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Jennifer Nelson

Today’s Commentary: Let’s Send Garamendi back to the Peace Corps

Poll after poll shows Gov. Schwarzenegger easily winning re-election next Tuesday.  However, the fate of the other Republicans running for the statewide offices is not so easily predicted.

But polls do show Sen. Tom McClintock, the darling of California conservatives, running ahead of Insurance Commissioner, Democrat John Garamendi.  It will be a sweet victory for McClintock, who has run and lost statewide races before.  McClintock has run a smart campaign and, to many people’s surprise, stayed pretty quiet while the guy at the top of his party’s ticket was busy signing Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’ legislative agenda into law. 

After spending nearly twenty years in the legislature, McClintock, described by LA Times columnist George Skelton as “a knowledgeable, thoughtful, experienced” policy wonk, must be looking forward to a job where he can spend more time fleshing out policy proposals, keeping an eye on the State Senate and weighing in at the Board of Regents (where there is talk of revisiting Prop. 209). 

Here’s the description of the job McClintock and Garamendi are fighting for: the lieutenant governor serves a four-year term; fills in when the governor is out of state or unavailable; serves as president for the state Senate, with the ability to break dead-locked votes; and sits on the University of California Board of Regents and the California State University Board of Trustees.  Salary:  $131,250 per year.\

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