Governor Announces Change in His Inner Circle

In an apparent effort to hone his message and exercise more control over his top appointees, Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday named a hard-edged political consultant to a top job among his inner circle of advisers.

Joseph D. Rodota, a former Reagan White House aide and an expert in the opposition research that has become central to modern political campaigns, will become Wilson’s cabinet secretary, coordinating policy for the Administration.

Rodota, 32, replaces Loren Kaye, a longtime Wilson loyalist who is leaving the governor’s executive staff to become second-in-command at a new state agency designed to help California businesses create more jobs.

Although the shift is the first high-level shake-up since a number of Wilson-backed candidates and causes were defeated in the November election, a spokesman said the change was not prompted by the results at the polls.

Communications Director Dan Schnur said Kaye, who has worked for Wilson off and on for 16 years, requested the transfer to the new Trade and Commerce Agency, where he will serve as undersecretary. Rodota, Schnur said, was the ideal person to replace Kaye in Wilson’s inner circle.

“This is the best way to make sure that the Trade and Commerce Agency functions as effectively as possible and the way to make sure the governor’s office functions as effectively as possible,” Schnur said.

He added: “Joe’s background gives him the ability to make sure there’s more of a public relations sensitivity in the policy development process. There will be someone intimately involved in the process who has an expertise in how that policy is going to sell to the public.”

Rodota also will be expected to ride herd on Wilson’s diverse collection of agency secretaries and department directors, who have not always been in step with each other or the governor. Wilson, one aide said, wants his top officials to be more assertive in trumpeting the Administration’s message.

“There has been a lot of free-lancing,” said the aide. “There’s been a lack of interest in aggressively promoting the governor’s agenda.”

There has been speculation in Sacramento since the election that Wilson might announce wholesale changes in his top staff, including the resignation of his longtime chief aide, Bob White. Wilson headed President Bush’s losing California campaign and saw his handpicked successor for the U.S. Senate, John Seymour, go down to defeat. The governor also failed in his attempt to help Republicans take control of the Assembly, where the GOP lost a seat, and the voters rejected Proposition 165, Wilson’s proposal to cut welfare benefits and shift some budget powers from the Legislature to the governor.

But other than the addition of Rodota and a reorganization of his communications staff, which will be announced today, Wilson now is expected to keep his current team in place.

Rodota, a graduate of Stanford University, served as deputy director of public affairs for the White House from 1985 until 1988. Among other chores, he compiled economic and domestic policy briefings to prepare the President for press conferences and interviews.

He left public employment to form a Sacramento-based political consulting firm, Benchmark Resources, which specialized in opposition research, the art of uncovering negative items about political candidates. His aggressive, no-holds-barred approach on behalf of Wilson’s successful 1990 campaign earned him a nickname among Wilson operatives, “Dr. Death.”

Kaye said Rodota was particularly effective at documenting opponent Dianne Feinstein’s fiscal record as mayor of San Francisco, an issue that figured prominently in the campaign.

Kaye, 36, has been working for Wilson off and on since he appeared as a teen-ager in one of Wilson’s first political advertisements. He was deputy cabinet secretary for former Gov. George Deukmejian from 1987 to 1989 and became Wilson’s cabinet secretary at the start of the new Administration.

Wilson on Tuesday also named Marin County Supervisor Al Aramburu to head the California Conservation Corps. Aramburu, who was part of Wilson’s slate of moderate Republican candidates, won the June primary but lost to Democrat Vivien Bronshvag in November.

The son of Mexican immigrants, Aramburu graduated from Cal State Northridge, founded a business, was elected to the Tiburon City Council and then became the first Latino elected to the Marin County Board of Supervisors.

“He is a self-starter and will serve as a positive role model and motivator” for the youths who join the corps, Wilson said.