DINO resigns from Senate to schmooze for Chevron, destroys our two-thirds supermajority

[KamaAina]

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_22646550/resignation-drops-dems-below-two-thirds-senate

A Central Valley lawmaker resigned unexpectedly Friday, creating a vacancy that dropped Democrats below the two-thirds threshold they need to pass tax changes or override vetoes. The loss, however, was expected to be temporary and not have major impacts on the majority party's clout.

State Sen. Michael Rubio, a moderate Democrat from the San Joaquin Valley town of Shafter, which is near Bakersfield, announced that he was stepping down immediately to take a government affairs job with Chevron Corp. He was in the middle of his first term in the Senate after being elected with 60 percent of the vote in 2010....

Rubio consulted his attorney and said he will not be lobbying. Neither he nor Chevron would disclose his salary with the San Ramon-based company.

"In this role, he will have responsibility for advancing the company's interests in California state politics and public policy, supervising a team of legislative and regulatory analysts and advocates in Sacramento," Chevron spokesman Morgan Crinklaw said in a statement.

So he won't be lobbying, just supervising lobbyists.

And naturally they're not going to tell us how much Chevron paid for his seat -- and with it, the Senate.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. At least your DINO didn't join the Republican Party

before being sworn in giving THEM a supermajority like my state representative did.

http://www.recalllindseyholmes.com

[KamaAina]

2. What a scuzzball

have you reached out to my favorite Alaskan, Shannyn Moore , for this effort?

The problem is, thanks to the infamous Prop 13, it takes a two-thirds supermajority (or a ballot initiative, like l;ast fall's Prop 30) in California to raise any taxes. Without it, we're stuck with the bare-bones spending left over from the Gropenator era.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Oh, yeah, Shannyn's on it.

She lives in my district, so she's as upset about it as I am. Our recall effort probably won't succeed, but we may be able to stop Lindsey from winning again in 2014. I can't imagine that the R's would trust her any more than we do after this.

[KamaAina]

6. She does?

Lucky you.

And there's your candidate for '14!

[Blue_In_AK]

7. She's an independent,

so she'd have to change party affiliation. I don't think she'd do it anyway. She's too valuable where she is. Since it looks fairly likely that I'll be the district chair for this district after tomorrow, it's going to be my responsibility to round up candidates, I guess. There are some good people in this district, so it shouldn't be too hard. West Anchorage is one of the few districts in the state that went for Obama...52%. I think he got 42% statewide.

[msongs]

3. he stayed there long enough to get his little black book filled with buyable officials nt

[Starry Messenger]

4. I guess they need someone to help cover up their nearly gassing Richmond down.

I'm starting to really wonder if the D's were really intending on doing anything with that 2/3 majority. It's been pretty quiet since November. Although, I must say I was reading back around the holidays that there were several expected vacancies coming up too, so I won't get too tinfoily.

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_22111497/california-democrats-supermajority-powers-will-be-short-lived

"California Democrats' supermajority powers will be short-lived

SACRAMENTO -- When Democrats last month achieved broad taxing powers by capturing supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature, Democratic leaders immediately ruled out new taxes, saying they didn't want to be seen as overreaching just after voters approved Gov. Jerry Brown's $6 billion annual tax hike.

<snip>

That's because the Democrats' supermajority status will be short-lived, wiped out for most of 2013 because a spate of expected vacancies and special elections will whittle their ranks to below the two-thirds threshold in the Assembly.

"There will be a very short window that Democrats will have the supermajority," said Eric Bauman, vice chairman of the state Democratic Party. "So I've been cautioning party activists to be patient."

Assembly Democrats will lose their two-thirds majority in late April if, as expected, Assembly members Ben Hueso, D-Chula Vista, and Norma Torres, D-Pomona, win special elections for seats that open when two state senators leave for Congress. And the Assembly will likely lose two other members when one runs for the Los Angeles City Council and another leaps to the Senate after another senator also runs for the council. If that all happens, Assembly Democrats won't be able to recapture their supermajority until January 2014.



I don't know how this new defection makes that more tricky now.

[blkmusclmachine]

8. +1. Too often the "Democrat" is a wolf-in-sheeps-clothing type.

[Le Taz Hot]

9. I have it on excellent authority

that Henry T. Perea is being courted to run for the seat. He's currently in the Assembly and was on the Fresno City Council before that. He ran for mayor of Fresno a few years ago and BARELY lost to a candidate who was EXTREMELY well financed and connected. His father, Henry Perea, was also on the Fresno City Council and the Fresno County Board of Supervisors so the Perea name is pretty well known in the Valley.

I don't particularly care for him myself but you guys would probably like him. He does what The Party tells him to do, never makes any waves, etc. He'd be a safe candidate.

[KamaAina]

12. Trouble is, he's in the Assembly

so another domino falls while that seat stays vacant.

Plus, it'll take a while to schedule that special election, so Chevron bought themselves a few months at least.

[Auggie]

10. S.F. Chronicle says Dems may regain control soon:

The Democrats, who now hold 26 seats in the chamber, might regain their supermajority quickly, with special elections scheduled for (departed Juan) Vargas' (San Diego) seat on March 12 and Negrete McLeod's (Chino) on May 14. Analysts say both are expected to stay in Democratic hands.

FULL STORY: http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Democrats-lose-state-Senate-supermajority-4302096.php

[Duer 157099]

11. Dems need to GOTV down there (Bakersfield)

Keeping Rubio's seat may be slightly trickier for Democrats. Even though 50 percent of voters in the 16th State Senate District are registered Democrats and 28 percent are Republican, the number of Republican votes is likely to swell at least 10 points on election day, said Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data, an analytical firm.

"And anything could happen in a low-turnout election," Mitchell said. "But with an expected 50 percent Democratic turnout, it is likely to stay in their hands. In the Bay Area, those independents might lean Democratic, but around Bakersfield (part of which is in Rubio's district), they are likely to lean the other way. You never know."

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Democrats-lose-state-Senate-supermajority-4302096.php

[eric1]

13. DINO resigns

Once again the foxes watching over the henhouse. From Chevron's perspective though, what's good for them MUST be good for California. That of course, is debateable on more than a few levels.