About fifteen minutes ago I got off of the telephone with Governor Schwarzenegger. He is spending some of his day today, in advance of an official 2 p.m. press event, making telephone calls to people about his controversial decision to hire Susan Kennedy as his Chief of Staff. After a collegial minute or two (after all, the Governor is one of the friendliest people EVER), the conversation turned to his appointment. We spoke about his choice for a few minutes – well, I let him do most of the talking. I will paraphrase some of what we talked about so that you get the idea.

I expressed to the Governor my concerns – that while I had never met Ms. Kennedy, I had reviewed her resume. I told him that her resume was more partisan on the Democrat side than mine on the GOP side, which was hard to do,

The… Read More

Wall Street Journal Editorial Staff Writer John Fund has been a longtime friend of the FlashReport, back to the beginning of our e-newsletter in 2001. He’s been a personal friend of mine going back much further. John, a native Californian, keeps a remarkable finger on the pulse of California politics with a network of friends, operatives and contacts that would make many reporters who actually live in California quite envious. He has written two California stories today in the WSJ’s Political Diary (a subscription based publication, but John gave me permission to print these) — one on the Governor’s appointment today of Susan Kennedy, and the other most post-mortem on the Duke Cunningham debacle:

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Should Arnold Schwarzenegger run for re-election as an Independent?

Schwarzenegger has always had an uneasy relationship with the Republican Party’s base. Susan Kennedy’s hiring has only intensified the tensions that have existed since he first announced plans for a ballot initiative to fund after school programs.

Schwarzenegger is a centrist. He’s conservative on economic issues and immigration issues, moderate on cultural and environmental matters. As I’ve written before, that ideological balance is what allowed him to attract the support of swing voters in the recall election. But it has also kept him from forming a stronger relationship with his own party.

Most successful politicians figure out away to balance the needs of their base with the demands of the political center. Bill Clinton did it by calling himself a “New Democrat”. George W. Bush accomplished the same goal by presenting himself as a “compassionate conservative”. Arnold didn’t come up with quite as catchy a turn of phrase for himself, but a governor who repeals the car tax and opposes drivers’ licenses for… Read More

Yes…we’re all a twitter with the news about the Gov’s new COS, but my post today started with the emotions I felt about Congressman John Doolittle after reading a piece by the Sacramento Bee reporting on his connection to lobbyists Jack Arbramoff today…..and then combining that anger with the frustration athis efforts to defeat Proposition 77 to protect his super safe place in the world…..ugh.

The refrain of the Clash song "Complete Control " C-O-N-T…. control" echos through my head when I think of all the money he likely shoveld to the pro gerrymander side………a conservative friend of mine once labeld him, The Congressman from Northern Virginia, turned his back on reform to stay in control….and then when I read about more Abramoff smarm….unreported sky box tickets…..Doolittle staff moving to Abramoff’s staff….pleading the 5th…..I’m only left to leave you with the tawdry contentdescribed in the Van Halen song…."Everybody… Read More

In this, his latest battle, Randy “Duke” Cunningham found himself surrounded by MIGs. They were not piloted by a foreign enemy this time, but by federal prosecutors from the nation he had first sworn to protect in the 1960s, and which in Vietnam he had done so with honor, distinction, and courage. In this battle, the United States Government, if not having superior firepower, certainly had overwhelming evidence against him.Randy Cunningham had no choice but to surrender.

I first met Cunningham in the late 1980s, after his retirement from the Navy and Top Gun.He was being touted as a potential candidate, and clearly had the credentials.He was speaking to some now forgotten group of Republicans, but I remember his story.It was the first of many times I heard it in the subsequent years.How, upon landing on an aircraft carrier after he and Willie Driscoll downed an enemy fighter, one of the deck crew ran up to him and exclaimed , “We… Read More

I think most of California’s political community is scratching their heads over the Susan Kennedy COS appointment. Even if you are a liberal, sorry progressive Democrat you have to wonder how it all happened.

We Republicans especially are searching for answers. I have identified a few reasons, thoughts and some options, some rational, some not.

>"It is 99% Maria and 1% desperation," says Probolsky [Note to media, feel free to use this as long as you attribute to me and Flasreport.org]. -Call me vain for quoting myself, but I think this is the best explanation. It is no secret the insider pull the Governor’s wife has. If Maria trusts someone, and I gather there are few people she trusts, they have a pretty good shot at becoming [fill in high level government job here]. > "Some would suggest it… Read More

Props go to William Bradley for e-mailing out the news a couple of hours before me. Ironically, I didn’t know it because I wasn’t on his email list. I am now. Perhaps, if you want to be in the loop, you should be… To get on it, email Bill. Bill gets all of the credit/blame if you do or don’t like what he says in his columns. But he gets an "A" for aggressive reporting.

Here is the email sent this morning from Pat Clarey, the Governor’s former Chief of Staff, passing the reigns of her office: