Governor, Kennedy say they're on the same page
Amy Chance, Sacramento Bee
November 30, 2005
 
Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger insisted Wednesday that the direction of his administration won't change with the appointment of Democrat Susan Kennedy, a top aide to former Gov. Gray Davis, as his new chief of staff.
 
Introducing Kennedy at a 2 p.m. Capitol news conference, Schwarzenegger said he got to know Kennedy over the last two years through her job as a Davis appointee to the Public Utilities Commission. After considering various candidates, the Republican governor said, he concluded she's willing to put her "Democratic philosophy aside" and "implement my vision."

"The one I came back to over and over again was Susan Kennedy," he said.

Kennedy told reporters her views don't differ that much from Schwarzenegger's, given that she is a moderate Democrat and he is a moderate Republican.
 
"There's not a lot of light between us," said Kennedy, who said she voted for all four of the ballot measures Schwarzenegger backed in the Nov. 8 special election. Those measures would have given the governor more budget-cutting powers, made it more difficult for public employee unions to raise political cash, made teachers work longer before earning tenure and taken political redistricting out of the hands of the state Legislature. Voters defeated them all.

Kennedy said that after 25 years in the political trenches for Democratic candidates, she has grown tired of partisan wars.

"This is not a time for California to hunker down behind partisan labels," Kennedy said. "The bottom line is that I believe in this man...and where he wants to take California...to get past the partisan labels and to get things done."

The appointment drew fierce opposition from the right wing of Schwarzenegger's party Wednesday. The Campaign for Children and Families issued a statement saying that Schwarzenegger's "left turn" had angered "pro-family, conservative voters."

"This is like George W. Bush appointing Hillary Clinton to be in charge of his administration," CCF President Randy Thomasson said in a statement.