I am a real John and Ken fan.  Back in 1993, I used to listen to them every day, and one day sent them a budget proposal by the Assembly Republicans.  They mentioned on the radio, said they didn’t care about the budget, and asked what I was going to do about the Three Strikes law.  I sent them some information on a motion to withdraw that I and a group of Republicans did in May of 1993 to try and pass the Three Strikes law.  That little event led to a revolution that passed Three Strikes, led to a Republican majority in the Assembly, and toppled Willy Brown as Speaker.  It was all due to John and Ken.

Since then they have been voices of clarity on the budget, on illegal immigration, on the recall, on Governor’s Schwarzenegger’s betrayal of the recall, and on the recent tax increase.  They have taken a lot of heat, but they have given a lot of it as well, and they have done it in the pursuit of good issues right for the people of the state of California.  They are proof that if you do the right thing, good things (including good ratings) will result.

But I have to disagree on Jeff Miller.  Jeff Miller did the right thing.  He voted against the tax increase.  He fought against it, and to single him out for a recall because he didn’t oust Mike Villines is just plain wrong.

I like Mike Villines, but I think he was so badly wrong on the tax increase that I would have moved to remove him as leader if I were still in the caucus.  A leader cannot sell out principle so badly and expect to remain leader.  I would not have done what Chuck De Vore did, I would not have resigned a leadership post (if I had held one).  I would have forced the leader to fire me from the post for leading a charge against the leader, but these are all strategies.  They are not principles.  They are efforts on which principled people can disagree.  I don’t know what was happening within the caucus.  I don’t know the discussions.  I don’t know what the votes were to remove Mike as the leader.  I agree that he should be removed (even now), but that takes 16 votes, and sometimes smart people keep their powder dry until it is time to shoot.  If the votes weren’t there, something even worse might have happened if the battle over leader erupted.  I just don’t know.

Recalls, however, are appropriate when someone sells out principle.  Paul Horcher and Doris Allen sold out principle by allowing the Democrats to remain in charge of policy after the voters invested their faith in the Republican Party.  Governor Schwarzenegger sold us out a long time ago.  He just completed the betrayal of the principles that brought him to the Governor’s office with the latest budget deal.  Mike Villines, Dave Cogdill and the others that voted for the budget deal sold out those principles when they negotiated and voted for the budget deal.  They deserve whatever happens to them.  They are all nice people who I like a lot, but they broke the promises they made to get elected, and that means they deserve to lose the positions they hold.  Cogdill lost his leadership position.  At a minimum, Villines deserves to lose his.  It is hard for me to say these things, but they are true.  The outcome is up to people other than me.  That is just my opinion, hard as it is to say.

But Jeff Miller has done nothing wrong.  He did all the right things.  We can disagree on his strategy.  We can disagree on the right way to deal with the leadership crisis that exists right now in the Assembly.  We can argue about whether Mike Villines deserves to be leader, but those are all issues of the strategy of how best to deal with the debacle that was this year’s budget "fix."  They are not issues on which to recall someone.  They are matters of serious strategic discussions that involve Republicans from all over the state.  I have seen leadership fights that have had serious negative policy outcomes.  Changing leadership is a sensitive and difficult process in the best of times.  In times like this, rash strategies can have be worse than inaction.  I don’t know if Jeff is right or wrong is his assessment on the leadership situation.  I am not there.

But I do know he was right on the policy, and he ought to be rewarded for that.  Anthony Adams should be removed as the head of the San Bernardino Republican Party Central Committee.  Mike Villines should be removed as the Leader of the Assembly.  Those are the right things to do.  Jeff Miller should be congratulated and feted as a legislator who did the right thing under the most difficult of circumstances, not recalled for a strategic decision with which I disagree.

Just so it is clear, Jeff is a friend of mine, but I would count Mike and Dave in that same catagory.  I supported Anthony Adams and Abel Maldonado.  I supported Jeff for Chair of the Riverside County Party, and had I been there, I would have supported Mike for leader.  In fact, when Mike called me as I was leaving the Assembly, he asked for help in how to become leader.  I gave him the best advice I have because I thought he would make a good leader.  Mike and Dave were horribly wrong on this one.  Jeff was right.  If he were not, I would have led a recall against him myself, even despite our friendship. Since Jeff represents areas that I used to represent, I could have impacted such an election.  I will impact it again in a positive way on Jeff’s behalf if that becomes necessary.  That is how strongly I feel on this one.

John and Ken have been right so many times, and without question, a lot of fun to listen to.  On this one they are wrong.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.