I’m here with fellow Bearflaggers Flap and Sacto Dan liveblogging Arnold Schwarzenegger’s luncheon speech at the California Republican Party convention. [Note: the speech reads in the past tense due to subsequent editing.] Arnold took the podium at 1:00 p.m. before a sold-out crowd of 530 paying guests. Arnold began with the usual acknowledgement to Duf Sundheim and his Republican friends, then launched into some semi-self-deprecating remarks (but not really) about how everyone thought in 2003 that he was a better politician than actor, and now everyone thinks he’s a better actor than politician. He promptly un-deprecated himself by drawing a distinction between being a good politician, which he doesn’t care to be, and a good governor, which does.

Arnold then proceeded to remind us of some of the issues that were huge in 2003 but which are all but forgotten now. He referred us to a recent poll asking what I consider one of the stupidest questions ever – “Are we on the wrong track or the right track?” – and said he agreed with the people who think we’re on the wrong one. He hearkened back to the old campaign theme of “recover, reform, rebuild,” reminding us how he helped us recover from a near bankruptcy and a nasty car tax, which would hella suck right now on top of the increased gasoline prices we also have to pay at the pump. He also reminded us of the repeal of the driver license for illegal immigrants, and of workers’ comp reform which lowered rates up to 30-40%. He also claimed (can anyone verify this?) that California now has a balanced budget, that revenues are up by $6 million, and that businesses and jobs have come back. He also bragged about the increases in educational spending, and the allegedly Republican crowd cheered.

Next he launched into the nasty ads we’ve been treated to over the past few months. He said that when he entered politics, he was told by the insiders to play ball “or else,” and that these ads are the “or else.” He then attacked “the system,” which undos all reforms. He said half a million people move here every year because it’s such a great place, but that means we’ll need a lot more roads, hospitals, nurses, parks, police, water, energy, schools and other basic infrastructure, all of which are at the breaking point. He then said something about spending more than we take in (how does that square with his earlier comment about the budget being balanced?).

Arnold now changed the topic to initiatives generally. He said that back to his youth, when he was first voting, he thought ballot initiatives were a pain in the neck. (He then added that he actually thought the pain was in a different part of the body, but he’s not allowed to say that anymore because he’s the governor.) He said he later learned that real reforms come not from politicians, but from the people. He cited Prop 13, the three strikes law and legislative term limits as examples of major, much-needed reforms that never would have passed through the legislature. [Side note: California actually has two three strikes laws, one of which really did pass the legislature shortly before the November, 1994 election. It is doubtful, however, that this bill would have gone anywhere in the Legislature if Prop 184 had not been looming on the horizon.] He followed up with a statement that the people must be the ones to reform the system, noting:

All the changes came about through the initiative process. Not the legislative process but the people’s process.

That was his segue into the November special election. Arnold briefly commented on Propositions 74-77, as follows:

1. Proposition 74 – require new teachers to work 5 years before they get “tenure and a job for life.” Cites the “dance of the lemons,” where principals must shift around the teachers who aren’t any good. Dance them right out of the schools.
2. Proposition 75 – He just endorsed this one for the first time. Public employees should not be forced to contribute to campaigns they don’t believe in. “That’s not a ‘contribution,’ that is a tax.”
3. Proposition 76 – Control spending to end state deficits, balance budget without raising taxes. Require government to live within its means; existing rules require us to pay $1.10 for every dollar we take in. [But we balanced the budget?!]
4. Proposition 77 – Good government initiative: let independent judges draw legislative districts instead of the politicians themselves. Last November 153 congressional and legisaltive seats up for re-eection, not a single seat switched. “It’s like letting a poker player go through the deck and pick out his hand. Of course he’s going to win!”

Then he led everybody on a big chant, “Yes on 74, 75, 76, 77,” talked again about how hard but necessary it is to change the system, adding that “I’m bloodied but unbowed.”

Arnold then promised to continue to fight for reform in a second term as Governor. He asked his fellow Republicans to help him “reform the present and rebuild the future,” and ended his speech with the usual Arnold lines about making the Golden State once again the state of dreams. As he left, they played Petty Tom’s “I Won’t Back Down,” the song that got Dubya some grief during the 2000 campaign. Does this mean Petty Tom supports the Governator? Or, even more implausibly, that he has gotten a life?