After campaigning in Monterey and Santa Cruz for Proposition 14—a ballot measure that would create open primaries in California—newly minted Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado finished off his last-minute campaign trail on June 7 at the Swiss Chalet Restaurant in Santa Maria.
Maldonado greeted the customers, who were all grins as they talked to the Santa Maria native, in the hopes of encouraging them to vote the next day.
“There are men and women fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq right now, putting their lives on the line for our freedom,” Maldonado said. “We need to go out and vote.”
Maldonado planned to watch the election results with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and was optimistic Proposition 14 would pass to “cause the politicians to remain accountable to the people.”
Its passage means, voters will be able to choose representatives regardless of their political affiliation.
“Right now [the government] is for the party boss, by the party boss,” he explained.
This article appears in Jun 10-17, 2010.