Posted on 08/08/2006 6:18:31 PM PDT by SmithL
It has been ridiculed as the empty suit of statewide office. Some call it "Governor Lite."
One former keeper of its flickering flame recited the lieutenant governor's job like this: Wake up, check whether the governor's heart still beats, then beeline it back to bed.
In 1998, former state Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante vowed to change all that.
"I have the potential that perhaps few people have to make that job something really important," he said as he ran for the state's second-highest post.
Eight years later, Bustamante can count few glowing achievements to back up that boast as he nears the end of his second and final term.
Clashing with both Gov. Gray Davis and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bustamante has found himself on the political fringes, pursuing modest initiatives with admittedly modest success.
His daily schedule, provided to the Times under the state Public Records Act, is a lesson in political isolation -- full of white space and ceremonial function, light on policy. Through late May this year, one of every three days saw Bustamante with no scheduled appointments. On most days, his schedule records no work on policy issues.
Bustamante said the schedule is a loose look at what's ahead, and that he is often busy working on issues, trying to push legislation with his former colleagues in the Assembly, working behind the scenes. He admits he fell short of his pledge, but blames the job and the governors with whom he clashed.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
I wonder if Cruz has come to terms with saying "Good Morning, Boss" to Arnold, every day.
Bustamante has found himself on the political fringes, pursuing modest initiatives with admittedly modest success.
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In other words, he hasn't done diddly... why folks would want him as Insurance Commish is a mystery.
Having the "(D)" beside his name gives him a head start in California.
Wake up in the morning, check the morning newspaper to see f the Governor has died. If not, go back to sleep.
Bustamante? I don't think even the US Bank Tower in LA casts a big enough shadow to cover that butterball.
He's also pro-open borders...so he'll be a shoo-in in the next California governor's election.
Locally, he's rumored to be a lot more than pro-open borders.
His parent's landlord suspects he got to Dinuba in January of 1953, across an open border. According to the landlord, the Bustamante clan, all born in Mexico, made their annual, Christmas pilgrimage back to their hometown in Mexico in December 1952. When they returned in January, they had a new baby boy in tow. No birth certificate on file in Tulare County lends some small credence to this local legend.
California should require proof of US citizenship to join a political party.
El Cruz-o has expressed a lot of racist vitriol in the past. He's no friend of the caucasians, that's for sure.
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