State GOP leaders will back Arnold's re-election
By Tom Chorneau, Associated Press
LA Daily News
SACRAMENTO - State GOP leaders on Thursday tried to snuff out the political firestorm that followed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointment of a Democratic activist, saying they are committed to his re-election next year.
GOP loyalists feared that chief of staff Susan Kennedy, a one-time aide to former Gov. Gray Davis, would be in a position to hear about party strategy for the 2006 elections and influence the governor's policies. The governor and California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim emerged from an hourlong meeting ready to put the Kennedy appointment behind them.
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A staff shake-up in Schwarzenegger's administration was anticipated after voters rejected all four of his government-reform initiatives in the Nov. 8 special election.
But many conservatives were caught by surprise when Schwarzenegger named Kennedy on Nov. 30 to replace Patricia Clarey, a one-time aide to former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. In addition to being a former top aide to the governor Schwarzenegger replaced, Kennedy is a former director of an abortion rights group and once worked for Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.
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