SCHWARZENEGGER'S BRILLIANT POLITICAL MOVE: APPONITS SISTER OF L.A. MAYOR TO BENCH

On April 20th, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Mary Lou Villar to the Los Angeles Superior Court (see press release). Villar is a Democrat. More importantly, she is the sister of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The hope here is that the Mayor would not be as exited to support the Democrat nominee, if the Guv did something nice for his sister. Today, the Los Angeles Times, Michael Finnegan, did a story (see below) that shows that Antonio and Phil are not getting along. Maybe my good friend Michael does not know it, but the Arnold appointment of Antonio’s sister was not mentioned in his article. Could this be a reason Antonio is cool to Angelides?

This is a brilliant move on the part of the Governor. He appoints a woman, a Hispanic, a Democrat, and the sister of a major Democrat leader! A four-fer!!!

What do you think? Is this good for the bench, good for California, or just good politics that for two months few had noticed?

I remember Governor Wilson appointing some legislative Democrats to the bench. The goal then was to vacate a swing seat, so the GOP could pick up the seat. Almost all the Democrats Wilson appointed were moderate to conservative. Mary Lou Villar though, has the same politics as her brother.

Another factor, that was mentioned in the article, is that Antonio wants to run for Governor in 2010–so he would rather it be an “open seat” than run against a Democrat incumbent. (BTW, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom is also gearing up for that race-he is a strong supporter of Angelides—which means Newsom will get the “Progressive Democrat” support, not Antonio. In fact, if Antonio continues his soft support for Phil, the traditional Democrats will also get angry with him, making it even harder to run for Guv in 2010)

Looks like the Guv is good at dividing the Democrat Party. I will predict the turnout in November may be no more than 40%. Neither side will be energized for the election.

UPDATE:
Tension Builds Between L.A. Mayor, Angelides
The Los Angeles Times, by Michael Finnegan 6/17/2006

Tension between Antonio Villaraigosa and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Angelides surfaced Friday as the Los Angeles mayor declined to say whether he backed his own party’s candidate to unseat Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The rift between two of California’s top Democrats became clear just after they appeared with Magic Johnson to celebrate the opening of a Starbucks on Crenshaw Boulevard.

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Steve Frank is the publisher of California Political News and Views and a Senior Contributor to CaliforniaConservative.org. He is also a consultant currently working on gambling issues and advising other consultants on policy and coalition building.