Sen. Bob Dutton, an ally of the right-wing Sen. Hollingsworth, has apparently secured the votes to become the next minority leader in the State Senate. From the FlashReport:
I just got off of the phone with State Senator Bob Dutton who confirmed for me that he will be the next Senate Republican Leader, having obtained the unanimous support of members the Senate Caucus.
While the details of the transition are not yet ironed out, our sources say that Dutton is not likely to take over the Senate GOP’s top spot at least until after the 2010-2011 budget is adopted this Summer.
Dutton, who hails from Rancho Cucamonga, has signed the no new taxes pledge and is pretty much as anti-government as you get.
Meet the new Joker, same as the old Joker.
There are various shades of right wing and Bob Dutton is not the deepest shade. Of the 14 members of the Republican Senate Caucus, only 7 are likely to be around at the end of the year. So the pool of applicants was pretty small.
Of the 7, Dave Cox would have been the least right wing and Tony Strickland or Mark Wyland would have been the most right wing. I think Bob Dutton is somewhere near the middle.