Just got this sent over from the CRA — a letter they just faxed around to all California legislators:
February 9, 2010
Re: Opposition to the Confirmation of Senator Maldonado
Dear Senator/Assemblyman:
The California Republican Assembly is strongly OPPOSED to the confirmation of Senator Abel Maldonado for the position of Lieutenant Governor of California. On behalf of the California Republican Assembly, the California Republican Party, and all the citizens of California, we urge you to reject this appointee and all that he stands for. It would be far better to allow the office to remain vacant than to fill it with a person like Abel Maldonado.
Senator Maldonado’s failures as a legislator and politician are too numerous to mention, but CRA members are particularly upset that he joined with the Democrats and became the key vote to pass the largest tax increase in the history of our state, in the middle of the worst recession in a generation. He has contributed to unemployment in California by fighting to increase the state’s minimum wage. He has supported budgets that increased welfare benefits to unsustainable levels. He has supported irresponsible borrowing that is now threatening to make our state insolvent. He has gone to great lengths to attack the Republican Party and he famously authored Proposition 14 (the “Top Two” primary that we call the “Closed General Election,” because it would leave most voters with two candidates from the same party as their only choice in general elections).
Senator Maldonado has had such a poor voting record from a Republican perspective that he scored only 22% on the most recent California Republican Assembly Legislative Scorecard.
This year, the leaders of the California Republican Assembly have determined that the confirmation votes for and against Senator Maldonado will be a major factor on the 2010 Scorecard. We believe that Republican voters have a right to know where their representatives stand on an issue of this magnitude.
Please join with us in opposing the confirmation of Senator Maldonado.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the California Republican Assembly,
Tom Hudson
Scorecard Committee Chairman
California Republican Assembly
(h/t to Mr. Klein)