GOP says they’ll hammer Maldonado vote in Spanish-language media

GOP says they’ll hammer Maldonado vote in Spanish-language media

By Malcolm Maclachlan | 02/12/10 12:00 AM PST

Republicans are pledging to go after Democrats in the Spanish-language media after Assembly Democrats, including many Latinos, refused to confirm Sen. Abel Maldonado as lieutenant governor.


Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, the only Latino in the GOP’s legislative delegation, failed to get 41 votes in the Assembly. State Republican Party spokesman Hector Barajas said that they won’t let Spanish-speaking voters forget that Democrats rejected the son of a bracero for a position that would have made him the highest-ranking Latino in the state.


"It’s an indication that they’ll say one thing and do another," Barajas said.


He compared it to President Barack Obama’s failure to act on immigration reform, noting there have been no hearings of major legislation.

"It’s something Latinos are aware of," Barajas said. He added that Maldonado, the now-wealthy son of poor Mexican immigrants, is "everything they claim to represent."



One thing complicating their narrative is the fact that the opposition to Maldonado was led by Latinos. Incoming Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, was point man gathering votes against Maldonado. Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, was an outspoken critic of the nomination.

On Monday, a trio of Latino Assemblymen — Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, and Jose Solorio, D-Santa Ana — held a press conference to attack Maldonado’s voting record on issues important to immigrants and Latinos in general.

There is also chatter that one of the main reasons behind the Maldonado choice was to create a wedge issue between Democrats and Latino voters. While rejecting Maldonado has obvious pitfalls, confirming him would force many Democrats to approve someone who has made many votes they dislike. It would not only move a formerly Democratic office into the GOP column but put a Latino incumbent in an office they’d like back. And it would have given him the keys to a controversial offshore oil drilling plan that has a lot of support in his Senate District, via the Lt. Gov.’s vote on the State Lands Commission—though Maldonado has said publicly that he would not vote for the Tranquillon Ridge Project.



Meanwhile the Schwarzenegger administration has said that because the Assembly did not actually get 41 votes to reject Maldonado, he is the legitimate Lt. Gov. and they will try to seat him. This could ensure the dispute stays in the news—English, Spanish and otherwise—for a few days longer.

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Pulling the race card here is a cheap tactic, but it suits a cheap party like the GOP.