Blakeslee becomes new Republican leader of the Assembly

Capitol Weekly ^ | 05/07/2009 | Capitol Weekly Staff

[Amerigomag]

Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, a Central Coast Republican in his third term in the Assembly, was chosen to succeed Assemblyman Mike Villines as the GOP leader of the lower house. The moved to replace Villines came less than two weeks before the May 19 special election, in which voters will be asked to approve a controversial mix of taxes and cuts to help shore up the state budget.

The 29-member Assembly Republican Caucus selected Blakeslee in a closed-door meeting that lasted more than an hour. He is expected to formally take over on June 1.

The caucus had become restive in recent weeks amid Republicans' unhappiness with the state budget agreement negotiated in February by legislative leaders and Gov. Schwarzenegger. Villines helped negotiate the compromise and supported the budget, but rank-and-file Republicans were displeased with the document, in part because of new tax increases.

[Amerigomag]

Blaskelee is a long way from being a rock-ribbed conservative but he's termed out. The choice is most probably a bridge to more conservative leadership once the fall out from the May 19 fiasco has been gauged.

[calcowgirl]

Blakeslee was one of the hall-of-shamers.

If we're ever going to have a decent leader, I would suggest they jettison the "big five" process.

Which GOPers Supported The Largest Tax Increase In California's History?

Again, putting aside the six legislators who voted for the taxes directly (and who in this bizarre context may actually get strange brownie points for having the courage to be up front about it, instead of hiding behind mirrors), the legislators who supported the Big 5/Big Taxes plan are: Senators Dave Cox and Jeff Denham, and Assemblymembers Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Sam Blakeslee, Muke Duvall, Paul Cook, Connie Conway, Bill Emmerson, Nathan Fletcher, Jean Fuller, Danny Gilmore, Brian Nestande, Jim Nielson, and Cameron Smyth.

[calcowgirl]

In the interest of having one thread about Blakeslee, I’m posting this on this thread
(since it is in the news section that tends to get more of an audience).

Other than voting for taxes and carrying Arnie’s water on a global warming bill, I don’t know that much about him. This one would worry me — he authored legislation in December calling for a Constitutional Convention:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ab_4_bill_20081201_introduced.html

You can query his bills from this page:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html

[NormsRevenge]

WHOO HOO!! Term Limits Work! *-?

OH well. ‘til the bottom drops out, party on. I don’t know who would really want the job on this voyage.. We’re headed to Alaska early June, hope there is something at least called the California Republic when we get back.