Senator Pays Price for Defying GOP

LA Times ^ | 08/26/02 | JULIE TAMAKI

[gubamyster]

Politics: K. Maurice Johannessen is being shunned after casting swing vote on budget.

By JULIE TAMAKI, TIMES STAFF WRITER

SACRAMENTO -- Since he cast the lone Republican vote needed to approve a state budget in the Senate nearly two months ago, Sen. K. Maurice Johannessen of Redding has been booted from his party caucus and stripped of his leadership role.

He is no longer welcome at GOP lunches. He's not provided official copies of party briefing papers on upcoming bills. And today, when members of the Senate pause to give a send-off to Johannessen, who is termed out, Republicans are not expected to speak up for him.

All of that has made the 68-year-old lawmaker nicknamed "Mojo" a walking warning sign of what can happen to a legislator who breaks ranks, particularly in the increasingly tense brinksmanship over the long-stalled budget. Defy leadership, Mojo's plight attests, and isolation can be the price.

[gubamyster]

You reap what you sow.

[Drango]

bummer dude!

[Grampa Dave]

Mojo has become like a painful splinter. To me, he has become more liberal with age.

This is good news and a warning to others who may turn Rino.

[B4Ranch]

In my short 55 years of obsevation I have seen the swing increase left and right with age. A lot of it I presume depends on financial security.

[Grampa Dave]

I have seen it too and have told my sons to shoot me if I become a flaming liberal.

We have seen the swing from right to left cover all economic statuses from barely making it to very/very rich. The really dangerous ones are the very/very rich new liberals or as my wife suspects out of the closet. They are still ambitious, retired and have the money to become real pains to the society living around them.

Sierra Wasp and I have had a lot discussions about them. The most dangerous are the women who become leftist shrews. Many of them I call the Nattering Nazi Nannies. They are against any business or anything that might be capitalistic in nature.

[Redcloak]

To: Herb Wesson
Re: Dean Florez

Observe how the GOP is treating Maurice Johannessen and compare this to your handling of Dean Florez. One is supposed to hammer a wayward pol after they've cast the votes you need; not before. Note that the GOP didn't go after Johannessen until it was clear that his vote wasn't needed. Remember this the next time Florez wants to investigate the Governor.