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Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado is running a radio ad criticizing Democratic rival Gavin Newsom, San Francisco's mayor, for a city policy to try to rehabilitate and release undocumented minors being held for crimes – without reporting them to federal officials for possible deportation. Following is an analysis by Susan Ferriss of The Bee Capitol Bureau: Text Narrator: It took a triple murder for Mayor Gavin Newsom to admit San Francisco's sanctuary city policies were a misguided and costly mistake. Second narrator: For four years while Newsom was mayor, San Francisco refused to turn dangerous illegal immigrant criminals over to authorities...

In statewide elections in California today 10/04/10, as early voting begins, 3 high-profile contests are fiercely fought, separated by 5 or fewer points, according to this latest exclusive SurveyUSA polling for KABC-TV Los Angeles, KPIX-TV San Francisco, KGTV-TV San Diego, and KFSN-TV Fresno. In the race for US Senator, incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer clings today to a narrow 46% to 43% advantage. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released 12 days ago, Boxer is down 3 points; Republican Carly Fiorina is flat. Seniors are moving toward Boxer; voters under age 50 are giving Fiorina another look. In the race for...

If Tuesday's opening debate in the lieutenant governor's race is a sign of things to come, buckle up. Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado may be the incumbent, but he was on the attack early against Mayor Gavin Newsom, needling the mayor for his handling of the Cosco Busan oil spill, his wife's investments in oil companies and San Francisco's sanctuary city policy in a roughly 50-minute radio debate on KQED's Forum program. The mayor, for his part, tried to paint Maldonado as out of touch with the state on environmental issues and the embodiment of Sacramento political gridlock. Host Scott Shafer...

I began the week, along with many of you, urging acting governor Abel Maldonado to file the State’s appeal in the federal case involving Proposition 8. I end the week as his opponent and a candidate for the office of Lieutenant Governor. To some this may seem extreme or be dismissed as a publicity stunt. It is neither. It is the proper response when we find the two front runners for the office of Lieutenant Governor do not share our principles, our values or our respect for the legal system. The democratic nominee and mayor of San Francisco is the...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, considered famously liberal by many, released a radio ad Thursday attacking his GOP rival for lieutenant governor for voting to raise taxes.

With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is Asia, a conservative law professor is trying to cajole acting Gov. Abel Maldonado to appeal to defend California's same-sex marriage ban in court. John Eastman, who lost a bid in June to become the Republican nominee for attorney general, is calling on Proposition 8 supporters to "help Abel Maldonado do the right thing. Call him TODAY to say you support him filing the Notice of Appeal. . . . Call Now. Call Every Hour." Eastman, on his website today and in emails, is supplying office phone numbers and cell phone numbers for Maldonado, who is...

When the governor's away, the lite gov will play ... the role of governor. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was wheels up for Asia yesterday, where he's spending six days promoting California's trade partnerships in China, Japan and South Korea. While Schwarzenegger is out of the country, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado gets the job of acting governor. And act he will. Today, Maldonado will put his John Hancock on legislation providing school funding and a land agreement touted as a job creator.

Laird vs. Blakeslee-California 15th Senate District Special Election I couldn't find a thread for this race so I decided to create one. I feel so empowered.The race is tight so far at 0% to 0%

The IRS files a lien against Abel Maldonado's Santa Barbara County farm. It is the ninth time since 1992 that tax collectors have filed liens against him to compel payments totaling more than $240,000. Federal officials filed the lien April 13, two weeks before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger swore in Maldonado as the state's second highest-ranking public official. The single-page IRS lien indicates that Maldonado owes the government $111,146 for underpaying a category of taxes that include Social Security, Medicare and federal withholding contributions for employees on his 6,000-acre farm in Santa Barbara County.

It didn't take long for Mayor Gavin Newsom's opponent in the lieutenant governors race to tag the country's "greenest mayor" with setting "some sort of record for political hypocrisy" after our colleagues revealed his wife had hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in oil companies, including the owner of the deepwater rig that exploded in the gulf oil disaster. "Though Gavin claims to oppose offshore drilling when the cameras are rolling, his bank account has been swelling due to multiple investments in what he calls 'dirty' energy companies who make billions of dollars from off-shore drilling," said Brandon Gesicki, a...

SACRAMENTO — The stakes are high and contrasts stark in Tuesday's special election to fill a vacant state Senate seat for a district that stretches from San Jose to Santa Maria, in Santa Barbara County. Democrats can inch closer to a two-thirds majority in the Senate with a victory, a prospect that has pitted powerful interests against each other in a bruising and costly battle over who controls the Capitol. The race features two candidates who represent the opposite ends of the partisan spectrum: former Assemblyman John Laird, an openly gay and liberal Democrat who is backed by labor unions...

San Francisco bashing is about to intensify. Three Democratic politicians with strong ties to San Francisco - Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris - are engaged in tough statewide election battles and political experts say the GOP will probably seize on the city's reputation as a bastion of left-wing politics to attack them.Gubernatorial candidate Brown was born in San Francisco, served as Oakland's mayor and lives in the East Bay city while serving as the state attorney general; Newsom, vying for lieutenant governor, was born in San Francisco and is the city's mayor; and Attorney General candidate Harris was...

So much for the undeserved stereotype of California Republicans voting lemming-like for the most conservative, unelectable contenders. Tuesday, GOP voters rejected the most conservative candidates in favor of moderate hopefuls generally deemed to be more likely to win in November. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman trounced Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina beat two skilled opponents. Like Whitman, most candidates endorsed by former Gov. Pete Wilson won big. Most endorsed by conservative demigod Tom McClintock tanked. It wasn't even close. Down ticket, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, a GOP moderate, fended off more conservative competition. In the attorney...

Proposition 14, modeled on a similar law in Washington state, was approved by 8 percentage points. The measure will create a single, open primary in which the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the general election runoff, paving the way for Republican - vs. -Democrat, Democrat - vs. - Democrat or Republican -vs -Republican contests. The campaign was spearheaded by Schwarzenegger and his moderate new lieutenant governor, Abel Maldonado. Maldonado, a former state senator, secured the ballot measure as part of an agreement to vote for the stalemated Democratic budget last year.

An energized state Republican party launched the general election campaign this morning at a victory rally at the Hilton hotel in Anaheim. The theme of the day and perhaps of the campaign: The GOP nominees represent new blood while the Democratic ticket is dominated by career politicians. Without a doubt, the GOP ticket is its most diverse in years in ethnicity and gender. It's led by two women - gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman and U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina; a Latino - Lt. Gov. nominee Abel Maldonado; and an African-American - Secretary of State nominee Damon Dunn. Fiorina drove home...

In case anyone missed the tea leaves scattered around the country, California’s primary results offer more evidence of voters’ dislike for political parties. The Golden State on Tuesday passed Proposition 14, creating a so-called open primary in which any voter is allowed to cast their vote for any candidate in the primary, regardless of party affiliation. The top two vote-getters would face each other in the general election, even if they were from the same party. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a big backer of the change, arguing that it would push politics away from the polarized extremes and toward a...

California voters approve open primaries measure

Secretary of State Debra Bowen said today there will be an "army of lawyers" looking at the constitutionality of Proposition 14 if the measure is approved today. Under the "top two" primary system, candidates of all party affiliations would run on one primary ballot. Only the top two vote-getters would advance to a general run-off election. The change does not impact presidential contests. Proponents, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, say the change would increase voter choice and turnout in primary contests. They also argue that more moderate politicians would be elected because candidates would have to...

GOP bad dream: Birther on ticket By: Kasie Hunt June 7, 2010 03:53 PM EDT California Republicans optimistic about their prospects in November could find themselves with a bit of a problem after the votes are counted in Tuesday’s primaries - a statewide ticket with the so-called “Birther Queen” as one of their candidates. Orly Taitz is an Israeli émigré who has spent the last two years filing lawsuits challenging President Barack Obama’s right to be president on the grounds that he was born in Kenya. In the process, she has earned herself $20,000 in court fines. Now she’s running...

Yesterday the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation bestowed four California state legislators – Senator Dave Cogdill, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Assemblyman Mike Villines, and former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass – with the JFK Profile in Courage Award. It turns out it’s “courageous” for politicians, despite a recession and rising unemployment, to impose the largest state-level tax increase in history. At least, that is what the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation would have you believe, as the instrumental role played by the aforementioned four in passing last year’s tax-hike laden budget was the cause for their award. It also...