Parsky for Governor?

Sacramento Bee ^ | March 12, 2005 | Amy Chance

[VAGirlieGirl]

Gerry Parsky, chairman of the University of California Board of Regents and President Bush's political point man in California, is quietly exploring the possibility of running for governor next year. Parsky adviser Dora Kingsley made a recent trip to Washington, D.C., in which she floated the possibility to congressional and media representatives, and Parsky acknowledged in a written statement that he would not rule out the possibility. "Should either President Bush or Governor Schwarzenegger again call upon me to consider additional public service in another capacity, I would seriously consider the honor," he said. As a multimillionaire who serves as chairman of Aurora Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, he is considered capable of paying for the campaign himself should he choose to do so. A spokeswoman for Parsky and Kingsley said this week, however, that Parsky was not considering challenging Schwarzenegger should he decide to run for re-election. "We visited Washington and met with Republican leaders and advisers, refreshing a dialogue with friends and colleagues inside the Beltway," spokeswoman Elizabeth Blackney said. Some Republicans said they found it amazing that Parsky would have the temerity to offer his name given Schwarzenegger's current popularity, but weren't surprised that he did, given his past interest in key political positions. Others suggested it might make sense to have a candidate waiting in the wings, given Schwarzenegger's unpredictable nature. Schwarzenegger told CNN's Larry King last November that he would decide whether he was running for re-election by spring. But he hasn't repeated that statement recently, saying only that he is first focused on the policy proposals he hopes to put on the ballot later this year. "Whether it's President Bush or President Reagan, he's always served the state of California and the American people well," Blackney said.p>

[VAGirlieGirl]

So why didn't Hanretty or Stutzman reassure Republican Voters & Activists that Schwarzenegger is running for re-elecion? Or is he not going to? What happens if his reforms fail in the special election? will Schwarzenegger just bail out & run?

[Carry_Okie]

Parsky has been a disaster.

Had he done his job, Bill Simon would be governor today. Instead, he has sabotaged conservative candidacies at every turn. He's worse than a RINO, he's a traitor.

[Cicero]

Parsky is Karl Rove's worst mistake.

Bill Simon would have won if Parsky had bothered to lift a finger to raise money for him. Instead, the big donors who normally give to the Republican party in California gave their money to Gray Davis, and put him over the top.

I am NOT among those who admire Schwarzenegger. He has no interest in being governor for the long term, and he did practically nothing to campaign for President Bush or to help him win more votes in California.

Parsky is a RINO, country-club, pro-abortion loser. He has as much chance of winning a Republican primary in California as Riordan. If the state of California is going to be wrecked, it's better to let the Democrats do it.

[ElkGroveDan]

BWAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

What party? BWAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Thnaks for the morning laugh. I hope he runs. This is going to be fun.

[ElkGroveDan]

Others suggested it might make sense to have a candidate waiting in the wings,

We have one. He has the highest favorables and name ID of any Republican in the state.

[.38sw]

And did Parsky do a thing for McClintock when he was running against Westly for Controller? In spite of being massively outspent, McClintock came within half a percentage point (I don't remember exactly the figure) of Westly. Perhaps if McClintock had had a little support, he could have won. Parsky IS a disaster.

[dalereed]

He should be a democrap at best or maybe even consider the CPUSA, it fits him better.

[ElkGroveDan]

We need a something other than a RINO logo for the high-society Republicans like Parksy who don't give a damn about any issue, just fame, power and self-aggrandizement. How about the YACHT Party.......... Jay?

[goldstategop]

I wouldn't vote for Gerald Parsky. His leadership and management of the California GOP has been a disaster. He's packed the leadership with RINOs and tried to snuff out the voice of the party grass-roots. I don't see him getting much support in a race for Governor. Like the old song says, what have you done for me, lately?

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[churchillbuff]

He has no interest in being governor for the long term"""

Then what IS his interest?

[RichInOC]

Gerry Parsky, chairman of the University of California Board of Regents and President Bush's political point man in California, is quietly exploring the possibility of running for governor next year.

...and all the people said "Who the hell is Gerry Parsky?"

(Yeah, I know who he is, you know who he is, but I wonder how much most of the voters know or even care. That ultimately is a bigger problem for him than the fact that he's a liberal weenie.)

[Carry_Okie]

Here is the screw job in hard numbers:

Candidate	Votes	Pct.	Spent ($MM)
Steve Westly	Moderate Democrat	45.4	$10.6
Tom McClintock	Conservative Republican	45.1	$2.0
Result? The conservative got no support from the GOP, was outspent 5:1 by a moderate Democrat, and nearly won anyway.
Cruz M. Bustamante	Leftist Democrat	49.5	$4.6
Bruce Mc Pherson	Moderate Republican	41.8	$2.8
Result? The “moderate” Republican darling of the GOP got lots of support, was outspent only 1.6:1 by an extreme leftist with no credibility, the "electable" GOP "moderate" LOST by a margin NINE TIMES larger than the unsupported conservative in the same election. So much for "moderates are more electable in California."

[VAGirlieGirl]

Okay, fine - I see that lots of people say that Parsky is a disaster - But then why does the White House defend him? He's been friends with the Bush family for almost 30 years, and with Cheney since they served in the Nixon/Ford administrations together... And Karl Rove is STAFF to the President, not the guy who runs the ship. Í find it hard to believe that ALL the DONORS are controlled by Parsky - gimme a break! like billionaires don't have minds of their own? What are we to do if Schwarzenegger doesn't run? Let Simon - a statewide loser more than once go fall on his face again? What gives???

[.38sw]

So much for "moderates are more electable in California."

I always thought that that notion was crap, but there is no convincing some people. I couldn't remember the amount the McClintock was outspent by, so thanks. I'd heard different numbers, ranging from 5X to 10X. I just knew it was a massive amount, and that the vote margin was tiny.

[VAGirlieGirl]

Can I just ask why everyone is attacking Parsky for being a RINO? Schwarzenegger DEFINES RINO - he's pro-abortion and and pro-environmentalist wacko --- not to mention he absolutely refuses to touch any other social issues. Parsky is the President's point guy - Are you saying that the President is a bad judge of character? Quite frankly, since he is our President, and the leader of the Republican party nationally, I will trust his judgement. Furthermore, at what point does Duf Sundheim have to take responsibility for not gaining a SINGLE SEAT in the legislature. Talk about NO PROGRESS

[CounterCounterCulture]

Can I just ask why everyone is attacking Parsky for being a RINO? Schwarzenegger DEFINES RINO

Richard Riordan is the epitome of a RINO. Ahhhnold is a mixed-bag, not as extreme as Riordan, but certainly no conservative. Parsky though is the poison pill of California politics, screwing up everything we work hard for. He's done absolutely nothing positive for us. He even opposed the Gray Davis recall drive.

[VAGirlieGirl]

So why exactly is Parsky the poison pill??? Why is it Parsky's fault about the Recall when SCHWARZENEGGER is the one who blew out McClintock - the conservative? Schwarzenegger is the one who hired all those consultants who were a part of the Quackenbush nightmare. It doesn't make sense - its hard to get around the fact that asa sitting Republican Governor that Schwarzenegger & the Quackenbush team did practically ZERO to support President Bush's reelection, and ZERO to help any of our state legislators - not a single gain for any republicans in November 2004 - How is Parsky the bad guy when Schwarzenegger is the GOVERNOR!

[Carry_Okie]

Why is it Parsky's fault about the Recall when SCHWARZENEGGER is the one who blew out McClintock - the conservative?

Were it not for Parsky, there would have been no need for a recall (that he indeed opposed when conservatives were gathering signatures).

However inept Bill Simon's campaign may have seemed, the worst of it was done to him by his own Party. Had the CAGOP supported their candidate wholeheartedly, Simon would be governor now, despite that ineptitude (which one has to question considering the way he crushed Dick Riordan). As it was, Gerry Parsky and the GOP leadership refused to raise the money promised when they took the job, withheld funds raised by President Bush until Simon's campaign manager (Sal Russo) signed the Log Cabin letter, Parsky refused to fund GOTV or registration efforts, and stipulated Simon hire Wilson/Jones (remember "Fire Gray Davis"?) and Ed Rollins (the famous fundraising photo) as campaign consultants. As a result, Simon lost by 350,000 votes when 1.6 MILLION registered Republicans didn't vote.

Consider Bill Jones recent campaign. After Jones beat conservative Howard Kaloogian in the primary, he took the expected dive in the general election getting zero support from the CAGOP. ALL of the funds raised and ALL of the organizational effort in California last year went to the Bush campaign.

As for Shcwarzenegger, he was put up to hijack the recall when the GOP realized they couldn't stop it. Pete Wilson's people had been secretly grooming him for nearly a decade.

Now, how is Ahnold a bad guy?

• He supported a Sierra Nevada Conservancy that Gray Davis vetoed, authored by a socialist from Santa Cruz.
• He has a appointed member of the Sierra Club hierarchy to the CalEPA.
• His hydrogen fuels program is a thinly veiled corporate agricultural scam.
• He didn't lift a finger to stop gay marriage and has signed "domestic partners" legislation that violates in spirit, if not in letter, Proposition 22.
• He continues to negotiate with Cedillo on drivers' licenses for illegals.
• The prison guards rolled him completely for a pittance now in return for more later.
• He "negotiated" minute concessions from the universities in return for more money later.
• He grabbed revenues from cities and counties with a promise to return it later.
• He "negotiated" a minute reduction in workman's comp premiums when all he had to do was copy Arizona's plan and put it on the ballot.
• He signed SB 50.
• He's raising more campaign money faster than Davis ever did, INCLUDING from the tribes he swore he would never solicit. In return for that he got a pittance compared to his the amount of gambling revenue he was boasting he would get. My bet is that the revenue won't even offset the direct cost of State social programs to deal with the results of gambling. Instead, he is well on his way to implementing organized gambling statewide.
• His planned "deregulation" of electrical rates has totally ignored the illegal contracts Davis' people negotiated under a conflict of interest.
• He used his popularity to foist a constitutional amendment that makes it possible for the State to balance a budget by borrowing and called it "cutting up the credit cards." From McClintock's analysis of 58 (http://republican.sen.ca.gov/web/mcclintock/article_detail.asp?PID=262): "The second assumption is that Proposition 58 “tears up the credit cards” to assure the state never borrows to balance its budget again. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Proposition 58 made no practical change in current law beyond suspending the oldest provision of the state constitution that for 154 years has prevented exactly the kind of borrowing that Proposition 57 now begins. "Under the “Balanced Budget Amendment,” a balanced budget is whatever the legislature says it is. Every one of the budgets that got California into financial difficulty was defined by the legislature as “balanced.” California’s budget deficits are the result of uncontrolled spending and dishonest accounting -- and the short-term borrowing to cover them -- and Proposition 58 does nothing to change that."
• He opposed Prop 54 (Racial Privacy), calling Ward Connerly et al., "Right wing crazies."
• He didn't support the Save Our State initiative.
• He abandoned the spending cap.
• He endorsed Proposition 68 supporting open primaries, a proposal similar to Louisiana's famously corrupt election system.
• He backed the $3 Billion Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Proposition 71
• He is co-opting Ted Costa's effort to give California a just reapportionment system with one of his own.
• He appointed a socialist labor activist to run the State Employment Development Department
• He appointed a person who advocates tracking every mile you drive and charging you for it as head of the DMV.
• On the plus side he appointed a talented auditor, Donna Arduin, to be Finance Director, but then didn't listen to her.
• He killed the Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority.
• He appointed Tom Campbell to be Finance Director. We'll see if Arnold listens to him.

Other than that, he's doing a great job.

And if that isn't enough, here's Arnold Schwarzenegger on Driver Licenses for illegal aliens during a January Interview with Univision:

We are right now in the middle of working very hard with Senator Cedillo. My staff and his staff. Everyone is working together. And we are absolutely positive that we will come up with a great bill. With his help and with my team's help, I think we will work it out. So there's, uh, really a good move forward.

Interviewer: How would you deal with more conservative members of the legislature...?

Schwarzenegger: Again, it's one of those things where we all have to get together and see that this is a good idea and this is the way to move forward. So, I am talking to my Republican friends all the time about it, and also to my Democratic friends. We will do it.

Click HERE to Listen to the AudioTape.

Washington Times, 3/02/04

"Our staffs have met, and they're working on this together,"

said Vincent Salido, spokesman for the Republican governor

“My relationship to power and authority is that I’m all for it,” he once explained. “People need somebody to watch over them.... Ninety-five percent of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. News & World Report, Nov 26, 1990

[Fred]

Perhaps Tom McClintock should make it a threesome and go for governor...... one con to two liberal bozos....

[Fred]

His interests??? BIGGUNS, just like Al Bundy