Recount Redux

More on the messy recount going on as we speak in the California Controller race. Think a Controller race is dull? Think the job is a big bore? Think again. The Controller controls the State budget. Whoever sits in that seat has an awesome responsibility. With Emeritus Speaker of the House John Perez unwilling to concede defeat to Betty Yee, who won when all the ballots were accounted for by a slim 481 votes our of more than 4 million cast, he plunged the Party into angst and the State into uncertainty.

Because of the arcane way California's recount laws are written, the loser, in this case Perez, has the right to a recount in what ever Counties and whichever precincts he chooses. He has to pay for it, but with what's left in his Primary campaign warchest, he can afford it.

As you might suspect, this has made the Republicans, whose candidate Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearingen finished in first place with 24% of the vote (Perez and Betty Yee finished with 21.7% each), rub their hands together with glee. Nothing like a divided Party to cast the voting public into confusion and frustration, not to mention deepen an already heavy cynicism.

The result of all this is to suppress the vote, giving Swearingin an edge in what should be a solid Democratic seat. And that edge is like the camel's nose under the tent. Republicans are snorting and pawing the ground with every passing day.

If the reaction to Betty Yee's presence at this weekend's State Executive Board meting is any indication, Perez' tactics are not going over well with his own base. Betty got standing O's wherever she went, including at the Labor Caucus meeting. Perez sits on the board and didn't bother to make the meeting.

Oh, yeah, pressing State business, or vote counting, whatever. As State Party Chair John Burton said in the SF Chronicle yesterday, "John [Perez] is a young guy with a political future ... and I don't think he's going to thwart that for the controller's job."  Make his words come true, Mr. Speaker. Be a gracious loser on this one, and there will be another chance for a solid political career.

Your author and Betty T. Yee ar this weekend's meeting.