INFRASTRUCTURE, YES! MEGA-DEBT, NO!
With all of the ‘noise’ of the Governor’s controversial pick for Chief of Staff, the FlashReport is committed to keeping our eye on the ball of exposing the lousy idea of floating mega-billions of dollars in bonds for infrastructure needs. We’ve already heard from Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and from State Senator John Campbell, both expressing their strong opposition to such a scheme.
Today in the FlashReport, we feature a column from George Passantino, a senior fellow with
the well-respected Reason Foundation. In this piece, George also lays out a strange, cogent argument for why more bond debt is the last thing California needs — and he talks about how to approach dealing with infrastructure needs without the general obligation bonds.
BILL MORROW DOES THE RIGHT THING
I got a call from FR Blogger Adam Probolsky, telling me it had been posted on the OC Blog (check it out if you haven’t – a handfun of anonymous bloggers have changed the political landscape of "The OC") announced that State Senator Bill Morrow had endorsed the controversial Assemblyman Tom Harman in his bid to replace State Senator John Campbell, who will be elected this Tuesday to the United States Congress. When I heard the news, I called Bill and we spoke about the race, which right now is against a Dana Point Councilwoman, Diane Harkey. Others contacted him, too. The upshot: Bill yanked his support of Harman. Good job, Bill!
OH WHAT A MESS: THE KENNEDY APPOINTMENT
I received 822 emails between midnight Tuesday night and midnight last night on the appointment of Democrat operative Susan Kennedy by Governor Schwarzenegger as his new Chief of Staff. Of that number 809 were extremely (in some cases this is an understatement) unhappy with the appointment, in 11 cases the notes were supportive, and in one case, someone was just happy to see her off of the Public Utilities Commission, where she has been serving since being appointed by her old boss, now-recalled Governor Gray Davis. I’ve including a random sampling of e-mails at the bottom of today’s commentary for your perusal.
The number of comparisons to this appointment of Kennedy, to the appointment of Harriet
Miers by President Bush was noticeable. The outrage was from across the board — from legislators, staffers, major donors to the Governor, GOP County Central Committee Members, lobbyists, attorneys, consultants, local elected officials and tons of regular folks who follow politics enough to read the FR.
Trying to comprehensively cover the news on this deal would be an overwhelming task — the noise and activity in the blogosphere has been staggering. The FlashReport has twice the number of visitors yesterday than on a normal day (I guess the newly created Stop Susan Kennedy site must be linking to my site – a large number of readers are accessing the FR from that webpage) . In addition, there were stories on tv, on the radio, and in all of the major newspapers. I will continue to try, along with by weblog contributors, to bring you the latest.
THE CALLS: SCHWARZENEGGER, ACKERMAN
There are two phone calls that I received yesterday worth talking about. The first one was
mid-day from the Governor (read about that here). I will tell you that I have had a lot of positive experiences with this Governor. I think he is a great person. That said, I think he is sorely underestimated the level of unhappiness and animosity that is building between himself and the GOP base over this appointment.
As I told the Governor, I will look forward to meeting with her. I am sure she is as engaging and capable, as an operative, as the Governor has said. But it really doesn’t change the fact that she is going to become a symbol to California conservatives – a ‘lightning rod’ so to speak. Deputy Chief of Staff to Gray Davis, senior Staffer for Feinstein, and years running the day-to-day operations of the Democrat Party and the state leading pro-abortion group – what a great resume for bringing Republicans and Democrats together (not). I think the Governor is going to get more than he is asking for, though. We’ll see how that goes.
The other noteworthy call was last night from State Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman. Fresh back from Hawaii, the Senator called me tell me what he told Governor Schwarzenegger on the telephone that morning. Ackerman told the Governor that he felt the appointment was a very bad idea. That a Republican Governor should have a Republican Chief of Staff. He apparently went on to tell the Governor that he in no way should have someone running his administration who was a close aid to recalled Governor Gray Davis. Ackerman’s strong discouragement apparently did little to dissuade the Governor from his course of action. [Q: Where is Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy on all of this?]
MORE CHANGES?
The Governor apparently announced at his press conference yesterday, at which he ‘introduced’ Kennedy to the world, that there would likely be more ‘significant’ changes in the senior staff. It will be interesting to see how this shakes out and to see if there is a Republican exodus, or if the Governor makes an effort to bring in more Democrats.
HERE IS A BIZARRE TWISTY STORY
Kennedy was Executive Director of the CDP, hired by then-Chairman Phil Angelides. She was later appointed to the PUC by Gray Davis where she hired as her Chief of Staff Ross LaJeunesse, who was a former staffer for Senator Edward Kennedy. But her former Chief of Staff now runs the staff of State Controller Steve Westly. And she, herself, now runs the staff of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s enough to give you a headache! (Props to John Fund)
UNEXPECTED QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"I think it’s a move the governor needs to make because he has not had an efficient staff," said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), who helped finance the signature-gathering effort in the 2003 recall. He’s had many members of his administration in my opinion who have not been a good conduit for the flow of information to the governor and who have not been loyal," Issa said."
–Recall Mover & Shaker and U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa today in the Los Angeles Times.
UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE DAY:
"The smart move for Schwarzenegger might have been to recruit a conservative chief of staff who could cover his right flank while he moves to the middle."
–George Skelton, columnist, Los Angeles Times.
MOST AGGRESSIVE QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"This is a dangerous false start for the governor, not a fresh start. The California Republican Assembly board of directors will be voting on a resolution calling for the California Republican Party’s withdrawal of their pre-primary endorsement of the governor."
–Mike Spence, President of the California Republican Assembly in the Orange County Register.
THE SPIN
I spoke with three ardent defenders of the Governor’s pick – and they all had an eerily identical argument to be made in defense of the pick: Governor Schwarzenegger fits California – he is fiscally conservative, socially moderate, and progressive on the environment. Kennedy agrees with him on all of these issues, and this doesn’t represent any kind of change.
Here is a snippet from an informed ‘insider’:
THE UNSPIN
My take is that there was someone missing from the table when advise was being given to the Governor on this appointment. That person would be the well-informed and involved conservative. The one who could have described the visceral opposition that would occur. If the problem is that there needs to be more conservatives in the inner-circle to make sure that the Governor is getting a ‘representative’ group of viewpoints. That person, in this case, could have told the Governor what he has been finding out the hard way (and I predict it will escalate) – that someone with that partisan of the resume was not going to be accepted by grassroots Republican activists, and donors, not to mentioned legislators and staffers.
A SAMPLING OF THE E-MAILS
Just to give you a ‘flavor for what I’ve been sorting through, I literally cut and pasted a random group of about 25 e-mails below. You can read then and get a sense of the level of 
frustration…
– Why would someone who calls himself a moderate hire someone with such an extreme background.
– Jon, the Governor is playing you like a fool. How can he credibly say he couldn’t find any Republicans to take the job? That is hooey.
– Are you serious?? This is the woman who was there when Davis took that big check in the office from the CTA! She presided over the Oracle debacle. How could this happen?
– This is not the way to energize the troops in preparation for next year’s Primary and General Elections after the Special Election debacle. There are many in Republican leadership throughout the state who feel that this time we really have been sold out.
– As a play on Dr. Fred Schwarz’ "You can trust the Communists — to be Communists" — You can trust moderates/liberals — to be moderates/liberals. MCCLINTOCK FOR GOVERNOR – No one else can be trusted to do the right thing.
– I know Susan – I worked for her at the State Democrat Party. She is very capable – but she knows how to rule with an iron fist. Trust me, it was ‘my way or the highway’ — she won’t tolerate dissention.
– There are no words for my response.. I REALLY hope you turn out to be very wrong!! If you are correct, you will prove my long held axiom: The is no situation, no matter how bad, that it can not be made worse!! Oh well, I’ll be able to put my checkbook away.. Lets see.. The election, Cunningham…now this.. Give me a break
– I guess Gray Davis can open a lobbying firm – since so many of his former key staffers are moving back to their old digs in the capitol.
– Jeez Louise…we need to do a CRP resolution asking him to re-register so we can run a Republican in the upcoming gubernatorial primary.
– Oy Vey!!!!!
– I work for him and I was shocked as you were. We have been advised to assure the base that she works for HIS agenda, not the other way around. Not sure what to think, but it will be interesting to see how this unfolds with the rest of the Republicans in the administration.
– Whatever happened to Ron K Unz?
– I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!!!! AND I WALKED PRECINCTS FOR HIM!
– This should be a Harriet Miers moment for CA conservatives and Republicans.
– Our county central committee is circulating a petition – we want to withdraw the Governor’s State GOP endorsement. He doesn’t deserve it.
– This is ridiculous. Have you heard from Mindy Fletcher? She used to work for President Bush. Her GOP bonifides are impeccable. We need to get her out of there now, before she gets fired for having a W. bumper sticker up on her wall!
– We’ve started a signature drive to make our protest. We’ve already gotten over 300 signatures asking the Governor to reconsider.
– Is it a kiss-off? I’d find it odd if anyone told you otherwise, except that maybe it’s not a kiss-off if you never really had a base to begin with?
– Clinton gets bashed when he announces we got a two-fer w/ him and Hillary. Arnold keeps repeating it about him and Maria and the world swoons.Apparently it ain’t a two-fer. We simply have Governor Shriver and her front man… Next job change: Mulholland for Stutzman.
– Hopefully a Republican will run in the Republican primary next year.
– Hiring this person as his chief of staff is a direct slap in the face to all Republicans. He is saying you have to live with me as is because your alternative is worse in 2006. He is only out for himself at this point.
– What was he thinking? Was he even thinking? What can you do with a problem called Maria? and seriously and most importantly, how will this affect the 2006 election? To be honest with you, I did not vote for Arnold, (I am a McClintock supporter and proud of it), but once Arnold was elected I decided to give him a chance, take a look at his agenda and for the most part I was willing to give him my whole hearted support. We all put in long hours working on the special election because we believed in the Gov’s reform propositions. Was he just blowing expensive cigar smoke? He couldn’t charm the unions, so now he’s switching sides? The CRP is already divided and now the Gov is putting CA Republicans in a very bad position. My support for Arnold is definitely on hold.
– Jon, I am so going to be fired. As a matter of fact, most of us here who are loyal GOPers are pretty demoralized now. Do we jump ship now, or wait for the pink slips?
– I look forward to reading your thoughts tomorrow. In the meantime, I’d like to say that I still believe the appointment of Kennedy is a slap in the face to California Republicans and I think the reasons he gave to you are pretty darn lame. Its hard for me to believe that there isn’t one qualified Republican in the entire state of California that is able to fulfill the Chief of Staff position. My support for the governor remains on hold.
– I’m a bit more "squishy", dare I say the words, today than I was back in our YR days. I try to be open minded. But I got all of the info that I needed on this appointment in this line of the Gov’s press release "I am honored Governor Schwarzenegger has asked me to join him as he works to rebuild California," said Kennedy. "…I look forward to using my experience and knowledge to work alongside the Governor to get the job done."
– "Work alongside"?? Wrong. A CoS works FOR the Governor, not "alongside" him. I wonder whose vision of "the job" will be implemented? Looks like we’re getting the last couple of years of a Gray Davis administration after all. Wasted a bunch of cash on that recall…
– A sad day for those of us who know full well the difference between a democrat and a republican….and their philosophies