Guv Lite Pick: Latino Flavor and Open Primary Factor
Since I couldn’t get tickets to the Jay Leno Show, I attended the Governor’s press conference announcing his pick of Senator Abel Maldonado to fill the empty Lieutenant Governor’s chair.
The event was held at Ruben Salazar Park in East L.A. in front of a huge Latino-themed wall mural by artist Paul Botello titled: The Wall that Speaks, Sings and Shouts.
Politicians Need a Thanksgiving Break
California politicos might want to include a chill pill with their Thanksgiving turkey.
The state’s political rhetoric, never especially high-minded, has become even hotter and snippier in recent days as more and more political types begin to realize that the 2010 elections really aren’t that far away.
Take, for example, the kafluffle following Governor Arnold’s announcement that he really, truly wants a Latino like Republican state Sen. Abel Maldonado as his lieutenant governor. You could tell the governor means it because he made this announcement Tuesday at Ruben Salazar Park in the heart of East Los Angeles, which is about 160 miles away from Maldonado’s home town of Santa Maria.
But Democrat Darrell Steinberg, the boss of the state Senate, said that wouldn’t do because the special election to replace Maldonado would be just too darn expensive in these tough economic times.
With Maldonado, Arnold Can’t Lose
First things first: Yes, I’m personally disappointed that I wasn’t nominated lieutenant governor. The job is a joke, but my interest was serious. I wasn’t even vetted, at least as far as I know.
But Maldonado is the second best choice – a smart strategic move, for a few reasons.
– This nomination rewards loyalty.
Schwarzenegger has suffered from the perception (and sometimes the reality) that he twists with the political winds. By picking Maldonado, he rewards a like-minded Republican who has taken political risks for Schwarzenegger. And that will make it a little bit easier for the governor to convince other moderates to join him on tough votes during his last year in office.
– It likely produces one more Democrat in the state senate.
Making L.A. a Class-First City
L.A.’s business community last week got a much needed signal that the Los Angeles Unified School District finally may be poised for some big improvements.
It’s just a sign, but it was the most concrete one yet when 181 groups bid to take over management of 36 failing schools. Many more schools could be taken over under the plan. The idea is to get some fresh blood managing schools. The new operators presumably will be able to innovate, mainly because they’ll be free of many of the stifling mandates from the central office.
Now, of course, plenty can go awry. Maybe in the coming weeks and months the winners will be chosen more on politics than merit. Maybe the new operators won’t be free to innovate as much as we were led to believe. Maybe the outcomes won’t be as good as we hope. LAUSD does have a record of disappointing us.
A Gun to Our Head: The Environment or Jobs?
What if someone put a gun to your head and forced you to make a decision between your job and the environment? It’s not a fair choice, is it? No one should be forced to choose between having a job and taking care of the planet. Yet all too often this choice is being made for you—in Sacramento—as politicians adopt extreme environmental policies that kill jobs.
The laws passed each year by the Legislature often sound good. They are disguised with friendly sounding names. Yet history has proven and our current record unemployment numbers illustrate that these new laws often create more problems than they have solve. They spend your tax dollars to establish new agencies filled with state bureaucrats. These bureaucracies grow, not only with more government workers but with the power to change your life. These government agencies impose mandate upon mandate on everyone from small business owners to school teachers.
For example, an unelected body in this state, the California Energy Commission, recently imposed new regulations that are sure to kill more jobs in this state by limiting the types of televisions that can be sold. They did this without any scientific proof that limiting TV sales will actually improve the environment.
Giving Thanks in Our Community
This is a special week in America. It is a time to pause and do something we never do frequently enough, which is to say thank you. Thank you for our blessings. Thank you to our families for their love. Thank you to our friends for their support. And thank you to the community that has stepped forward to offer their help to those who are unemployed during our most difficult economy since the Great Depression.
Last week, our nation celebrated Veterans Day to commemorate a group of citizens who have protected us day and night, even though we seldom think about them unless we are in a time of war. Now is one of those times, and we join together in saying thank you to our men and women in uniform, both past and present.
At the Plymouth Colony in 1621, the Pilgrims thanked God for the fruits of their first harvest in the new world. They also thanked their new friends, Native Americans from the Wampanoag tribe for enabling them to survive the bitter winter of 1620-21. The Native American community that surrounded the Pilgrims literally saved their lives.