SAN DIEGO – Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher’s ambition to become California’s next Secretary of State, already announced even though the next scheduled election is not until 2022, may adversely impact not one, but two constituencies, unless she and her husband, County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, make careful preparations to avoid such consequences.
Gonzalez has gained some notoriety as the author of AB 5, the labor union-backed bill that required numerous employers to treat various classes of independent contractors as employees – a law that Uber and Lyft fought a successful campaign to be exempted from. Nevertheless, she is not well known throughout the State of California.
There is a chance that Alex Padilla, the current Secretary of State, will be appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the unexpired term of Senator Kamala Harris, who is the U.S. Vice President-elect. That would necessitate the governor to also appoint a new Secretary of State to serve the unexpired portion of the term, providing that the appointee can win confirmation from a majority of the Legislature. Perhaps by declaring her candidacy early, Gonzalez is signaling to the governor her desire to hold the office.
Whatever the case may be, logic tells us that to become better known and to build a wider support base, the Democratic Assemblywoman from San Diego will look for opportunities to make appearances and speeches in other counties, particularly the vote-rich ones in the San Francisco Bay area and near Los Angeles.
That means that in addition to being away from her district on the weekdays that she is in the Capitol building in Sacramento, she may be spending many long weekends elsewhere in her quest for higher office.
Besides stumping, she’ll also be attempting to raise money because campaigning statewide for any office is an expensive proposition. Eventually, she will need to buy commercials in numerous media markets.
The loyal staff members who assist her in the 80th Assembly District, which stretches up through San Diego from the Mexican border and South Bay communities, will do everything in their power to help her, but the mathematics of time suggest that not many constituents will have the opportunity to meet with her personally, however complex their governmental problems may be nor how urgent their needs.
The Assemblywoman will be on the road, and even powerful legislators can’t be in two places at the same time.
Gonzalez’s travel and fundraising schedule also will impact her husband, County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, whose 4th Supervisorial District includes a diverse population within 100 square miles stretching from UC San Diego on the Pacific Ocean, south to Paradise Hills and east to Encanto.
Fletcher, a compelling speaker who served two terms in the State Assembly himself, likely will want to accompany his wife on some of her fundraising and campaigning stops, meaning that he too often may be on the road. So that will be less time for him to personally attend to constituent affairs in his district.
The other day, Gonzalez issued a somewhat tenuous news release tying her campaign for Secretary of State in California to a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to take no action on President Donald Trump’s call to exclude from the census people who are not citizens. Courts typically do not take up cases until there is a plaintiff who believes his or her legal rights have been compromised. While this might be the case in the future regarding the census, it has not been shown to be the case now. So, the Supreme Court took a wait and see attitude.
In her news release, Gonzalez said the Supreme Court “should have simply ended Donald Trump’s destructive efforts to tear away representation from our immigrant communities and the states like California that welcome them.”
She went on to say in a press release, “Our voice matters. That’s why I’m running for Secretary of State. We need to make sure all Californians are represented, and I will fight to do just that by expanding access to the ballot in communities across the state.”
What expanded registration drives for people who already are citizens might have to do with a possible Supreme Court decision dealing with the U.S. census is left to our imagination.
So, too, is the question of how Gonzalez and Fletcher will continue to do the jobs over the next two years that the people of their districts elected them to do.
Constituents in the 80th Assembly District and the 4th Supervisorial District have every reason to ask, “So, who will be taking care of us?”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com