For all the hoopla about the rejection of Sen. Abel Maldonado today, Assembly Democrats showed they are a force to be reckoned with. Finally.
Frustrated by their role in budget negotiations over the past year, rank-and-file Assembly Democrats decided not to roll over and reward Maldo with a promotion. Only nine Democrats sided with the Republicans in the vote; just two of them were first-term members: Alyson Huber, who is in a hotly-contested race for re-election, and Bill Monning, who has close ties to former Assemblyman John Laird (who was gunning for the Maldo seat). Even Speaker Bass, who pushed back mightily last year in budget talks, didn't back Maldo.
The overwhelming number of freshman Assembly Democrats, who spent most of their first months in office facing an angry Democratic base back home because of budget cuts they didn't want to make, decided they had enough with Schwarzenegger's "post-partisanship." They remembered, all too well, the deal between Schwarzenegger and Maldo over the budget and open primary that was shoved down their throats. Majority Leader Alberto Torrico referenced the "back room deal" in a tough speech against Maldo on the floor.
Speaker-elect Perez, a freshman himself, let it rip in his statement after the vote.
"The people of California have made it abundantly clear that they loathe the kind of