It might be tempting to ignore next week’s special election to
replace former state Sen. Abel Maldonado, who was recently
appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Lieutenant Governor:
Don’t.
It might be tempting to ignore next week’s special election to replace former state Sen. Abel Maldonado, who was recently appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Lieutenant Governor: Don’t.
It’s tempting because we just had a primary election; this special election with four candidates will be a primary if no one gets a simple majority of the votes, with a runoff between the top two finishers in August.
But the June 8 election shows the importance of every vote: As of press time, in the race for District 1 County Supervisor, we still don’t know the results. No candidate earned a simple majority and just 32 votes separate second and third places. The second-place finisher competes in the runoff. The third-place finisher is finished.
It’s trite, but true: Your vote counts.
That’s not all; if a simple majority of voters agree on a candidate on June 22, we save the expense and bother of a second election for the runoff.
Fortunately, the choice is clear: John Laird is the best candidate to represent Morgan Hill and all of the 15th District in the State Senate. He’s facing Sam Blakeslee, a Republican Assemblyman from San Luis Obispo, Libertarian Mark Hinkle, and Independent Jim Fitzgerald.
Laird knows Morgan Hill and its issues. As an Assemblyman, he was a frequent presence in our community. He was deeply involved in the response to Olin’s perchlorate pollution in our groundwater. That’s typical of Laird’s concern for the environment, which he demonstrated consistently during his time as a Santa Cruz city council member and state Assemblyman.
Hinkle, a Morgan Hill resident, advocated extremist Libertarian positions in previous tries for elected office, and Fitzgerald seemed to offer nothing more than pat answers for difficult questions in his run for the 15th District’s Senate seat in 2008. These two candidates have little chance to win but could siphon enough votes to force a runoff.
Laird’s real competition is from Blakeslee, whose Assembly voting record shows him to be farther to the right than most of the 15th District’s electorate.
Laird has a strong record of working across the aisle. He knows the intricacies of our region and of state government. He knows how budget cuts in Sacramento affect local governments and will work to protect local agencies. With the many difficult problems California, the Central Coast, and Morgan Hill are facing, we need a pragmatic, experienced legislator like Laird representing our interests.
