Pugno decides to challenge Beth Gaines after all

Sacramento Bee ^ | 9/11/12 | Torey Van Oot

[SmithL]

The race is officially on in the 6th Assembly District.

Republican Assembly candidate Andrew Pugno announced Monday that he plans to move forward with his bid to unseat Assemblywoman Beth Gaines, R-Rocklin, on the Nov. 6 ballot, despite an earlier pledge to stop campaigning if another Republican came in first in the June primary.

The Folsom attorney said in a statement that he has concluded he "cannot, in good conscience, endorse (Gaines') dishonest and unethical campaign tactics," citing what he called "last-minute attack ads that she knew were lies."

"As the only other candidate on the November ballot, stepping aside and simply handing the election to Beth Gaines would be fundamentally unfair to the voters . . .

[SmithL]

This R vs R race was set up by California's new top-two primary law. Voters should take note that he is breaking campaign promises even before being elected.

[Cicero]

Pugno was the lead attorney for Proposition 8. I gather that he is the more conservative of the two. Probably he lost because of Democrat crossover votes in the primary. If they are the only two candidates in the race, I don’t see that he does any harm by running.

The SacBee is annoyed with him, and that says something, too.

[SmithL]

Everything that you said is correct. But he made a promise, and now he’s breaking it.