California Legislative History
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In a press release today, the Americans Elect Party announced that it was cancelling the online Presidential Primary that had been scheduled for next month. The release said that “As of this week, no candidate achieved the national support threshold required to enter the Americans Elect Online Convention in June. The primary process for the Americans Elect nomination has come to an end.”
Therefore, no Americans Elect nominee for President will appear on the June 2012 Primary ballot.
Assemblyman Barnabas Collins of Butte County hasn’t been this interesting in at least a century.
Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of him. Although he had a unique name (he seems to have been the only ‘nonfiction’ person with that name), Collins died almost immediately after being sworn into office and became our shortest-serving legislator since the Civil War.
So why the sudden spotlight on Collins? On Friday, the Warner Bros. horror-comedy movie “Dark Shadows” opened in theaters. The comedy is about a vampire named Barnabas Collins who, freed after being locked in a coffin for two hundred years, moves in with his descendants who now live in his old mansion. The movie stars Johnny Depp (as Collins), Michelle Pfeiffer, and Eva Green.
When the 1901 legislative session began, Collins was appointed as a member of the Counties and County Boundaries Committee and the Roads and Highways Committee, and as Chairman of the Committee on Fish and Game. He introduced five bills, most of which were what are today called “district bills”; AB 104 paid for expenses at the State Forestry Station at Chico, and AB 207 funded the construction of additional buildings at the State Normal School at Chico (now Chico State).
Grave of Barnabas Collins
And then, a week after being sworn into office, he died suddenly of pneumonia.
In a eulogy delivered on the Assembly Floor, Grove Johnson noted “For twenty-one years I had known Mr. Collins, and in every relation the man proved his worth as a father, as a husband, as a friend, as a citizen. Here in this Assembly we have not had time to understand his worth. We have not been able to appreciate the dignity of his character and his indomitable perseverance.”
Today, Collins remains the the only “Barnabas” ever elected to partisan office in California. His grave is located eleven blocks from the State Capitol in a section of Sacramento City Cemetery near those of Hardin Bigelow, John C. Bell, and Governor William Irwin.
He is not a vampire.
In 1985, California state legislators were paid $33,732 plus $66 in per diem.
The JoinCalifornia biography for Assemblyman Luis Alejo has been updated to reflect his proposal today to Karina Cervantez on the Assembly Floor.
Articles: SacBee CapitolAlert & San Jose Mercury News
Assemblywoman Betsy Butler
At least four incumbents are facing challenging primary opponents. Although usually a rare occurrence (there have only been two incumbents defeated in primaries in the last decade), the combination of new district lines and the top-two primary have made this a potentially record-breaking year. In fact, the last time California saw more than two incumbents defeated in a primary was 34 years ago when Senator Alfred Song and Assemblyman Mike Cullen were defeated in 1978.
The four in the greatest danger this year are;
Betsy Butler – Probably the most serious primary challenge for an incumbent legislator this year is in AD-50, where Torie Osborn has mounted a full-scale offensive on first-term Assemblywoman Butler. Osborn has more than four hundred thousand dollars on hand and has collected endorsements from L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa, the Nurses, and a number of local officials. Butler, who has almost half a million in the bank, has a fight on her hands. This is going to be the race to watch in June.
Dan Logue – Logue, a two-term Assemblyman, is facing a challenge from Tehama County Supervisor Bob Williams. With the advantages that come from being an incumbent and having the larger warchest (Logue had $193,908 in his account, compared to $57,917 for Williams), Logue has made himself difficult to dislodge. Williams, endorsed by the two other local Republican legislators (Senator La Malfa and Assemblyman Nielsen), has a major challenge cut out for him in the next month.
Beth Gaines – Gaines faces a challenge in AD-06 from Andy Pugno, a fellow Republican who ran in 2010 for AD-05 (and lost to Richard Pan). Shortly before the end of the filing period, Pugno decided to jump into the race for the sixth, putting a hurdle in what had appeared to be an easy reelection for the first-term Assemblywoman. Gaines will benefit from a strong name ID, while Pugno will have an advantage (in the Primary) from his strong conservative background. This too will be one to watch.
Alan Mansoor – Freshman Assemblyman Mansoor faces a challenge from Newport Beach City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle. Although a ‘legislator vs. councilmember’ match-up would usually be an easy call, Daigle has built up an impressive $107,955 in her account (with Mansoor holding a narrow lead at $115,371). Her online endorsement list demonstrates strong support in Newport Beach, but translating that to a victory in June will likely be a tough challenge.
The Libertarian Party made former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson their nominee for the Presidency today at their national convention in Las Vegas. Johnson, who served as Governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003, was an early 2012 Republican candidate for President until he withdrew in December.
This weekend will be the Libertarian National Convention in Las Vegas. In addition to crafting the party platform, delegates will select their 2012 Presidential nominee.
Keen observers may note that the convention will be held almost exactly a month ahead of California’s primary election and that those votes cast in June will play no part in the selecting of the nominee.
So, if you’re a Californian and you want to help pick the Libertarian nominee, you need to start packing up the car for a roadtrip to Vegas. There will be interesting speakers and (like most Libertarian get-togethers) some of the most fascinating delegates you will find at any convention this summer.
Several emails were received this weekend filling in some of the early political history of Orange County. It’s not every day that we hear from noted O.C. political strategist and historian Chris Nguyen, but I always appreciate it when he shares the results of his research.
In particular, Chris helped fill in some blanks in the biographies of Assemblymen A. Guy Smith, W. H. Spurgeon and LeRoy E. Lyon Jr. (all three of whom had also served as Orange County Supervisors).
Thank you!
Sen. Dan Boatwright
Former State Senator Dan Boatwright died Friday at his home in Clayton, the Sacramento Bee reported Saturday.
Boatwright served in the Assembly from 1973-1980 and in the Senate from 1981-1996. During a 2009 interview, Boatwright had noted that he was the only legislator to sit as chair of every fiscal committee in both houses of the Legislature. In today’s legislature, fiscal issues are divided between the Budget and Appropriations committees. In his time, the power was combined in a single Ways and Means Committee that held a great day of power.
He is survived by his wife Teresa and sons Dan, David, and Donald.
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