PING!
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Posted on 08/18/2003 7:02:37 PM PDT by freedomdefender
Schwarzenegger meets with teachers unions
Arnold Schwarzenegger was among six gubernatorial candidates who met with the California Teachers Association Monday as the union decides who, if anyone, to endorse in the Oct. 7 recall election.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh said Monday that Schwarzenegger had a 40-45 minute discussion via telephone with a panel of seven CTA board members, his first formal meeting with a major California political interest group. The few details Walsh provided of the meeting offer a larger clue about the Schwarzenegger campaign strategy -- make as few commitments to political groups as possible while trying to dampen fears any organization may have about the movie-star-turned- candidate's politics.
"Arnold made a commitment that [CTA] would have a seat at the table in education discussions," Walsh said. "With regard to filling out questionnaires or pre-agreeing to specific policies, he basically told them, 'I've been there for the kids. You know my commitment to these issues.'"
Whether that will be enough to stave off an endorsement of Cruz Bustamante, or a decision to spend heavily for Gov. Davis or Bustmante this fall, will be closely watched in the coming days.
CTA has already come out against the recall, but will decide this week whether or not to pick a candidate to support on the second half of the recall ballot. In all, six candidates -- Bill Simon, Bustamante, Peter Camejo, Arianna Huffington, Peter Uberroth and Schwarzenegger -- were invited to meet with a seven-member panel of CTA board members, either in person on via telephone.
The panel will make its recommendation to the CTA board of directors Thursday about who to endorse, and how much money to commit to fighting the recall and/or boosting another candidate.
Thursday's action by the CTA will be seen as a test for Davis, Bustamante and Schwarzenegger. Davis once enjoyed good relations with the union, but CTA essentially backed out of Davis' reelection fight after then-union president Wayne Johnson complained the governor was linking support of education legislation to campaign contributions.
The 2002 rift was the culmination of tensions between between Davis and CTA that began during Davis' first days in office, when the governor supported a package of school accountability reforms the union vehemently opposed.
Meanwhile, CTA gave more than $500,000 to support Proposition 49, Schwarzenegger's after-school program initiative that was also on the November 2002 ballot. CTA worked closely with Schwarzenegger to draft the language in the initiative, which eventually passed with 57 percent of the vote.
Schwarzenegger doesn't need to get a formal endorsement from the union to score a victory Thursday. If CTA decides not to spend money in the election, either for Davis or Bustamante, that will essentially be viewed as a victory for the Republican movie star. And if he can somehow keep CTA from endorsing Bustamante, all the better.
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Arnold may be for the kids, but CTA certainly is not.
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