Feb. 22 may not represent much to the average person, but for state senator and former Santa Maria mayor Abel Maldonado, the last Monday in February is the “drop dead” date.
If that day rolls around and the state Legislature still hasn’t voted one way or the other on his appointment as lieutenant governor of California, he’ll automatically be confirmed. Until then, it’s anyone’s guess—including Maldonado’s—as to what will happen.
What’s it like being in limbo for the second highest office in California? While the Legislature may have been on recess this past month, Maldonado’s been anything but.
“This month has been one of the busiest months of my life,” Maldonado recently told the Sun. “I’ve been traveling up and down the state. The people of the Central Coast knew who Abel Maldonado was, but a lot of people were wondering, ‘Who was this senator that was nominated on the Jay Leno show?’”
If confirmed, the senator from the Jay Leno show would become the first Hispanic Republican to hold statewide office in 136 years. (The last was Governor Romualdo Pacheco in 1875, in case you were wondering.)
Does that historic potential statewide office factor into Maldonado’s thinking?
“First and foremost, I’m an American,” he said. “At the same time, I’m very proud of my heritage and my culture, which happens to be Hispanic. I’m a symbol to the Hispanic community that it really is amazing what you can accomplish if you work hard in America.”
While he waits in limbo, the machinery of the confirmation process is moving forward. Maldonado has been receiving briefings from the governor’s office on the budget and emergency services.
“They’re things like what am I supposed to do if there’s an emergency and the governor is out of state? Or what am I going to do if the governor is here and there’s a natural disaster? All of that has been a learning experience for me.”
Then there are those state leaders—on both sides of the aisle—who would rather Maldonado not get the chance to put said learning to use.
Some Republicans are angry with him for voting with Democrats during last year’s state budget debate. And there are state senators—again, both Republican and Democrat—who have declared their candidacy for lieutenant governor in 2011. None of them wants to run against an incumbent.
Of course, there are Democrats who want to see Maldonado appointed. In doing so, his senate seat will be up for grabs. Winning it would give the Democrats a two-thirds majority.
Had any of these considerations been going through Maldonado’s mind?
“I’ve heard a lot of that,” he said, referring to theorizing surrounding his appointment. “That’s all politics. Right now, I’m going through confirmation, which is a constitutional process.”
One of the duties of the lieutenant governor—and one that has the potential for the greatest impact on residents of the Central Coast—is membership on the California State Lands Commission.
In February 2009, the commission voted 2-1, along party lines, to deny a proposal from PXP to expand drilling into state waters on the Tranquillion Ridge Oil and Gas project.
If confirmed, Maldonado will give the commission a Republican majority, and there’s a chance that the Tranquillion Ridge issue may be revisited. But that doesn’t mean he’ll automatically vote for it, Maldonado said.
“I’ve voted against offshore drilling in the past many times,” he explained. “I’ve said that I don’t have the info that the State Lands Commission had when they made their decision [about the PXP project].
“But,” he added, “I always take everything on a case by case basis. I’d like to hear from the environmental community, whether they support or oppose the project.”
Whether the lieutenant governor-in-waiting will actually get to apply his case-by-case basis approach to the position is still in question. But even as he looks forward to a possible future with a new title, Maldonado said that his roots—both cultural and geographic—remain important to him: “I’ll never forget where I come from.” m
Contact Staff Writer Nicholas Walter at nwalter@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 7-14, 2010.
