During the frantic last days of the 2010 legislative session, State Senator Sam Blakeslee did something unusual for a freshman Republican: He voted against his party’s spending plan.
To be fair, he also voted against the Democratic budget proposal.
Blakeslee sent this explanation in an e-mail statement to New Times: “Neither of today’s budget proposals included the reforms that are critical to fixing our state and ending our chronic boom-bust budgeting. We cannot cut or tax our way to prosperity. Only by creating jobs and reforming government can we return our state to fiscal health. I will continue working toward a responsible budget that brings stability and prosperity back to California.”
Blakeslee would have termed out of the Assembly this year, but won a special election for the 15th District Senate seat formerly occupied by Abel Maldonado.
This article appears in Sep 9-16, 2010.