Today you will be asked to vote on whether to approve or reject the nomination of your colleague, Abel Maldonado, to be elevated into the position of Lt. Governor of California.  I have spoken with many of you, and know that there are a range of opinions on this subject within your caucus.

I have yet, in the context of this confirmation, to find a Republican Senator who has told me that they are enthusiastic about Abel’s nomination, and looking forward to having him as Lt. Governor.   But unfortunately that does not mean that I have encountered unanimous and strong opposition to confirming Maldonado, either.

To be blunt, there seems to be a lot of agreement that for various reasons, Abel Maldonado, as a politician, is not well liked or respected.  Some feel that he doesn’t keep his commitments, others object to his quest for attention, others resent his lack of commitment to any set of principles, and of course there is deep unhappiness stemming from his role in the budget deal last year.

The reason why there is not uniformity in voting no on such an unpopular politician has nothing to do with Maldonado personally, but rather everyone seems to be caught up in this question – where can Maldonado do less damage?  There is no doubt that as a State Senator Maldonado has caused untold harm to California taxpayers with his deciding vote for the largest tax increase in the history of any state.  But, as I am told, that is just the most visible and egregious example of the damage he can do given the narrow margin by which Republicans can fight off the 2/3 vote, and that his negative influence is pervasive in areas that are not in the spotlight.  One Senator privately said to me, “Abel is all about Abel.  There is no commitment to core beliefs there, and so everything is transactional with him.”

Given the ongoing damage he causes in the Senate, there are some who advocate confirming him to be Lt. Governor just to get him out of the upper legislative chamber.  If Maldonado exits the Senate, for a good period of time his seat will be vacant – with the absence of his frequent yes votes, those non-votes will be a pleasant change.  It is also likely that the victor in a special election to succeed would be Sam Blakeslee, who – unlike the quixotic Maldonado – is in the main stream of Republican thought (of course that will be an expensive special election, and while Blakeslee would be a strong candidate, it’s not a safe GOP seat).

In the meantime, the critics of Maldonado who advocate his confirmation say, the office of Lt. Governor is really titular in nature with very little real roll – and nothing like that of a Senator in a divided Senate.

Fortunately, I am pleased to report there are those in the legislature who see things the way I do – which is that all of this “he’s terrible so let’s promote him up and out” stuff is total and complete insider baseball, and does not translate outside of the Capitol building.  To our Republican base out in the 58 counties, they know that Abel Maldonado hiked taxes and was repudiated by the State GOP for doing so.  They know that his retaliation is coming in the form of the top-two ballot measure, carefully designed to destroy political parties, and bring many more politicians to Sacramento willing to support higher taxes. 

Our party is at a critical juncture were we need to show strong, visible, principled leadership.  This is no time to be playing “inside baseball” games that leave our natural supporters doubting the veracity of our elected Republican officials.  Maldonado is the protégé of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has done much to tarnish the brand name of Republicans in this state. 

So I urge all Senate Republicans to cast loud “NO” votes on the confirmation of Maldonado.  Yes, it means you may have to continue to serve with him while his final term winds down.  But being a “mini-me” to Governor Schwarzenegger, given this Governor’s ideological flipping and flopping, is not a reason to confirm Maldonado.  In fact, it is the very reason why he should be rejected.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.