Posted on 12/13/2003 3:12:49 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Arnold's Budget Deal Sealed with Stories, Cigars 40 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Daniel Sorid
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As an actor and bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) fought his way to victory by destroying his enemies, but it was old-fashioned backroom haggling by the newly minted Gov. Schwarzenegger that won Democrats over to a critical state budget proposal this week.
Over bottles of wine and water and the occasional cigar, Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders spent five hours late Wednesday night hammering out a compromise budget deal that appeared close to death just a week earlier.
"People were ecstatic," said Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson Jr. "We took a group shot, a group photo, Arnold and I on chairs sitting next to each other."
The agreement, formally passed on Friday, paves the way for a record $15 billion bond measure to fund the state's debt and a constitutional spending cap to help prevent future budget train wrecks for California's struggling economy. The plan goes to the public for approval in a March ballot.
Behind the scenes, Maria Shriver, the governor's wife and the niece of the late President John F. Kennedy, was said to help keep the wheels of negotiations turning in the days leading up to the final agreement.
Wesson described the late Wednesday Sacramento session as intensely focused on details but occasionally jovial. The meeting ran past 1:00 a.m.
"We had a cigar," Wesson said, describing a brief outdoor break with the governor. "Believe it or not we talked about movies, and he talked about how there's some similarities between the negotiations that we were having and the negotiations that he would have when it would come time to selecting a movie and pay, or producing a movie."
HUNKERING DOWN, THRASHING IT OUT
Wesson said he and the governor -- who drank water, not wine -- would occasionally retreat to Schwarzenegger's private, inner office to work out key disputes. Most of the time, Wesson said, the two would return with a compromise deal.
Just a week ago, the budget appeared dead after Democrats rejected Schwarzenegger's plan to resolve the California financial crisis. One Democratic senator said the governor's strategy of crisscrossing the state to public events to promote his plan was inferior to just hunkering down in negotiations.
In the end, it appeared Schwarzenegger's personality helped mend what had quickly become an ugly rift. During the day on Wednesday, Democratic staffers and the governor's aides found points of agreement on the budget plan but emerged with six issues that remained in dispute.
It was on Wednesday night that a small group of Democrats met with Schwarzenegger and aides in the governor's office to hammer out each issue. In the end, Wesson said a quid pro quo on two final issues led to the final compromise.
"There were two issues: one was critical to me and one was critical to him," Wesson said. "We went back into his office, and I got what I wanted and he got what he wanted. I reached my hand out and I said, 'Governor, we have a deal."'
Shriver, who gave Schwarzenegger a big boost in the final days of his recall campaign, attended meetings between her husband and Democratic leaders and continuously pushed for a deal, The Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday, citing aides to the governor.
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger declined to comment.
Don't be coy. What the hell were they?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.