My roots are deep in California. My family has been in the Los Angeles region since the late 1700’s. I have not always been a Republican. When I first registered to vote, I registered Democrat as all of my family were in the steel mill town of Fontana, CA. I became a Republican in 1980 in order to vote for Ronald Reagan and have been a Republican ever since. I was newly married and the Carter malaize was in full bloom. Reagan offered hope and a vision in a time of despair, that is what drew me to the Republican Party.

 

I was honored and humbled to have been elected in February of this year to the California Republican Party Board of Directors as Vice Chairman, Inland Region. There have been issues that I disagreed with the Governor on, but I was looking at the "Big Picture". The special election was a pivotal time and I gave credit to the governor for fighting the good fight. He reminded me of Reagan and the reason I became a Republican even though I didn’t vote for him in the recall election. I was concerned that the governor as late as July, 05 was still in negotiations with the Democrats and did not give us the green light to move with the campaign until the beginning of August. This move gave us about 90 days to gear up for a statewide election. This doomed our endeavor from the beginning. In hindsight I believe this was part of the Democrat’s strategy. They would delay the special election to a point where we could not gear up and in the meantime the Democrats were pounding the airwaves with anti-Arnold commercials. This drove the governor’s negatives sky high. I attribute this to the political consultants and a politically naïve governor. 

 

Now as a result of losing the special election the governor is moving to the left. The appointment of Ms. Kennedy as Chief of Staff is a slap in the face to every Republican in the state. This appointment implies that there is no other Republican in the state who can serve in this capacity. Make no mistake the chief of staff is very influential to the governor. Legislation, judicial appointments and political activities are a component of the chief of staff’s duties. 

 

I have struggled with this over the past week and prayed for humility in making this decision. My goal is to do what I can to help make our Golden State, golden. I also want to pay tribute to the grassroots of the Republican party. Their motives are pure. They want what I want, to pass on to our posterity a way of life better than we received it from our ancestors.

 

It is with deep regret that I must tender my resignation effective 5:00 pm, Friday, December 9, 2005.

 

Ed Laning