Checchi’s Wealth: The Good and the Bad

* Kenneth L. Khachigian knows a great deal about running political campaigns for really rich white men. It’s obvious from “Checchi Gets Hit Hard Right From Kickoff” (Oct. 12) that “coach” Khachigian is still nettled by the immensely expensive defeat of his client Michael Huffington in 1994.

Nevertheless, no matter how disingenuous, Khachigian’s advice to and about Al Checchi, a Democratic candidate for governor, should be taken seriously.

Yet Khachigian’s advice is not comprehensive. Missing from the coach’s advisory is any mention of what role the spouse of a really rich white man should have during a campaign--surely game films from Huffington’s 1994 Senate race have much to teach even a seasoned professional like Khachigian about the appropriate role for the spouse of an “empty suit.” This phrase was used to describe Michael Huffington because of his (now former) wife, Arianna, and it still irks Khachigian.

Ed Rollins, Khachigian’s colleague on the Huffington campaign, had a great deal to say about Arianna Huffington’s impact on the ’94 Senate race in “In Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms” (NY: Broadway Books, 1996). Rollins characterized Arianna Huffington (now a single mother of two living in Los Angeles--so much for family values!) variously as “ruthless,” “unscrupulous,” “unprincipled,” “power-crafted,” “manic,” “wacko,” “scheming,” “truly pathological,” “craven” and “beyond contempt.” This, a litany of derogatory adjectives which might even make Khachigian blush.

Word is, Al Checchi doesn’t have an “Arianna problem.” Thank goodness for the Democrats. Still, you can never know for sure. I think we’d all be interested in knowing how Khachigian would deal with an “Arianna” again when or if he works for another really rich white man running for elective office.

MARK P. PETRACCA

Irvine