3 months ago
SACRAMENTO, CA - St. Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, had his say Wednesday about his nomination for California's lieutenant governor. The seat was vacated this month by John Garamendi who won a special election for Congress.
Maldonado's nomination quickly took shots from both Democrats and Republicans. Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg expressed concern that the nomination would require a special election that could cost the state between $2 million and $4 million dollars. Maldonado believes it wouldn't.
"He's concerned about the resources. I don't blame him. We are all concerned about resources. But, I'm looking forward to presenting to him that the costs will be minimal and we can move forward on this nomination,' Maldonado responded.
Republicans and Democrats have speculated whether the nomination is a payback from Gov. Schwarzenegger's for Maldonado's highly publicized and pivotal vote in this year's budget. He broke ranks with Republicans to support the budget.
"This notion that it was payback, it's just, it has nothing to do with the nomination for lieutenant governor. I believe in my heart that the reason why the governor has nominated me is because he knows that I have always been in Sacramento fighting for all of the people of California. I've never let party get in the way of what's good for the people of California," Maldonado said.
The state Legislature has 90 days to act on the nomination.
The full interview with Maldonado accompanies this story.
by Dana Howard, dhoward@news10.net
News10/KXTV
