Although the California primary election just occurred, in two weeks residents in the 15th Senate District will vote again in a special election to fill the vacant seat. One candidate, former Assemblyman John Laird, is our choice in this race, and his victory would benefit the district – and the LGBT community – in several ways.
Laird, of course, is openly gay. But that's not why we're endorsing him. He has had a long career as a lawmaker, starting first in Santa Cruz, where he served as mayor, and later in the Assembly. During his tenure in the lower house, Laird, a Democrat, was responsible for updating many of the state's laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity. He is a supporter of marriage equality. He also served as chair of the Assembly Budget Committee and knows first-hand about the state's fiscal mess, making him one of the few people qualified to fix the problems.
Which leads us to another important reason to support Laird: if he wins, the Democrats would be one vote closer to getting to the two-thirds majority they need to pass the budget in the state Senate. (If the Democratic candidate wins in another special election in November, the party would have the two-thirds needed in the Senate.) After all the gridlock of the past year that delayed passing the budget on time – only to see a multimillion-dollar deficit still unresolved – the Democrats need to get to this threshold to break it and pass legislation. One of the major reasons that the state's budget process is broken is the two-thirds rule – a supermajority if you will – that currently allows Republicans to push problems into the future or threaten to gut much-needed social and educational programs.
But more than just being an additional Democratic lawmaker, Laird is a qualified one. And he is a longtime supporter of the environment. With the Gulf Coast disaster now in its 52nd day – and hundreds of birds and other wildlife dead on the beaches or near-death, covered in thick, toxic oil – it's a good time to remind Central Coast voters about the importance of electing Laird to the state Senate. He has a 25-year record of opposing off-shore oil drilling. Recently, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to open up California's coast to more off-shore drilling; thankfully, he quickly changed his position after the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico. One of the worst oil disasters back in 1969 was in Santa Barbara, the result of a blowout on an off-shore oil platform. We don't need another one.
Pointedly, Laird's main opponent in the special election, Republican Assembly leader Sam Blakeslee, not only supports off-shore oil drilling, he once worked for Exxon. Blakeslee also has never supported LGBT legislation while in office.
The differences between Laird and his opponent could not be more apparent. Voters in the 15th Senate District should vote for John Laird on June 22. Let's send an experienced, fair-minded legislator back to the Capitol where he can help move California forward.
Off and running
Billionaire Meg Whitman won the Republican nomination for governor in Tuesday's primary election and she will face former Governor Jerry Brown, who had no serious Democratic opposition, in November.
Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, spent $71 million of her own money to handily defeat her primary opponent, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Whitman has given every indication that she will continue her massive spending during the general election campaign. Whitman is no moderate and she is against same-sex marriage. During the primary campaign, she did not offer details about how she would solve the state's budget crisis or improve education. Instead, she ran television and radio ads saying she was against unions.
But Brown hasn't exactly been very specific either, and now that the primary is over, both candidates need to inform voters about where they stand on the issues and present a plan for stabilizing the budget without massive cuts to social services that will hit lower and middle-class people the hardest. They also need to tell voters what they will do to jump-start California's economy, which at 12 percent unemployment rate is higher than the national figure.
Californians are looking for a leader, not someone who buys their way into public office.