Migden Faces Political Fallout

The blog Calitics has posted the results of a poll conducted by Survey USA of 500 residents in the 3rd State Senate district of California which asked the question "Based on what you know right now, do you think State Senator Carole Migden should remain in office? Or do you think she should resign?" 43 percent replied "resign," 30 per cent said "stay in office" and 26 per cent said they were unsure. Yipes!

Previously MadProfessah has blogged about the Senator's recent driving mishaps.
The poll was taken in light of the recent revelations that Senator Migden, who has been one of the most powerful openly lesbian elected officials in the state for the past decade, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1997 and at the time was given 3-5 years to live. (Talk about term limits! She was in her first State Assembly term at the time.) Senator Migden recently sent a letter to 100, 000 of her constituents explaining her reasons for not revealing her illness before. SFist was not impressed.

Harrumph. A note on the envelope makes it clear that this missive was not paid for out of taxpayer dollars or whatnot -- there's nothing out of bounds here, except perhaps the bounds of good sense. Anybody that gives a hoot is keeping up with this in the news. Anybody that cares already knows you've pledged to the DMV that you won't drive anymore, Senator. We're not sure we buy your excuse -- and we're certainly willing to keep our ears open as definitive news comes out -- but we found this letter extremely patronizing. We're not so easily manipulated.

We'll offer some unsolicited advice: when you're in a hole, stop digging.

All keeping your name in the news cycle does is help to dredge up weird stories about what a kook you are.

In light of the controversies, Migden has picked up a new challenger for her seat, in addition to openly gay Mark Leno, it was announced that straight (and married) San Francisco Police Commissioner Joseph Alioto Veronese will also run for the Democratic nomination for the 3rd Senatorial District of California. The name Alioto is a potent one in San Francisco politics, with one elected mayor, a mayoral challenger and multiple supervisors carrying the name over the years. Veronese had made tongues wag in "The City" when he cast the deciding vote to elect openly transgendered Teresa Sparks as the first openly transgendered head of a big city Police Commission in the country--against the wishes of Mayor Gavin Newsom who appointed him!

And we thought Los Angeles politics was harsh!