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Why Isn't There A Democrat Running Against Republican California Senator Abel Maldonado?

By Robert Cruickshank

Abel Maldonado is one of the most vulnerable of the Senate Republicans facing reelection this year. Democrats hold a 40-37 edge in registrations in SD-15 and the district was given a D+7.8 rating in cali_girl_in_texas' latest rankings. And he has a long, conservative voting record - including a 20% lifetime rating from the California Labor Federation (as of 2006). Maldonado's moderate reputation should be put to its strictest test yet in 2008, with a very Democratic turnout in November and a Republican Party having to defend a record of economic crisis and budgetary disaster.

So why is it that NO Democrat filed to run for the SD-15 seat?! Is Maldonado being given a free pass?

When the filing deadline came and went on March 7, I was curious to see who was going to be the Democratic opponent in SD-15. As I called the registrar's offices in the five counties that make up this long district (Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara) I discovered that apparently nobody had filed. The CDP's online organizers helped investigate, and ultimately concluded that there was no Democratic candidate, as the candidate filing status at the Secretary of State's website confirms. Although former Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn (who had represented AD-24, Santa Clara County, from 2000 to 2006) had expressed interest in a campaign for the SD-15 seat, no actual candidacy materialized.

As one of the most winnable Senate seats on this year's ballot, not having a candidate is a pretty big failure. And it obviously begs the question why this failure happened. Since it is the leader of the chamber that is responsible for candidate recruitment - in this case, Don Perata - this quote from last summer, from an August 2007 George Skelton column (now in the LA Times pay-only archives), is worth remembering:

"If the Senate's top Democrat -- President Pro Tem Don Perata of Oakland -- has anything to do with it, Maldonado will survive. "I'd be happy to go down to Santa Maria any time and knock on doors and say what a solid guy he is," Perata says. "I just admire him. I was just blown away by what he did, by his courageous stand on principle.""

This refers to Maldonado's break with the Senate Republicans - including Jeff Denham - and voting for the Democratic budget during last summer's standoff. As I explained at the time, however, this vote should not have been construed as overriding his long right-wing voting record. Maldonado voted against AB 32, and supported the Democratic budget only after Arnold promised to line-item $700 million in health care spending out of the final budget.

One quote alone from August 2007 does not prove Perata gave Maldonado a pass, but it is also cause for serious concern. Were Democratic candidates discouraged from taking on Maldonado? Was this a case of the failure of the local netroots, or a failure of Senate Democratic leaders, or a failure of a party system that centralizes candidate recruitment when this is perhaps better handled by local Democrats?

As we await these answers, it is worth keeping in mind the possibility of a write-in campaign to put someone on the June ballot - and give Maldonado the Democratic challenger he so richly deserves. According to the SoS website a write-in candidate would need 3,689 votes in June to be placed on the November ballot. Surely there is someone in this district, from Los Gatos on down to Santa Maria, who is interested in taking on this task.

Robert Cruickshank is a historian, activist, and teacher living in Monterey. He is a contributing editor at Calitics.com and works for the Courage Campaign, in addition to teaching political science at Monterey Peninsula College. Currently he is completing his Ph.D. dissertation in US history, on progressive politics in San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s. A native Californian, he was raised in Orange County and educated at UC Berkeley.

Posted on March 19, 2008

Comments

Perhaps Senator Maldonado is the right man for the job, and no democrat politician is willing to raise money and campaign against a candidate who would most likely come out on top of the race.

Posted by: Erika at May 27, 2008 06:22 PM

Perhaps Senator Maldonado is the right man for the job, and no democrat politician is willing to raise money and campaign against a candidate who would most likely come out on top of the race.

Posted by: Natalie at May 27, 2008 06:22 PM

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