My state senator has died.

William J. "Pete" Knight.

http://avpress.com/n/susty1.hts

He was planning to retire, and George Runner will be elected into his seat.

Pete Knight: great pilot, embarrassing representative. But he represented the majority of his constituents well; they loved him. :puke:

I remember when he ran for mayor back in the 80s; this was a tiny little town then. He ran on a "controlled growth" platform, promising minimum lot sizes, etc., and was in the developer's pockets from there on out. He went from mayor to one term in the state assembly, to the state senate, where he's been ever since.

Most famous for his reading of a racist poem to the state assembly, his homophobic legislation, and his gay son's denouncement of it, and his work on anti-immigration legislation.

George Runner took his assembly seat, and was termed out last year. Campaigned his wife, who now sits in that assembly seat, and announced that he would run for senate when Pete retired. Was hired as a "consultant" for $60,000 a year by a local city council in the interim.

As of November, it looks like the Runner family will own this area.

http://republican.assembly.ca.gov/members/Index.asp?Dist=36&lang=1

While the local dems always have somebody on the ballot opposing them, they never win.

This year the dem nominees are Jonathan Kraut for Pete's senate seat, and Horton Scioneaux for Sharon Runner's assembly seat.

Any reason to hope there might be some coattails to the nation's determination to oust Bush? My town is now more dem than republican; we went Gore in 2000, to the local power brokers' horror.

I'm sorry for his family. Perhaps one day the people who followed his miserable example will realize they disenfranchised their own gay loved ones for years.

The paper reports his gay son visiting him at the end, to reconcile. I'm glad. I hope he is welcomed back by all of his family. That would be the beginning of a better example.

for his family

but ...

as he passes on to whatever we pass on to. And I wish comfort and healing for his family.

And I wish we could get a democrat into his senate seat.

I sadly cannot . I just hope he bought some ice with him.

I'm sorry for his family.