Today John Perez, an ultra-liberal Democrat from Los Angeles, was elected Speaker of the Assembly. Good for him – and congratulations. That is a major achievement, especially for a freshman lawmaker. I know that Perez has the best interests of California at heart, even if his left wing ideology will guide him down the wrong path to make our state a better place for Californians to live, work and play.
As was tweeted by Anthony York at Capitol Weekly earlier in the week, and reported by Torey Van Oot on the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert blog this morning that Assembly Republicans will put forward their leader, Sam Blakeslee, for Speaker. They did so, and it made me, as a Republican, proud.
I have written that Republicans as a minority party should put forward their own candidates for leader for many years. I did so when Senator Steinberg was elected Senate President Pro-Tem, and I did so when Speakers Nunez, Bass and now Perez were elected.
Yes, every Assembly Republican knew that the outcome of the Speakership vote was preordained. So I am sure a number of "pragmatic, non ideologues" will scratch their heads and ask, "If Perez has the votes anyways, why don’t Republicans just vote for him."
Using that logic, why would Republicans vote against bad legislation if it going to pass anyhow?
If you want to know WHY Republicans voted for their own candidate for Speaker, this: Assembly Republicans Deserve Respect.
If you want to SEE an example of how what happened in the Assembly today mirror’s the election process for the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, read here.
In closing, I don’t have words for how PROUD I am of our Assembly Republicans today. For the first time in many years, they have earned the ability to say this important line: "Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for him — I voted for a Republican Speaker!"
January 7th, 2010 at 12:00 am
The day after the Governor called for teamwork, Republicans broke tradition and divided the Assembly.
And what more “respect” did Assembly Republicans get? Absolutely none. In fact, just the opposite.
Copying the GOP in DC isn’t something anything should be proud of.
And let’s face it — it was written right here on the FLASH REPORT — Assembly Republicans were afraid primary opponents could say they voted for a gay Speaker.
Shameful.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:00 am
What is shameful is the Democratic penchant for masquerading as defenders of the working man all while supporting policies that undermine their wages (illegal immigration) and steal money out of their pockets (pick the laundry list of tax increases).
January 8th, 2010 at 12:00 am
The problem is that the Speaker doesn’t get an extra vote and by not participating in the selection, Republicans are also saying that they don’t want to be in the mix on deciding things like how meetings are run and which committees handle which legislation. It’s silly because making him Speaker doesn’t mean you endorse his political agenda, it means you have a say in how the Assembly is organized.
January 8th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Mr. Fleischman:
THANK YOU for speaking out on this issue for months and helping
to make it happen. This is reminiscent of how Republicans stopped
being the perennial patsies when Newt Gingrich became GOP House
leader 20 years ago.
The whining from Mr. Maviglio confirms how right you are!