Tom Kuiper
Thursday, Oct. 30, 2003

When Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes the new governor of California, he won’t be the first actor to hold that position. Ronald Reagan ran for the same office in 1966 against a Democrat incumbent, Pat Brown.

Like Schwarzenegger, Reagan was dismissed by the “mainstream media” as being dimwitted and not a serious solution to the problems the state was facing. To everyone’s surprise, except the people of California, Reagan won a landslide victory with 58 percent of the vote.

When he took office, Reagan faced many of the same problems that Schwarzenegger now faces: Reagan was politically inexperienced, had to hire his staff from scratch, had to deal with a bloated bureaucracy, and he inherited a huge financial debt.

If Schwarzenegger really wants to follow in the former president’s footsteps, perhaps he should review how Reagan went about turning around the world’s fifth-largest economy.

First on the Governator’s agenda: Read Reagan’s 1990 autobiography, “Ronald Reagan: An American Life.” In it, the actor-turned-politician covers his days as governor of California. Future Gov. Schwarzenegger may find some of the passages useful.

Selecting People to Work in Your Administration

Reagan wanted a new kind of civil servant working in his administration. He wanted talented people from the private sector to join him in Sacramento and to help solve the problems California was facing. He was adamant in his belief that the private sector was far more efficient and productive than any government agency.

During the campaign he stated that he wouldn’t appoint people who wanted jobs in government, but instead would appoint talented people who could be persuaded to come work in his administration.

“I discovered a great many people willing to do that, talented executives who believed as I did that the people deserved better from government than what they were getting.” Some of these talented people included Caspar Weinberger, Ed Meese and Mike Deaver. (“Ronald Reagan: An American Life,” p. 156)

Making Government More Efficient

In just over four years under Gov. Gray Davis, government spending has increased by 40 percent in California. If Schwarzenegger is to reduce the size of government, and make it far more efficient, he should do what Reagan did.

Just before taking office, at the request of outgoing Gov. Pat Brown, Reagan attended a conference of the nation’s governors. At the conference he met and befriended Gov. Jim Rhodes of Ohio. Rhodes told Reagan what had been done in Ohio to make its government more efficient.

In an effort to streamline his state’s government, Rhodes had asked a group of top businessmen to evaluate the operations of all state agencies and suggest ways to make them more efficient by applying modern business principles. These panels of businessmen came back with numerous recommendations.

Reagan loved the idea and asked California business leaders to do the same. “You tell me how we can make our state government work better,” he told the group. Within a few days a series of advisory panels were studying every state agency in the state government. (Ibid., p. 157)

Dealing With the State’s Financial Crisis

The current budget deficit of California is larger than all the other state deficits combined – at one point a reported $35 billion (that’s billion with a B). This is the overwhelming reason that the voters of California kicked Gray Davis out of office (and the fact that he lied about it). As Yogi Berra might say, “It’s deja view all over again.”

Reagan also had to face a huge financial crisis. After the election but before taking office, Reagan discovered that Gov. Brown and the Democrats in the state Legislature had been concealing the true figure of the state’s debt. By using “accounting sleight of hand” they had moved much of that year’s costs onto the next year’s budget. This meant that the state deficit was really over $200 million when Reagan took over.

Although he campaigned on a pledge to cut taxes, Reagan was forced to raise them. He also announced they had to drastically cut spending. In his inaugural speech on Jan. 2, 1967, Reagan stated: “We are going to squeeze and cut and trim until we reduce the cost of government. It won’t be easy, and it won’t be pleasant.” (Ibid., p. 158)

Schwarzenegger also must reduce the size of government, not just temporarily freeze its growth.

Management Style

One of Reagan’s favorite quotes came from Harry S Truman: “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” Schwarzenegger should adopt Reagan’s management style of finding the best people and letting them run things.

Reagan was often criticized for his “hands off” management style, but felt much of this criticism came from people who didn’t fully understand his philosophy.

“I don’t believe a chief executive should supervise every detail of what goes on in his organization. The chief executive should set broad policy and general ground rules, tell people what he or she wants them to do, then let them do it. … As long as they are doing what you have in mind, don’t interfere, but if somebody drops the ball, intervene and make a change.” (Ibid., p. 161)

Leadership

Reagan didn’t view himself as a politician but as a leader of all the citizens of California. After taking office, he informed his Cabinet that when he had a decision to make, he wanted to hear all sides of the issue, but he didn’t want to hear the political ramifications of his choice.

He explained: “The minute you begin saying, ‘This is good or bad politically,’ you start compromising principle. The only consideration I want to hear is whether it is good or bad for the people.” (Ibid., p. 162)

Future Gov. Schwarzenegger is also showing signs that he believes in this. In his acceptance speech on the evening of Oct. 7, the date of the recall election, he repeated: “I want to be the people’s governor. I want to represent everybody. I believe in the people of California and I know that together we can do great things.”

Bypass the Legislature by Talking Directly to the People

Today, liberal Democrats control the California Legislature, just as they did during Reagan’s time. With so much opposition, the governor-elect will have a very difficult time getting any of his ideas approved. In this he needs to follow what Reagan did and make his appeal directly to the people. Reagan knew he had to get the people of California to support his agenda, and he let them pressure their elected representatives.

But how could he do it? He remembered how President Franklin Roosevelt had gone on the radio during the Depression, in his series of Fireside Chats, and spoke directly to the people of America. Reagan used this same technique while governor.

“By going on television or radio and telling the people what was going on in Sacramento and what we were trying to do about it, I thought I might be able to get public opinion on my side. It worked better than I ever dreamed it would.” He wasn’t called “The Great Communicator” for nothing. (Ibid., p. 169)

Remember the First Rule of Bureaucracy

Early in his life Reagan learned that the first rule of a bureaucracy is to protect the bureaucracy. He first observed this back in his hometown of Dixon, Ill., during the Depression. He saw welfare workers advise the unemployed not to accept jobs. He saw how these government employees were making sure there was always a need for what they were doing.

After he became governor, Reagan wrote that “legislators and congressmen were often less responsible for the growth of government and taxes than the ‘permanent government’ – the people in the bureaucracies who were forever trying to enlarge their power and budgets and prolong programs after their need had expired.” (Ibid., p. 170)

Schwarzenegger needs to realize that he’s fighting not just the ‘tax and spend’ liberals in the Legislature, but also a bloated bureaucracy.

Be Willing to Compromise

For his agenda to move forward, Schwarzenegger needs the support of both political parties. When it comes to dealing with the Legislature, he cannot take an all-or-nothing approach.

After Reagan took office, he started taking flak from some of the more hard-line conservatives in the California Legislature. They didn’t like the fact that he was negotiating and compromising with the Democrats. Reagan’s experience as head of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) taught him that when it comes to negotiating, you seldom get everything you ask for.

Once again, he remembered FDR, who in 1933 said about his legislative approach in dealing with a hostile Congress: “I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.”

Ronald Reagan, the former union leader, understood that when it comes to negotiations, you take what you can get. “If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later,” he wrote. (Ibid., p. 171)

How Your Career as an Actor Has Prepared You for a Life in Politics

One of Reagan’s best-remembered quotes is “I’ve often heard the question, ‘How could an actor be president?’ I’ve sometimes wondered how you could be president and not be an actor.”

Reagan felt his career in show business was the perfect training ground for a life in politics. He knew he was better prepared to judge his own work and not look to the critics for affirmation.

“[You] learn to take what you read about yourself and others with a big dose of salt. Gossip columnists and critics become a part of your life. … That kind of experience helps when you start reading things about yourself as [a politician].” (Ibid., p. 393)

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in show business for over 25 years and has rarely gotten positive reviews from film critics, while becoming one of the biggest box office draws in history. He is an incredibly intelligent person, a successful businessman who has worked his way to the top in everything he has tried. Arnold may be a joke in the eyes of some, but he is clearly having the last laugh.

Good luck, Gov. Schwarzenegger. The people of “Ka-lee-fornya” are counting on you.

Tom Kuiper is a paralegal who lives in the Bay Area of California. His manuscript, “I’ve Always Been a Yankees Fan: The Greatest Quotes of Hillary Clinton,” served as the basis for “The Deck of Hillary,” sold exclusively on Newsmax.com.

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