Posted on 12/08/2005 3:53:30 PM PST by SierraWasp
Angry Republicans request meeting with governor over appointment
By Tom Chorneau ASSOCIATED PRESS
5:39 p.m. December 7, 2005
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to hire a prominent Democrat as his chief of staff has sparked a growing uprising among Republican Party loyalists, who have requested a meeting with Schwarzenegger to hear him explain the choice. The governor has agreed to meet next Thursday with leaders of the California Republican Party to hear their concerns that Susan Kennedy, an aide to former Gov. Gray Davis, is now positioned to learn critical details of GOP campaign strategy and political policy.
Some Republicans said they want the governor to rescind the appointment and warn that Schwarzenegger's support in the upcoming re-election campaign could be jeopardized if their concerns are not addressed.
California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim said he is optimistic the differences can be resolved without a major rebellion.
"Every indication is that this will be a constructive meeting," Sundheim said. "The two major things people want to understand is what her role will be in the campaign. To what extent will we be interacting with her, or will there be others that we can discuss things with? You understand that we are concerned about races other than the governor."
Rob Stutzman, the governor's communication director, said Republicans have raised legitimate concerns but added that Schwarzenegger is not inclined to consider rescinding Kennedy's appointment.
"Any elected official has the right to hire the person he believes will best help him accomplish his mission," Stutzman said. "This is not something for a political party to decide.
"There are obviously understandable concerns given Susan's work prior to coming to the administration, and that makes it a good story," he said. "But my caution to Republicans that are talking about rather drastic measures (is) they are overreacting. They should judge the governor on how he governs, and that's all that matters."
Kennedy, 45, served as cabinet secretary to Davis and campaigned for her former boss during the 2003 recall election that brought Schwarzenegger to power. She also is a former director of an abortion rights group and a former staff aide to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Kennedy will replace Patricia Clarey, who will leave as chief of staff Jan. 1.
Clarey was deputy chief of staff to former Gov. Pete Wilson and was one of several Wilson aides who caught on with Schwarzenegger's team during the 2003 recall election.
Kennedy's appointment comes after Schwarzenegger lost badly in the November special election, seeing voters reject all four of the ballot measures he promoted.
Republican legislative leaders said they share the same concerns over Kennedy as their party leaders, but said the directors acted on their own in forcing next week's meeting with the governor.
Assembly Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield said he does not support the Kennedy appointment: "I think it is a step backward."
Senate Republican leader Dick Ackerman of Tustin said it sent "the wrong message." Still, Ackerman said he would not ask that the appointment be rescinded.
"That's up to the governor to decide," he said.
Several Republicans said they are watching for signs that the governor has moved to the left on policy issues, some of which will arise next month. Those include the 2006-2007 budget and his State of the State speech, in which he will lay out his agenda for the coming year.
More immediately, however, is the governor's decision on a clemency appeal from condemned inmate Stanley Tookie Williams, a co-founder of the Crips gang who was convicted of murdering four people in 1979. The hearing is Thursday, and Schwarzenegger's decision is expected this weekend.
Some believe that if the governor grants clemency, it could further undermine his support from inside his own party.
"I'd be very surprised if Schwarzenegger would commute the sentence," Republican analyst Allan Hoffenblum said. "But if he did, it would certainly exacerbate his problems."
Hoffenblum said he was not sure if it would result in a call for a new nominee to represent the party next year.
"But he might find that he has lost so much of his base, he might not be able to put a winning team together," he said.
Indeed, Sundheim said the people most upset with the Kennedy appointment are those who put in the most time working for the party. Other observers said they do not view the uprising over the Kennedy appointment as a serious threat.
"This brouhaha will not hurt him in the long run," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at the University of Southern California.
Jeffe said the biggest concerns are being raised by the party leaders, not rank-and-file members. She noted that leaders typically are those who put in the most time on the campaign and are also likely to be the party's most conservative members.
"I suspect that early on, Republicans fell into line simply to get rid of Davis," she said. "What I find astonishing is that they believed that Arnold Schwarzenegger was a conservative. He is not, never has been."
Stutzman agreed.
"This is a governor who repealed a $4 billion car tax, brought the state back from insolvency without raising taxes, fixed workers comp and helped create 425,000 new jobs," he said. "He also just got done waging a campaign on some issues that Republicans have waited years to be brought to the ballot.
"But at the end of the day, he is a centrist," Stutzman said. "He will have Republicans and Democrats around him."
I'm pretty well fed up with those who don't think Party Primaries and Party Leadership matter that much! I don't want any third parties when we can't even get our danged elected officials to honor the Parties we have, nor their stated platforms!!!
The California Republican Party making threats to the elected Governor?
He is successful, and they are not.
Are we letting these "leaders" in on what each of us thinks about this?
He is successful at exactly WHAT???
???Send this boob a membership in FRee Republic...
I think Miss Bebitch Jeffe is right.
Governor Schwarzennegger is Governor to ALL Californians; not just Republicans or conservatives. Last election proved and made clear a number of issues, IMHO.
That being said -- There is no money in the world sufficient to have me wish to be in Susan Kennedy's position: A Dem and working with THIS Repub Governor. This is the wrench on her, not the other way around, IMHO.
"There are obviously understandable concerns given Susan's work prior to coming to the administration, and that makes it a good story," he said. "But my caution to Republicans that are talking about rather drastic measures (is) they are overreacting. They should judge the governor on how he governs, and that's all that matters."
Stutzman is right.
Several Republicans said they are watching for signs that the governor has moved to the left on policy issues, some of which will arise next month.
I don't think he will; I do foresee some "feints", however. And if folks can stop with the kneejerk reactions, and watch the hidden "other" hand, they might begin to see some sense. (I'm not hopeful of seeing that here in FR, nonetheless, lol...)
"This is a governor who repealed a $4 billion car tax, brought the state back from insolvency without raising taxes, fixed workers comp and helped create 425,000 new jobs," he said. "He also just got done waging a campaign on some issues that Republicans have waited years to be brought to the ballot.
Meant to ping you to post #7.
A California state Senator is on record warning the Austrian to be truthful to the electorate. Of the four claims offered by Stutzman, only one, job growth, has any basis in fact; and only because Stutzman used the term helped.
I suspect Schwarzenegger and McCain are preparing to reactivate the Reform Party under different management and a different name. (I think they'll go back to early American history and revive the old Federalist Party label.)
Not sure what he was thinking.
I also would not trust her around the party information.
They have demonstrated they would do anything to win
The role of third parties in US political history has chiefly been to refocus the intentions of the two major parties. They serve the same useful purpose that is the basis of traffic citations.
Exactley WASP...Arnold is not only foolish, he is also arogant...ie("He has agreed to meet with them")
Your damn right you had better meet with them Arnold...you rhino pos...
Proud to have not voted for this fool.
All it had going for it was the fact that the American people were fed up with the radical left-wing nominating electorate of the Democrats and the radical right-wing nominating electorate of the Republicans. Neither party could think outside the box for solutions. Perot created a party of the Radical Middle, conservative on economic issues, but libertarian on social issues. By not being tied to the Religious Right, the unions or the blacks, Perot's party of the Radical Middle was in a position to push truly radical changes to American problems.
Granted, with no Reform Party folks running for House or Senate, President Perot would have been greeted by a Congress that would have worked 24/7 to destroy his presidency. Governing would have been impossible.
But to say that third parties never work is to be ignorant of our history. The Republicans started as a third party when the Whigs lost their way over slavery.
While Schwarzenegger is constitutionally unable to run for president, McCain is the most popular politician in the country, except possibly for Rudy Giuliani. A movement of the Radical Middle could split both the Democrats and the Republicans and upend the system entirely.
If you build a political movement out of independents, RINO's and DINO's, you have an electoral majority.
Now, he's taking away an opportunity to groom a future GOP governor! What was he thinking? It's not so much that he has a former Gray Davis Chief-of-Staff for his own (well, it is, really), but that he isn't taking the opportunity to let a CA GOP person take that position to be groomed to run for Governor one day! What better place is there for someone to get to intimately know the workings of Sacramento, to build a network of supporters, to learn the issues, than the Chief-of-Staff slot?
Why would Schwarzenegger deny the CA GOP the benefits of holding that position?
-PJ
Not as you'd think, or as her personality would indicate.
:-D )))
Pretend it's spelled "Bebbitch".
As some jerk says, the governor has a right to appoint whoever he wants.
What he fails to mention is that the voters and/or the party have a right to throw him out next chance they get.
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