Hey Focus fans!
When the week began, two state legislators from Modesto – Heath Flora and Juan Alanis – ruled the Republican contingent in the California Assembly. Now both are out.
Not out of office, but out as Assembly minority leader and Assembly GOP caucus chair, respectively, when a majority of GOP Assembly members on Monday booted Flora from the top job he’d held for less than a year. Replacing him is Alexandra Macedo of Visalia, and she chose another second-in-command.
Bad press seemed to follow Flora wherever he went. Like blistering exposes of affairs and reluctance to pay child support, and reports this week that he’s facing a pair of state ethics investigations, and the loss of confidence from local party managers in areas he represents, the largest being San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.
The nail in the coffin may not have been the investigations, but the support he and Alanis gave Democrats last month to pass Senate Bill 762, allowing higher sales tax in a few cities and counties short on revenue.
Flora rarely talks to local media and has ducked interviews for months while the storm raged.
Alanis, however, issued a sharp rebuttal to Macedo’s claim of unity among Assembly Republicans. Fixing problems for working families “demands serious, principled opposition, not internal political theater followed by claims that everyone is now somehow on the same page,” Alanis said in his statement.
The June primary put Flora and Democratic challenger Matthew Adams into November, while Alanis – who unlike Flora is a regular at community gatherings and events and enjoys solid support from the local party – will be reelected because no one ran against him.
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The messy changing of the guard reflects a recent stiffening of Republican resolve to move further to the right. This seems to require punishing those who apparently aren’t conservative enough.
Last week, Madera Young Republicans endorsed the reelection campaign of Rep. Adam Gray, a Merced Democrat – and California Young Republicans immediately moved to cancel the Madera group’s charter.
Here in Stanislaus County, local GOP party chairman Joel Campos also this week stepped down from that post because of an internal dispute over endorsing local candidates who aren’t considered conservative enough, say some involved in the dust-up.
Campos declined to air the party’s laundry, telling me only, “I cannot defend a decision this group is making.”
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The left is not immune to internal squabbles.
Gray is the state’s only Democratic incumbent this year who won’t be endorsed by Equality California, a statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization, essentially because he’s not progressive enough, the Bay Area Reporter said this week.
And this week, the state Democratic party endorsed the so-called billionaire tax measure on the November ballot – despite Governor Gavin Newsom’s stance against it.
Disunity in his home state as he’s readying for a presidential run is a bad look – and may signal a move further to the left for Dems. Even as the right moves further to the right.
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With Friday’s deadline to run in the Nov. 3 election looming, it looks like we’ll have several local races worth watching in Modesto and other local cities.
I say “looks like” because people can pull nomination papers but don’t become actual candidates until those papers are verified. Most of those eyeing Modesto City Council or Modesto City Schools seats pulled but haven’t returned papers, and sometimes things change in the last day or two of a filing period.
So let’s see how the dust settles tomorrow, as well as next Wednesday in races where an incumbent isn’t running. But for now, challenger interest has been shown in all three council seats up for grabs (with incumbents Eric Alvarez, Nick Bavaro and Jeremiah Williams) and in at least three of four school board seats.
Check the city clerk’s online candidates tracker after 5 p.m. tomorrow.
And see the Stanislaus County clerk-recorder’s website for dozens of other school board and irrigation district races throughout the county. Each city maintains lists for their mayor and city council races as well.
Look for future editions of this newsletter for updates. The Modesto Focus is serious about bringing you quality political coverage, so you’re in the right place to find out about trends, developments, community meetings and our ever-popular candidate debates coming in the early fall.
Stay tuned!
Feel free to share notes, tips and insights for Stanislaus-centric campaign coverage at garth@themodestofocus.org.