It’s not easy being Abel Maldonado

June 4, 2010

Now that he is lieutenant governor, former Central Coast state senator Abel Maldonado gets a lot of statewide press–even if they can’t always spell his name correctly. [Press-Telegram]

Check out this opening paragraph (including spelling errors) from a Long Beach newspaper, analyzing Maldonado’s fragile status in California politics:

“It’s not easy being Abel Maldanado these days.

“Facing a tough re-election campaign and under attack by every major political party in California for writing a June 8 ballot initiative that radically changes California’s elections, the state’s 47th lieutenant governor nevertheless remains optimistic.

“During a tour of the port complex Thursday, Maldanado brushed off the criticism, saying voters ‘are sick and tired of the polarization’ in Sacramento and ready to ‘shake things up.'”

Maldonado, who is running for re-election as lieutenant governor in Tuesday’s primary, has come under harsh attack from fellow Republicans. The conservative wing of the party remains furious at Maldonado for authoring Proposition 14.

The measure, expected to be passed by voters on Tuesday, replaces traditional primaries in state and Congressional elections with a system allowing the top two vote-getters to face off in a general election, regardless of party affiliation.

Conservative groups, including the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, claims that Maldonado is “betraying taxpayers.”

“Prop. 14 is the result of collusion between an ambitious politician, newly appointedLt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, and entrenched Sacramento spending interests,” wrote Jon Coupal, president of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. “A year ago, then-Senator Maldonado, a Republican, sold his vote for the most massive tax increase in the history of all 50 states, in return for an agreement to place a measure on the ballot that would make it easier for him to run for statewide office.”