CeeLew

Jail, Arnold Not the Ways to Get Votes

(Note: I’m reposting an opinion column I wrote for the Daily Republic of Fairfield [Ca.], that was originally published on Nov. 12, 2005. It being a small newspaper – and newspapers being the lowliest of Internet creatures – the archives don’t go beyond April 2011. Really. Just found it in an email and wanted to save it for posterity.)

Not that a test case was needed to prove that getting arrested the day before an election isn’t exactly a bulwark of political savvy, but Fairfield City Council candidate Paul Randhawa’s finish Tuesday can most certainly be used as an example.

The 52-year-old businessman finished last with a bit more than 5 percent of the vote in the eight-way race, about 1,000 votes behind 22-year-old Joe Martinez, but comfortably ahead of the write-in candidates - presumably folks like “Yo Mama,” a rat terrier named ”Fluffy,” some guy’s best friend and other notable pillars of the community.

Not to be glib about Randhawa’s sudden and – to most of us – unexpected legal troubles, but it’s simply not good campaign practice.

Randhawa’s arrest, along with his wife and 22-year-old son on a combined 83 counts relating to alleged questionable business practices at his Fairfield travel agency, has to be one of the oddest and most shocking twists in the city’s political history. His explaination of his arrest to the local media, however, provided a bit more shock and oddity. When interviewed in jail by reporters from the Daily Republic and the Vacaville Reporter (which had endorsed him - oops), Randhawa went the conspiracy route.

“The people working against me have been pushing the district attorney to act,” he told the Daily Republic. “That’s why I was arrested today – on the eve of the election.”

Judging by his finish in his last two forays into politics - last out of seven city council candidates in 2003 and last in the 2001 mayoral race - a plot running all the way up to the San Francisco District Attorney’s office to thwart a marginal candidate for a small-town council seems really unlikely.

Randhawa’s statement seems more the kind that comes from a scared man who has a lot to lose, including family, respect, money and, potentially, a huge chunk of his life to jail.

If Randhawa is innocent as he claims – and he is until proven guilty – then he’ll be vindicated in court. If not, then his election eve surprise will be the least of his worries.

•••••••••

Looking beyond Fairfield, it would seem that the major political lesson of the special election in California is clear: Don’t hitch your political wagon on - or anywhere near - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The defeat of Propositions 74 through 77 was seen nationwide as a rebuke of the governor from the voters of California. That’s a stretch. Sure, he’s unpopular, but not so much that voters would simply cast a ballot because of some childish disaffection toward him. People saw these initiatives for what they were - a stunt and a power grab from a governor who wasted his tremendous political capital fighting a battle he couldn’t possibly win.

Schwarzenegger’s main problem was that he chose to fight average folks on issues that affected their very livelihood. Without the boogieman of Gray Davis around, Arnold needed somebody to bully and cast as a statewide evil. His inflated macho side needed to play Conan the Barbarian one more time to swoop in and slay the dread beast with his blade of “reform.”

Unfortunately, he came out looking like Attila the Hun.

The guv’s team made one egregious miscalculation - it’s tough to make teachers, nurses and firefighters out to be the bad guys. Instead of picking on somebody his own size, Schwarzenegger chose to throw down with Johnny’s third-grade teacher, cast aspersions at the guys who worked all day to keep your house safe from a brushfire and badmouth the nice lady that takes your pulse at the doctor’s office.

Again, poor political strategy.

Yes, powerful unions back those people, but taking away those unions’ right to political speech wasn’t about empowering workers, it was about making political inroads in the state for Republicans - the dirty way. Just as limiting teacher tenure was a smarmy backhand thrown at an uppity teacher’s union and the other two initiatives were a badly disguised attempt at political monopoly.

Voters were right to kill all four.

Lessons ooze out of every election. Whether or not they reach the intended targets – often losers who are reduced to a whimpering pile of defeat, broken dreams and bad wine on the campaign headquarters’ floor – is another matter completely.

Jail, however, and nationwide humiliation tend to stick around for a while.