Los Angeles Times

Re: “She Can’t Play by the Rules,” Column One, April 15: I found the article about the way the governor’s political aide Patricia Clarey has to reinvent the job she took on disturbing — the way she has to run interference for him, guarding his every move and every word, like a worried mother whose child is about to insult or offend someone.

He doesn’t play by the rules because he doesn’t think they apply to him, and he thinks he is above it all by throwing his governor weight around California.

He hasn’t a clue how government works, and that is apparent every time he opens his mouth.

Frances Terrell Lippman
Los Angeles

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Your Page 1 profile of Patricia Clarey, the former oil industry and HMO lobbyist who now serves as the governor’s chief of staff, neglected to mention the close relationship of her former employer to the governor’s office.

Readers should know Clarey’s former employer, Chevron, has donated $222,000 to Schwarzenegger during Clarey’s tenure.

In July 2004, Schwarzenegger’s top staff took a privately funded overseas trip with ChevronTexaco officials — it included luxury accommodations at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia — which was trying to sell the governor’s people on why liquefied natural gas should be California’s new source of electricity.

Schwarzenegger has become a big proponent of LNG — seeking to open the door to coastal LNG terminals and make the long-term commitment to gas-powered electricity — and this month ChevronTexaco announced a buyout of Unocal that would make it a huge player in the LNG market.

This part of Clarey’s and Schwarzenegger’s relationship to ChevronTexaco should have been mentioned.

Douglas Heller
Executive Director
Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights
Santa Monica