After his highly-publicized opposition to the current state
budget, Sen. Jeff Denham may have to fight for his seat in
2008.
After his highly-publicized opposition to the current state budget, Sen. Jeff Denham may have to fight for his seat in 2008.
Denham, a Merced Republican whose district includes San Benito County, won his 2006 reelection bid by a nearly 20-percent margin. But Democrats have collected around half the 30,000 signatures they would need to hold a recall election next year, said Paul Hefner, a consultant with the campaign.
“Voters of the 12th district feel betrayed,” Hefner said.
In August, Denham was criticized by Democrats – as well as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican – for his refusal to support the state budget. Hefner said that by opposing the budget, as well as other votes, that Denham has broken campaign promises to support education, repair levees and improve Highway 99.
But Denham spokesman Jim Kjol called the recall effort “ridiculous and a waste of taxpayer dollars.” Anyone claiming the senator hasn’t kept his promises is “ignorant of the legislative process,” said Kjol, because Denham has supported other legislation on those issues.
“He made it very clear he was not going to support an unbalanced budget,” Kjol said. “All the attempted recall is doing is building the senator’s name I.D.”
Recall organizers haven’t started collecting signatures in San Benito County, said Jeanie Wallace, chairwoman of the county’s Democratic Central Committee. And that committee hasn’t taken an official stance on the recall.
“I will say a number of people in committee were happy to hear of the possibility,” said Wallace, a teacher at Sobrato High School in Morgan Hill. “I have not been happy with Senator Denham’s representation from the very beginning. His commitment to public education tends to be better than the Republican Party in general, but not at a level I’d like to see.”
Wallace also criticized Denham’s lack of support for universal health care and environmental protection. But despite her dissatisfaction with Denham’s performance, and her sympathy with Democrats pushing for his removal, Wallace said she’s conflicted about the recall itself.
“If I’m going to say it was wrong to recall (former Gov.) Gray Davis … then I shouldn’t support this,” Wallace said. “The correct time to express dissatisfaction is during an election. For me, a recall should be when somebody does something that surprises you. Quite frankly, the poor representation we get from Senator Denham shouldn’t surprise anyone.”
Of course, Davis was ultimately recalled, a point noted by both Wallace and Bob Mulholland, a campaign adviser with the California Democratic Party. Denham supported Davis’ recall, Mulholland added.
“Jeff has no legitimate complaint,” he said.
Despite the current Democratic efforts against him, Denham touted his bipartisanship in his 2006 campaign, noting that he’d been appointed by the Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata to chair the Senate Agriculture Committee. Denham since has been removed from that position, and Mulholland said the senator has become more conservative and partisan since his July announcement that he plans to run for lieutenant governor in 2010.
“If, last fall, (Denham) was a Republican, he should have said so,” Mulholland said. “But he ran his campaign acting as if he was a Democrat. … Jeff’s willing to sell his soul to run for higher office.”
Kjol said Denham arrived at his opposition to the budget the way he makes all his decisions – by looking at the needs of his district and his personal philosophy, not by considering future political aspirations. Asked if Denham still intends to run for the lieutenant governor seat, Kjol said: “Right now, he’s focusing on being a senator. The 2010 election is quite a way down the road.”
