Arizona Legislator Removed from Office for Violating Public Funding Rules

Posted on by May 29, 2010
Reply

The Arizona law for public funding of state candidates says that if someone takes public funding, but then disobeys the law and spends more private money than is authorized, that person should be removed from office, whether it is a legislator or an executive position. On May 28, the office that handles the public funding program declared that Doug Quelland, a state legislator, is now no longer a legislator. The lawsuit over whether Quelland should be removed has been going on since August 2009, but the last court ruling was against him. See this story. Quelland says he cannot be removed yet because he is still appealing.

Tom Campbell, Another Republican Who Should Have Run as an Independent

Posted on by May 29, 2010
11

On May 29, the Los Angeles Times released this California public opinion poll. Click on the Survey Results button. The poll shows that most Californians are not pleased with incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. It also shows that among Republicans and independents who plan to vote in the Republican primary, the vote for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate is: Carly Fiorina 38%; Tom Campbell 23%; Chuck DeVore 15%; undecided, other, or won’t vote, 24%.

Campbell, a professor, a former state legislator, a former member of the U.S. House, and a former budget director for Governor Schwarzenegger, is very highly regarded by California moderates. Assuming the poll results are accurate, he will probably lose the Republican primary on June 8. Yet, chances are, if he were running as an independent candidate in November against Senator Boxer and likely Republican nominee Carly Fiorina, he could win. Another moderate Republican who is running independently this year, Charlie Crist in Florida, is leading in polls. Some commentators have said that Arlen Specter and Robert Bennett, two incumbent U.S. Senators who were defeated for nomination this month by their own party, could also potentially have won in November if they had run as independents.

The Los Angeles Times poll has other interesting results, including a poll of registered independents on why they are registered that way. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.

New York Conservative Party Backs Republican Rick Lazio for Governor

Posted on by May 29, 2010
4

According to this story, the New York Conservative Party leadership has endorsed Repubican Rick Lazio for Governor of New York. New York holds primaries on September 14. It is now virtually certain that Lazio will be the only nominee on the Conservative Party primary ballot. UPDATE: The Conservative Party will have a contested gubernatorial primary. Ralph Lorigo got enough support at the party’s convention to be on that primary ballot automatically.

The story also discusses the gubernatorial candidacy of Carl Paladino, who plans to run in the general election as the candidate of a new party. The story says the group hasn’t chosen a name for the party yet, but it may have a connection to the “Tea Party” label.

Two Politics Blogs Discuss Proposition 14’s Unintended Consequences for Determining Winners

Posted on by May 29, 2010
27

On May 28, two politics blogs happened to each make the same point about California’s Proposition 14, the top-two measure on the June 8 ballot. The authors of the two blogs wrote independently of each other, but both made the same point about the expected peculiar consequences of a top-two system. See this blog post from Confound Me, and this one from the Huffington Post, by Gautam Dutta.

California has not elected a Republican Attorney General since 1994. One can make a reasonable statement that, nowadays, Californians prefer a Democrat as Attorney General. But if Proposition 14 were in force this year, it would probably result in the election of a Republican Attorney General. Six Democrats have strong campaigns for Attorney General this year, and the few polls that have been conducted in this race show they all are approximately equal in voter support. But only two Republicans running for Attorney General this year have strong campaigns. Under Proposition 14, chances are that each of the Democrats running in the single primary would each get between 6% and 10% of the total primary vote. The two Republicans with strong campaigns would probably each get between 15% and 20% of the total vote. So, California would wind up with a general election race between two Republicans, even though perhaps 55% of the voters prefer a Democratic Attorney General.

Another original piece about Proposition 14 is this from TrueSlant, authored by Jerry Lanson.