Free Republic

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Patricia Clarey, who resigned as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's chief of staff last month, was appointed Thursday to the State Personnel Board. Clarey, who served former Gov. Pete Wilson and worked in President Reagan's administration, was Schwarzenegger's chief of staff since he took office in 2003. She was replaced with Susan Kennedy, a Democratic activist whose appointment sparked an angry backlash from some Republicans. The personnel board arbitrates disputes between state workers and managers. It also is charged with ensuring that the state's employment system is free from political patronage pressures. Clarey's appointment is subject to confirmation by...

SACRAMENTO - Two newspapers and a free speech group sued Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to obtain appointment calendars and other records that would show who met with two of his top aides while the governor was considering the fate of hundreds of bills last year. The lawsuit by the California First Amendment Coalition, the San Jose Mercury News and the San Diego Daily Transcript on Monday seeks to force Schwarzenegger to reveal whom from outside the governor's office met with, or spoke to, Patricia Clarey and Bonnie Reiss from Aug. 27 to Sept. 30, 2004. Clarey is Schwarzenegger's chief of staff...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A key supporter of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting measure announced plans Tuesday to form an independent, nonpartisan campaign supporting Proposition 77 - largely over fears the measure will fail if tied directly to Schwarzenegger's other Republican-backed ballot initiatives. Bill Mundell, a Southern California businessman who donated more than $300,000 to help qualify the redistricting measure for the ballot, said his new group would operate separately from the governor's California Recovery Team in support of the initiative. The move comes on the same day the California Recovery Team announced that Steve Poizner, a Silicon Valley billionaire and Republican...

San Francisco -- State Finance Director Tom Campbell is stepping down after less than a year in the job to join the campaign team promoting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "year of reform" ballot initiatives. Beginning Thursday, Campbell will take unpaid leave from the Department of Finance to help Schwarzenegger sell his initiatives, which will go before voters in a Nov. 8 special election. The Republican governor wants to cap state spending, strip lawmakers of the power to draw political boundaries and lengthen the probationary period for teachers from two years to five. "Gov. Schwarzenegger is working to change California for the...