Public Service Innovators -- Patricia Clarey (MPA1983): She's Back

Out of respect, Patricia Clarey (MPA 1983) tries not to call her new boss by his first name: Arnold. But, during an interview from her office at the state house in Sacramento, the word slips out half a dozen times.

"It's hard. I've known him for a long time and he's always been Arnold," she says of the former body-builder-turned-movie-star who is now the governor of California. "And to the public he's always been Arnold.

Governor Schwarzenegger, as she corrects herself, is the reason Clarey came back into government and accepted his offer to be chief of staff. A few years ago, after working in the Bush and Reagan administrations, then as deputy chief of staff to California Governor Pete Wilson, Clarey moved into the private sector, working most recently as vice president for governmental affairs at Health Net Inc., a Southern California HMO. But Schwarzenegger's enthusiasm won her over.

"I probably would not have come back into government if he wasn't so optimistic," she says. "It's not business-as-usual with him."

As a chief of staff, Clarey's job is complicated. Not only does she manage the logistics for Schwarzenegger's entire staff, but she's also helping to create his vision for where the fiscally battered state ought to be.

"The state is in a crisis. He's in a unique position to turn it around. The governor has a strong, broad vision. First and foremost, he wants to fix the fiscal mess we're in. We're close to bankruptcy," Clarey says. "Then, as a team, we're reviewing business laws. We've made the cost of doing business in California so expensive that we're no longer competitive. We're working in a bi-partisan way to change that. We want to be a job-making machine."

Bi-partisanship is key to Schwarzenegger's plan, Clarey says. It's his belief that one of the reasons he was elected was because people were tired of partisan politics and nothing getting done," she says. "He's never held political office before so he's not partisan. Plus, he's married to a Democrat. We're here to fix things, not fight. If it's a Democratic idea or a Republican idea, it doesn't matter, as long as it fixes things. It's a terrific mixture of people all here for the same reason."

Clarey, described by the media as an "unflappable" "savvy Sacramento insider" who's willing to work round-the-clock, says the rock star response to her boss since taking office has taken some getting used to.

"With him, everything is bigger. When he does a press conference, we have to rent auditoriums. Normally when a governor does an event, you have to work hard to get a small crowd. We can get 1,000 people without doing much," she says. "There's a real enthusiasm for what he's trying to do. He brings possibility to people."

Photo: courtesy of California Governor's Office