Saturday Politics: Laird is In; EQCA's Statewide Picks

Photo by Gloria Nieto

Today's edition of Saturday politics has a "blast from the past" and big moves by the state's largest LGBT political organization.

SD-15. John Laird was an Assemblymember from 2002-2008 representing the 27th district which included Santa Cruz. This week the 60-year-old openly gay politician announced that he is running to fill the 15th District State Senate seat vacated by Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado. The special primary election will be on June 22, and (if needed) the general election will be on August 22nd. The winner will be be filling out the rest of the term which expires in 2012. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is being sued by some of the counties in the 15th Senate District because, by refusing to set the calendar so that the general election could coincide with the statewide general election on November 2nd he is sticking them with an extra bill estimated to be 2-3 million dollars. Democrats would like the elections combined because larger turnout should favor the Democratic candidate in this competitive, Republican-leaning district.

EQCA. Equality California PAC announced their endorsements in statewide races.

• U.S. Senate: Senator Barbara Boxer
• Governor: Jerry Brown
• Lieutenant Governor: Gavin Newsom
• Secretary of State: Debra Bowen
• Treasurer: Bill Lockyer
• Controller: John Chiang
• Insurance Commissioner: Hector De La Torre
• Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tom Torlakson

Notice any race missing? Only, the most interesting and hotly contested race of them all: Attorney General! After getting all six Democratic candidates in a room two weeks ago, the EQCA PAC board apparently could not pick only one, unlike MadProfessah, who has picked San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris. Curious result from EQCA.

Remember, there are now exactly 30 days until the Statewide Primary election on Tuesday June 8th.