Mr universe has finally met his match: California's voters, preferring the arguments of the public-employee unions, this week resoundingly rejected four ballot initiatives sponsored by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Republican governor had earlier called the vote "Judgment Day", describing the special election as "the sequel to the recall", the vote two years ago that sacked the Democratic governor, Gray Davis, and elevated the erstwhile cyborg to the position. So much for the Hollywood metaphors. The sequel is a flop and the man who boasted he could sell anything failed to flog a package he had deemed "essential" to reform dysfunctional California. One proposition would have made teachers wait for five years, instead of two, for tenure; a second required public-employee unions to have the annual written permission of a union member before using that member's dues for political purposes; a third gave the governor power to cut spending across the board in a midyear financial crisis; and a fourth moved the power to draw political districts from the legislature to a panel of retired judges.
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