Posted on 12/06/2003 10:40:58 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Edited on 04/14/2004 10:06:29 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is striking an especially concilatory tone with one lawmaker this week.
After planning a Bakersfield event initially intended to target Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, who won her seat by a mere 266 votes last year, the governor invited her to ride to the event with him in his private jet, accompanied by local Sen. Roy Ashburn, a Republican.
(Excerpt) Read more at 2.ocregister.com ...
Two Kern lawmakers the toast of the Capitol
Schwarzenegger takes up Parra/Ashburn offer to let hair down at watering hole
By VIC POLLARD, Californian Sacramento Bureau
e-mail: vpollard@bakersfield.com
Posted: Friday December 5th, 2003, 11:00 PM
Last Updated: Friday December 5th, 2003, 11:24 PM
SACRAMENTO -- Two Kern County lawmakers are the talk -- and the envy -- of the Capitol after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accepted their invitation to drop by a Sacramento political watering hole for a drink Thursday night.
The social coup by state Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, and Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, was an outgrowth of Schwarzenegger's visit to Bakersfield earlier Thursday.
All four of Bakersfield's lawmakers traveled with the governor on the trip to a rally at Valley Plaza mall for his budget-balancing plan, and came away buzzing with stories about their experience with the new governor on and off his private jet.
Like the one about Schwarzenegger looking down on oil wells during the approach to Meadows Field and saying, "It looks like Iraq."
Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, gracefully took the opportunity to give the governor an introduction to Kern County's oil industry.
But none of the stories matches that of Parra and Ashburn, who said it started with a lighthearted conversation during the return flight from Bakersfield.
"The conversation began on the plane with the governor in the context of talking about some of the personalities in the Capitol," Ashburn said Friday. "I said to the governor, 'You might want to consider dropping by Simon's some time.'"
Simon's is a bar and Chinese restaurant about five blocks east of the Capitol Building that is a popular after-work hangout for lawmakers and staffers of both parties, and even some top-tier officials like Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
But governors have never been known to be frequent customers, especially the standoffish Gray Davis, who was ousted in the recall election.
"I said 'That's a good idea,'" Parra said. "He could go and hang out with some real folks."
They said Schwarzenegger liked the idea and promised to try to make it that evening, although he had some heavyweight meetings scheduled.
Lo and behold, shortly after 8 p.m., the governor's security detail swept into the place, checking it out, and a few minutes later, Schwarzenegger himself breezed in the back door.
He worked the room, shaking hands, signing autographs and even a T-shirt or two.
Then he sat down at a table with Parra and Ashburn for a few minutes, with some of the Capitol's power elite looking on enviously.
Parra said she used the opportunity to discuss California's efforts to protect the state's military bases, and she brought Burt McChesney, a consultant to her Assembly committee that deals with the issue, for expert help.
But Ashburn, who heads a Senate committee on the same issue, confessed that they didn't discuss much serious business.
"It was mostly glad-handing," he said.
They said owner Simon Chan fixed the governor a drink and handed it to him, but they didn't know what it was. Chan could not be reached Friday.
"Knowing I was going to be talking a lot, I was drinking water," Parra said.
"Not a whole lot of drinking went on," said Ashburn. "The governor may have taken a sip or two through the straw, but that was about it."
After 20 or 30 minutes, Schwarzenegger said he had to get back to work and left -- but not before posing for the obligatory photo with Chan as well as a large group photo.
But the two lawmakers said the visit didn't hurt their efforts to get the governor's support for the state's base protection efforts.
They were invited to meet Friday morning with one of his top aides to finalize a letter the governor agreed to send to federal officials to help fend off potential base closures. He promised to hand-deliver the letter to a meeting of California's congressional delegation this weekend in Palm Springs.
"No governor has ever done that before," Parra said.
While that story was ricocheting around Sacramento, the Kern County oil industry was buzzing about Schwarzenegger's introduction to their business.
McCarthy, always quick on his feet, turned what could have been an awkward moment into some positive local PR.
"We were flying in, over the oil field," McCarthy said. "I can't remember whether he said it looked like Iraq or Saudi Arabia or Kuwait."
Parra said she remembers clearly he said Iraq.
"I took the opportunity," McCarthy aid, "to explain that more than 60 percent of the oil in California is under that dirt, and that it's very thick, and it costs more to raise it up and we get less when it comes out."
On the way home, McCarthy said, he also showed the governor where Kern County grows oranges and carrots.
Too bad we don't have offshore oil drilling and then he could say it looks like Louisiana when he flies over the coast. :-\
Talk about untapped revenue ...
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