The latest tactic in the California Democratic Party’s machine? Brand Leland Yee as an outlier. From the San Jose Mercury-News:
The Democratic Party establishment however, never really trusted the enigmatic Yee. That much became clear when Yee failed to gain a single endorsement from a top Democrat during his unsuccessful 2011 campaign for San Francisco mayor.
It’s a good public relations strategy, so good that I think every Democratic politician in the State will be saying “LeeYee, we hardly knew ya”. More from the Merc:
Several Peninsula Democrats said Wednesday that Yee was an elusive figure. “I don’t think anyone knew him,” said state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, served with Yee for several years in the Legislature but was never close to him. She said the senator is innocent until proven guilty but called the allegations against him “regrettable.”
Where are the Republicans in this? Playing small ball in friendly ball parks. It seems like State Senator Joel Anderson is the only one sounding the alarm (as he has been for months). He wrote an Op-Ed in yesterday’s UTSanDiego:
This “reform” is an attempt to distract from the reality: Senate leadership picks and chooses which crimes to take seriously. Leadership would rather subject the public to theatrics and silence the minority through parliamentary maneuverings than reveal what’s going on behind the curtain.
Let’s start with a vote on the expulsion of Sen. Wright — not only to hold senators accountable to their constituents, but also to finally make the motives of Senate leadership transparent to 38 million Californians.
The problem is that Anderson’s op-ed, calling for a legislative solution to a months old problem, is getting lost in the news cycle. While he’s speaking about Wright in the right-leaning, hometown paper, the Democrats are branding Yee as the “Martian otherwise disguised as a responsible Democrat” in the swing or Democratic-leaning media. The Democrats look like the problem solvers while Republicans look like we’re fighting an old battle.
Republican State Senators, it’s time to tell it like it is: The super-majority Senate caucus is corrupt and its leadership is engaged in prestidigitation. I know that. Republicans know that. Most San Diegans know that. Stop talking to us and start talking to voters in Inglewood, Carson, Torrance, and San Pedro (Wright’s district). Stop talking to us and start talking to voters in East Los Angeles, Bell, Cudahy, and Whittier (Calderon’s district). Stop talking to us and start talking to voters in San Francisco, Daly City, Millbrae, and San Mateo (Yee’s district). Tell these voters about what’s going on behind the curtain and offer them a real alternative !
You really can’t do anything while Steinberg is running the cover up so get out of Sacramento. Go directly to Inglewood and tell the good people there that Republicans are the better choice this November.