|
|
Alumnas of the Week Nov. 28 - Dec. 5, 2003:
Margita Thompson
Former D.C. aide named as press secretary
The Sacramento Bee
By Gary Delsohn -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Margita Thompson, a seasoned spokeswoman who has worked for former President Bush, the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney and talk show host Larry King, was named press secretary Monday to Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The San Diego native is a graduate of both the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and speaks fluent Spanish.
"Margita is supremely qualified for the job," Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement. "She is a native Californian who has worked in government and media at both the state and national levels. She will bring energy and enthusiasm to our already dynamic team."
Thompson, 36, was unavailable for comment, but the senior producer who hired her at CNN, where she booked political guests for the "Larry King Live" talk show, raved about her.
"She has an amazing résumé, and I think it just got a little better," said Wendy Walker Whitworth, a senior executive producer for King.
"She's an extremely impressive woman, an extremely hard worker, and she's very mature. I was lucky to have her as long as I did." She worked for King's show about 18 months.
One of the guests she booked for King earlier this year was Schwarzenegger -- on the same night other candidates for California governor were holding a debate across the street in Los Angeles.
A publicist for the King show said Thompson, who worked for the show out of Washington, also booked such political figures as former President Clinton, former first lady Barbara Bush, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean and Trent Lott, the former U.S. Senate majority leader who resigned amid controversy over his praise for Strom Thurmond's segregationist campaign for the presidency in 1948.
"I wanted somebody who really lived and breathed politics to have that job," Whitworth said. "She represented me and the show very well."
Thompson, a Republican, was an aide to Pete Wilson when he was a U.S. senator and joined his staff when Wilson became governor, managing community relations.
She joined the California campaign of former President George Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle in 1992 and later moved to San Francisco, where she became deputy director of Wilson's office there.
In 1999, after two jobs as a spokeswoman for high-tech industry associations, she was California press secretary to George W. Bush's campaign for president. When Bush was elected, she went to work at the White House as press secretary for Lynne Cheney, the vice president's wife.
In 2002, she came back to California to serve as press secretary to former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, when he sought the Republican nomination for governor. Riordan joined Schwarzenegger's team last week as education secretary.
Rob Stutzman, who is Schwarzenegger's communications director and will serve as Thompson's boss, said she has worked with a lot of California journalists and is "well-respected for her trustworthiness and her professionalism."
Schwarzenegger transition officials said they were not yet sure what Thompson would be paid.
About the Writer
The Bee's Gary Delsohn can be reached at (916) 326-5545 or gdelsohn@sacbee.com.
|
|
|
