PARSKY EXPLORES GUBERNATORIAL BID

Regents chair hints he'll run, but only if the governor doesn't.
By Amy Chance -- Bee Political Editor
Published 2:15 am PST Saturday, March 12, 2005

Gerry Parsky, chairman of the University of California Board of Regents and President Bush's political point man in California, is quietly exploring the possibility of running for governor next year if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opts to bow out.

Parsky adviser Dora Kingsley made a recent trip to Washington, D.C., in which she floated the possibility to congressional and media representatives, and Parsky acknowledged in a written statement that he would not rule out the possibility.

"Should either President Bush or Governor Schwarzenegger again call upon me to consider additional public service in another capacity, I would seriously consider the honor," he said.

Despite his close ties to Bush, Parsky is a not a beloved figure in some quarters of the state Republican Party and is an untested statewide candidate.

But as a multimillionaire who serves as chairman of Aurora Capital
Group, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, he is considered capable of paying for the campaign himself should he choose to do so.

He also has recently sent signals that he doubts Schwarzenegger will succeed in a sweeping effort to pass several initiatives on issues ranging from the state pension system to state spending controls in a special election showdown with Democratic interest groups.

Last week, he came to Sacramento to tell a legislative committee that, as chairman of the UC Board of Regents, he cannot support the governor's proposal to turn government pensions into a 401(k)-style system.

Parsky, whose stint as chairman expires next year, said Schwarzenegger's measure as drafted could damage the university system's ability to recruit faculty and therefore hamper the California economy. Kingsley said he has offered to help Schwarzenegger negotiate a compromise with legislative Democrats.

A month ago at the state Republican Party convention in Sacramento,
Kingsley - a longtime GOP activist who is close to Parsky - resigned from the party's Rules Committee to protest its decision to pave the way for an early endorsement of Schwarzenegger's re-election.

The action was aimed at giving the party room to spend money preparing for Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign without violating its bylaws. Delegates then endorsed the governor on a unanimous voice vote.

Party Chairman Duf Sundheim said the move was necessary because new campaign finance limits prevent Schwarzenegger from collecting unlimited amounts for his own campaign treasury. The party is not subject to the restrictions.

But Kingsley argued that the move violated longtime party practice and would discourage competition in the Republican gubernatorial primary.A spokeswoman for Parsky and Kingsley said this week, however, that Parsky was not considering challenging Schwarzenegger should he decide to run for re-election.

"We visited Washington and met with Republican leaders and advisers, refreshing a dialogue with friends and colleagues inside the Beltway," spokeswoman Elizabeth Blackney said. "Mr. Parsky and Dora are both totally supportive of the governor being re-elected at this point."

Some Republicans said they found it amazing that Parsky would have the temerity to offer his name given Schwarzenegger's current popularity, but weren't surprised that he did, given his past interest in key political positions.

"That is truly astounding and utterly believable," said Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for the state Republican Party. Communications Director Rob Stutzman declined to comment on the possibility of a Parsky candidacy.

But California political insiders are skeptical that Parsky could win a statewide election given his close ties to Bush. Parsky served as chairman of the California delegation to the Republican National Convention in New York last year, but California voters decisively cast their ballots for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in November.

Blackney noted that Parsky has received appointments from each of the past five Republican presidents, including stints at the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Energy under former President Nixon. He served in 2001 and 2002 on Bush's Commission to Strengthen Social Security.

"Whether it's President Bush or President Reagan, he's always served the state of California and the American people well," Blackney said. "I don't see that his relationship with the current president of the United States would be a hindrance in any way."

If this comic scenario becomes reality, it looks like the Republican
Party will have its own version of Al Checchi – complete with big wallet, bad hairpiece. The major difference being Al Chechi was actually taken seriously for most of his ill-fated gubernatorial campaign.

That Gerry Parsky is even contemplating a run for governor vividly illustrates the hermetically sealed LearJet world he lives in. What possible rationales exist in the real world inhabited by the rest of us that would justify a Parsky gubernatorial candidacy? Is he mad?

It’s easy to say why Gerry Parsky should not run for governor – the reasons are legion. The challenge is scraping up any reason why he should run.

We have a theory as to what is wheezing air into the Parsky for Governor trial balloon. It’s an unholy mixture of Parsky’s boundless conceit and self-regard, and Dora Kingsley’s powerful sense of self-importance and even more powerful desire to continue drawing a paycheck from Parsky.

One could call it the Axis of Ego.

It all fits. Parsky has been “plaqued” out of California Republican Party affairs and President Bush will never again be on the ballot in California.

So Parsky is without a political raison d’etre. Hence the danger – from Dora Kingsley’s point of view – that Gerry may get bored with politics altogether and thus have no use for keeping his pet political hatchet-frau on payroll.

It’s a classic case of a political consultant manipulating a client into a campaign venture that is doomed to fail – but doomed to fail expensively.

This ploy works when the client’s ego has blinded their ability to break through consultant flattery, stand outside themselves and objectively size up the wisdom of what their consultant is urging them to do.

Doubtless, Kingsley is whispering to Parsky about grass-roots dissatisfaction with Gov. Schwarzenegger, and that buy playing the role of the UnArnold, he can tap into that sentiment should Schwarzenegger decline running for a second term.

As we said, it’s just a theory – but it makes a hell of a lot more sense than the Parsky-Kingsley gubernatorial pipe dream.