Front Page  »  

Justice Department approves special election to replace Maldonado

May 21, 2010

Sam Blakeslee

The U.S. Justice Department ignored concerns by California Democrats and approved a special election for June 22 to fill the state Senate seat of Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria). [San Francisco Chronicle]

Democrats had hoped to block the election with a lawsuit in federal court. However, the lawsuit was dropped Thursday, following the announcement by the Justice Department.

Lawyers for the California Democratic Party will now try to persuade federal officials to reconsider their approval.

The original lawsuit claimed that the choices of dates would lead to lower minority turnout in Monterey County, one of five counties in the Senate district. Justice Department approval for special elections is required because the county has a history of suppressing minority voting.

John Laird

The election had been called by Gov. Schwarzenegger to fill Maldonado’s seat following the Santa Maria Republican’s confirmation as lieutenant governor.

Candidates include Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) and former Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz). If no one gets a majority, the top vote-getter from each party will meet in a run-off Aug. 17.

The special election is expected to cost San Luis Obispo County $300,000.


Loading...
Subjects:         
Related:


7 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Cindy, it is no mystery who you will vote for, your spelling said it for you.


0

racket stated: “John Laird is costing San Luis Obispo taxpayers $300,000 in special election fees. If he had not filed to run at the last possible moment, there would be no need for this special election.” So, you would prefer that there wasn’t an election at all, just a simple ceremony installing Sam Blakeslee as our new state senator? There is a reason it’s called Democracy- you get to vote! Did the state Democrats purposely delay voting to confirm Maldonado as long as they did to hope to avoid a special election since historically Republicans usually fare better than Democrats? Very possibly so; did the Governor HAVE TO call a special election instead of putting the race on the general ballot? NO, absolutely not; his move WAS DEFINITELY purely politically based. If you want to blame the Democrats for delaying, I can understand that, but to hold the Governor blameless is ignoring the political reality. The cost of the special election lies solely on the shoulders of the Governor, period.


0

Blaming John Laird is less ludicrous than blaming Maldonado himself, or Blakeslee, or the Governator. That’s the point I was trying to make.


0

Blaming John Laird is NO less ludicrous …


is what I was trying to say.


0

I’m irritated as heck right now with the Democrats and I’ll be voting for a lot of Republican’s comes this election. I don’t want to see Amnesty pushed through. I want the boarders closed and all illegals deported. The scent of amnesty is drawing more illegals here as we speak. Take a look at the automatic benefits they will receive on our tax $$ as soon as they are recognized as being here legally. It’s ridiculous. We are cutting funding to the elderly and the mental health programs but we are going to support a bunch of illegals from other countries that haven’t contributed a single penny to programs we hard working tax payers have constructed as safety nets for our Citizens. I’m tired of the hand outs and the bleeding hearts that think we should provide Spanish speaking educators, amnesty, free medical care, free lunches, food stamps, housing and welfare to everyone who manages to land on our soil while out own citizens suffer and stand in line for food and carts to rest their heads on in our shabby shelters.


0

When the moderator tells us that thumbs don’t matter, he is correct. Fact is that anyone can call a bunch of like minded friends and ask them to weigh in on an opinion. Remember that you don’t have to own a login to vote a thumb. What matters is dialog, when people share, that’s what a blog is about.


0

John Laird is costing San Luis Obispo taxpayers $300,000 in special election fees. If he had not filed to run at the last possible moment, there would be no need for this special election.


0