 |
 |
By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado dropped by Santa Rosa Friday on his statewide bus tour to drum up votes for Tuesday’s election.
Maldonado.
The Republican incumbent, who took office in April as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger-appointee, lunched with restaurateur Guy Fieri at Johnny Garlic’s — he had chipotle pasta — then schmoozed with voters at a Farmers Lane Starbucks.
“He was very personable and friendly,” said Brooke Clyde, a retired Santa Rosa lawyer who was drinking a non-fat latte when Maldonado walked in.
Clyde, 52, told Maldonado that he’d already voted for him on his mail-in ballot. And he thanked him for getting an ultimately successful proposition to redistrict legislative districts on to the ballot last year.
In 2009, Maldonado, while a state senator from Santa Maria, refused to vote to approve the state’s overdue budget until Democrats agreed to put the redistricting measure, Propostion 14, on the ballot.
Maldonado, who has been trailing his Democratic opponent San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in polls, said that for the most part, he’s been hearing from voters that the economy is their main worry.
“It’s jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said as he departed Santa Rosa for Novato.
He brushed off talk that he was plunging into a territory of reliably Democratic voter precincts — although Schwarzenegger won Sonoma County by 3,216 votes in 2006 — that is less than 100 miles from Newson’s home turf.
“I don’t see Santa Rosa as a liberal bastion, I see it as California,” he said, adding, “It’s not Gavin Newsom’s backyard. It’s California’s backyard.”
Subscribe by Email
Follow us on Twitter
Anybody by Gavin Nuisance…I’ll such there is marketing work in the Castro area.I am glad Arnold is leaving but Brown, Newsome, Pelosi, Boxer have destroyed California….
Maldonado and Newsom are both horrible choices that would continue the policies that are destroying our state. Maldonado told the people of our state that he wouldn’t vote to raise taxes and then turned around and did the exact opposite. I also don’t approve of his hijacking of the ballot initiative process for his own personal pursuits. Newsom supports sanctuary status and amnesty for illegal immigrants. Visit karenenglandforcalifornia.com to learn about Karen England, a write-in candidate that has picked up the endorsement of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, State Senator Tim Leslie, and Gun Owners of California. I hope you join me in voting for England on November 2nd.
Any guy who puts the voters’ interest over that of the party gets my vote. Prop14 is the best chance we have of restoring any sanity to our currently dysfunctional system. Imagine voting for a statesman, not a politician. Vote Maldonado.
There is a choice other than Maldonado or Newsome-write in candidate Karen England.