California Republicans in a league of their own

By Lee Russ

Monday, April 03, 2006 at 06:33 PM

From a state that has given us Ronald Reagan, Duke Cunningham, and Arnold as stalwart examples of Republicanism, I guess we should have pretty low expectations of the new crop.

A Scripps Howard News Service story tells us that's the right approach.

First, forget Duke Cunningham; one Repub hoping to replace him is up to the job. Howard Kaloogian is one of several Republicans hoping to replace Duke Cunningham.  He's also the guy whose web site sported a photograph portrayed as a peaceful street scene in Iraq.  Which turned out to be peaceful because it was a scene from Turkey, not Iraq.

Then there's State Senator Abel Maldonado, who's running for state controller.  He thought that it would be a good idea for him to be listed on the June 6 ballot as a "business controller/auditor" to show primary voters that he's got the qualifications.  But a judge decided that was stretching things a bit too far in light of the fact that "auditor" got added to his job title at his family-run business suspiciously close to the time he decided to run for state controller.

The judge nixed Maldonado's desired self-description and ordered that it be replaced by the less sexy but far more accurate and simple term "senator."