Posted on 11/29/2005 7:31:53 PM PST by ElkGroveDan
Arnold to tap major Democrat to be his Chief of Staff
by Jon Fleischman - Publisher
11-29-2005 6:02 pm
The rule of six (if I hear at least six credible people tell me something, then as a confirmed rumor, I run with it) has struck again. I previously reported on rumors that Pat Clarey, the Governor's Chief of Staff (and a loyal Republican) would be stepping aside after the special election. Read that story here.
Well, apparently the Governor has decided to name Susan Kennedy as his Chief of Staff.
I am sure that if this plays out, Kennedy will be vetted by many who know her well. I can only judge her political ideology based on her resume, which includes these highlights (seriously, I am NOT making this up):
Kennedy has spent nearly the last three years as Gray Davis' appointee to the State Public Utilities Commission. Before that, she was a Deputy Chief of Staff and Cabinet Secretary for the infamously recalled Governor. (Kennedy's resume on the PUC website boasts that she was responsible for 'development of $100 billion state budget)
Before working for Gray Davis, Kennedy served as Communications Director and a senior staff member to Democrat United States Senator Dianne Feinstein (where, according to her own resume, she assisted the Senator with the development of legislation and policy initiatives...).
This next paragraph is straight from her resume (how could I improve on this):
Kennedy previously served as Executive Director of the California Democratic Party and as Executive Director of the California Abortion Rights Action League. She managed two of the most successful Get-Out-The-Vote campaigns in recent California history, including the 1992 Coordinated Campaign for Clinton/Gore and the 1998 Coordinated Campaign that elected Governor Gray Davis.
Right now I am a little bit shocked by this 'confirmed rumor' - actually, I would call it a 'very confirmed rumor' at this point.
I am not sure how Governor Schwarzenegger expects Republicans to react to this appointment. This is not an appointment to some peripheral position in his administration. The Chief of Staff is the most central role on the Governor's entire staff.
I think it would be premature to comment on a rumor, even a 'very confirmed' one at this point. But you can be sure that there will be a lot of questions, frustrations, concern and anger from the base if this turns out to be true.
While Republicans are not a majority in California by a long shot, there are still many million of us out here. It doesn't seem plausible that there was not one person who could ably serve in this capacity who agrees with the Governor's general philosophy enough to register in the same political party as he does.
Well, let's see how this plays out...
Jon
PS: I will offer an open invitation to any and all, whether in the administration, or friends thereof, or friends of Susan Kennedy (or Ms. Kennedy herself if this reaches her) to reach out to me, and help me understand why this appointment should not be interpreted as the big kiss-off to the GOP base.
"PS: I will offer an open invitation to any and all, whether in the administration, or friends thereof, or friends of Susan Kennedy (or Ms. Kennedy herself if this reaches her) to reach out to me, and help me understand why this appointment should not be interpreted as the big kiss-off to the GOP base."
It IS a big kiss-off to the GOP base. But it's not unexpected.
After all, the base told him to go f*** himself on November 8th.
And I'd've given the Fraternal Order of Police a BIG thank-you note on Prop 75 by pardoning every cop-killer I could locate.
You both are right...I was smart enought to get the hell out of that drowning pool six months ago. I'm still fighting with the State of California because they're still sending me car registration notifications with collection notices even though I have done everything I needed to do. When I moved to San Diego from NY 17 years ago, I loved San Diego...I thought I'd never leave. The whole State has changed to an unrecognizable place. I left the home we built and never even think about. Granted, AZ is not a far place to run away to, and too many Californians have run away here too...but for now, it's a much freer place for us. You don't know how oppressive a place is until you leave.
I don't know why I didn't think of that but you said it perfectly. It was the Republicans who weakened him as a Governor...they did it on Nov. 8th...what does he owe them?? All he had was his ability to speak straight and tell the people what needed to be done...and when he did...nobody cared. So now he knows he has to reach out to Dems. Maybe, he even thinks this is the kind of government California wants. That's what I would think. God, I'm so glad I left.
"Frankly, if this is true, it doesn't entirely surprise me. Thank you, Gerald Parsky. Thank you, Karl Rove. Without your manipulations, we might have had Bill Simon in office."
Wasn't going to happen. It was either Arnold or someone alot worse. In politics I will still take the lesser of two evils.
I'd like to know the number of CA Freepers who actually voted on November 8th. Blaming Arnold now...unbelievable.
Dan, could Tom McClintock run for Governor AND Lt. Governor in case he didn't win the primary?
Don't you just love how the Arnold-lovers blame conservatives for his Leftward lurch?
Who woulda thunk he could go even further Left than he was?
Who could dream that a 'Republican' governor would put the control of his administration into the hands of a Gray Davis/Dianne Feinstein/radical abortion lobby hack?
But it's our fault....
Lord Almighty...
Governance by petulance.
Cute.
no.
Are you crazy? The only one who stood a chance of winning in the recall who was worse than ARNOLD was Davis himself. In the "better than Arnold " category before the slobbering cave-in to exepiency, we had Darrell Issa, Bill Simon, and Tom McClintock. All rock solid Republicans and great conservatives.
"Are you crazy? The only one who stood a chance of winning in the recall who was worse than ARNOLD was Davis himself. In the "better than Arnold " category before the slobbering cave-in to exepiency, we had Darrell Issa, Bill Simon, and Tom McClintock. All rock solid Republicans and great conservatives."
And not one of them would have won and we would still have Grey Davis or Bustamante because the recall would never have happened.
Kennedy, 41, said she feels close to Burton in part because they're both in recovery for addiction; she's been clean and sober from alcohol for six years.
In politics, you help your friends, and you hurt your enemies. That's not petulance, that's just the way things are. When the Fraternal Order of Police did a mass-mailing against Prop 75, they became the enemy. The membership of the FOP are all adults; they can deal with the consequences of their decisions.
And, as far as the whining about the base getting back-stabbed by Arnold: yeah, he did. Of course, everyone's ignoring that he got the knife to do the back-stabbing out of his own back; he's just returning it to its rightful owner.
We Republicans no-showed for this election. Arnold staked everything on this election--he staked everything on Republicans not stabbing him in the back. Well, guess what? We did just that.
Arnold does not owe the base a damn thing as of 11/8/05. I'd suggest that the base do two things:
1. Get a new GOP candidate nominated in March.
2. Actually support that candidate in November.
But, given what a worthless bunch of ego-driven, self-worshipping, donation-grifting idiots we have passing for "grass-roots activism leaders" in this state, neither of those two things is going to happen.
Let's face it, the marriage of conservatives and Arnold was a shotgun wedding to begin with.
I agree with you about the solution, actually...vis a vis nominating and supporting a conservative candidate.
And I also agree with you about the quality of the 'leadership' in the GOP. The wonderful folks in the rank and file of the Grand Old Party in California deserve far better.
Gerald Parsky is a disaster. His ascendancy and reign is one of the blackest of the many blots on Karl Rove's political record from the perspective of a conservative.
"Let's face it, the marriage of conservatives and Arnold was a shotgun wedding to begin with."
True enough. But Arnold put out a mostly conservative set of propositions aimed at neutralizing the liberal-governmental-public-employee complex--and that's when we conservatives bailed out.
He did what he could; we refused to back him up. Loyalty is a two-way street, and we didn't show any.
"Gerald Parsky is a disaster. His ascendancy and reign is one of the blackest of the many blots on Karl Rove's political record from the perspective of a conservative."
Parksy is a disaster, true. But so are the current crop of conservative "leaders" out here--they're more interested in perpetuating a problem (and thus ensuring that donations from outraged citizens continue to fill their pockets) than in actually solving the problem.
Hyperbole.
There were tens of thousands of conservative activists who worked very hard to try and pass the propositions.
To blame them for Arnold's sins is buckpassing of the worst kind.
Let's face it.
Arnold's choice of a new chief-of-staff is indefensible.
You should give up even trying.
No one is is to blame for this disaster except the Governor.
Conservatives got out and worked for and voted for the intitiatives in large numbers. I know. I was there.
Not our fault the Governor's hacks ran a lousy campaign and didn't get out their star-struck 'base' of ignoramuses.
There is no connection between any of that and the fact that the Governor just handed control of the Executive branch to a foaming-at-the-mouth Leftist hack anyway.
Your spin on this is pathetic.
"Conservatives got out and worked for and voted for the intitiatives in large numbers. I know. I was there."
You know, you somehow manage to be every-flippin'-where wherever there's an election, and disaster always seems to follow you.
I live in this state; I'm not some carpetbagging failure of a campaign hack. I talk to conservatives all over this state. A lot of them no-showed. Hell, a lot of them no-showed specifically to ensure that Arnold gets dumped in the primary.
"Not our fault the Governor's hacks ran a lousy campaign and didn't get out their star-struck 'base' of ignoramuses."
Ah, yes...
Take all credit for success, disown failure--the professional political hack's standard strategy.
"There is no connection between any of that and the fact that the Governor just handed control of the Executive branch to a foaming-at-the-mouth Leftist hack anyway."
Except that the Governor is responding to the wishes of the people of California, as expressed at the polls.
hahaha...
Tell that to 99% of Republicans in the State.
This choice is indefensible.
But yet you try...
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