WHAT'S NEXT FOR FLOREZ?

Maybe the next governor will appoint him to an administrative post. Perhaps he’ll go back to investment banking.

Given his fight against Pacific Gas & Electric Co., he’d be an interesting choice for the California Public Utilities Commission.

Speculation flew Friday about what might be next for state Sen. Dean Florez after he dropped out of the lieutenant governor’s race as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced he was running.

The Shafter Democrat said he was backing Newsom.

Newsom won precious name recognition in 2004 when he told the San Francisco city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He had a significant lead in polling, Florez said, and it would take a lot of money to catch up. Florez had about $1 million in the bank at the end of last year.

“I don’t mind a good fight, but I had to ask myself, ‘At what point does the fight just become a distraction as opposed to a real competition?’” Florez said. “I concluded that it would have become just a very expensive distraction from the important work of creating a better California.”

And, Florez said, he likes Newsom.

With only nine months left in his state Senate career, the termed-out Florez, 46, will be looking for work after 2010.

What are his plans?

In the short term, he said, he’ll continue his legislative fight against childhood obesity, diabetes, animal abuse and “SmartMeter failures” and will work to fix the valley water supply and state budget problems.

He said he’ll also campaign for Newsom, gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown and attorney general hopeful Kamala Harris.

Beyond that Florez was far less certain except that he’ll be spending more time with his family and “staying in the same place for at least seven days in a row.”

“I haven’t done that in 12 years,” said Florez. “My daughter is the happiest person on earth right now.”

He ruled out a run for a different public office this year but said he could seek a higher-level elected post in the future. Florez said public service “has been in my blood,” noting he’s not only served in the state Assembly but was freshman class president at Shafter High School and UCLA student body president.

“Public service will always be an option and future elective office a possibility — as long as there is a problem to solve,” Florez said. “I believe my options are limitless.”

A consensus among Florez watchers is that he could nab a gubernatorial appointment if Brown wins. Former local Assemblywoman Nicole Parra said it’s telling that Florez announced he’ll be campaigning for Brown, Newsom and Harris.

“I see him really focusing on those big campaigns in the hopes of landing a spot within the Brown administration,” Parra said.

He could always hang onto his campaign cash for a future lieutenant governor bid, she said.

“He still has a million dollars in his account. Who’s to say he couldn’t run again in eight years with Newsom’s endorsement?” Parra said.

Florez said he plans to give his campaign money to other Democrats in upcoming elections, especially to take back the governorship and win other important races.

Parra said Florez wouldn’t win a future election in the valley because he moved so far to the left to generate statewide support. She cited Florez’s recent push for a new tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to fund anti-childhood obesity programs and on pet food to help support a registry of animal abusers.

Jimmy Yee, who owns a public affairs firm and has done some political consulting, said he hopes Florez is appointed to the Public Utilities Commission by the next governor — “whoever she may be,” he quipped. (Yee supports Republican Meg Whitman.)

Florez has demanded PG&E resolve customer complaints about their SmartMeters and check the technology itself.

“I think his advocacy on the issues of utility rates and the SmartMeters is commendable,” Yee said. “Think of what he could do at the PUC for consumers.”

Local political analyst and former Kern County Supervisor Gene Tackett said he’s heard Florez is in line for an appointment and that he is interested in a PUC post.

The governor appoints the five CPUC commissioners to staggered six-year terms. According to the commission’s website, two terms expire in January 2011.

Tackett said Florez would also make a good lobbyist. He would be in favor with pet lovers as a result of his animal protection legislation — the ban on cow tail docking and the recent proposal for an animal abuser registry, for example, he said.

“He knows how to get things done in government,” Tackett said. “He is a smart guy.”

Also going with the gubernatorial appointment or lobbying gig as possibilities was Allan Hoffenblum, co-editor of the Target Book, which analyzes state races.

“I’m sure he has mounds of contacts. And he’s not been an obscure back-bencher; he’s well-known and chaired several committees,” Hoffenblum said. “I’d be surprised if he had any difficulty finding a new position.”

Candi Easter, chair of the Kern County Democratic Party, noted Florez was an early supporter of Barack Obama’s and thought maybe a seat in that administration is in the offing.

She didn’t like hearing Florez that had dropped out of the lieutenant governor’s race.

“I think he had a good shot at it,” Easter said. “A lot of Democrats in the valley are disappointed.”

This article written by Government Editor Christine Bedell appeared first in The Bakersfield Californian on March 13, 2010. Dianne Hardisty contributed to this report.

CARPETBAGGERS: DO VOTERS CARE?

Carpetbagger describes opportunistic Northerners, who moved to the South after the Civil War to loot, plunder and politically manipulate the defeated states for personal gain.


The word applies today to a politician who runs for public office in an area in which he is not from, or in which he has lived for only a short time. Depending on the politician, the area and the circumstances, the word can either enrage voters, or make them yawn.

Campaigns in the 30th Assembly District and the 16th state Senate District – two sprawling political jurisdictions that include portions of Kern County, as well as neighboring counties – have attracted candidates some might call carpetbaggers. But the candidates’ residencies will likely cause more yawns than outrage, according to political observers.

Former Kern County Supervisor Pete Parra has rented an apartment in Hanford, and moved his residency and voter registration from Bakersfield to that city to run in the June Democratic primary for the 30th Assembly District seat being vacated by Republican Danny Gilmore of Hanford. Parra will face Fran Florez, a Shafter city councilwoman and member of the California High Speed Rail Authority, for the Democratic nomination.

Phil Wyman, a former Republican assemblyman and state senator, has moved his residency and voter registration from his Tehachapi ranch to Hanford to seek the Republican nomination to succeed 16th District Sen. Dean Florez, a Democrat, who is termed out of office. So far, Wyman is the only Republican in the race. He is expected to face Kern County Supervisor Michael Rubio, a Democrat.

Likely both Parra’s and Wyman’s opponents will raise residency as an issue. Both men are prepared to respond.

Parra points out that he grew up in east Bakersfield, which is included in the 30th District. His Bakersfield home is only one mile outside its boundaries. As a former Kern County supervisor and before that as the head of the county’s jobs program, and now as a member of regional organizations, such as the eight-county California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, he says he is tuned into the concerns of district residents.

Wyman calls his move to Hanford a return home. He lived in the Kings County city for three years – from 1993 to 1995 – when he represented the 16th Senate District after the Legislature redrew district lines, shuffling politicians into new areas.

In those years, so many candidates were moving around to run for offices that The Californian mocked four of its elected representatives -- Wyman, former Sen. Don Rogers, former Kern County Supervisor and later Assemblyman Roy Ashburn, and former Assemblyman, Senator and now Congressman Jim Costa -- by depicting them in a cartoon riding a gypsy cart dressed in gypsy costumes.

Wyman, who claims election fraud blocked his reelection to the 16th Senate seat, which he lost to Costa, says he is very familiar with the people and needs of the district.

But why move to Hanford?

“People in Kern County know me well,” said Parra, explaining he is not as well known in the northern part of the district. Parra’s daughter, Nicole, represented the 30th District until she was termed out of office in 2008. She, too, embraced Hanford as her home as a candidate and later as an assemblywoman. Both Parras were attracted to the picturesque, tree-filled city because it is located in the heart of the district.

Wyman explained that traveling to the far reaches of the 16th District would take hours if he had just moved to Bakersfield, instead of Hanford, to satisfy residency requirements. A base in Hanford gives candidates quick access to voters in Kings, Fresno, Tulare and Kern counties.

“Voters don’t seem to mind where candidates live,” said Bakersfield government consultant Gene Tackett, who pointed out residency in a district is not required to hold a seat in Congress. “People seem to vote more by party, or ideology. I am not sure [residency] is that important to voters.”

Tackett noted that Tom McClintock represented Thousand Oaks in Southern California in the state Senate until he moved in 2008 to Northern California to successfully run for the 4th Congressional District, a vacancy created when Rep. John Doolittle decided not to seek re-election.

McClintock, a Republican, responded to carpetbagger charges: “I think most people are far more interested in where one stands than where one lives.”

McClintock had plenty of examples to back up that claim. They included the recent relocation of Dan Lungren, a Republican state and federal lawmaker who represented the Long Beach area before becoming California attorney general. In 2004, Lungren leaped from Southern California to successfully run for Congress in Northern California.

Former Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, who lost his seat in 2006 to Democrat Jerry McNermey, has launched a political comeback campaign. But he won’t be taking on the man who beat him. Instead of running in his “home” district, Pombo is seeking the Republican nomination in a neighboring district. So far he is facing Sen. Jeff Denham and former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson to replace retiring Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.

“Sometimes moving into a district to run for office doesn’t work,” said political scientist Sherry Bebitch Jeffe at the University of Southern California. “And sometimes voters just don’t care. Voters will decide if it is important.”

“The real hostilities come when candidates use fake addresses and actually live outside the district,” she said.

Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, a Southern California-based non-partisan think tank, said he doesn’t “get all worked up” about candidates moving into districts to run for office. But questions about residency can make races tighter, he said, noting residency requirements, particularly for state legislative seats, can be a little arcane.

But Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley does get all worked up about residency. In recent months, he has started investigations of city, county and state lawmakers, including Sen. Rod Wright, D-Inglewood, and Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, for allegedly not living in the districts they represent.

“You have to have a residency requirement,” said Bakersfield Republican political consultant Stan Harper. “How do you represent a district you don’t even live in? I would have a hard time supporting a candidate who just moved into a district to run, like McClintock. Carpetbagging is wrong.”

But Republican political consultant Cathy Abernathy of Bakersfield has a more tolerant view, noting the distance a candidate moves might make a difference.

“If someone from San Francisco ran in the 32nd Assembly District, it would bother the voters a lot,” she said. “You are supposed to elect someone who knows the district and its people.”

Abernathy noted that until recently, the drawing of political district boundary lines was done by the Legislature. A ballot measure in 2008 transferred the redistricting job to a “citizen committee.” But in previous redistricting, the majority party sometimes intentionally carved the homes of minority party incumbents out of their districts.

“It’s a cute gimmick. Sometimes you have to be cute back,” Abernathy said.

This article by Dianne Hardisty appeared first in The Bakersfield Californian on Feb. 21, 2010.

GILMORE'S TOUGH FIRST YEAR

The California state budget was awash in red ink and legislators were bitterly battling over program cuts this spring when two Bakersfield mothers walked into Danny Gilmore's Sacramento office.

One mother pushed a frail young boy in a wheelchair. The other was accompanied by her autistic daughter. They begged the first-term Republican assemblyman from Hanford not to cut critical medical services for their children and others like them.

When the mothers left, "I closed my office door and cried," Gilmore recently recalled, noting that during the height of the budget battles, "every 20 to 30 minutes I had people coming in pleading with me not to cut programs."

Gilmore is no stranger to state government. He served more than three decades as an officer with the California Highway Patrol. And he is no stranger to making tough decisions. Before retiring from the CHP, he was the assistant chief of the Fresno district.

But what he calls the "horrid" cuts he and other lawmakers have had to make to education, fire and public safety, plus his frustration with partisan bickering and Democrats' response to California's economic problems, have driven Gilmore to prayer.

"I pray every day. I have doubts about whether I am making a difference," he said. "I have sleepless nights. I wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning. I thought those nights ended when I was assistant chief."

Gilmore spends those sleepless nights with his wife, Cindi, in a 40-foot motorhome the couple set up in an RV park in northeast Sacramento. "I don't know what I would do without her," he said, explaining his appreciation for his wife's willingness to accompany him to Sacramento when the Legislature is in session.

'THE WAY THE SYSTEM WORKS'

On Dec. 1, 2008, his 59th birthday, Gilmore was sworn in to represent the 30th Assembly District, which includes parts of Kern County and Bakersfield. After a tough campaign, Gilmore defeated Democratic candidate Fran Florez, a Shafter City Council member and the mother of state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, to succeed termed-out Democratic Assemblywoman Nicole Parra.

Gilmore was the lone Republican in the November 2008 election to win a seat in the California Legislature previously held by a Democrat.

The Democratic leadership "doesn't get over that," observed veteran Sacramento reporter Vic Pollard, The Californian's former Sacramento bureau chief. Pollard and most other Capitol insiders were not surprised that revenge would be quickly doled out. "That's the way the system works."

Gilmore and his staff were relegated to the "doghouse" - a cramped 391-square-foot office, where staff members and the assemblyman were squeezed together and visitors had to wait in the hall. Although the office has long been used by legislative leaders to punish "offending" lawmakers, Gilmore's assignment was sloughed off as the luck of the draw.

Even Gilmore tried to take the assignment in stride. "It has heating and air conditioning. A lot of the people I represent don't have that." Gilmore moved into a bigger Capitol office recently when Assemblyman Michael Duvall of Orange County abruptly resigned in the wake of a sex scandal.

But what Gilmore doesn't take in stride is the Democrats' refusal to allow him to have a field office in Bakersfield. Gilmore established his primary field office in his hometown of Hanford. His Democratic predecessor had offices in both Hanford and Bakersfield. Most of Gilmore's legislative colleagues, even those with much smaller districts, have multiple field offices.

"I can't even get a post office box in Bakersfield," said Gilmore, who sets up tents in parks to meet with constituents. His field representatives work out of their cars, using laptop computers. Gilmore declines to use campaign contributions to fund a Bakersfield office because he believes his Kern County constituents are entitled to the same service people living in other legislative districts receive.

"I use it to show what is wrong with Sacramento," he said. "They are more interested in partisan political games than in coming together."

Shannon Murphy, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass' spokeswoman, denies the leadership's refusal to fund Gilmore's Bakersfield office is "political." It's just fiscal belt-tightening, she said.

She said spending taxpayers' dollars for Gilmore to have a second field office would be "excessive and inappropriate" in light of California's 12 percent unemployment rate, skyrocketing foreclosures and other economic problems.

"His treatment has been no different than anyone else's," she said. "The Assembly, just like the rest of the state, is doing more with less."

Political observers take another view. They note Bakersfield and rural Kern County communities have the bulk of Democratic registration in the district. By denying Gilmore a second field office in Bakersfield, 30th District constituents are alienated and Gilmore's reelection chances are weakened. Democrats are targeting Gilmore, with Fran Florez expected run again for the seat.

But former Assemblywoman Parra predicts the ploy will backfire. Parra angered leaders in her own party when she refused to vote for a Democratic budget plan last year and when she later endorsed Republican Gilmore to replace her. Speaker Bass didn't just relegate Parra to the "doghouse." She kicked her completely out of the Capitol building, assigning Parra to a small office in another building.

Parra believes Gilmore's tent meetings have received so much favorable news coverage that his image and popularly in Kern County have increased. She also gave Gilmore points for attentiveness.

"If there were two people in a meeting, he was there. This is what people care about."

Gilmore's harsh treatment has not been limited to the assignment of a small Capitol office and denial of a second field office. Some Democratic colleagues, at least initially, have been downright rude.

One Republican legislator recalled introducing Gilmore around when he first arrived in Sacramento. Some Democrats refused to shake his hand.

"He came up here very humble and hardworking," said 32nd District Assemblywoman Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield. "It is exceedingly demanding to be in a targeted seat. I admire him. He is even-tempered and persistent. Democratic leaders have been unfair to him for political reasons."

State Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, noted that denying Gilmore a field office in Bakersfield can hurt people in Kern County. "A big chunk of our job is taking care of constituent requests and problems. The voters voted. Why should people now receive less representation? It's not Danny Gilmore who is suffering. It is the people."

WORKING ACROSS THE AISLE

Gilmore said he also is frustrated by the apparent disconnect Democrats have with the struggles of small businesses and workers, and their push to impose costly regulations.

He cited one of his few legislative successes - when he teamed up with Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, D-Norwalk - to roll back a costly reporting requirement affecting struggling timber mills. Rather than submitting 300-page annual timber plans, companies now only have to submit these plans every three years. In other states, the plans are much less detailed and are submitted every 10 years.

Despite Gilmore's attempt to reach across the aisle and make Democratic friends, he admits that most of his bills have been DOA - dead on arrival. "I can whine and snivel all I want about legislation. But I know why it doesn't go forward," he said.

But the legislator who most people describe as "an awful nice guy" is quick to identify Democrats he enjoys working with. One is Fresno Assemblyman Juan Arambula, who left the Democratic Party in June to become an independent. "I love that guy," Gilmore said, admiring Arambula's independent streak.

Assemblyman Isadore Hall, D-Compton, is a Los Angeles County reserve deputy sheriff. Gilmore, who gave Hall a tour of the CHP academy, considers him a buddy. He also has worked with Joe Coto, D-San Jose. He reached out to Assemblywoman Alyson Huber, D-Lodi, who like Gilmore is in a "targeted seat." Republicans are attempting to derail Huber's reelection.

The Californian placed calls to Arambula, Hall, Mendoza, Coto and Huber for comment for this story. Three did not return calls. Two asked for questions to be sent in advance and then did not return calls.

If you think Gilmore has gotten the cold shoulder during his first year in office, it will only get worse as he seeks reelection, Parra predicted, explaining Democrats who have co-authored bills with him or who have otherwise been helpful, won't be so helpful. They will back away.

"This has been the most frustrating year of my life," Gilmore admits. "That place is far beyond anything I imagined. It is broken."

This article written by DIANNE HARDISTY appeared first in The Bakersfield Californian on Oct. 17, 2009.