OKAY, I FEEL A LITTLE BETTER

When Arnold was talking about putting a transition team together, he said it would be a left-right mix. I was skeptical, knowing that Bush said some similar things after the Florida coup, and we wound up with 20 neocons and Norm Mineta.

But from the looks of the team he announced today, perhaps Arnold was serious.

California's governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger today named his transition team, listing personalities as diverse as former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

Standing next to Rep. David Dreier, who will head the transition, Schwarzenegger said he wanted the "smartest people in the state" to help him begin his work in the capital -- no matter what their party affiliation or political views.

(...)

Schwarzenegger also listed businessman Bill Simon Jr., a staunch Republican, and Democrats Susan Estrich, a professor, and Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, to join the others.

Those are some good Democrats there (though I wouldn't have minded seeing Leon Panetta in there -- on the other hand, the multi-level irony of putting a Clinton guy on Arnold's staff could be too much for some of his Republican voters to swallow). Willie Brown, former legislature big-man, knows everything there is to know about Sacramento, and could end up being much more helpful to Arnold than Dreier, who's been in DC for a while now and never served in Sacto.

Also included in the team is former State Treasurer Matt Fong, who was Barbara Boxer's last victim in the 98 election. Interesting that only some of the California GOP "losers" got an invite to this. Fong and Simon are in, while there's no sign of losers Campbell, Lungren, or Bill Jones.

The Brown appointment is a good indication that the split in the California GOP is alive and well, since some McClintock conservatives are already upset about this. Then again, c'mon! It's Wille Brown! He may not be a Republican, but he sure renovates City Hall like one!



I kid, I kid. Sure, Willie's no slow-growth or no-growth progressive, but he's still a Dem deep down.