Arnold Schwarzenegger in To Save America, by Newt Gingrich

On Education: 2005: slow the rate of increase of education spending

However, Proposition 74--increasing the amount of time it takes for teachers to gain tenure from two to five years--and Proposition 75--requiring unions to obtain their members' permission to use any portion of union dues for political donations--were initially very popular, earing 61% and 57% approval, respectively.

These two measures threatened the power of unions and would have substantially weakened the Sacramento political machine. So the machine responded with total war. It was the most expensive special election in history. The result: the ballot initiatives were defeated.

On Government Reform: 2005: Four ballot propositions all lost by wide margins

These two measures threatened the power of unions and would have substantially weakened the Sacramento political machine. So the machine responded with total war.

It was the most expensive special election in history, costing by some accounts more than $300 million. Unions alone spent more than $100 million in advertising & voter mobilization efforts. The result: all eight ballot initiatives were defeated, including the four backed by Schwarzenegger. Despite their initial popularity, propositions 74 and 75 lost by ten points or more. Propositions 76 and 77 were beaten by even larger margins.