Unions to protest Schwarzenegger at annual women's conference
By LAURA KURTZMAN, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
(09-26) 00:23 PDT Long Beach, Calif. (AP) --
Maria Shriver on Tuesday will preside over her annual women's conference, a forum she hopes will be graced by the serenity of the Dalai Lama — her top draw speaker this year.
But if the union members who plan to protest outside have anything to do with it, it will not be an entirely peaceful affair.
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The women's conference, which Shriver has made her signature event as first lady, evokes bad memories for Schwarzenegger. It is the scene of his run-in two years ago with members of the California Nurses Association, when he famously remarked that he kicked the butts of special interests in Sacramento, after nurses disrupted his speech.
This year, the governor is basking in an election-year embrace of Democrats and has taken great strides to repair relations with the unions, including the nurses.
But the nurses and other unions have signaled that they will oppose his re-election anyway. And they are planning to use the conference to remind voters of the Schwarzenegger who last year went to war with the state's public employees in a special election that jeopardized his political career.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/09/26/state/n002310D91.DTL&type=politics