Perez Fatal Mistake? No Candidate's Statement in Voter Guide

Amazing. John Perez, Speaker of the California Assembly, Emeritus, who has now dragged the Controller's election out beyond mid-July because of his ill-advised recount, failed to submit a candidate's statement for publication in the voter information guide sent to every voter in the State.

True that many voters don't read them, but equally true that some voters read only those statements before making up their mind who to vote for. Could this be the main reason State Board of Equalization member Betty T. Yee, eked out a scant 481 more votes than Perez, despite being outspent three times over? I've seen this simple mistake made by others and the results are clear. No statement shows a disdain for the voters and they may well show a disdain for the candidate on election day.

So speculated Jim Miller of the Sacramento Bee yesterday, also noting that only those candidates who agree to abide by a voluntary spending limit of no more than $5.44 million in a statewide race are eligible for the statements. Interestingly Perez did not appear to come near that mark in his Primary race spending, but his $1.7 million spent through the last reporting period of May 17th was close to treble the amount spent by Yee to that date.

So, instead of laying out $6,250 for a ballot statement, Perez is spending hundreds of thousands on a recount to try to scare up 482 votes and beat Yee long after election Day. This is hubris at its most unattractive. This is not what we expect from our Democratic Party.

And apparently not what the  Democratic Party itself expects either, as they have accepted Yee as the winner and endorsed Democrat in the race, and put $50,000 into her bank account to help pay for her expenses associated with the recount.

Stay tuned.