Once in a great while, the California legislature does something so brilliant, so wonderful, so exquisite that the only proper thing to do is stand back and applaud the majesty of their handiwork.
We saw one of these perfect legislative moments in the Assembly vote on Abel Maldonado’s confirmation as lieutenant governor.
What, you say? Didn’t the Assembly, by failing to provide 41 votes for or against Maldonado, fail to render a verdict, creating confusion over whether Maldonado was lieutenant governor? Well, as a technical yes, they failed to render a verdict, but in so doing, they rendered a verdict. And it was the right verdict.
Confirming or rejecting Maldonado would have been easy. But to appear to confirm and reject him at the same time was itself a choice. It was a reminder that heaven and hell aren’t the only choices. Purgatory is a possibility too, and it was the right home for this nomination.
The lieutenant governorship is a meaningless position that the state could do without it. Spending any time at all on confirmation for a person to that position, at a time of budget and economic crisis, is sheer madness. So the Assembly, forced to vote, did the very best thing, kicking his nomination into the nothingness, into the political no man’s land where it belongs.
Of course, some works of art are never properly appreciated in their own time. Judging by the public reaction, the Assembly vote on Maldonado may be one of those artworks.
The Assembly was judged to be partisan, to be irresponsible, to be cowardly. And maybe, some of the members were those things.
But together those members made a beautiful statement.
If only the matter could have ended there. If only Abel Maldonado might have remained half lieutenant governor and half senator—a political centaur. The lieutenant governor (disputed). Lieutenant governor with an asterisk. If only the Assembly’s perfect vote could have remained the last, indefinite word.