FR friend John Howard, the Editor over at Capitol Weekly just shot me an email, apparenly having scooped the MSM and the cyber-core on the newest hire over at the California Republican Party.
Apparently the CRP has hired Patrick Dorinson (pictured at the podium in the photo to the right) to fill the very large shoes left behind with the departure of Karen Hanretty, who decided to stand up her own public relations firm.
I don’t know Mr. Dorinson – I don’t believe that he or I have ever met. That said, I will tell you that he certainly represents an ‘out of the box’ hire for the State GOP.
I have to admit, before going over to Capitol Weekly, I did
what so many others do when they are trying to find out something – I "googled" Patrick Dorinson. The third item that came up was some link to a Clinton appointment for him, in which as a biographical reference, they state that he was the 1988 Director of the Al Gore for President Campaign… I
nearly fell out of my chair! *Please note this is the 1988 primary run, not his 2000 race.*
I quickly hopped over to the CW piece, and found that he was not only a Democrat until 1997, but he was a Democratic political operative. But one question I do have — how long has he been a Republican? I can tell you that he was appointed by the Governor Schwarzenegger March of 2004, less that two years ago, and at that time, accordinging to the release from the Governor’s office, Dorinson was a registered Independent.
The story in Capitol Weekly starts out…
By John Howard
Patrick Dorinson, a former fundraiser in Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign and former member of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration, has been selected as the new communications director of the California Republican Party.
There was no official confirmation from the party, which will hold its statewide convention this weekend in San Jose. Capitol sources said the decision to tap Dorinson, a Republican who served as the chief spokesman of the state’s electricity grid during California’s energy crisis, was reached several days ago. The party’s official announcement was expected as early as Tuesday, but Dorinson confirmed his hiring today.
Dorinson, 54, currently a vice president with the Hill and Knowlton marketing and communications company, replaces Karen Hanretty, who recently left to open her own political strategy and public relations firm in Sacramento.
Dorinson’s hiring comes at a turbulent time for state Republicans, who are divided over recent policies and appointments of the Republican governor. Schwarzenegger’s decision to hire Susan Kennedy, a Democrat who served as a top figure in former Gov. Gray Davis’ administration, and his proposal to borrow tens of billions of dollars to pay for an array of state capital improvements, are among a number of actions that have roiled Republicans.
Apparently, Dorinson’s hiring was not vetted by the White House or Gov. Schwarzenegger.
You can read the rest of the article here.
Here is some of his resume, culled from a press release at Hill and Knowlton, announcing his coming-on-board with them in June of last year as a public affairs professional:
"…Dorinson worked in the press operation of the Schwarzenegger for Governor Campaign during California’s historic recall election and served on the transition team for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also held appointed positions during the Clinton Administration with the US Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and General Services Administration."
When he was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger (I reference this above, when I ask about how long he has been a member of the GOP), this what was said about him in the official release on 3/17/04.
Dorinson pens this piece that also appears in Capitol Weekly today, in which he describes his personal "odyssey" – it starts out…
By Patrick Dorinson
Last month I wrote a column for this newspaper that was my version of the State of the State. The headline read, "The State of the State 2006: A Republican offers his own text to Arnold". After that I received many calls from old political friends who said, "Hey, I thought you were a Democrat."
My answer was, yes, I was a Democrat. But like Ronald Reagan and others before me, my political journey has led me to the Republican Party. This is my story of that journey.
From 1987 until 1997, I worked on political campaigns for many Democrats including Al Gore and Bill Clinton. My politics were geared to the Democratic Leadership Council of which they were both members. This was the moderate wing of the Democratic Party that was formed after the 1984 Reagan landslide to try to move the party to the center away from the "San Francisco Democrats"- a phrase coined by another former Democrat, Jeane Kirkpatrick.
In 1991, after having worked on Al Gore’s presidential campaign of 1988, I was approached by some friends from that effort to join the fledgling campaign of Bill Clinton for President. He had been Chairman of the DLC and at the time I felt that he fit where I was politically, with his views on welfare reform, increasing global trade, and putting more cops on the beat. After the election I moved to Washington and I was appointed by the President to senior positions at the General Services Administration, NASA and the Department of Energy.
Read the rest of his story here.
In that appointment memo from President Clinton that I mentioned I read when I "googled" Dorinson, this is how he was described in 1993:
All of this to say that I look forward to finding out more about Mr. Dorinson. His background is a bit startling, to say the least. I know Chairman Duf Sundheim, COO Mike Vallante and outgoing Communications Director Karen Hanretty well enough to wait to hear from them about this new hire before doing anything other than sharing a this initial "intel" – we’ll bring you more when I have it.
I will say that I will miss Karen Hanretty in this role. Karen brought a lot of talent and ability to her position as Communications Director. But most of all, she brought passion. Her passion came from her Republican principles and beliefs. Good luck in your future endeavors, Karen!
February 20th, 2006 at 12:00 am
And here I thought we were heading into a nice calm convention. I am sure the YAF boys are burning up the phone lines right now.
February 20th, 2006 at 12:00 am
If Karen says he’s OK he is OK.
February 20th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Phil…
Ya, we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves.
Any others, feel free to drop me a line. I’d love to hear em.
February 21st, 2006 at 12:00 am
Brandon, by all means empty those sleeves!