Fresno Welcomes the Governator!
By Mike Rhodes
May 11, 2005

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was given a BIG Fresno welcome today. Greeting him were hundreds of union members and community activists who waited on Van Ness Extension for the governor to arrive at a fundraising event. The fund raiser and demonstration was held at the Bonadelle Mansion in an upscale part of town, far from the homeless and poor. The Bonadelle family is famous in Fresno for their role as housing developers in the area. They were also involved in Operation Rezone, which was an FBI sting operation. Several developers and City Council members were put on trial and jailed for their roles in buying and selling votes to enrich the developers.

When Schwarzenegger arrived the crowd went wild and the police went into action to clear a path. The demonstrators, who took up most of the block in front of the Bonadelle mansion, at one point took over the street (see photo below) but were repelled by the heavy law enforcement presence. In an interesting twist, not found at very many demonstrations, a good number of the 500 or so demonstrators were from the Fresno Police Department, the prison guard union, and firefighters. That’s right, they were there to demonstrate against the governator.

Attending today’s demonstration were union members from Service Employees International Union, the Fresno Teacher’s Association, California Nurses Association, and many others. This was one of the largest demonstrations held in Fresno for quite a while. Many of the people present were complaining about Arnold Schwarzenegger today, but other than George W Bush, I don’t know who could have united such a diverse group of demonstrators.