Gov.'s a Master of Mixing Messages

By Peter Nicholas

Aug. 26, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was giving a radio interview this month when he made a statement about his work habits that was succinct, unequivocal and demonstrably untrue.

“I haven’t even taken a vacation yet,” he told listeners of a syndicated radio show hosted by Tony Snow. “I have not gone anywhere.”

Unless you count some of the world’s most attractive getaway spots. In April, he and his family flew 2,400 miles to the Four Seasons Resort in Maui, where the governor soaked in a hot tub, played foosball in the game room and -- by his own account -- rescued a struggling swimmer who needed help back to the beach. During the holidays, Schwarzenegger left the Capitol for his $12-million home in Sun Valley, Idaho.

At a news conference this spring, Schwarzenegger was asked about the timing of a much-publicized audit that was supposed to flush out government fraud and abuse; wasn’t it supposed to be completed in 60 days? “Yeah, give or take a year,” he quipped, comfortably changing the facts, the political context and expectations, without any hesitation.

Though some of the governor’s remarks have left politicians and even staff members in Sacramento confused, his support among Californians is solid. Voters tend to see him as an anti-politician, a step removed from the partisan scrum.

A recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, a San Francisco-based nonpartisan group, found that 65% of California adults -- including a majority of Republicans, Democrats and independents -- approve of how Schwarzenegger is handling his job.

“He’s above it. He’s beyond it. He ain’t in it,” said Frank Luntz, a national pollster. “But it all means exactly the same thing” to voters. “ ‘Arnold is my voice.’ And he is transcending politics as we know it.”

The Schwarzenegger record is replete with revisions. Facts are often elastic -- bent and stretched depending on changing political circumstances. Sometimes, the governor talks as though he is all set to push for a part-time Legislature. Later, it’s just an idea requiring further study. State budget agreements he negotiated unraveled as issues arose about what he had promised and what he hadn’t.

A Schwarzenegger press aide, Vince Sollitto, said the governor’s office would not comment for this article.

Amid the gubernatorial glitz, the governor has proved a quick learner in the ways of political discourse. While boasting of straight talk, he is also an effective user of selective answers, no direct answer at all, trial balloons that can later be dismissed, and threats that are never carried out.

Since taking office, Schwarzenegger has uncorked some blunt and memorable lines, where the message is unmistakable. He pledged to “blow up the boxes” of state government in a bid for efficiency, labeled his legislative opponents “girlie men” and used the same one-word superlative to describe subjects as disparate as former Gov. Gray Davis and the state Department of Motor Vehicles: “Fantastic.”

But depending on his political needs, the governor will opt for a more tactical approach when the goal seems not so much to offer a clear, plain-spoken answer as to sidestep disputes or maneuver for advantage.

Lawmakers from both parties say Schwarzenegger’s conflicting messages make it difficult to fathom what he really intends.

Said state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica): “He’s creating a kind of credibility gap for himself, and would probably be better served by being certain that he’s come to a conclusion and articulate that conclusion. People lose faith in counting on what he says, because you don’t know if the next day he’s going to say something else and not even recognize the conflict.”

A Republican assemblyman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “I don’t know what the governor is going to do or not do on many things.” The reason? “One, not knowing what his position is, and two, not knowing what he might be willing to negotiate that might be different than his position.”

Predicting what Schwarzenegger will say at any given time is chancy. He eschews the robotic approach of some career politicians, who are loath to depart from prepared scripts.

Schwarzenegger is more freewheeling. Even his aides privately voice frustration over his penchant for extemporizing.

The “girlie man” comment -- a line that received national attention -- was not part of the prepared speech he gave at an Ontario shopping mall amid the stalemate over the state’s $105-billion budget. It was something Schwarzenegger improvised.

Schwarzenegger isn’t always worried that what he’s saying might be factually wrong.

With the constitutional deadline approaching for passage of his budget, the governor took a question at a Capitol news conference. Did he intend to make public appearances seeking support for the budget?

“Well, right now I haven’t made any plans on that,” he said.

There were such plans -- and the governor knew it. The next day, his press office announced he would be attending a budget rally at a mall in Chico.

“He doesn’t have to indicate what he’s going to do publicly when there’s strategic advantage to waiting to disclose that,” Rob Stutzman, the governor’s communications director, would say later.

Some experts on political speech say they see in Schwarzenegger a performer’s instinct for keeping an audience entertained. That can mean avoiding clear stands on polarizing issues, so as to be universally liked.

“Before he was a politician he was an entertainer, a bodybuilder, an actor, a big box-office star,” said Joseph Tuman, professor of politics and legal communications at San Francisco State. “Being an entertainer meant he had to carefully cultivate an image with the public and persuade people to buy into himself. And so he learned early on that you cannot afford to offend people who might form part of your audience.... Part of what we’re seeing in his rhetoric is a reflection of his background as an entertainer: being all things to all people.”

In several negotiations in which two sides were clashing, Schwarzenegger left the impression that he agreed with both.

This spring, as officials worked to overhaul the state’s troubled workers’ compensation system, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) said Schwarzenegger had told him privately that he supported regulation of insurance premiums.

For Republicans, such government-imposed caps were anathema. The governor’s staff said he never publicly supported the caps. Nunez walked away feeling misled.

Just as the budget talks appeared to be nearing completion this summer, there was a snag over what, precisely, Schwarzenegger had promised two opposing factions. Each side believed it had a solid promise from the governor.

Democratic lawmakers said they had a commitment from Schwarzenegger that would give the state some flexibility when it came to borrowing money from cities and counties -- a sticking point in the talks.

But mayors and county officials insisted that Schwarzenegger had promised them something else entirely: an agreement that would have made it tougher for the state to seize local revenue.

It was weeks before the dispute was sorted out. In the end, it took Schwarzenegger longer to reach a budget deal than it did then-Gov. Davis last year.

There is also the question of how much weight to give a Schwarzenegger pronouncement. Does he mean what he says?

There is still no consensus as to whether Schwarzenegger wants to alter the fundamental balance of power in California’s government.

In April, while vacationing in Hawaii, he told a reporter he wanted to make the Legislature part time, a step that would cut down on the “strange” bills lawmakers push. He’d been facing resistance from lawmakers over the workers’ comp overhaul, and the warning was seen as leverage in the negotiations.

The governor raised the stakes even more during the budget impasse. He said he would put the plan for a part-time Legislature before the voters in a special election next year.

Now that the budget is signed, tensions with lawmakers have eased.

Polls are showing voters are strongly opposed to making the Legislature part time. And Schwarzenegger is pulling back. Earlier in the month, on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” he said that a part-time Legislature is merely an “idea” that needs further study.

Mixed messages abound. At a news conference this spring, he offered two seemingly contradictory thoughts about his kinship with lawmakers.

“The legislators -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- are my partners. And I would nurture this partnership, because as I said, I alone cannot do it. We have to all work together.

“And look at the kind of things we have accomplished these last few months. It’s really spectacular. And not because of myself, but because they all worked together.”

Then, in answer to the next question: “I can tell you one thing. A part-time Legislature is something that I’m looking forward to.”