Conservative Republicans were flabbergasted by the appointment, calling it a betrayal of the platform on which Mr. Schwarzenegger had won office and an abandonment of his most loyal base.Dave Gilliard, a conservative and a leader of the movement to recall Governor Davis, said he was appalled. "It's not acceptable, it's indefensible," Mr. Gilliard said. "She was part of the administration that was thrown out and that Schwarzenegger replaced. She was part of the problem. It's an admission by the governor that he doesn't know what he is doing."
Mr. Gilliard said that Mr. Schwarzenegger had abandoned Republicans and that they would probably respond in kind next year.
"He hasn't given Republicans any reason to vote for him," Mr. Gilliard said. "To a certain degree it's healthier for the party to be the loyal opposition to the Democrats than to sit on your hands and watch everything you've worked for be sold out."
"Not that we're bitter or anything," he added.
Another prominent California conservative, Jon Fleischman, said that at first he could not believe the news. "I was shocked," said Mr. Fleischman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party. "How can a steadfast Republican look at her résumé and not react with anything but apprehension, anger and distrust, not because she's a bad person but because she's ideologically committed to ideas that are counter to the Republican Party."
(snip)
Jim Brulte, who left the Legislature last year after serving as Republican leader in the State Senate, also praised Ms. Kennedy and suggested that some of his more hotheaded Republican colleagues cool down. He said that unlike the hard-right Republicans who are criticizing the governor, Mr. Schwarzenegger closely reflects the political preferences of the majority of Californians.
"Arnold is California," Mr. Brulte said. "He's fiscally conservative, socially moderate and environmentally progressive. He better reflects what most Californians feel than just about anybody else in the Capitol."
Conservative Republicans slammed the move, labeling it a betrayal of the recall that brought Schwarzenegger to office.Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, called the appointment of Kennedy "the biggest mistake the governor has made, without question."
"I didn't help start the recall so that the people who were in charge before the recall are in charge of the government again. I'm speechless," Haynes said, adding that he worries that Kennedy is in a position to undermine the governor's agenda.
State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said he also has concerns but will withhold judgment.
"She certainly wouldn't have been my first choice," Dutton said. "But I think people ought to keep an open mind right now."
Former Inland legislative leader Jim Brulte, meanwhile, spent the day trying to assuage fellow Republicans about Kennedy. Kennedy, he said, is "far more conservative than most conservatives know.
"Susan Kennedy's job is to implement Arnold Schwarzenegger's agenda, not the other way around," Brulte said. "Very few people understand what it takes to run and manage a governor's office, and Susan Kennedy is one ... who does."
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")