Hail to the chief (of staff)

IT’S NO SURPRISE THAT LOYAL Republicans are unhappy -- OK, appalled -- with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s choice for his new chief of staff, Democratic stalwart Susan Kennedy. Nor is it unexpected that some of the Democratic faithful will now find it difficult to trust her as the No. 1 aide to the Republican governor. Both sides are overreacting.

Kennedy comes with an impeccable Democratic pedigree: former executive director of the California Democratic Party, aide to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Cabinet secretary to former Gov. Gray Davis. Can she leave all that baggage at the door to the governor’s office?

She needs and deserves time -- a few months at least. Kennedy certainly has the credentials. During the last two years, in addition to serving on the California Public Utilities Commission, Kennedy has been a member of the California Bay-Delta Authority, the body created to oversee the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the water source for millions of Californians. Schwarzenegger wants to overhaul the federal-state administrative structure to give it more focus and authority. Kennedy could provide the muscle and expertise to get that done.

Kennedy is also widely viewed as smart, perceptive and efficient. All of those qualities are needed in this governor’s office. And she should be able to negotiate well with legislative leaders.

Nonetheless, self-styled experts and readers of tea leaves looked for a deeper meaning in the governor’s choice. Is he moving to the left to better position himself for his reelection campaign next fall? After all, he was drubbed at the polls Nov. 8, when all four of the ballot initiatives he backed were voted down. And the defeat came after a year in which he had shifted to the right, embraced the California business community and vociferously brawled with Democrats in the Legislature.

But the governor insists that there is no change in direction or political agenda. And there is no reason to doubt his word. Schwarzenegger said he learned after the special election that Californians want the governor and Legislature to solve problems on their own in Sacramento and not abuse the initiative process.

Now, the other lesson he seems to be learning is that his executive staff in the horseshoe-shaped Capitol suite was pushed and pulled by internal conflict, much of it ideological. Some think that a new chief of staff by itself will not change that; Schwarzenegger needs to change his governing style. That may be true, but early signs are that Kennedy will have the authority to bring order.

And the governor has indicated he will become more of a manager in the office and less of a showman outside of it. With Kennedy at his side, that could be a winning combination.