Posted on 04/09/2006 10:08:39 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO - Susan Kennedy is nothing if not direct. Just ask Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, who sparred with the 5-foot-2, Democratic chief of staff to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over the color of the senator's socks.
Ackerman, R-Irvine, was among GOP leaders who openly criticized the Republican governor for appointing Kennedy on Nov. 30 to a post tantamount to top confidante. They objected to her political pedigree as a veteran of her state party and one-time key aide to recalled Gov. Gray Davis. (She's no relation to Schwarzenegger's famous in-laws).
Some Republican activists stoked the flames by calling on their party to yank Schwarzenegger's pre-primary endorsement unless he fired her.
Not long after her appointment, Ackerman got a surprise call while on his sailboat. It was Kennedy. "She said, 'I understand you have concerns about my appointment; can we get together?'" he recalled.
Confronting him was a gutsy move, he added. So was her pointing out Ackerman's mismatched socks during their first meeting the following week. "She asked me: 'Did you do that on purpose?'" he recalled, laughing. The red sock on his left foot and green sock on the right are his Christmas tradition tied to nautical themes, he explained.
The exchange helped break the ice. Ackerman still believes Schwarzenegger should have appointed a Republican, but he has come to respect Kennedy for her tireless promotion of the governor's agenda.
"She probably has a better relationship with Republicans than she does with Democrats," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
"She was clearly the strongest voice for a strong economy in the (Davis) administration. I think she has a governor here who is more receptive to the politics and policy of that agenda."
– Allan Zaremberg, President and CEO, California Chamber of Commerce
"I've sort of likened it to buying a red Ferrari, a political midlife crisis. Not only is she working for a Republican governor, she's working the Republican governor who ousted her boss."
– Steven Maviglio, communications director for Nunez who worked with Kennedy in the Davis Administration
In other words, she's still working the same agenda she was before. Enlightening..
---The red sock on his left foot and green sock on the right are his Christmas tradition tied to nautical themes, he explained.---
Just peachy...
""One of the reasons to have her in there is he knows he has to regain support from a lot of non-Republican voters," said Democratic strategist Darry Sragow. "If she is giving him good advice on how to accomplish that and he's taking the advice, then the credit goes to both of them."
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This is certainly true, given the Demographic of CA, with only 35% Republicans. Nobody can get elected to a statewide office with only support from Republicans.
Actually she is not working on the same agenda, in fact it's commendable that she is not using her position to push things like the homosexual marriage.
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"She firmly backs the governor's stance even on subjects that could affect her personally, like gay marriage.
She and Marti held a commitment ceremony in Hawaii in 1999, but she said Schwarzenegger was right last September to veto a bill that would have legalized gay marriage.
"If I had been in here when that bill landed on Gov. Schwarzenegger's desk, I would have recommended that he veto it," Kennedy said. "It is inappropriate to overturn the voter's initiative by statute, by a bill passed in the Legislature. Politically it's the wrong thing to do, legally it's the wrong thing to do."
That doesn’t mean gay marriage won’t happen someday, she added, but “the fact is we’ve got active court cases that are being resolved.”
I love how you suck it up for Susan, how telling.
I love how you suck it up for Susan, how telling.
Are you that blind?
Good Answer!
Not that the governor and his chief of staff are ideologically far apart. Kennedy, 45, fervently believes she's found in Schwarzenegger a leader who can break through the partisan framework of Sacramento to do what's best for California. It's what made her do what is rarely done on a state or national level - go to work for the de facto state leader of the opposing party."Even a year ago, there was no way either of us would have predicted this," said friend Daniel Zingale, another former Davis aide who is first lady Maria Shriver's chief of staff. "But knowing Susan and watching her learn and grow over the years, it makes perfect sense. Gov. Schwarzenegger represents exactly what Susan believes in. She's a radical centrist. In other words she believes passionately in finding a sensible solution to problems rather than ideological extremes."
Joe Nuñez, Susan Kennedy, David Zingale, Bonnie Reiss, Terry Tamminen, Patrick Henning, etc. etc. etc.
He has surrounded himself with leftists who work daily to an agenda he was elected to eliminate.
Unfortunately, there are currently 3 leading candidates for Governor who all fit within a leftist mold.
The California Republican Party has been infiltrated by Trojan Horses.
Why bother, when Schwarzenegger(R) as Governor of CA has been more supportive of their agenda than Davis(D) was when he was Governor of CA?
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