Special Interest or 29% interest?
(cont'd)

Frankly, I'd rather have the "action" governor go to the mat and save Barbara Rogers $3,272 in bloated finance charges. Or the $2,340 markup 20-year-old Suzanne Tejeda got stuck with when she bought a lemon of a used Honda in Concord.

Tejeda, a customer service rep at a bank, said it's as if Schwarzenegger and the car dealers "are best friends." They slip him wads of cash, she said, and they'd like him to protect their markup bonanza and keep limits on the lemon law.

"But this is not just about money, because it can cost people's lives," said Tejeda, explaining that her used car was in dangerously bad condition when she bought it. "I baby-sit my little nephews, and we could have gotten in a crash and been killed."

When I checked with Schwarzenegger's office, his chief flack wondered if I'd mention support of the car buyer's bill by trial lawyers. It's a fair point, because the huge lawyer lobby throws hundreds of thousands of dollars around, most of it to Democrats.

But Montanez has only received several thousand dollars from trial lawyers, who have lobbied in support of her bill but haven't played a huge role.

"This is my bill, not a trial lawyer bill," said Rosemary Shahan, the tireless crusader who runs Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety.

She and Montanez were fielding a pitch late last week from auto dealers, who wondered if they'd drop the three-day buyer's remorse part of the bill if the dealers promised to cap their financing markup at 2.5%.

Shahan said she'd rather keep the bill intact, which is understandable. In a poll this past spring, 80% of Californians supported the car buyer's bill of rights after seeing arguments for and against.

Schwarzenegger, who casts himself as a man of the people, is going to have to make lots of shopping mall appearances to turn back that tide. He may also have a battle on his hands with Proposition 64, which would make it more difficult for consumers to sue car dealers, HMOs and other concerns for deceptive business practices.

In his only public comment on Proposition 64, Schwarzenegger tipped his hand by telling a chamber of commerce crowd he opposed "shakedown lawsuits."

Look, I'm trying to give the man the benefit of the doubt on special interests. So don't tell anyone this, but car dealers have led the fight for Proposition 64, pumping $4.8 million into the kitty.

"I have no doubt car dealers are counting on Schwarzenegger to be their salesman for Prop. 64," says Jamie Court of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

Might be a tough sell. A new Field Poll says 41% are against Proposition 64 and only 21% in favor (the rest are undecided). But let's not forget that Schwarzenegger talked Californians into borrowing $15 billion after campaigning against borrowing.

Besides, I saw him selling cars that day in the Valley. The man is a natural, I'm telling you.

Anyone interested in a used Hummer?