McClintock to Run for Lieutenant Governor

The Los Angeles Times ^ | April 24, 2005 | Jean O. Pasco

[GOPXtreme20]

McClintock to Run for Lieutenant Governor

-- The state senator from Thousand Oaks is the first Republican to say he's entering the race.

By Jean O. Pasco, Times Staff Writer

A veteran lawmaker who gained statewide prominence by running for governor two years ago brought his 2006 campaign for lieutenant governor to Orange County on Saturday, becoming the first Republican to announce his candidacy. State Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks is seen as a hero by many conservatives for his austere approach to tackling California's record debt. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who held a fundraiser for McClintock's reelection last year, has praised what he called McClintock's fiscal sanity. Taking the state's No. 2 job is appealing, McClintock told a crowd of 175 at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach, because it is the only office other than that of governor with a legislative role. The lieutenant governor sits as president of the state Senate, and is chief executive when the governor is away. "It places the office in the position of being a great generator of reforms,"

McClintock said. The senator outlined his campaign before Principles Over Politics, a group of political junkies organized by former GOP Assemblyman Gil Ferguson that has met for two decades under his leadership. McClintock disagreed with members of the audience who contended that Schwarzenegger in recent weeks has backed off reforms intended for the ballot in a special as-yet unscheduled election this year, including creating a new state pension system and instituting tighter budget controls. "We have to bear in mind that political battles aren't tidy affairs. What the governor has proposed "moves us dramatically in the right direction." Many of the campaign's weighty issues, he added, could be resolved before the June 2006 primary if the governor prevails on the initiatives he favors..

[NEBUCHADNEZZAR1961]

Perhaps, just by chance, this man running for Lt. Gov. would force Arnold to move to the right and actually do something other than back down and run away from the Dem's.