Why Doesn't Abel Maldonado Want Voters to Have a Real Choice in November?

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Cruickshank

Earlier this week we brought you the news that Democrat Dennis Morris is running a write-in campaign to get on the November ballot in SD-15, as no other Democrat had stepped up to challenge Republican Abel Maldonado.

Today we learn that the rumors were true - in order to prevent voters from having a choice in November, and so that he doesn't have to defend his right-wing voting record, Abel Maldonado has filed as a write-in candidate in the Democratic primary in an attempt to keep Dennis Morris off the November ballot. If Maldonado gets more write-in votes than Morris, Abel Maldonado will be both the Republican AND the Democratic nominee in November - even though Maldonado is a self-identified Republican, even though local Democrats have endorsed Morris.

This is a practice known as "crossfiling" and used to be common in California from 1911 until it was outlawed in 1954. Republicans like Earl Warren used to file as a candidate in both party primaries, win both the nominations, and face no November opposition. But when the practice was outlawed in 1954, a loophole remained that allowed an incumbent from one party to file as a write-in candidate from the other. It has been rarely used, but Abel Maldonado, in a Soviet Politburo style move, has employed it to deny Central Coast voters a choice in the November election.

What is Maldonado afraid of? Why doesn't he want to defend his record in a general election campaign? Is he worried that voters might discover he voted against AB 32? Or that his "moderate" reputation is a sham, as he rated a conservative 20 on the Capitol Weekly's legislator scorecard?