union to help his re-election campaign, something that hasn't looked good since he is negotiating a new contract for the guards.

The upside for Schwarzenegger is that he's now free to do what's right in the negotiations. He can and should stop the pandering, and draw a sharp line between where he and Angelides stand.