California assemblyman Juan Arambula re-registers as an independent

Sacramento Bee ^ | 6/23/9 | Jim Sanders

[SmithL]

A California assemblyman has split from the Democratic Party as both houses of the Legislature head toward a contentious vote this week on a plan to bridge the state's $24 billion budget gap.

Juan Arambula confirmed today that he has re-registered as an independent.

Formerly a moderate within the Democratic caucus, Arambula is scheduled to be termed out next year from his Central Valley district, which encompasses portions of Fresno and Tulare counties.

It is not immediately clear how Arambula's decision will affect the coming budget vote, which includes more than a dozen bills that will require a two-thirds majority in both houses to take effect immediately.

Arambula was contacted just as one of his Assembly committee meetings was scheduled to start. He said he did not have time to discuss his reasons prior to the meeting.

Two weeks ago, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass named Arambula to head the Assembly Public Safety Committee in a shuffle necessitated by the departure of former Assemblyman Curren Price to the Senate.

Arambula was removed by Bass from the Assembly Budget Committee and a budget subcommittee on state administration upon being named chairman of the public safety panel.

Arambula has a reputation for speaking his mind and not necessarily voting in lockstep with the Democratic caucus.

Three years ago, then-Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez ordered Arambula to move into the Assembly's "doghouse," a shoe-box sized Capitol office often reserved for lawmakers in disfavor with their party's leader.

Arambula was relegated to the tiny, fifth-floor office of 807 square feet after refusing to fall in line with Democratic leadership on a record $37.3 billion bond package.

Arambula also was stripped at the time of his chairmanship of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy.

[Parley Baer]

His first mistake was to become a dimocRAT. At least he is trying to rectify that error somewhat.

[drypowder]

Rats are beginning to jump the sinking ship

[Marie2]

The chickensssss are coming hommmmme to rooossssst.

[Amerigomag]

SACRAMENTO — Assembly Member Juan Arambula is severing ties with the party to become the Legislature’s first independent since the late 1990s.

The Fresno lawmaker re-registered as a decline-to-state voter on Monday. In a recent interview with The Fresno Bee, Arambula conveyed his frustration with expressing independent views.

Arambula told Editorial Page Editor Jim Boren; “There are genuine and entrenched labor interests -- CTA, SEIU and the rest of the alphabet soup of labor agencies -- and it's difficult to do anything without running into significant and well-funded opposition,”.

Arambula, a moderate, has recently clashed with more liberal Democrats over ways to close the state’s $24 billion deficit. Arambula has resisted tax hikes, which are favored by his colleagues. He also expressed frustration about not being assigned to a Senate-Assembly joint budget committee.

After speaking out, he was removed from the Assembly Budget Committee and reassigned to lead the lower house’s committee on public safety, a topic that Arambula has not focused on during his tenure.