That, apparently is the question. The Senate voted to confirm Abel Maldonado, but the Assembly voted twice, and did not confirm him. Whether or not that constitutes a rejection remains to be seen.
The Los Angeles Times reports, "What was supposed to be a relatively quick debate over the confirmation of the appointment of Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) as lieutenant governor turned into a drawn-out, five-hour affair that could wind up being decided in the courts.
"In
the end, the Assembly failed to confirm Maldonado's
nomination. He
received 37 votes in favor of his confirmation and 35 votes against
confirmation. All but one of the Assembly's Republican
members voted
for his promotion. Only eight members of the 49-member Democratic
caucus voted to support Maldonado. The Assembly's only
independent
member, Juan Arambula of Fresno, also voted in support of confirmation. "But it may not be over. In the end, the courts may be asked to decide what the definition
of rejection is.
At issue is whether Maldonado's nomination had to be
rejected by a
majority of the Assembly's 80 members, as the administration maintains.
The Assembly leadership says Maldonado's confirmation
was rejected
simply because he failed to receive 41 votes in the Assembly." KQED's John Myers and I discuss the politics of rejection
on this week's Capital Notes podcast. The Maldo fight was an interesting first test for Speaker-elect John Perez, who was clearly in control of his
caucus during the Maldonado deliberations. Whether
or not his failure to get 41 Democrats to vote no was a sign of weakness, as some
Republicans maintain, or not, we'll leave to you to
decide. But here's Perez in his own words after the
vote. "The
Assembly voted twice, and in both instances, a majority
of Assembly members would
not ratify his nomination. The People of California
have made it abundantly
clear that they loathe the kind of backroom deals that
Senator Maldonado and
the Governor have repeatedly cut over the past few
years, which is why a
majority of members, myself included, rejected this
nomination." Dan Walters says the fight is a dangerous one, over very low stakes,
that could have lasting repercussions. "The dust-up may be grist for political junkies, but it
needlessly poisons the already toxic atmosphere of
the Capitol as the
state flirts with insolvency that will require uncommon
levels of
political comity to avoid." Carla Marinucci looks at Jerry Brown and the flat tax. "Former GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes,
a longtime proponent of the flat tax, tells us that
California State
Attorney General Jerry Brown "was ahead of his time"
in floating the
then-revolutionary concept of that simplified tax system
during 1992
Democratic presidential campaign. "Today, with California in its toughest financial crisis
yet,
Republican Forbes said he and Democrat Brown have "compared
notes over
the years" on the idea -- and it may be back to the future: the flat
tax could be an answer for California's current economic
malaise." Michael Rothfeld reports the California Republican Party is pressuring Meg Whitman
to debate at the upcoming GOP convention. "The state party's board members, who are scheduled
to discuss the
issue in a conference call Friday afternoon, are weighing
whether to
require all candidates for governor and Senate to participate
in a
debate at the convention -- and if they refuse, to deny them the
ability to address the convention delegates in any
other forum.
"The effort to box in Whitman is being pushed by party
leaders who
have backed Poizner, the state insurance commissioner who is lagging
far behind the free-spending former EBay chief in recent polls. Poizner
has been publicly criticizing Whitman for months for
declining so far
to debate him, and if she refuses at the convention,
it would offer him
new ammunition. "We've had debates like this in the past," said Mike
Spence, a Republican executive committee member who
supports Poizner.
"This is not unusual at the convention. What's unusual
is having a
major candidate not want to do it." Jim Miller says the Tea Party movement may be targeting Brian Nestande. "Republican Jeffrey Lemasters Tahir, a Riverside
lawyer, filed a
statement of intent this week to challenge Nestande,
R-Palm Desert, in
the June primary. "I think he's done well on some issues. But I do think
we need a
stronger conservative in that seat," said Tahir, who
said he identifies
strongly with the "tea party" movement that has staged
noisy rallies
against perceived government overspending while becoming
a force in
some GOP primary campaigns." And finally, Ghirardelli Square has been stolen! AP reports, "Three San Francisco landmarks have been stolen. The loss is estimated at $6,000. Actually, they're miniatures of the Palace of Fine
Arts Theater,
Ghirardelli Square and the Conservatory of Flowers made from hundreds of thousands of plastic Lego pieces
that took years to put together. "Jannet
Benz, whose 49-year-old husband Mark made the models, said they were
taken Feb. 3 from the family pick-up truck parked outside their
California home. Her husband left them there overnight
after returning
from a Palo Alto museum where they had been on exhibition."