Arnold's secret agenda

THE GOVERNOR DOESN'T want you to vote. That's the not-so-secret agenda behind the Nov. 8 special election. The lower the turnout in places like San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland, the better for Arnold Schwarzenegger's agenda – which, as we pointed out in our Oct. 12 endorsement issue, amounts to a political power grab of astronomical proportions.

Here's the play: According to the Los Angeles Times, the California GOP has hired Gary Marx, a Bush administration ally and Christian-right political operative, to organize the hard-core GOP base and get those folks to the polls. The governor is focusing on getting out the faithful, and his campaign staffers are working hard on GOP turnout. Much of this is happening under the radar, and the Schwarzenegger people are doing very little to counter the idea that this entire statewide election is an expensive waste.

The goal: Keep the urban Democratic turnout low. If people think the election is a scam, maybe they'll stay home – and if enough of them do that, Schwarzenegger wins.

If turnout is decent, on the other hand, the governor's entire agenda is in real trouble. A poll released Oct. 27 by the Public Policy Institute of California shows the governor's key ballot measures – which include limits on state spending, a new reapportionment process, and strict limits on political spending by unions – to be failing or too close to call.

The impact of this election is huge: If the measures pass, the governor will have unprecedented power to make sweeping budget cuts, on his own, without legislative input or approval. The job of drawing lines for legislative and congressional districts will be handed over to a panel that could be controlled by Republicans. And labor unions, the only real financial force opposing big-business interests in the state, could lose their ability to raise and spend money.

Schwarzenegger is also backing a measure that would require parental consent for teenagers seeking abortions – and could be a step toward eliminating choice for all Californians.

So far, unfortunately, the governor's strategy seems to be having an impact. According to the San Francisco Department of Elections, only 8,173 absentee ballots had been turned in by Oct. 28 – about 6 percent of the outstanding absentees. That's very, very low for this time of year and a bad sign that too many San Franciscans are ready to sit the election out.

There are important races on the local ballot, particularly for assessor. But the single biggest reason to go to the polls Nov. 8 may be this: Arnold Schwarzenegger wants you to stay home.