Maldo Lashes Out!

Anthony Pignataro:

California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado may be short, but he can be tough. And don’t get him angry — you wouldn’t want to see him angry.

I know this because I saw him angry today, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. The occasion was a 10 a.m. press conference on the west steps of the Capitol. The non-profit group IndependentVoice.org was endorsing Maldonado’s run to succeed his appointed self as lt. gov. But his blood was up, and he was on fire.

“This is Day 96 without a budget!” Maldonado thundered. “That’s… uncalled for!”

Thankfully, hardly anyone saw Maldonado’s outburst — just a couple reporters and a handful of IV.org and Capitol staffers. About a dozen Dutch tourists had been standing around earlier, but when they discovered that it was Maldonado who’d be appearing, they left.

The press conference was supposed to be a happy affair. IndependentVoice.org, which has endorsed just one other candidate in its history — Barack Obama — was on hand to thank Maldonado publicly for his “tough and non-partisan leadership.”

“I couldn’t be more delighted to endorse him,” IV.org director Jason Olson said.

For the most part, Maldonado kept his cool — and talked a lot about potholes. “When there was a pothole,” he said of his early career in politics, “I never looked at it as a Democrat or Republican pothole.” Instead, he said, he looked at it as a pothole that had to be fixed for all of his constituents.

He also called Proposition 14, the June ballot initiative that will only allow the top two candidates in each primary race to compete in the November general election and pretty much spells certain doom for the Libertarian, Green and American Independent parties, a “great step forward to allow people to vote in our political process,” whatever that means.

Maldonado then opened up the conference to questions. There was just one, asking him for a reaction to the latest Field poll showing Democrat Gavin Newsom leading him by four points.

“There are several polls out there,” Maldonado said. “I think it’s a dead heat. There are still 30 days left in teh campaign. The real poll will be taken on November 2.”

Seeing no further questions, Maldonado thanked everyone and walked back into the Capitol building.

OCT. 4, 2010