The convention this weekend continued the ongoing GOP dialogue about our governor and our party. Going into the convention, Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign announced that Mindy Fletcher Tucker, the governor’s deputy chief of staff for external affairs, was joining the o
rganization as deputy campaign manager. The campaign is shaping up to be a great GOP organization.
But, in truth, I’d be happier with a boatload of Democrat staffers running the campaign, getting him re-elected, and then have our folks in the governor’s office, shaping policy, keeping the civil servants in line and negotiating with the legislature, instead of the other way around.
With the ongoing exodus of Republicans from the Horseshoe, my issue with Schwarzenegger is not what the campaign will do to keep my vote (all the right people are there to help), but what the governor’s office staff will do in the second term.
That said, we have no choice but to help get Schwarzenegger elected. As much as I disagree with many policies coming out of the governor’s office, he’s clearly better than Angelides and Westly will be. Republicans need to have a strong GOP voter turnout to help win the down-ticket statewide race or we’ll have no hope in 2010.
Budget Question
How much will the budget play a role in the election? With McClintock making a deal with Sch
warzenegger’s team, it will be interesting to see who comes out to represent the GOP/taxpayer prospective if the governor agrees to a budget that does not deal with the state’s long-term fiscal problems. McClintock is going to have to toe the party line (that alone will be interesting to watch) if he is going to be a team player for Schwarzenegger.
According to the LAO, the state has $2.3 billion in unexpected revenues in the current budget year. Let’s see if they can manage to save it or pay down debt with it. My guess it that it will be plowed into more state spending. The governor could score big points with the GOP rank-and-file if he insisted on saving that money or paying down the debt.