Spring 2005 CALIFORNIA CONVERSATIONS

The Bench

In 1965, just about the time that Sacramento was going to a full-time Legislature, a small storefront gym was opening in Venice, California. The original Gold’s Gym would attract the best bodybuilders in the world, and no one would succeed in international competition without taking into consideration the future plans of the young men pumping iron at this weightlifting Mecca.

Governor

Treasurer Phil Angelides A Harvard graduate and a former Chair of the California Democratic Party, the Treasurer has been Arnold’s only openly vocal and visible opposition. He’s made it clear he is running for governor regardless of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s plans. A successful investor and developer, Angelides is an unrepentant, life-long JFK democrat with an understanding of bonds and budgeting that can be intimidating. He’s smart, maybe too smart. It isn’t always easy to put what the Los Angeles Times has called “creative and economically responsible ways to invest the state’s money” into a digestible form that is palatable, or at least understandable, for the 34 million dimmer bulbs living in California with him. He’s toughened up personally and politically over the years, and will no doubt be annoyed when the newspapers run cartoons turning his race against Schwarzenegger into the old- time Charles Atlas story of the muscleman kicking sand at the egghead sitting on the beach. It will be interesting to see how the cerebral Adlai Stevenson persona does against the new century’s Superhero.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer

He has been winning for a long time. He is ambitious enough to have spent all of his life moving steadily upward in elective politics. He is smart enough to have attended law school and become a lawyer while distinguishing himself as a legislative leader. He is single-minded enough to attend a press conference on his wedding day to discuss a major break in a high- profile crime. It is not an idle boast that he has been instrumental in the passage of hundreds of laws that have made it tougher to be a criminal, easier to be a student, and more successful as a civil rights activist. He’s got money to burn on a statewide campaign. Still, in spite of his impressive credentials, it is not an easy move to become governor. He alienated democrats with an admission that he voted for Arnold; pissed off women with his apologist’s view of the governor’s movie - set behavior; and he’s been around long enough in this term-limited world to see Jess Unruh’s old home in the Treasurer’s castle as one of his alternatives.

Controller Steve Westley

He is the superstar from the farm – Stanford. He likes Arnold Schwarzenegger personally, and whether or not it has become difficult for him to abide the Governor’s increasingly Pete Wilson tilt, he has been slow to be openly critical. In many respects, he is the story every parent of the ‘Greatest Generation’ hoped would be told of their child. He holds both a B.A. and a M.A. from Stanford University, and he gave back to the school as an enormously popular and respected five - year faculty member of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He made a fortune as the Lewis or Clark of eBay. He won a tough race for Controller, his first foray into elective office, and he has been an involved and progressive voice on more than fifty boards and commissions. If Arnold doesn’t run, he will probably continue his fast track program and be a candidate for governor. Otherwise, he has another term as Controller before going for the top job.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer

Controller Steve Westley

Treasurer Phil Angelides

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Arnold would be the biggest star of them all. Today, he discounts the dreams of others as he toys with not running for re-election. As goes Arnold, so go the constit-utional races. We will suspend discussing another coy actor, Rob Reiner, who poll-ing suggests may be a contender if he wants to be.

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Spring 2005 CALIFORNIA CONVERSATIONS

Lieutenant Governor

Senator Tom McClintock

Arnold and Bruce McPherson, who was given a higher profile with his nomination to reform the Secretary of State’s office, join Senator McClintock as the few Republicans with a statewide reputation. The Republican primary appears to be McClintock’s for the taking. During the recall, McClintock was the True Believer, and members of his party liked what he said, but didn’t think he was electable. That might no longer be true. He has a loyal base, and in at least one of his two general elections for statewide office, the Controller’s spot, he came within a close shave of pulling it off. His fans are quick to point out that he has a knack for being proven correct on major issues. He was in the vanguard of tax reform and nicking the Vehicle License Fee, andhis budget numbers are as steady tomorrow as they were yesterday. Elected to the Assembly at the age of 26, he has managed to spend his life as an outsider making a living on the inside, and his perceived erudition casts him as an

interesting character actor, maybe interesting enough to finally become a star.

Senator Liz Figueroa

She is refreshing. The many hairstyles allow some a cheap shot at trivializing her efforts, but her critics concede that the Senator manages to be one of the most thorough committee chairs in the Legislature. She has never been shy about calling entrenched government entities onto the carpet and, without ever breaking her word or losing her sense of humor and good manners, reforming the way they do business. It was not an accident that Senator Figueroa was given the chair of the Government Modernization, Efficiency, and Accountability Committee, and charged with examining the governor’s California Performance Review. Rarely has anyone done a better job managing an experienced staff, and her work on consumer protection has been much more reflective than the Governor’s blow up the boxes scenario. There are a list of tough bills – from privacy protection to ending the pesky calls from phone solicitors – that made it to the governor through a mix of Figueroa’s charm and acumen. She is the least overtly ambitious of those running for the top two posts, and is the only serious contender who undoubtedly genuinely wants to be Lieutenant Governor. The

Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi

His biggest surprise is that he hasn’t been governor yet. The Twilight Zone storyline is that he is the healthiest man since human beings first started standing upright and he’ll look better than our grandkids fifty years from now. If Dick Clark and Dorian Gray conspired on a youthful formula they would be out-marketed by the mere appearance of the former wrestling champ, academic All-American football star, Insurance Commissioner. This is not to say that he is without substance. One of the early wave of college graduates to embrace the Peace Corps, this former Eagle Scout was

first elected to the Assembly in 1974, and was elected four times to the State Senate. He is in his second term (not consecutively – after a stint with Clinton’s administration) as Insurance Commissioner, but he stumbled in his previously more ambitious run for governor. After employing a clever conceit of appearing in every county in a different job, he ended up with an American Bandstand appeal that sometimes seemed oddly dated. His new once-a-day press effort is paying off with statewide stories, and he can raise money to partner with his name identification. In a race with two women splitting half the vote, he might end up a politely smiling second banana just waiting for time to run out on Arnold.

Senator Tom McClintock

Senator Liz Figueroa

Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi

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loss of Figueroa in the California State Senate is an example of why term limits don’t work.

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