Schwarzenegger: 'Shortsighted' for California to defund pandemic stockpile he built

Former CA governor Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers a cargo of 50,000 N-95 masks in Los Angeles | Daniel Ketchell Schwarzenegger: 'Shortsighted' for California to defund pandemic stockpile he built

OAKLAND — Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told POLITICO on Tuesday it was "shortsighted" for California leaders to abandon a $200 million emergency preparedness effort he initiated in 2006 to deal with a future pandemic, as the state now scrambles to prepare for a surge in coronavirus cases.

When the state budget swelled 14 years ago, Schwarzenegger launched a surge capacity stockpile that included mobile hospitals and medical gear intended to prepare California for a situation like it is facing today. With the state facing a $26 billion deficit in 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers withdrew funding to maintain the supplies, according to an investigative report last week by Reveal and the Los Angeles Times.

As public servants, “our ultimate responsibility is not just to make a budget balance, but to save lives,’’ Schwarzenegger responded for the first time Tuesday in a phone interview. He said that when the bird flu emerged in 2006, he was deeply concerned about having sufficient supplies in California to handle potential disasters like infectious disease outbreaks and major earthquakes that could kill hundreds of thousands.

"I thought we have to be prepared — because we are the fifth largest economy in the world,'' he said.

The former governor on Tuesday never specifically mentioned or criticized Brown, his successor.

"Yes, there was a budget crunch ... it’s easy for them to just look at the numbers, but not really to visualize disaster," Schwarzenegger said of the 2011 cuts, which eviscerated the emergency medical program. "They obviously made their judgments to take those expenditures out ... and to worry about a few million dollars.”

"Would I have done it? No," Schwarzenegger said. "But I understand that every governor and every administration looks at those things differently."

Schwarzenegger spoke to POLITICO after a trip to Los Angeles hospitals Tuesday, where he personally delivered a cargo of 50,000 masks to doctors on the front lines of the pandemic — a move to underscore his support of the Frontline Responders Fund. The former governor has donated $1 million to the GoFundMe effort to raise money for desperately needed equipment during the Covid-19 crisis. The cause, which has raised $5 million to date, has also been backed by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, angel investor Ron Conway and Hollywood luminaries like Edward Norton.

The equipment was procured by the Bay Area-based logistics firm Flexport, which last week delivered 60,000 surgical masks, 34,000 gloves, 2,000 surgical gowns and 50 thermometers to San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, TechCrunch reported.

Schwarzenegger, asked about President Donald Trump’s performance during the pandemic, declined to criticize him, saying the first goal is to to tackle the pandemic. But he allowed that “the federal government has not been as quick in their response as they could have been."

"The thing is, did you learn from your mistakes?" he said. "And did you admit your weaknesses? ... Because the way you improve is by just acknowledging, 'OK, you know, this is a screw-up, or I made a mistake there.' And [to say], 'This would never happen again.'"

Schwarzenegger said he has also been in regular touch with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom he gave high marks for the pandemic response — especially, he said, Newsom's early order to shelter in place, which may have saved lives.

“I think that he did a terrific job to be on top of it — and to stay on top of it,’’ he said. “Whatever he needs me to do, I’ll do ... I want to support him."

But Schwarzenegger, who has been posting daily messages on Twitter about staying healthy and engaged during the pandemic, warned that now it’s critical that Californians must act on their own, volunteer or give to causes that will help give doctors what they need at this critical time.

California residents must recognize that "government can only do so much," he said. "At the end of the day ... it goes back to people power. And 'we the people' have the power to do our share — and just stay home."