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 would really like to see so ideas on solutions. Thre has got to be something we can do. Anyone?
Just this minute got an email from a close friend whose new rambunctious puppy took a bad spill and chipped a bone in the back leg. It's completely lame, requiring surgery. I had high hopes for this lame administration and thought the special election would be helpful surgery. You've described the factions here pretty well. Those who want to fix it v those who want to put it out of its misery.
"Hell, if I came across an animal that lame, I'd put it out of its misery."
Then don't look in the mirror, sport, lest you be forced to eat a bullet.
Well horsie, you go ahead and denigrate "true conservatives" till the cows come home. I'd sure rather be a true one, than a false one when the chickens come home to roost!!!
I expect that sort of crap from Democrats, not Freepers.
My father taught me that when someone got in my face after I made a remark that didn't seem to aimed in his direction, it was probably because what I said really hit home.
I commented on how some conservative groups seem to live for grifting donations, grants, and "walking-around money," and you got all huffy about it.
So who do you grift with?
"You're the one who made the lame argument...or do you want to try to revise THAT history, too?"
Just because someone with a losing track record and an abject inability to take any responibility for being a loser says my argument is "lame" does not mean that it actually is.
Bottom line: the Governator's looking to build a political base that doesn't include you in any way, shape, or form, no matter how insubstantial or symbolic. If he succeeds in accomplishing this, California conservatives are going to be completely frozen out in 2006 and beyond. Rather than engage in invective against the messenger, you might wish to figure out how to generate a successful counterstrategy.
"I expect that sort of crap from Democrats, not Freepers."
Then I would suggest that you refrain from making those sorts of remarks in the first place. Take a swing at me, I will punch back. If you cannot handle that sort of thing, I would suggest leaving politics, as you're obviously far too thin-skinned to deal with any return fire.
Isn't Jeffe the Spanish word for "boss"? That's almost a Ian Fleming level name.
"Isn't Jeffe the Spanish word for "boss"?"
No, that's "jefe" (pronounced "hef-ay").
It was a joke, son. (Nice kid, but sharp as a heap o' liver. --F. Leghorn)
Hey! Maybe they can call it the Bull Moose Party!
"Tom has never run against liberal Arnold in a Republican primary. If they did, McClintock would clean his clock."
I won't argue the point about which of those two would win a true Republican primary. It is almost certain the two will never go head to head in a Republican primary for governor, so we will have no way of resolving it.
So you are free to claim anything you want, with no risk of being proven wrong.
The special election put them head to head, and McClintock didn't win. That is a proved fact.
Yes it is a fact, but due to the exceedingly rare and unusual circumstances of that election it is useless to cite those results in other arguments about other elections past or future.
And from just which specific area of California expertise do you make this proclamation?
Conservatives do not have access to the California branch of the Hispandering GOP Big Tent trough. That privilege is reserved for the RINOs, liberals and moderates.
Snark... Snort... Snuck... Sneeze... Wheeze... Phart!!!
"And from just which specific area of California expertise do you make this proclamation?"
Having used some of that walking-around money to try to elect Republicans, and discovering that other conservative groups were using it to (a) line their pockets and (b) support fringey third-party nuts instead of Republicans.
"Conservatives do not have access to the California branch of the Hispandering GOP Big Tent trough. That privilege is reserved for the RINOs, liberals and moderates."
Got caught with your hand in the cookie jar, followed by the CAGOP cutting off your allowance? Tsk tsk.
Who gave you the money? Which Republicans were you trying to elect? Which conservative groups were lining their pockets? Which fingey third-party nuts are you referring to?
"Got caught with your hand in the cookie jar, followed by the CAGOP cutting off your allowance?"
The CAGOP does not fund conservatives. Instead, they actively oppose them.
That's what happens when we allow Country Club liberals to take over the party. And today we are reaping the "rewards" of their astounding stupidity.
Don't you mean when you are trying to divide FR?
Around the time we came home from Vietnam the hippies were infecting the country everyplace. Hippies were the prototype for those now who decry 'rino' this and 'rino' that. Rich hippies pretended to be poor, poor hippies pretended to have left rich families, etc, etc, etc. They all had a lie to fit into their hippy culture. It is the same way amongst our enemy, demoncraps. It is probably old hippies using their same ol' technique, lying. Pretending to be what they are not and lying to achieve their disruptive results. Y'all must not accept anything on face value and don't believe any nonsense, just because someone with a FReeper handle has said so. We must judge each post for its own value. It becomes like arithmetic, a post either adds, subtracts or divides from our collective perception. Occasionally, there are great posts which multiply our perception. The ones which add or multiple are what we must aim for, and use the one's which subtract or divide to identify those among us who desire the reduction.
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