Colleagues speak highly of new Secretary of State
By Andy Furillo, Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO - Authentic. Friendly. A Republican who ran and won multiple times in a hard-core Democratic region. A newspaperman by upbringing, and a dad devastated by the numbing loss of a murdered son.
Bruce McPherson, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's pick to take charge of the Secretary of State's office, is all of those things, woven into a 61-year-old life that is underlined by the critical component needed to make his new job a success - integrity, according to friends, former colleagues and staffers.
"He is somebody who is respected here in the Santa Cruz community by both Republicans and Democrats," said Fred Keeley, a former Democratic assemblyman from Santa Cruz, who served while McPherson represented the region as a Republican state senator. "The people of Santa Cruz don't see Bruce as a Republican. They see him as Bruce, somebody they know and trust. Somebody they have confidence in.
"That showed when he was in the Legislature," Keeley added, "which is why I would guess he will have no problem getting confirmed."
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