Too late: Apparently Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned from China and is now planning to reshuffle his government. I say “apparently” because there has been a virtual news black out from the governor’s office - the strategy being: Maybe they won’t hate me so much if I stay very quiet.
It also seems apparent that the governor is letting his wife, Maria Shriver, a Democrat of the highest order, make some decisions:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, launching an overhaul of his administration, is poised to hire a former Democratic Party activist and high-ranking aide to Gray Davis as his new chief of staff, sources familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday.
The hiring of Susan P. Kennedy — a former executive director of the California Democratic Party, longtime abortion rights activist and Cabinet secretary to Davis, the Democrat whom Schwarzenegger replaced — would signal a shift in direction for the Republican governor.
His political circle already includes at least two prominent Democrats: First Lady of California Maria Shriver and longtime friend and aide Bonnie Reiss. Shriver recently hired another former Cabinet secretary to Davis, Daniel Zingale, as her chief of staff…
Nonetheless, such a high-profile reach to the other side of the political divide is unusual in the sharply divided politics of California state government.
The move stands in contrast to the strategy Schwarzenegger followed for most of the last year, in which he emphasized issues that appealed to Republican voters.
Kennedy would replace Patricia Clarey, a Republican and one of Schwarzenegger’s first appointments.
As chief of staff, Clarey helped stock the senior ranks of the administration with Republican loyalists and trusted colleagues from former Gov. Pete Wilson’s office.
Conservative Republicans said they were already troubled by the administration’s shift in direction, which began just after the Nov. 8 election when Schwarzenegger said he wanted to borrow billions of dollars to shore up the state’s infrastructure rather than trim the budget.
