On April 26, the California Senate confirmed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nomination of State Senator Abel Maldonado to be the state’s new Lieutenant Governor. Senator Maldonado is the author of Proposition 14, the “top-two” primary measure on the June 8, 2010 ballot. UPDATE: Governor Schwarzenegger says the special election to fill the vacant Senate seat will be in the summer of 2010. See this story.
The Assembly had already confirmed him. The confirmation will probably help the campaign against Proposition 14. Proponents of the measure repeat over and over that the California legislature is polarized and partisan. The fact that the California legislature, with strong majorities for the Democratic Party in both houses, was willing to vote for a Republican, will blunt that charge.
The Donkey party hacks obviously liked getting M out of the Senate so he could NOT make any more Prop 14 type deals / extortions.
Does he remain a senator? Or will there be a special election to fill his seat (he was re-elected in 2008, so he is mid-term).
His designation on the ballot is Senator/Businessman/Farmer. Can that be changed now?
I bet there was a whole lot of calculation going on as far as the date of the special election and the designation. Garamendi resigned more than 5 months ago.
And remember that Schwarzenegger had to appoint Maldonado twice.
Senator Maldonado will resign from the Senate, and a special election to fill the remaining 2 years will be held in November 2010. The special blanket primary will probably be held in August 2010. Everyone assumes that no one will get as much as 50% of the blanket primary vote in August 2010, so everyone assumes a November runoff.
California State Senators have 4-year terms and Senator Maldonado was last elected in November 2008. Ironically, his only ballot-listed opponent was an independent candidate. The Democrats didn’t run anyone against him in 2008.
My comment #3 is wrong. Today Governor Schwarzenegger said he will call a special State Senate election for this summer, and not wait for the autumn.
The window for a special election is determined based on the date of the governor’s proclamation, which must occur within 14 days of the vacancy (which must have happened today, since Maldonado was sworn in as Lieutenant governor today).
A special election is held on a Tuesday within 112 to 126 days of the proclamation, which would set a window of August 17 to September 14 (the first day is 0+112 days from the vacancy, and the second 14+126 days). There is also the option to delay a special election to up to 180 days from the proclamation to coincide with a regularly scheduled state election. Based on when the governor issued the proclamation this would allow an election as late as October 24 to November 7. So if the governor had delayed 9 days, he could have set the special general election for November 2, the same as the gubernatorial general election.
The date of the special primary is then 8 weeks before the special general, except in certain cases when it is 9 weeks. If the special general were November 2, 8 weeks prior would be September 7, which is the day after Labor Day, a state holiday. So the special primary would have been on August 31.
The governor has now set the date of the special general on August 17. 8 weeks prior is June 22. The special primary can be moved 9 weeks prior in order to coincide with a regularly special election. So if the legislature had acted a week earlier, the special primary would have been on June 8, coincident with the statewide primary election.
One of the many problems with the proposed IRV legislation is that it delays the proclamation of special elections for 30 days while the county supervisors decide whether or not to use IRV or not. This ends up delaying special elections, and also permits supervisors to decide whether or not to use IRV based on potential candidates and timing of the election. Whether or not IRV is used should be based on the demonstrated capabilities to use IRV determined prior to any actual elections that might use it, and should not result in a delay in conventional special elections.
Louisiana Lt.Governor Mitch Landrieu was elected mayor of New Orleans, and will take office on May 6. He will resign on May 3. I wonder whether it will take 5 months for the Louisiana legislature to confirm Bobby Jindal’s appointed choice?