Third post of the morning, but it’s a quickie.
If true, this is happy news for progressives in California, and further evidence that Governor Schwarzenegger may be ready to swing to the left: Report: Schwarzenegger Appoints Lesbian Activist Top Aide.
In a move to shore up his sagging support among California gays and moderates Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reportedly hired Susan Kennedy as his new chief of staff.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Schwarzenegger will make the formal announcement this week. The appointment of Kennedy is part of a major shakeup of the governor’s staff as he heads into an election amid plummeting approval ratings.
Kennedy is a longtime gay activist, a former official with the state Democratic Party official and was a top adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis…
She and partner Vicki Marti exchanged vows in a 1999 ceremony in Hawaii that was attended by many California political insiders.
She is highly respected by both Democrats and Republicans, although the far right of the GOP has expressed concerns about the reported appointment.
I’ll bet they have! Now all Arnold needs to do is grant clemency to Tookie Williams, and he’ll have won this liberal’s heart…
UPDATE: Uh oh, Arnold. The Campaign for California Families is really unhappy:
Arnold Schwarzenegger has become a liberal Democrat. By placing a leading homosexual, pro-abortion Democrat activist in charge of his entire administration, Arnold has taken a disastrous turn to the left. Conservative voters who supported him are waking up from their dream and stepping into reality – and the reality stinks. This is like George W. Bush appointing Hillary Clinton to be in charge of his administration. It’s utterly ridiculous. Why doesn’t Arnold get honest and just leave the Republican Party?
He can have my heart (or the gay rights activist portions thereof) when he un-vetoes AB849, and not before. Using Kennedy’s appointment to placate the gay community in the wake of that veto feels like hollow tokenism to me. I’m sure she’ll be a fine chief of staff, and I hope she does move policy in a more GLBT-friendly direction, but given the circumstances I just can’t get that excited about her.
Maybe Arnold and Maria had a bet about the elections in November and she won. Now Arnie has to tow the Democrat line. Meow for Maria!
Race, gender, sexual orientation - why the heck should any of these things matter? To me and probably most people, they don’t anymore. If this person is the best one for the job based of qualifications related to job performance, I say ‘good show’ to Arnold. And I too hope he grants permanent clemency to Tookie. Also, I think that this highlights the fact the the Republicans (who I don’t necessarily support) are generally quite tolerant and supportive of diversity, and perhaps even more so than the Democrats and left in general, who seem much less tolerant of certain unfavored groups (i.e., white males) and absolutely obssessed with race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., etc. We need to get over all this victim politics and start seeing each other as individual humans, first and foremost.