California Update

Since I was at the Republican Convention last week I didn't have a chance to delve deeply into California politics. I didn't know Willie Brown suddenly woke up.

The world is changing. Years ago it was the likes of Southern Pacific and other big businesses calling the shots in Sacramento, and we were all highly critical of them. These days it's labor. That's not the portrayal union leaders like to see in the media, but it's the truth.

This shouldn't be complicated. Unions are there to maximize the benefits for their members. Government is there to maximize the return for the people of California. These aren't the same thing. Management at a corporation doesn't confuse their shareholders with their employees. I'm not saying you need to squeeze the employees for every last dime, but government should be trying to produce the best deal they can for the taxpayer. Let the unions worry about their members. They're big boys. They can do that.

Dan Walters talks about four state senate races that'll decide if Democrats take 2/3 of the seats. SD-5 is, however, Safe Republican and SD-39 is Safe Democratic. The GOP needs tow in both SD-27 and SD-31 to prevent the Democrats from getting 2/3 and they aren't favored to win either. This'll be tough.

Republican Doug LaMalfa has resigned from the state senate. LaMalfa isn't up for re-election this year, so he could serve another two years if he lost his congressional race in CA-1. Republicans beat Democrats in June 67%-30% with LaMalfa beating Democrats by himself. So the risk isn't great. But there is a risk.

So why do it? Why not wait until after he's elected to congress? If he resigns now, there'll be a special election for the rest of the term on November 6. So when the legislature reconvenes in January all Republican held seats will be filled. If the GOP is down 26-14, losing a seat and being down 26-13 for a period of time is problematic. LaMalfa is being a good soldier here.

Democrats are targeting AD-8, 32, 61, and 66 in the legislative races. That's an interesting group. I don't think Democrats have a shot in AD-8 and AD-66 is a long shot. The most competitive races figure to be AD-32, 40, 61, and 65, with 9 and 66 having an outside shot of being competitive.

Gary DeLong has managed to score a key endorsement in CA-47, but Eunice Sato was a Republican. So it shouldn't be unexpected.