Tensions on Governor's Staff
Scorching rhetoric from one camp and soothing words from the other confuse legislators.
By Peter Nicholas and Joe Mathews
Times Staff Writers

December 4, 2003

SACRAMENTO ? Tensions have begun to emerge between two camps within the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, threatening to complicate his efforts to win over state lawmakers who are considering his controversial budget recovery plan.

An especially revealing episode occurred in recent days when an aide's routine effort to build support for the governor's financial package grew into something else: an aggressive series of statewide campaign rallies that appeared to target wavering lawmakers.

Schwarzenegger's legislative secretary, Richard Costigan, had drawn up a list of Democratic lawmakers whose backing could decide the fate of the governor's plan. The idea was for Schwarzenegger to court these legislators in hopes of getting the votes to put his spending cap and bond measure of up to $15 billion on the March ballot. Schwarzenegger is pressing the Legislature to act by Friday.

Two people who have spoken to Costigan about the matter said they were told the governor's political team had used the list to arrange rallies that stoked fears of Schwarzenegger's wielding his celebrity to intimidate legislators into voting for his plan.