Vote Buying, Backroom Deals, Lies and “Helping People”

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If you missed Abel Maldonado’s appearance on The Colbert Report last week, you missed seeing California’s new lieutenant governor’s posturing in promoting Proposition 14. We lost count of how many times he said he wanted to “help people,” but we’re pretty sure the audience didn’t buy it. He also never answered Stephen Colbert’s question of how the measure would fix California’s problems. Instead, he proclaimed proudly, “I’m sleeping under my desk at three in the morning because we can’t come together!”

We wonder why he’s concerned about everyone coming together. The only reason Prop 14 is alive today is because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bought Maldonado’s vote to pass the budget last year. The same budget that imposed the largest tax increase in history, yet has failed to fix California’s red ink problem. Is corruption and backroom deal making the “coming together” and “helping people” he is referring to?

Colbert’s response to Maldonado’s comparison of Top Two with the Olympics was on point: “You’re talking about awarding the gold and silver. What happened to the bronze, sir? You’re saying bronze medalists don’t count. Your words, sir.” Under Top Two, bronze does not matter. Neither do the Libertarians, Greens, Peace and Freedom, Democrat, Republican, AIP, or independents. If Top Two passes, the voters won’t matter either.

When Colbert asked Maldonado about the deficit, “Aren’t they paying you people in avocados?” Maldonado’s response was “Yeah, you’re right. We have IOUs. It’s kinda sad.” Kinda sad? Was that a joke, lieutenant governor?

At the end Colbert asked, “Is there anything in this bill that keeps people from spending unlimited amounts of money on advertising to win?” Maldonado provided no response so Colbert had to ask the question again. When Maldonado finally stated no, Colbert hollered, “Then I’m all for it! It will be the two richest guys!”

Comments accompanying the video on The Colbert Report website were just as critical:

“He looked like such a fool last night. So glad we have a politician who’s so interested in helping the people, he talks about how his legislation will “help the people” 50 times without saying specifically how getting rid of the primaries will help California. The look on his face when the guy who’s playing an idiot on TV, Colbert, asked him if there was anything in the bill preventing anyone from spending unlimited amounts on their campaign was priceless.”

“Basically, I believe Maldonado is being disingenuous. The primary effect (and I believe the primary purpose) of this law is to totally and permanently marginalize third parties. As Stephen pointed out, it will also greatly increase the effect of money on the outcome as well.”

“I don’t think Abel Maldonado has done much research on this type of open primary. This type of primary is called the Jungle Primary. Louisiana is the only state to use these and employed the Jungle Primary in the 1970s when Governor Edwin Edwards wanted to lower his campaign cost and edge out the Republicans, so there would only be Democrats in the runoffs. The results of this type of primary system are elections between fringe candidates, i.e. Edwin Edwards v. David Duke -the crook v. the KKK wizard. Louisiana has started to move away from the Jungle Primary, but go ahead California – keep it alive.”

“What Maldonado doesn’t recognize is that just taking the top two vote getters won’t be enough to vet the candidates. American Idol populism doesn’t work as practical democracy. That’s why there is an electoral college and political parties in the first place. Doesn’t anyone remember several seasons ago on American Idol how Sanjay whats-his-face nearly won the contest even though he was a terrible singer? Just imagine that in the political world. Our system is not perfect by any means. But do we really want to remove several of the safe guards to keep out the crazies? Just a thought.”

“Why does government have any interest in funding and policing elections within private political parties in the first place? My guess is a ploy to push the expense onto We The People.”

The last commenter makes an excellent point.

Why is the California government in the business of gaming elections to promote one kind of ideology?

Why are the governor and lieutenant governor pushing Californians to vote yes?

Since when do our elected officials dictate how voters should cast their ballot?

California’s leaders are playing games. The same politicians who created the budget mess are the same ones offering this great “solution” with Proposition 14. If passed, California’s failed leaders will continue to be rewarded, enabling the Assembly to maintain its power so they can continue failing Californians.

With the June election one month away, time is running out. There are several ways you can help! Become a Stop Top Two Facebook fan, suggest the Facebook page to your friends, download our Stop Top Two flyer to distribute at events, forward this email to friends and family, and make a donation at the Stop Top Two website. Together, we can stop this measure.

Protect Your Choice!

Christina Tobin
Founder, Chair
The Free & Equal Elections Foundation

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at 10:26 pm. It is filed under California, Top-Two. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.