Well, it’s Monday and it is entirely possible that Governor Schwarzenegger’s Chief of Staff, Susan Kennedy, is telecommuting via a video-conferencing set-up from her Marin County home. Must be nice. Hard to believe it, but it’s that time of year again. Time for the FlashReport annual “rant” about Susan Kennedy and call for the Governor to dump her and hire a Republican Chief of Staff.
It’s now been over two years since Governor Schwarzenegger passed up millions of Republicans in California to appoint Kennedy, a Democrat as his Chief of Staff (actually, it’s been 2 years and 31 days according to the still-operating count-up clock on the ultimately ineffective stopsusankennedy.com website).
Susan Kennedy is a former Executive Director of the California Democratic Party (ironically she worked for then-CDP Chairman Phil Angelides). She was Communications Director for Senator Dianne Feinstein. She was (you can’t make this stuff up) Deputy Chief of Staff and Cabinet Secretary to disgraced and recalled ex-Governor Gray Davis , served as Executive Director of the California Abortion Rights Action League, . After all, in the time that she was tapped by Arnold, she has watched state government grow by billions of dollars, ushered the Governor to a one-man jihad against global warming, and seen to it that Schwarzenegger has appointed Democrats to the bench in staggering numbers, and worked diligently to place a vast number of liberal operatives (many of them fellow Davis Administration alums) into positions within the Schwarzenegger Administration — I could go on, but I think I have made the point.
Over time, Kennedy has increased her reach and control over every aspect of the Governor’s administration — appointment of judges, critical staff and commission hires, or preparing recommendations on which pieces of legislation to sign or veto, it is Democrat Kennedy who presents and influences the Governor on virtually every critical decision that he makes. And if I may be so bold as to say so, so many of those decisions have been terrible (perhaps most pertinent today was allowing government spending to outpace growth in population, factored for inflation, so that we now wallow in a massive financial shortfall due to epic overspending).
In all seriousness – one cannot blame Ms. Kennedy for being a liberal or for taking up the Governor on his offer to be his Chief of Staff. No, the blame for this ongoing and unfortunate situation lies on the shoulders of one man – Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Susan Kennedy may be charming, funny, smart and engaging – but nevertheless she represents a tragic symbol of how Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mandate to reform government and “sweep out” the special interests (i.e… public employee unions) was wasted, and has instead been perverted into a nightmare of growth in the size and scope of state government under the watch of a Republican Governor.
You can be sure that a question that will be asked of Gubernatorial candidates for the 2010 cycle (probably of either party) – will you hire a Chief of Staff who is a member of your own political party?
In closing – I like Arnold Schwarzenegger personally. He’s a great guy. And while I’ve only met Ms. Kennedy once, she seemed pretty cool, too. That said, this is not a movie, and we don’t get to walk out back into the real world. This is the real world, where personnel decisions are critical ones, and the Governor, in the case of Kennedy, chose poorly. Once again, as we asked last year, and the year before, Governor, would you please just show Kennedy the door, and bring in a Republican to help you through your final years in office? It’s not too late to turn things around, and rekindle an effort to fight for the liberty and freedom of Californians… The one that ushered you into office in 2003…
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