Schwarzenegger recall drive launched

SACRAMENTO, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- California's powerful correctional officers union announced Monday it would seek to recall Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The California Correctional Peace Officer Association said Schwarzenegger went too far with an executive order slashing state salaries down to the minimum wage in an effort to break the annual budget deadlock in the state Legislature.

"It's gone beyond professional," union spokesman Lance Corcoran told the Sacramento Bee. "It has gotten to personal."

The Bee said the union declared itself committed to spending the estimated $1 million it will take to collect the more than 1 million petition signatures required to get the recall on the ballot.

The union representing the guards at California's overcrowded state prisons have for the past several years been generous campaign contributors in Sacramento and aggressive about pursuing pay raises for its members.

Critics have portrayed the union as selfish and unwilling to sacrifice anything as California wrestles with chronic budget deficits. Corcoran, however, told the Bee the guards would be willing to forgo raises in exchange for improved working conditions.