GOP Legislators Take Concerns to Governor

GOP Lawmakers Take Gov. to Task Over Appointment
By Peter Nicholas, Times Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO — Republican lawmakers scolded Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday, telling him in a closed-door meeting how seriously his support among party stalwarts is wavering.

Schwarzenegger spent about an hour with 20 members of the Assembly Republican caucus, who had asked for the meeting following his appointment of a Democratic activist as his new chief of staff.

The full story is here.

First observation: The headline states that GOP lawmakers "took the Governor to task" and the story leads with the term "scolded." Yet, nowhere in the story is there any evidence presented that Assembly Republicans "took the Governor to task" or did any "scolding."

This charge is not leveled to criticize Assembly Republicans - I don't know what the tenor of the meeting was. Instead, I wish to point out that the LA. Times oversold the story. The Times uses caustic terms in the headline and opening paragraph, but then describes a meeting in which Assembly Republicans informed the Governor of the "revolt" in the grassroots. One Assemblyman is later quoted as saying that support for a megabond is unlikely and that nobody could really know without details. Hardly the harsh "scolding" I expected to read about given the headline and opening paragraph.

The Sacramento Bee did a much better job!

Second observation: From this story it appears that nothing new was presented to the Governor. I applaud the GOP members for meeting with the Governor, it demonstrates a sense of concern that is appropriate and needed. But, I still believe the Governor knew that he would raise a rancor within the GOP by his appointment of Democrat activist Susan Kennedy; and as stated before - he either doesn't care, or he doesn't think it's important. (Or, maybe both?)