John Fund pens this in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:
Two years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger stood before thousands of supporters outside the state Capitol in Sacramento, waved a broom and told the cheering crowd, "We’re going to clean house!" Voters overwhelmingly backed him in a recall election that swept discredited Governor Gray Davis out of office.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. This week, Governor Schwarzenegger attended a state Capitol ceremony in which Mr. Davis’ official portrait was unveiled. In a gracious statement, the governor extolled the man he replaced as someone he’s come to know as a friend who offers him "great, great advice." But then, for Mr. Schwarzenegger’s supporters, the ceremony took an ominous turn when Lynn Schenk, Governor Davis’ former chief-of-staff, stepped to the microphone and reminded people that Governor Schwarzengger is relying on the former Davis administration for a lot more than advice these days.
Ms. Schenk triumphantly noted that the Republican governor had recently appointed two top Davis aides to key posts in his office. "A gathering such as this usually marks the last page of the last chapter of an administration," Ms. Schenk said. "But I’m sure all of you are as pleased as I am that the Davis administration will continue on here with my former deputy chiefs of staff, Susan Kennedy and Daniel Zingale." Ms. Schenk added that she had always expected her two deputies to succeed her as chief of staff, "but I thought it was going to be in the Davis administration." Columnist Bill Bradley reports that, at this point in the proceedings, "a clearly unamused [First Lady] Maria Shriver shot laser beams into Schenk’s back with her eyes."
Governor Schwarzenegger’s staff insists he hasn’t changed his philosophical direction and remains in firm control of day-to-day operations. But his opponents are already seeking to undermine that claim. Democratic State Senator Carole Migden told the San Francisco Examiner this week that she envisions her friend Ms. Kennedy as a kind of dual governor: "Arnold can now go out and campaign and Susan will stay at the Statehouse and get things done." The soap opera that has become Governor Schwarzenegger’s administration promises to have even more complicated plot twists now.