Jim Cutts knows which candidate would have gotten his vote in California.

"I would have run for governor and voted for myself," said Cutts, planning director for Lynnwood.

The native Californian can joke about the unwieldy ballot of would-be replacements for Gov. Gray Davis. He wasn’t laughing when he said "the whole thing kind of sickened me."

His reaction wasn’t as barbed as an e-mail I received from London on Wednesday.

"I’m starting to wish I could stay here a year," wrote my daughter, a college student in California who is spending a semester at the University of Westminster in England. "It would be better than moving back to the great state of CAL-EE-FON-YAH. My friends and I are the joke of our building."

In California, anyway, those sentiments were trounced last week when actor Arnold Schwarzenegger muscled his way to victory.

I told the Lynnwood official I don’t quite get it. "I don’t quite get it, either," said Cutts, 60, who moved from Southern California’s South Bay area six years ago.

"Ever since Proposition 13, it’s been a state of initiatives," said Cutts, referring to the California property tax-cutting initiative passed 25 years ago. "Part of government’s job is to provide services. You have to have funds to provide police, fire, all those things.

"It’s the responsibility of elected officials to lead, not follow," Cutts added.

Other California transplants in Snohomish and Island counties believe the action-movie hero has what it takes to be a tough leader.

"I think the guy’s a lot smarter than people give him credit for. I don’t think he’s going to take it as a joke," said Greg Rockenbach, owner of Greg’s Custom Fishing Rods &Supplies in Lake Stevens.

Rockenbach, 50, moved to Lake Stevens from Arcadia, Calif., in 1993.

"It’s probably hard to get anything done with all the politics going on, but being an outsider may do it. Yeah, I would have voted for him," Rockenbach said.

As for allegations of sexual misconduct aimed at Schwarzenegger, Rockenbach thinks they may involve a bit of both dirty politics and the actor "horsing around."

"As long as he keeps his hands to himself, I think he probably will make a good governor," said 49-year-old Julie Annis. The Lake Stevens woman was born and raised in Long Beach, Calif.

"My in-laws were all mad about the upping of car tabs, they were glad to see him go," Annis said of Davis. Schwarzenegger pledges to repeal a recent tripling of the car tax, while promising not to raise taxes.

Annis is irritated by California bashing "that makes it seem like everyone is stupid there."

"I would have voted for him," she said of Schwarzenegger.

Asked whether the groping allegations troubled her, she quipped, "I’m sure he’s been groped."

Lynnwood Fire Chief Gary Olson also would have marked his ballot for Schwarzenegger. The former deputy chief of operations for Long Beach, Olson moved from Orange County in 1996.

"I was there during the Ronald Reagan era, and back then there was probably just as much of ‘What’s this pretty face going to do?’ Reagan was a very good governor," Olson said. "I’m a Reagan Democrat. I thought he did a good job as president."

Calling Davis "the invisible man," Olson said that once the recall move began, the governor should have stepped up to say, "We’ve got these problems, let’s correct them."

He’s hopeful Schwarzenegger is "starting to do it right. He’s building a consensus team."

Cutts, too, was in California when Reagan was elected governor. "How effective he was depends on your political persuasion," the Lynnwood planner said.

Political differences are the norm in the Banfield household on Camano Island.

Dick Banfield, 75, is a Republican who said he would have voted for Schwarzenegger if he hadn’t moved here three years ago from Livermore, Calif. His wife, Mickey, is a Democrat.

"As far as getting rid of Gray Davis, that was a good thing," said Dick Banfield, who is retired from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

And Schwarzenegger?

"I think he’s in for a big surprise, as far as doing things his way," Banfield said. "In the private sector, if you’ve got money, you can do things your way. In politics, it’s give and take.

"It’s going to be a steep learning curve," he said.

Banfield is convinced that despite Schwarzenegger’s assurances, "he’ll have to raise taxes."

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Banfield isn’t surprised or offended by his native state’s loony-land reputation.

"It’s true," he said from his Camano Island sanctuary. "It’s gotten goofier and goofier."

Columnist Julie Muhlstein:

425-339-3460 or

muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com