Politicians play waiting game

Blakeslee could try for state Senate seat if Maldonado became lieutenant governor

By Bob Cuddy | bcuddy@thetribunenews.com

Comments (0) |

E-Mail

Text Size:

tool goes here

Two Central Coast politicians who could be changing jobs soon are remaining mum about their respective prospects.

State Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, has been prominently mentioned as a possible replacement for Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who resigned this week after he was elected to Congress in San Francisco�s East Bay.

Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, who cannot run for re-election to the Assembly next year because of term limits, has been touted by political observers as likely to run for the open Maldonado seat in a special election that would likely take place sometime next spring should Maldonado move on.

Maldonado�s communications director, Brooke Armour, told The Tribune on Friday that Maldonado is not pressuring the governor for the appointment.

�It is the governor�s decision and he is not commenting on it,� Armour said.

Maldonado is only one of several people who could be appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to fill Garamendi�s former job, and jockeying and speculation are already rife in Sacramento.

The governor also could leave the post vacant until next November�s general election.

Should Schwarzenegger tap Maldonado for the post, and the Legislature approve, there would be a primary election for his state Senate seat next year, and, if no one gets 50 percent of the vote plus one, a runoff election.

Blakeslee has been raising money. He had $287,435 in August, most of it from political action committees.

Blakeslee declined to answer questions from The Tribune on Friday about whether he would seek Maldonado�s seat should it open.

Maldonado�s term in the state Senate expires in 2012.

About comments

Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.

What you should know about comments on SanLuisObispo.com

SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.

Here are some rules of the road:

Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and leave him a public message.
Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.

You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.

If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@sanluisobispo.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.