Lobbyists Driving Schwarzenegger Bananas By John Franklin - April 1, 2004California Governor Arnold Scharzenegger is irked by lobbyists of special interest groups interfering with his negotiations. He expressed yesterday how blown away he is by how much power and influence lobbyists of special interest have in the State Capitol building.
"I feel very strongly that special interests are running this building," he said. "It's terrible and the trick is to figure out how to get around that."
Schwarzenegger complained in an interview with The Los Angeles Times that interferences from lobbyists representing Work Comp attorneys, labor unions and insurance companies were surfacing "10 times a day" making it more difficult to negotiate and draft the bills necessary to overhaul the egregiously over-priced Workers' Compensation system. In spite of his frustration, Schwarzenegger expressed that he was still very optimistic that an agreement was "around the corner".
Schwarzenegger, who denounced special interest groups when he was a candidate in last fall's recall election, said that he was shocked at the power of the lobbyists. "I did not know to what extent they have influence in this building here. It's unbelievable."
Some lobbyists suggested that Schwarzenegger, who has been in office only five months, is still too green to understand how complex bills get passed.
"He is naive if he does not believe that competing special interests is how public policy is made," said Art Azevedo, president of the California Applicants' Attorneys Association.
As Schwarzenegger complained about the lobbyists, in the State assembly members traded partisan potshots over the elusive "conceptual" deal that lawmakers are hurriedly trying to craft. Democrats accused Republicans of trying to undermine a legislative compromise in hopes of rallying support for a Republican-backed Workers' Compensation initiative that supporters are pushing for the November ballot. Republicans countered that Democrats are trying to rush through an agreement that has no "real reform".
But, the bottom line from the majority consensus, in spite of the mud slinging, is that a bill is 90% to 95% agreed upon. And Friday's coming up... Stay tuned...
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