All in the political family

Alicia Robinson

From college to the campaign trail to the governor’s office -- well,

his press office, to be precise -- was a fairly short trip for Leigh

Thomas, a Southern California native whose father, Irvine Co.

executive Larry Thomas, has his own history in politics.

As a child, Leigh Thomas grew up around politics. Her father

served as press secretary to ex-Gov. Pete Wilson when he was San

Diego’s mayor and former President George Bush when he was vice

president, and he would take his daughter to Sacramento, where he

worked for Gov. George Deukmejian. Leigh Thomas eventually decided to

study communications at Chapman University with plans to go into

advertising.

But shortly after graduation, she went abroad and had a change of

heart.

“I got back from Europe and told my dad I wanted to move to

Australia,” she said. “He said, ‘Before you do that, why don’t you

try working on this campaign.’”

That campaign was to make Arnold Schwarzenegger the state’s

governor.

As soon as he won the recall election, Leigh Thomas packed up her

things within days and moved to Sacramento to work in one of his

press offices there. It was a whirlwind affair, especially because

the recall campaign was so short, she said.

“When you’re thrown into something like that, especially when it’s

a condensed campaign, you really have no choice but to run with it,”

Leigh Thomas said.

For a while she had to learn something new every day.

“[Los Angeles Times political columnist] George Skelton would

call, and I would have no idea who he was,” she said.

“After a couple of weeks I really started to feel much more

comfortable with [the job] and started to enjoy it.”

Now she spends all day talking to reporters, answering phones and

arranging interviews for her boss with media from around the world.

Working for someone as high-profile as Schwarzenegger means long days

-- sometimes she comes in at 6:45 a.m. and doesn’t leave the office

before 7 p.m., and she often works weekends.

But the grueling schedule is worth it, in part because she likes

her boss.

“Gov. Schwarzenegger has a real nice way about him,” Leigh Thomas

said. “He’s very kind and I think he really cares about his staff

members. It was really nice to work on a campaign where you share the

same beliefs as the candidate, and his main goal was to better

California and pull it out of the mess that it was in.”

On the job, she met someone else who shared her ideals, and now

they’re engaged. Leigh Thomas and her fiance, Eric Beach, will marry

in November.

While she doesn’t know where this job will take her, she loves the

work, she said.

“We laugh and we say that we’re spoiled because many times it’s

intense and it’s fast-paced and when it’s a slow day we’re all

bored,” she said.

“A lot of times it’s hard and we get burnt out, but we go, ‘Wow,

we work in the governor’s office and we work for Governor

Schwarzenegger, and you can’t beat that.’”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson@

latimes.com.