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Tues. votes to shape future Assembly race |
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Tuesday, 05 February 2008 |
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By Ken Koerner
Register Staff 2-2-2008
Until California voters statewide have cast their ballots on Tuesday, Feb. 5, Inyo County’s voters won’t really know just who they’ll be able to vote for in the June 3 race for the next State Assembly member from the 34th District.
seat to wonder about their own future plans, too … that is except for the sole “absolutely announced” candidacy of Maze’s former staffer, Bob Smith. Smith has made it clear that he will be on the ballot in June regardless of what voters decide on Tuesday. For at least two other potential candidates, that clarity remains illusive.
One person who, for now at least, is avoiding aggressive campaign activity is even more familiar with Maze than candidate Smith – since this potential candidate is Rebecca Maze, the assemblyman’s wife.
Back in September, 2007, Becky Maze had announced her intention to seek election to the Assembly seat that her husband was expected to be vacating. In light of the possibility that Bill Maze may once again be on June’s GOP primary ballot, she is taking a wait-and-see approach to personally seeking that office.
Another person that has indicated her intention to run as a Republican candidate for the Assembly seat now held by Maze, is also quite familiar with the man.
Connie Conway has spent the past seven years on the Tulare County Board of Supervisors. Currently the board’s chair, she’s also known Maze – himself a former Tulare County supervisor – for sometime now. After anticipating Maze’s “tremend-out status” could provide a promising opportunity to follow his path from county official to state officeholder, Conway announced her intention to run.
Though now, with the wild-card aspect of Prop 93, recent reporting has appeared in a newspaper in her hometown of Visalia indicating Conway’s candidacy has also slipped into a holding-pattern. No doubt this could change dramatically come Feb. 5.
Declared Republican candidate Bob Smith has not been deterred in his campaigning efforts by the possibility that Prop 93 might be approved by California’s voters. “I don’t think there’s much support for it,” Smith said. “The voters in this state were clear about their desire to have term limits in place when they passed Prop 140 back in ’90. I don’t think they’ll change that position.”
Incumbent Assemblyman Maze sees the fate of Prop 93 with less certainty. “The polling numbers on 93 have been a real mixed-bag,” Maze said. “I’ve seen numbers (poll results) that show it could pass – and I’ve seen numbers that suggest it’s not going to pass.”
Supporters of Prop 93 point out the positive aspect of “increased experience and continuity” among California’s legislators, and note that the overall duration of an official’s career would be reduced from the possible 14 years currently allowed down to a maximum 12-year tenure.
Opponents of the initiative suggest it’s merely an effort on behalf of existing state legislators to hang onto their positions and say the proposition “is supported by special interest groups already doing business with the state.”
Attentive voters will not be surprised by the widely divergent perspective being expressed by those for and against 93’s passage, given that television commercials created and paid for by the opposing sides are often seen airing within minutes of each other. California election officials recommend every voter carefully read the voter information material that has been mailed to each eligible voter and which detail “for and against” arguments on each of the seven propositions on the current ballot.
So it is that the roster of candidates available to the people of the 34th Assembly District may rest less in the hands of this district’s constituency and more in the hands of the voters all across California. At least in the short-term. Of course, local voters will ultimately cast the deciding votes in the June primary and the November general election to determine which man or woman will next represent their district in the State Assembly. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 08 March 2008 )
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