(Ah-nuld) taps ex-Davis aide (gay rights activist) as chief of staff

[jefferson_dem]

Governor taps ex-Davis aide as chief of staff
First move in a shakeup
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Staff Writer

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- attempting to regain his political footing after a devastating special election defeat this month -- has begun a shakeup of his administration by replacing his chief of staff with a former state Democratic Party official and top adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis, Democratic and Republican sources said Tuesday.

The hiring of Susan Kennedy, widely respected by both Democrats and Republicans in Sacramento as a workhorse operative for Davis, is expected to be announced officially as early as today. The move could kick off major protests from conservative Republicans.

Appointed by Davis to the California Public Utilities Commission in 2003, Kennedy had made her name as a political operative as the head of the California branch of the National Abortion Rights Action League. A longtime gay rights activist, Kennedy married her partner, Vicki Marti, in a 1999 ceremony in Hawaii attended by many California political insiders.

Kennedy will replace Patricia Clarey, the former top aide to Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, and will be the second former Davis aide to join Schwarzenegger's inner circle in the past month. Daniel Zingale, who was Davis' Cabinet secretary, recently went to work as chief of staff to first lady Maria Shriver.

Competing for influence

The governor's new chief of staff could dramatically change the inner workings of his administration, where two factions -- one liberal, one conservative -- have had an uneasy coexistence. With Clarey gone, many believe liberal-leaning staffers like Kennedy, Zingale and senior aide Bonnie Reiss are likely to have more clout.

<SNIP>

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/30/MNGDVG0B511.DTL

[WI_DEM]

1. so now he is going to move to the left

She shouldn't have taken the job, let him sink.

[xchrom]

2. i echo the first poster -- she should not

have taken the job.

i'm soo angry -- i can't really express how disappointing this is.

[kweerwolf]

3. Arnie's doing the Grope-inator watlz ...

Start in the middle of the dance floor, waltz to the right, dip, twirl to the left.

[mitchtv]

4. Ahnuld ,The new Pat Brown

please buy into $50B in bonds

[David Zephyr]

21. Ha!

This has gone from a comedy to a farce. :hi:

[DinahMoeHum]

5. Gray Davis must be laughing his ass off these days

as Governor Girly-Boy learns the hard way that being Governor ain't as easy as it looks.

:evilgrin:

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Schwarzenegger May Put Davis Aide in Key Post(activist Dem chief of staff)

LAT: Gov. May Put Davis Aide in Key Post
Susan Kennedy, former Democratic activist, could soon become the chief of staff, sources say.

By Robert Salladay and Peter Nicholas, Times Staff Writers


SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, launching an overhaul of his administration, is poised to hire a former Democratic Party activist and high-ranking aide to Gray Davis as his new chief of staff, sources familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday.

The hiring of Susan P. Kennedy — a former executive director of the California Democratic Party, longtime abortion rights activist and Cabinet secretary to Davis, the Democrat whom Schwarzenegger replaced — would signal a shift in direction for the Republican governor.

Schwarzenegger has been seeking to recover politically from the defeat of his ballot initiatives earlier this month and prepare for his reelection bid in this heavily Democratic state....

***

Kennedy, 45, recently told The Times she was a "Democrat to the core," and rumors of her appointment have already upset some Republican activists, particularly social conservatives whose allegiance to Schwarzenegger has been a marriage more of convenience than commitment.

But Kennedy, who is a member of the state's Public Utilities Commission, is also considered friendly to business interests — a major part of Schwarzenegger's political coalition....


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arnold30nov30,0,4713955.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[still_one]

7. an observation, what does she really stand for?

[SoCalDem]

14. Money in her bank account..n/t

[still_one]

16. LOL, it is time to throw the repugs out

and clean out our party at the same time

[Cha]

8. swartzenwhatever is

trying out his cameleon colors for size..do ya think it work?

I hope not.

[ronnykmarshall]

10. Not sitting well with conservatives ...

Kennedy is not going to help, one prominent conservative said:

"She embodies everything I have spent my life opposing. It obviously raises more problems and concerns about where he is headed next year," said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly. "There is a list of things now where it appears we would have been better off if Gray Davis were governor."

On the other side of the political spectrum, Barry Broad, a union lobbyist, said the moves suggest Schwarzenegger's government is "literally turning back into the Davis administration before our very eyes. I can't believe that they recall them and then hire them back."

[Cha]

13. I didn't even think about the

irony of her name being Kennedy. Sounds like shovelnator is between Iraq and hard place.

Couldn't happen to a more well deserving lying hypocrite in California.

They wanted Davis out so they could start turning California red..and they had their boy but then he got inflated with hubris and lost on his big inititives. That didn't work so maybe bringing in .. "a former executive director of the California Democratic Party, longtime abortion rights activist and Cabinet secretary to Davis" will do the trick :silly:

[951-Riverside]

9. "kennedy" eh?

I wonder if she related somehow to mariah shriver?

[ronnykmarshall]

11. Rut row ...... she's one of them thar lizbians too

As a member of the utilities commission, appointed by Davis, Kennedy is the highest-ranking gay official in California.

Early in Davis' first term as governor, Kennedy and her partner, Vicki Marti, a psychotherapist, held a commitment ceremony in Maui, Hawaii, attended by high-ranking administration officials.

[orwell]

12. What a Girly Man...

...The attempted resuscitation of "The Terminators reign of error" continues. He is jerking so far to the left in a blatant attempt to kiss and make up it is ridiculous.

He won't be back...

[Cleita]

15. As far as I'm concerned he could replace his whole administration

with former Davis staffers and I still wouldn't vote for him.

[ronnykmarshall]

17. How can ANY democrat work for this asshole?

After all this shit he said the GOP convention about democrats?

Hell, even Maria was pissed.

[UTUSN]

18. So the Reason for Replacing DAVIS Was????? n/t

[DinahMoeHum]

19. Methinks Gray Davis is laughing himself to sleep these days

as Governor Girly-Boy realizes that governing ain't as easy as it looks.

:evilgrin:

[David Zephyr]

20. It's like he called Central Casting: "I need a lesbian to be my co-star"

I have taken to calling his "role" as governor "The Arnold Show". Thankfully, it will soon be cancelled as a ratings failure.

[Spinzonner]

22. So now will Kennedy be replacing Ahnold with Gray ?

[realFedUp]

23. a few thoughts...

We've seen the real Arnold and we won't buy any new packaging
no matter who's sitting in his lap.
She could move any proposed legislation to the left which would be good for us and piss off Republicans and his Pete Wilson handlers.
Her career with Dems will be over if Arnold continues potty mouthing elected officials he was supposed to work with.

I see this as a win win.

[realFedUp]

25. from arnoldwatch.org - She's Not a Real Kennedy Either

and from arnoldwatch.org:

She's Not A Real Kennedy Either

The Gov's announcement today that Susan Kennedy, Gray Davis's Cabinet Secretary, will be his chief of staff is all too consistent with the Schwarzenegger agenda of turning the keys of state over to Big Business. Kennedy may be a Democrat but she's no friend of the people. At the Public Utilities Commission, at the behest of telecom companies, she led the drive to repeal the Cell Phone Bill of Rights. One of her closest allies is sleazy Sacramento lobbyist Darius Anderson who had Gray Davis wired for back room blunders. And the shady deals she and Gray engaged in – including the Oracle pay-to-play scandal that helped push Gray out the door – provoked the very recall that swept Arnold and his alleged broom into office.

Kennedy's sense of conflict of interest is hardly keen. While serving on the PUC, she also served on the California Bay Delta Authority and voted as a PUC member to give it more control over resources at the expense of ratepayers. Making those decisions appears to conflict with California law that prohibits any person from holding two or more incompatible offices simultaneously. (Read more on Kennedy's conflict of interest)

If Conan's hoping the addition of another Kennedy to his clan makes him looks less like big business's barbarian, then he's once again asking Californians to not look past the spin. Bipartisan isn't about meeting the lowest common denominator for common corporate interests in both political parties, it's about doing what's best for the public regardless of what those corporate donors have in mind.

Read more at ArnoldWatch.org

[hunter]

24. Shit. The wheels must be coming off the wagon.

This is all about the rape of California by the energy companies.

There's a corpse rotting away in in a closet somewhere, otherwise Arnold wouldn't be doing this.