Author: Joe Rodota

The smoke signals were being sent as long as 10 days
ago:  Candidate Jerry Brown began
postulating what he’d do in office, while Meg Whitman fought off media reports
of unfavorable polling.  The transition
from the Schwarzenegger Administration to the Second Brown Administration had
begun.

I served as policy director for the Schwarzenegger 2003
recall campaign and as the point person in the transition on the economic
recovery portfolio, including energy, workers compensation insurance reform,
and the overall business climate.  And
about 10 days before voters went to the polls, I had already switched my focus
to preparing for the hand-off from Governor Davis.  

The first step was to prepare the official record of
Schwarzenegger’s agenda – as reflected in our policy papers, in the candidate’s
answers to questionnaires, and in his debates and prepared remarks.  It may seem obvious, but someone has to come
up with an objective checklist of promises to guard against revisionist
history, and to help educate the swarm of new players who descend on a new
Governor-elect with their ideas for what needs to be done.  That task should be high on the list of items
to be addressed by the Brown 2.0 transition staff.