Prop 8 Zealot Flips and then Flops

by Brian Leubitz

Back when he was running in the primary against Beth Gaines, Andy Pugno was very against a Republican on Republican race.  

“If I came in behind Beth Gaines, I would honor the expression of Republican voters and endorse her campaign and not actively campaign myself,” Pugno said in an interview with The Bee today.(SacBee Capitol Alert)

Well, today, the tune has changed:

“As the only other candidate on the November ballot, stepping aside and simply handing the election to Beth Gaines would be fundamentally unfair to the voters in light of a primary election tainted by her blatant dishonesty,” Pugno said in the written statement. “Whether or not the incumbent should be re‐elected is a decision that belongs to the voters, not just to me.”(SacBee)

In this case, that blatant dishonesty is connecting Pugno to an extreme right-wing anti-gay group. No, not the many that he’s actually connected to, but the one where he just shared an address with, the Pacific Policy Research Foundation. This one also happened to run some skeezy legislative junkets, but really doesn’t differ all that much from the others. But, apparently, it was enough to set Pugno off.

With several Dem-on-Dem races, I suppose one can hope for some sort of expensive bloodbath that costs a ton of money that could have gone elsewhere. Pugno already picked up a check from Asm. Grove (R-Bakersfield), a check that might have gone elsewhere had Pugno stepped down. So, hooray for that I suppose.