"Northstate State Senator Doug LaMalfa will resign from the State Senate at the end of Friday’s session. LaMalfa will leave office and focus on his race for Congress in November."
"In a news release, LaMalfa said his resignation will allow the special primary election to fill his seat to be consolidated with the November General Election, saving taxpayers an estimated $2 million."
The rest of the article is here.
Okay. Let's get down to brass tacks. Herger resigned in January 2012 and annoited LaMalfa as is heir apparent. If LaMalfa really cared about saving the taxpayers money, he would have resigned in January 2012 when he accepted the heir apparent status and saved us the expense of a special election.
We would have had an open primary election in June 2012 and a run off in November 2012. Now, we will have an open primary election in November 2012 and a run off in 2013 - an extra election for which the taxpayers will have to pay.
This situation is political spin at its best.
Is it possible that polling indicates that north state folks intend on voting for Jim Reed (D) as a result of the election costs to fill LaMalfa's vacant seat if LaMalfa wins and LaMalfa is responding to such polling?
Or, is it possible that LaMalfa thinks that he will skate into Congress and wants to make sure that his guy (Gentleman Jim) gets in before the FPPC completes its investigation of Jim Nielsen - the heir apparent as appointed by LaMalfa?
The story about the investigation of Nielsen is here.
It is alleged that Nielsen contributed $32,000 to the Tehama County Republican Central Committee which was then passed on to assembly candidate Bob Williams. Nielsen, who supported Williams in the primary, had already contributed $3,900, the maximum allowed by campaign finance rules.
In summary, LaMalfa is being investigated by the Federal Elections Commission for alleged campaign finance violations (and he is not even a federal office holder yet) and Nielsen is being investigated by the Fair Political Practices Commission for the same reason?!
Why do I feel like I died and woke up back in Chicago?
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