In yesterday’s Sacramento Bee, Dan Weintraub got it right when he wrote “the Governor’s got the political center all to himself.” The piece pointed out important truths often forgotten in the California legislature, namely that while registered Republicans in California (i.e., real people) overwhelmingly support such issues as protecting the environment and raising the minimum wage, the corporately-funded Republicans in the legislature uniformly don’t. Most Democrats stay to the left.
The Governor then, whose inaugural speech called for “post-partisanship,” is alone among California state elected officials in staking out the territory of the political middle.
The only thing that makes it less lonely for him is Weintraub, who has slavishly clung to the idea of this Governor as a centrist even when the Governor himself temporarily strayed. In many respects, Weintraub has been the Governor’s most steadfast supporter, putting Maria to shame.