From the Marin Independent Journal, September 8, 2007:

Ties between the Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger administration and Marin Services for Women of Greenbrae are being scrutinized because the domestic partner of Schwarzenegger's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, is a longtime employee of the nonprofit. Vicki Marti is the nonprofit's director of programs and has worked there most of her career.

Marti and several other women with connections to Marin Services for Women are on the state's payroll, and corporations are queuing up to attend the nonprofit's annual benefit dinner next week, when Kennedy will be guest of honor. Kennedy, a recovered alcoholic, has spoken candidly of her past struggle with alcohol. Kennedy and Marti share a home in Fairfax.

Schwarzenegger has kept Marti on the California Medical Assistance Commission even though her term expired in January 2005. The position pays $54,250 a year.

In February, the governor appointed Renee Zito, the former director of programs at Marin Services for Women, as director of the state's Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. The position pays $142,965 a year.

In June, the governor appointed Angela Bradstreet, a member of Marin Services for Women's board, as state labor commissioner. The position pays $134,000 a year.

And in August, the governor appointed Tiffany Rystrom, Bradstreet's domestic partner, to the Public Employment Relations Board. That position pays $123,897 a year.

"It suggests that connections to Susan Kennedy through this charity and her partner may have been what helped secure those positions," said Derek Cressman, a consultant for government watchdog groups and the author of "The Recall's Broken Promise: How Big Money Still Runs California Politics."

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Cressman said he sees nothing wrong with Marin Services for Women hosting a fundraising event honoring Kennedy.

"The potential concerns come up when you have lobbyists using an event like this as a potential way to curry favor with Susan Kennedy. That's a different dynamic," Cressman said.

Cressman said it is particularly worrisome that several of the corporate sponsors are telecommunications companies because Kennedy - a self-described pro-business, Clintonian Democrat - has been criticized in the past for her pro-industry votes while serving on the California PUC from 2003 to 2005.

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