The blogosphere has been talking a lot today, due to the release of Scott McClellan’s book, about the media whitewashes and their failures to properly inform the country in the run-up to war, due to corporate dictates or budget constraints or sheer laziness.  That has a residual effect everywhere.  The same problems we see with the media at the national level are magnified at the local level, where money is even tighter and cluelessness abounds.  I had to do a double-take when I read the LA Times’ paean “GOP maverick” Sen. Abel Maldonado, supposedly in the context of his re-election “campaign” for State Senate.

SANTA MARIA– — Sen. Abel Maldonado crouched to desk level and, with a mischievous smile, enlisted the help of sixth-grader Michelle Grahame to sweat the governor over the state’s looming budget cuts.

The 12-year-old was immersed in her computer animation project, an Earth-like blue sphere hovering behind a curiously grown-up message: “Please don’t cut Education.”

Maldonado, on a tour of Ralph Dunlap Elementary, persuaded her to tweak it to read: “Please don’t cut Education Arnold.” He left with a printout he promised to deliver to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is hashing over ways to close the state’s estimated $2-billion budget gap.

“We’re in some challenging times, but I’ve made a commitment not to cut education,” Maldonado, a Republican, told school officials and PTA members after the tour. “We’re going to have to get creative.”

It was a gentle jab at Schwarzenegger, but Maldonado has crossed the governor and his party leadership before, earning the scorn of conservatives and Republican loyalists. One party official writing on a conservative blog declared that the senator, one of the few Latino Republicans in Sacramento, “is not one of us.”

Those same maverick traits, however, have intrigued party moderates who are struggling to make the GOP more appealing to the fastest-growing segments of the California electorate: Latinos and independents.

I’m flummoxed at why you would publish this glowing profile, which reads like it came right out of Maldonado’s press office, without revealing some information that people might find helpful.  To wit:

• There is a fleeting reference to a “write-in campaign organized by Democrats,” but absolutely no mention of Dennis Morris and his quest to offer the voters in the district an actual choice to the as-of-now unopposed Senator.  Mark Buchman of the SLO County Dems is quoted blaming Don Perata for the lack of an opponent to begin with, but even though Buchman is Morris’ acting campaign chair, the story never allows him the opportunity to mention the write-in hopeful.

• There is NO MENTION AT ALL of the fact that Maldonado has crossfiled to run as a write-in candidate on the Democratic ballot in an effort to short-circuit that campaign organized by those scheming Democrats, no mention of the effort to run on both sides of the ballot.

• There is no mention of Maldonado’s actual record on anything but the 2007 budget, like his vote against the Global Warming Solutions Act, for example.

• There is a mention of Maldonado’s signing on to a plan even more far-reaching than the Governor’s, to SELL the California Lottery, a shortsighted and ridiculously stupid idea that amounts to borrowing against the future yet again, but there is no independent analysis of that proposal; it’s just stuck in there as the midpoint between two supposed extremes and therefore teh awesome.

This is just an abandonment of actual reporting in exchange for a gauzy personal profile.  And considering there’s an election coming up in less than a week, it’s an abdication of responsibility.

Now, the LA Times doesn’t have much of a presence in the 15th Senate District, they don’t have many full-time reporters covering California politics, so they stumble into these half-hearted attempts to inform before election time, and this is what they come up with – a hagiography of a guy who’s running as a Democrat and a Republican to shut down any efforts to challenge him.

This is the media we have in 2008.

• Do read Robert in Monterey’s report about Abel Maldonado, Don Perata’s best buddy, running as a write-in candidate in the Democratic primary to stall an attempt to get an opponent on the November ballot.  First of all, this is an example of why crossfiling should be banned once and for all.  Second, Abel Maldonado is a snake and I can now see why Don Perata would knock on doors for him.  Apparently, neither of them have much interest in the democratic process.

• Arnold thinks the legalization of gender-neutral marriage will be a boost to the sluggish economy, but I hope he’s not basing his entire budget on a sharp uptick in gay weddings.  I mean, there are only so many Mr. Sulus rich enough to have that surge register more than a blip.  By the way, good for Mr. Sulu.  And good for Ellen DeGeneres for telling Straight Talk Express where to shove it.

• Speaking of John W. McCain, he’s in California today.  Nobody show him the PPIC numbers!

• Lucas mentioned this, but Darrell Issa got in the middle of a heated exchange between Henry Waxman and EPA Adminstrator Stephen Johnson over the EPA’s breaking the Clean Air Act.  Emptywheel has video:

• Why Fabian Nuñez is claiming racial bias at this late date over questions about his travel practices is completely beyond me.  And he’s taken to Spanish-language television for these accusations to stoke divisiveness in the Latino community, too.  It’s so counterproductive, as well as misleading.

• Speaking of Spanish-speaking media, this is an older story, but it’s fascinating to me that the Spanish-language channels in LA are so much more substantive than the English-language ones, featuring longer, “more deeply reported” pieces.

• We could see a settlement very shortly on prison overcrowding in the state which would not require early release.  There are some decent components to this deal, but it basically gives everyone three more years to clean up their act, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it just puts us in the same siutation come 2011.  The policies needed are well-known; the political will remains elusive.

• The Bay Area AQMD passed a carbon tax for businesses that emit greenhouse gases.  It’s “not enough to change behavior,” one expert said, but it does presage what may be coming down the pike for polluters.  Whether you get there through selling carbon permits at auction or with a tax, the bottom line is that pollution is going to cost enough money to alter business’ approach to engaging in it.  This is a good step.

• Interesting that we denied the endorsement to Rep. Laura Richardson (CA-37) on the same day that she is forced to defend herself against allegations that she walked away from her foreclosed home in Sacramento.  It sounds like the Congresswoman renegotiated the loan, but the conservative fever swamps are all over this one (check the comments in that LAT blog post).  She did buy the half-million-dollar home with no money down, and then left Sacramento almost immediately after winning election to fill the open seat in Congress.

Abel Maldonado is one of the most vulnerable of the Senate Republicans facing reelection this year. Democrats hold a 40-37 edge in registrations in SD-15 and the district was given a D+7.8 rating in cali_girl_in_texas’ latest rankings. And he has a long, conservative voting record – including a 20% lifetime rating from the California Labor Federation (as of 2006). Maldonado’s moderate reputation should be put to its strictest test yet in 2008, with a very Democratic turnout in November and a Republican Party having to defend a record of economic crisis and budgetary disaster.

So why is it that NO Democrat filed to run for the SD-15 seat?! Is Maldonado being given a free pass?

When the filing deadline came and went on March 7, I was curious to see who was going to be the Democratic opponent in SD-15. As I called the registrar’s offices in the five counties that make up this long district (Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara) I discovered that apparently nobody had filed. The CDP’s online organizers helped investigate, and ultimately concluded that there was no Democratic candidate, as the candidate filing status at the Secretary of State’s website confirms. Although former Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn (who had represented AD-24, Santa Clara County, from 2000 to 2006) had expressed interest in a campaign for the SD-15 seat, no actual candidacy materialized.

As one of the most winnable Senate seats on this year’s ballot, not having a candidate is a pretty big failure. And it obviously begs the question why this failure happened. Since it is the leader of the chamber that is responsible for candidate recruitment – in this case, Don Perata – this quote from last summer, from an August 2007 George Skelton column (now in the LA Times pay-only archives), is worth remembering:

If the Senate’s top Democrat — President Pro Tem Don Perata of Oakland — has anything to do with it, Maldonado will survive. “I’d be happy to go down to Santa Maria any time and knock on doors and say what a solid guy he is,” Perata says. “I just admire him. I was just blown away by what he did, by his courageous stand on principle.”

This refers to Maldonado’s break with the Senate Republicans – including Jeff Denham – and voting for the Democratic budget during last summer’s standoff. As I explained at the time, however, this vote should not have been construed as overriding his long right-wing voting record. Maldonado voted against AB 32, and supported the Democratic budget only after Arnold promised to line-item $700 million in health care spending out of the final budget.

One quote alone from August 2007 does not prove Perata gave Maldonado a pass, but it is also cause for serious concern. Were Democratic candidates discouraged from taking on Maldonado? Was this a case of the failure of the local netroots, or a failure of Senate Democratic leaders, or a failure of a party system that centralizes candidate recruitment when this is perhaps better handled by local Democrats?

As we await these answers, it is worth keeping in mind the possibility of a write-in campaign to put someone on the June ballot – and give Maldonado the Democratic challenger he so richly deserves. According to the SoS website a write-in candidate would need 3,689 votes in June to be placed on the November ballot. Surely there is someone in this district, from Los Gatos on down to Santa Maria, who is interested in taking on this task.

The massive health care reform plan brokered by Governor Schwarzenegger and Speaker Nuñez has been fraying at the edges a bit in recent weeks.  State hospitals appeared to waver on supporting the fees that would be charged to them under the plan, and hearings in the Senate Health Committee were delayed a week pending an analysis from the Legislative Analyst.  That hearing is currently scheduled for Thursday tomorrow, but State Senator Leland Yee just put a major wrench into that plan.

On the eve of a hearing for landmark health legislation, a spokesman for Sen. Leland Yee said the San Francisco Democrat will oppose the health care measure. The move throws into limbo whether the legislation has the necessary votes to move forward.

“The costs are a big concern for him,” said Adam Keigwin, a spokesman for Yee, regarding the $14 billion health care price tag that coincides with a projected $14.5 billion budget hole […]

Keigwin said Yee conferred with labor leaders in his district over the weekend who were “almost unanimous” in urging Yee “to vote no.”

With Health Committee chair Sheila Kuehl already opposed to the bill, this means that it would be unable to get out of committee without a Republican crossover vote.  And even with moderate (for the GOP) Abel Maldonado on the committee, that is unlikely.

I don’t think this is the end of the bill by a longshot.  Yee or Maldonado could have their arm twisted, or Kuehl could let the bill pass without a recommendation.

What happens next is unclear, though options certainly remain for passage.

For instance, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata could ask Kuehl to grant the measure a courtesy vote, allowing it to proceed to the Senate floor despite her personal opposition.

In an interview Tuesday morning, Kuehl reiterated her position, saying, “I’ve been very clear with all the advocates and everybody that I do not favor the bill.”

She said she had not been contacted by Perata or his staff to support the bill. Asked if she would consider granting a courtesy vote if she was, she replied that she “can’t answer that.”

“In the Senate, we generally are equal as members,” Kuehl added.

Don Perata could also kick Yee off the committee and replace him, although he hasn’t exactly been wildly supportive of the bill thus far.

What will happen is anyone’s guess.  But for the moment, this is a major blow to efforts to overhaul health care in California.

UPDATE: Frank Russo has more:

There are rumors that the report of the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, to be released soon-tonight or tomorrow morning-will not be all that favorable. That report had been sought by Senator Perata in December to further vet and test the assumptions made so that voters would not be faced with a ballot measure with shaky financial underpinnings in a year of a massive budget deficit, cuts in other programs including health, and uncertainties.

Making it even less likely that Perata will act.  But the pressure on him must be intense.

The pressure emanating from the Assembly, specifically the Speaker’s office, and from the Senator Perata and the rest of the Democratic Senators, and even Assembly Republicans has seemingly been insufficient to get the Republicans in the Senate to cast off the anti-government right wing of their party and their associated blogs.  So, on Monday, Governor Schwarzenegger, finally, got into the action.  I was going to title this something to do with muscles or terminating or something like that, but I’m all punned out. So, I’ll just have to settle for Arnold in battle mode.

On Monday, the Governator visited the districts of Sen. Abel Maldonado and Sen. Dave Cogdill.  Arnold praised Maldonado, so we should expect to see the Governor in his Monterrey district if there is in fact a primary challenger in June.  Cogdill seems an unlikely Senator to flip his vote in favor of the budget, so instead Arnold focused his musculatory power at Sen. Jeff Denham, a “moderate” (that’s a wee bit generous) whose district leans towards the middle.  Denham, for his part, apparently didn’t appreciate the attention.  From the LA Times:

“He should get a lot of heat,” Schwarzenegger said of Denham, prompting the healthcare clinic workers who were standing behind the governor to break into applause. “If you think of one person who can make the budget pass, Sen. Denham could do it. I hope everyone here today calls the senator. Call him. Say, ‘It is up to you now. You are our man.’ “

Denham later issued an angry written statement.

“Governor, let me repeat myself again, since perhaps you are not listening yet,” he wrote. “I will not be bullied, intimidated or pressured into voting for a budget with inflated revenues, unaccounted expenses or accounting gimmickry.” (LA Times 8/14/07)

Well, perhaps this is it. Perhaps this is where the rubber hist the road for the California GOP. The Democrats in the legislature seem unlikely to grant the GOP a reprieve in the form of an emergency spending measure, and the Republicans must now choose. Do they continue to rebuff the will of the vast majority of California voters? Will this be Arnold’s Last Stand? Is this Arnold really standing up the right wing of his party?

We discussed the possible immolation of a tenuous coalition on a thread a few days ago.  More moderate, you might call them “BusinessReeps”, Republicans who are interested in, you know, plundering a large government bureaucracy might be feeling growing pains with the far-right Social Conservatives.  It’s a tent built by Bush and Rove, and like much else of their doing it seems to be crumbling.  And, like many things in politics, California seems to be leading the nation.  The souring relationship between Schwarzenegger, the former poster boy of the GOP, and the far-right, could have long-lasting effects for political alignment both in California and the nation as a whole.

We might just be blogging a turning point in history right now.  Keep your eyes on the ball, because where this one bounces, nobody knows.