Why Swearengin’s finish in controller’s race is deceptive

The fact that Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin finished first in the state controller’s primary and that another Republican — David Evans — was running a strong third surprised just about all California GOPers and may lead them to unrealistic confidence about her chances in November.

Evans was a novice, unknown, unimpressive, unfunded candidate. Check out his primitive website. In statewide races Tuesday, GOP candidates usually got about 42-48 percent of the vote. If Swearengin gets 24.4 percent of the vote and Evans gets 21.6 percent — which is where things stood overnight Wednesday — that’s an amazingly negative comment on her. She only gets a little more of the GOP-inclined vote than a total naif.

Hey, California media, when will you notice that state GOPers are treating Swearengin like another Central CA Republican named Abel Maldonado?

This is no surprise. I offer the details here. The key fact driving this GOP distaste is that when it was politically convenient for her, she tried to subvert direct democracy so as to ram through unpopular fee increases. (They were for water utility rates, which are in an arguably different category than most fees, but still …)

This drove many people in Fresno insane. (And even annoyed the liberal Fresno Bee editorial page.)

As one of the many libertarians and conservatives who see direct democracy as our only hope in California, it appalls me — even if I get that water rates are different.

So when John Perez thumps Swearengin 56%-44% in November, I won’t shed a tear.