By Eddie Gutierrez

The winding down of 2005 has seen a significant shift in strategy for the Schwarzenegger administration. Susan P. Kennedy, former Cabinet secretary and deputy chief of staff for Gov. Gray Davis, has been tapped to become the governor's new chief of staff, signaling a retreat from his rock-ribbed Republicanism and an attempt to win back supporters after all four of the governor's propositions were rejected in the Nov. 8 special election.

Kennedy, the lesbian former Davis Cabinet secretary and his appointee to the California Public Utilities Commission, is a strong pro-abortion rights advocate and a former executive director of the California Democratic Party. Kennedy's views on big business and the market raise some liberal eyebrows. She seems to be what insiders call "a blue dog Democrat," believing a usual Republican edict that government should be small and not wasteful. Kennedy was also a communications director for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whom she defended after Feinstein said that the LGBT movement had moved too soon, too fast on marriage equality.

Whether Kennedy will be an advocate for LGBT rights remains to be seen. But her hiring suggests that the governor is putting his office in order, regardless of political partisanship. Recently, first lady Maria Shriver hired openly gay Daniel Zingale, another top Davis aide, and his presence at key policy meetings suggest that Shriver is playing a bigger role in the administration. The irony of high level Davis staffers now employed by Arnold Schwarzenegger was not lost on the recalled governor as he grinned, posing by the governor's side as Davis' portrait was being hung in the Capitol.

What these staff changes mean is still an open question. Rob Stutzman, the governor's communications director, has a long track record of anti-gay activism and Gary Marx, the hard-core GOP strategist brought in to win the initiatives campaign, is still around. Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, received a 60 percent rating on Equality California's 2005 gubernatorial scorecard after vetoing the historic marriage equality bill, a sharp decline from his 100 percent rating in 2004.

Conservative GOP leaders, including state Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim, are now in attack mode, publicly denouncing the governor and demanding meetings. They have questions about Kennedy's access to Republican re-election strategies, fearing sensitive information could somehow land in Democratic hands. Sen. Carole Migden goes further, telling the San Francisco Examiner that she envisions Kennedy as "kind of dual governor: Arnold can now go out and campaign and Susan will stay at the Statehouse and get things done." There are even rumors of GOP conservatives drafting Mel Gibson to run against Schwarzenegger, believing that the success of Gibson's The Passion of the Christ could pull a strong religious base to the polls.

Celebrity politics can sometimes backfire -- just ask Jesse Ventura. But it sure does make for good entertainment. One thing is for sure: there are a lot of Kennedys at the governor's office lately.

Eddie Gutierrez is the communications director for Equality California.