Arnold Schwarzenegger

Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointments to public offices have been among the most diverse and inclusive in California history.

• More than 41 percent of all Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointments were highly qualified women—a higher percentage than any governor in history.
• More than one-third of his cabinet-level appointees were women, including the top positions in his administration: chief of staff, legal affairs secretary, judicial appointments secretary, labor secretary, health and human services secretary, and director of finance.
• More than 35 percent of the Governor’s judicial appointments were women—the highest percentage of any governor in history.
• Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye to be Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court,,giving the Court its first-ever female majority.
• More than 25 percent of Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointments to public office were ethnic minorities, the second-highest proportion in state history.
• The Governor appointed State Senator Abel Maldonado to be California’s Lieutenant Governor, the first Latino Republican to hold statewide office in more than 130 years.
• He appointed the first Filipina-American to lead the state’s judicial branch with his nomination of Justice Cantil-Sakauye as Chief Justice, and he appointed more Asian-Americans to judicial posts than any previous governor in history.
• The Governor’s judicial appointments have been bipartisan and politically diverse. Overall, he has appointed to the courts 285 Republicans, 234 Democrats, and 50 who decline to state a party preference.