Abel Maldonado probably isn’t a fan of John Burton…
It’s a rare thing when the GOP should agree with John Burton. California Democrat Chair Burton has come out against confirming Abel Maldonado as Lt. Governor. Progressive blogger and Democrat activist Robert Cruickshank disagrees, but suggests that Democrats should “[step] out of the way” of Maldonado’s confirmation. The GOP should likewise step out of the way because they have nothing to gain by Maldonado’s confirmation.
“Democrats don’t vote for Republicans,” says Burton. He scoffs at concerns that rejecting Maldonado would hurt the spirit of bipartisanship that earned Maldonado the nomination. “There is no bipartisanship…It won’t mean sh..t,” he declares. (There goes that fashionable idea!) Nor is Burton concerned about rejecting a high profile latino for Lt. Governor. Ethnicity shouldn’t be an issue, he contends, because “that’s a quota.” (And Democrats are so not into quotas!)
Cruickshank suggests letting Maldonado be confirmed and then painting a target on his back that Democrats can shoot at until easily defeating him for reelection. He argues that Democrats should focus on gaining a 2/3 majority. “The state legislature is at the center of Democratic fortunes in this state, ” he says, “Because it has been in Democratic hands for nearly 40 years, it is seen as the most obvious model of what the Democratic Party stands for and can accomplish in California.” (Can you say insolvency?)
Nevertheless, Cruickshank is on the right track. The GOP should not vote for Maldonado either. To the GOP base, Maldonado is a symbol of failed GOP leadership and self-serving Sacramento deal-making. And John Burton is quite right that “bipartisanship” doesn’t “mean sh..t.” It’s just a trick that Democrats use to hoodwink gullible GOP leaders. (The Democrats own words prove that, once the bipartisan deal is done, they will always kick the GOP faithless to the curb.) And what does the GOP stand to gain? Let Maldonado fail, so that he can slink away into the shadows. He deserves nothing more.
Nice link to Calitics, Rogue – that’s a good place to go to see what us progressive California Democrats are thinking! (We should really have it on our blogroll…)
I think the left and right should reach others thinking. You can disagree (or laugh, scoff, or scratch your head in puzzlement). But, at least you escape the echo chamber.
DITTO! DITTO. ditto…
Vern,
See? That was a partisan reaction.
Maldonado is about as close to a Democrat as you could hope for. And you STILL oppose him.
I don’t get it. If he gets appointed, the Dems will easily take his State Senate seat. That will give them an iron-clad 60 vote majority. That will be game over for the Republicans.
Why oppose him? It is a win for your party! And the GOP won’t let this guy win reelection either…
Wait a second! I didn’t say anything about Maldonado. I complimented Rogue for linking to Calitics which is a good site, and that was a non-partisan compliment!
I didn’t really want to weigh in on Maldonado today, and I haven’t had time to check out what Burton said, but I actually think Abel is a great choice for LG, and probably the direction the GOP needs to go if it’s gonna save itself.
Were you just sitting there waiting for me to say something that sounded partisan?
Vern,
LOL! It seemed like a fastball right down the middle!
Burton is an old blowhard. How the Dems ended up with that dude in charge is a real question. Talk about old guard…
BTW, I added the Calitics OC feed to our left sidebar, with the other media RSS feeds…
The two thirds requirement to pass legislation, especially budget issues is the cause for the crisis in our state. We essentially have the minority/Republican party controlling, ruling and causing the problems.
Either change the archaic 2/3 requirement or put 2/3 of one party in majority control. Then, the blame can be correctly placed.
First of all I like Maldonado and there need to be more Republicans like him, that’s why I support his idea of open primaries and why I supported Prop 11.
But it’ll take a while before that happens and until then California is hamstrung and held hostage by the extremist Republicans we have currently. With their veto power it is impossible to get any more revenue, even with such simple unobjectionable expedients as an oil extraction tax, a re-instatement of the estate tax in California, and rescinding all those unnecessary corporate tax giveaways from this summer.
For that reason I am trying to get the Democrats a 2/3 majority in Sacramento for now, even though I don’t consider myself particularly partisan. It’s the only way we can make this government work (until we get rid of the 2/3 rule)
So, now that I’ve read the Calitics article on Maldonado, it does look like a “fastball right down the middle.” Reward a good moderate Republican with the post he seems to want, while getting closer to the 2/3 Dem majority we need to re-animate this state!
Oh and by the way I was supposed to be part of a movement last December fighting to get some young progressive woman in charge of the California Democratic Party instead of old Burton; but then I got my DUI and the rest is history… 🙁
Brother Vern.
You are held hostage? Thank God we have a few in Sacramento to keep us from falling into the abyss.
Somewhere in my many files is Tom McClintock’s analysis in support of the 2/3rds rule. If I can ever locate it I might use it as a future post.
Catch you later.
Oh and everyone forgets this – the 2/3 Dem majority in the Senate has to be NOT COUNTING CORREA, who usually votes like a Republican! (And I’ve heard is now saying he still wants to sell our Fairgrounds, even while all the OC Republicans are starting to change their minds… GRRRR – call him – (714) 558-4400)
Like it or not, the majority of Californians support the 2/3 rule.
Nevertheless, the left’s claim that the 2/3 rule is the problem (or put differently, “we’d have no problems if the legislature could raise taxes at will”) is wrong because it looks only at one side of the ledger (tax revenues) and not the other (runaway spending).
California has a problem with runaway spending. Spending increased 50% in the years 2003-2008. The state hired (on average) 48 workers per day in the years 1997-2007. California state and local workers are the highest paid in the nation. The public employee unions have created a huge pension crisis by negotiating lavish pensions that are pushing the state, counties, and local governments into bankruptcy. That’s not sustainable.
Further, raising taxes will delay recovery and drive more jobs and businesses from the state.
The left tragically doesn’t even pretend to care about good government, any longer (if they ever did).
Rogue,
I agree. The problem is overspending. The solution is NOT spending more or taxing us more. But the Dems, and some Reeps, just haven’t a clue…