Arnold recall: Here we go again?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/09/arnold-recall-h.html

Arnold recall: Here we go again?
September 8, 2008

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won election in the first recall of a California governor, has now become a target for removal himself.

The state's well-financed prison guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., is initiating a recall effort against Schwarzenegger, a union spokesman said today. The governor and the union have been at odds for years; they have been unable to agree to a new contract for the guards, whose labor agreement expired in the middle of 2006.

The governor last fall invoked a rare provision of state law allowing him to unilaterally impose new working conditions on the union in the absence of a deal.

Lance Corcoran, a spokesman for the union, said the contract dispute has nothing to do with the recall effort.

"This is a governor that has done absolutely nothing," Corcoran said in an interview. "We have the largest budget deficit in the history of California. We have one of the longest budget stalemates."

The governor's office referred a request for comment to his campaign spokeswoman, who was not immediately available.

--Michael Rothfeld