Arnold Schwarzenegger

Ontario (California), July 18: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger mocked his opponents in the California Legislature yesterday as “girly-men,” and called on voters to “terminate” them at the polls in November if they don’t pass his $103 billion budget.

Using tough rhetoric borrowed from his days as a body-builder and movie actor, the governor said that lawmakers are telling “lies” and are “back to their old habits” after a post-recall burst of bipartisan collaboration.

Legislators, he said at a rally in the food court of the Ontario Mills Mall, are “part of a bureaucracy that is out of shape, that is out of date, that is out of touch and that is definitely out of control in Sacramento.”

He also said: “They cannot have the guts to come out there in front of you and say, ‘I don’t want to represent you. I want to represent those special interests: the unions, the trial lawyers.’ I call them girly-men. They should get back to the table and they should finish the budget.”

Democratic lawmakers, gay and lesbian advocates, and feminist groups bristled over the governor’s comments, which were greeted with sustained applause by hundreds of people who were invited to the rally through automated phone calls put out by Schwarzenegger’s camp.

The governor used the “girly-man” reference twice in a 16-minute speech aimed at pressuring the legislature to pass his budget, now 17 days late.

The remark is an apparent reference to an old Saturday Night Live skit parodying Schwarzenegger. Comedians Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon played “pumped up” bodybuilders — “Hans” and “Franz” — with thick Austrian accents. Anyone without a muscled torso was dismissed as a “girly-man”.

Though the four leaders in the Senate and Assembly are men, women chair some of the legislature’s most influential committees, ranging from appropriations to energy.

Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, a San Francisco Democrat, said he was “nonplussed” by Schwarzenegger’s comment. “I don’t know what the definition of ‘girly-man’ is. As opposed to his being a he-man?” Burton said.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, also a San Francisco Democrat, said: “Those are the kinds of statements that ought not to come out of the mouth” of the governor. “He says he’s going to ‘terminate’ members in November? I really don’t know what he means by that. That’s not funny any more.”

“It’s really painful to hear the governor resort to such blatant homophobia,” said Senator Sheila Kuehl, Democrat from Santa Monica.

“It’s an old-fashioned way of talking about gay men as to indicate they’re not as strong. So that part is really painful. And I have to say it’s really surprising. It’s like he can’t get his way so he resorts to some kind of name-calling.”