A few moments ago the Senate Rules Committee voted 4-0 to approve Senator Abel Maldonado’s nomination to fill the Lieutenant Governor position vacated by John Garamendi. All of the Democrats on the committee and one Republican voted for the confirmation: Steinberg, Oropeza, Cedillo and Dutton. Senator Sam Aanestad announced at the beginning of the hearing that he would recuse himself because of his run for Lieutenant Governor.
The almost three-hour hearing began with Maldonado tearing up during his opening statement as he thanked his immigrant parents for their support. Maldonado also took the opportunity of his opening statement to restate his opposition to offshore oil drilling in California. The nominee announced that his first priority as LG would be jobs, even stating that he wants to be the “Chief Job Creator of California”—a title most business owners would find quite humorous considering any politician’s ability to create real jobs. In fact, Maldonado would better serve California in this capacity by returning to the private sector.
Maldonado went on to state that he also wants to be the “Expediter in Chief,” helping people cut through red tape. Again, Maldonado had his chance to do that in the state legislature by repealing onerous regulations.
Senators then peppered Maldonado with several questions—to “understand his thought process”—about his actions during last year’s budget negotiations. The focus of most of the questions was Democrats’ obvious dissatisfaction with spending cuts for education and social welfare programs. Maldonado stated that he continues to support the 2/3 vote requirement for passing budgets in the state legislature, but mentioned he would be open to a constitutional convention—as a last resort if the legislature wasn’t able to implement reform itself. When asked about his votes for spending cuts last year, Maldonado passionately proclaimed that he “hated” making the cuts.
Throughout the committee hearing, Maldonado appeared to be trying to tout his liberal credentials with the majority party, sympathizing with their anger over budget cuts. In fact, there wasn’t a lot of reason for any Republican to vote for Maldonado’s confirmation other than the (R) next to this name. Even Senator Dutton acknowledged his vote came down to a coin toss. Prior to their votes, each Democrat emphasized that their vote to confirm was “not a political endorsement.”
The confirmation vote now heads to the full Senate. It will be interesting to see how Republicans and Democrats—who were both held hostage by Maldonado’s Ben Nelson-like demands last year during the budget battle—will respond to the Governor’s choice for his lieutenant.