• State Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) recently filed a statement of intent to run in the 2012 race for State Senate District 15. The seat is currently held by state Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), whose term will end that year. Blakeslee was first elected to the State Assembly in 2004, a position he will also term out of in two years. The 15th State Senate District is considered relatively moderate in California. However, redistricting after the 2010 U.S. Census could change that in 2012. Maldonado won in a landslide against Independent Jim Fitzgerald during the Nov. 4 election. Currently, no Democrats have filed paperwork to run for that seat in 2012, or Blakeslee’s own 33rd Assembly District seat in 2010. Blakeslee has also been busy on Capitol Hill. He recently introduced legislation calling for a Constitutional convention to “overhaul California’s dysfunctional government,” according to a press release. The bills—ACR 1 and AB 4—will focus the convention agenda on election and campaign, tax, and budget reform. The bills aim to reduce the influence of special interests in the Legislature, especially during election season. They would also replace the state’s current revenue cycle, the release states, with a more stable tax system that minimizes large swings in revenue while attracting new business activity to the state. Lastly, the bills would revise the legislative and budget calendars to promote a timely budget by limiting the Legislature’s ability to work on non-budget legislation when a budget is past due, and establishing payment and fee guidelines to curb government spending. “Californians are looking to us to achieve these long overdue structural reforms,” Blakeslee said in the release. “However, if the Legislature is unable to act, we have a duty to support a constitutional convention process that will get California back on track.”
This article appears in Dec 11-18, 2008.