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I guess it's over

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20050315-9999-1n15parsky.html

/snip/UC official decides not to make run for governor

By John Marelius
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 15, 2005

President Bush's point man in California, Rancho Santa Fe investor Gerald Parsky, yesterday shot down his own trial balloon that he might run for governor next year if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't.

"I have no intention to run for any public office, even if Schwarzenegger doesn't run for re-election," Parsky, chairman of the University of California Board of Regents, said in an interview yesterday.

Last week, California Republican Party activist Dora Kingley made a scouting trip to Washington to talk up a Parsky candidacy as a fallback position. Schwarzenegger, who was elected governor in the 2003 recall election of Democrat Gray Davis, says he has not decided whether to run for a full term in 2006.

/snip/

Schroeder has been a Parsky critic for years. But even the current state party officialdom, normally publicly deferential to prospective Republican candidates, was openly critical of the Parsky overture.

"Governor Schwarzenegger campaigned for President Bush in Ohio, helped him win that state and was an integral part of the Bush re-election and all Gerry Parsky can do is ask himself what's in it for me, rather than helping the governor push through a reform agenda that would benefit California," said Karen Hanretty, communications director for the California Republican Party.

Two weeks ago, Parsky testified against Schwarzenegger's plan to convert California's public pension systems into a 401(k)-style system, saying it would undermine the University of California's ability to attract top-notch professors.