But State Sen. Tom McClintock, who as the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor went down with the rest of the ticket last year (while Schwarzenegger won comfortably), maintains a steady drumbeat of essays deploring the governor's administration. In "Budget & Tax News" this month, the numbers-crunching conservative reports that state government spending and the budget deficit are growing faster than they had under the recalled Davis. What McClintock proclaims publicly, other GOP legislators murmur privately.
The turning point came when Schwarzenegger went head-to-head against the state's powerful labor unions, and lost all his ballot initiatives in the 2005 elections. That brought many changes. Mike Murphy, his nationally renowned Republican political consultant who guided him in victory through the 2003 recall election and in defeat through the 2005 ballot propositions, was gone. Liberal Democrat Susan Kennedy became his chief of staff. His Democratic wife, Maria Shriver, gained influence. Peace was made with labor. The governor broke his no-tax increase pledge by proposing $4.5 billion in "fees" to finance his health plan. And Tom McClintock went on the warpath.
"I rediscovered my original purpose," Schwarzenegger declared in his "post-partisanship" inaugural address. "Like Paul on the road to Damascus, I had an experience that opened my eyes." But there is nothing in the Bible to indicate that St. Paul embraced the principles of his enemies after a political defeat.
Schwarzenegger is reported to spend a lot of his time in Los Angeles, rather than Sacramento (kindling speculation that he eventually may run for Mayor of L.A.). It is hard to tell where the governor is these days because his whereabouts are often shrouded in secrecy. That fits the uncertainty of California Republicans who don't know whether their only elected statewide official is with them in spirit.