I have highlighted some interesting info on Bustamente. Not only is he as "dirty" as I figured, he has some problems within his support groups.
Day Of the Locust
By Harold Meyerson
Monday, August 11, 2003; Page A17
Like the earth beneath it, social and political California erupts in all manner of ways. There are inner-city riots; Los Angeles was the only American city in the second half of the 20th century that was home to two of them. For the past decade, there have been the far more orderly strikes and demonstrations of the largely Latino immigrant working class, a latter-day version of the immigrant protests that shaped New York's Lower East Side a century ago.
California's most distinctive social upheavals, however, are neither those of the working class nor of the lumpen, but those that the broader, unanchored, white middle class supports on Election Day. They've included tax revolts, such as Howard Jarvis's Proposition 13, and somewhat veiled moves for racial separation, such as last year's failed campaign for San Fernando Valley secession from Los Angeles. There have also been the Perotnoid revolts against the state's political class, which have led to term limits so severe that most state assembly members are still learning how a bill becomes a law as they're being shown the door.
The recall circus into which the state has now been plunged is the reductio ad absurdum of these middle-class eruptions. Though it began more simply, as Darrell Issa's new-age coup d'etat, it quickly took on all the symptoms of a classic California convulsion, in which the state's problem (supposedly, Gray Davis) and its solution (supposedly, Arnold Schwarzenegger) are characteristically misidentified. But in a state where television news coverage of politics and government is nonexistent and where the entertainment industry is covered (actually, hyped) constantly, the emergence of Arnold as the political savior of the month should come as no surprise.
The sheer abundance of fruitcake and exhibitionist candidates, the treatment of politics as tabloid entertainment, the touting of Schwarzenegger's "leadership" capacities (as evidenced by what? Conan's rescue of the princess?) and his quick embrace (according to the polls) by a quarter of the California electorate -- all these seem to come straight out Nathanael West's 1939 comic-grotesque novel of Los Angeles' embittered and sensation-seeking lower-middle class, "The Day of the Locust." West's novel ends with a deadly riot at a Hollywood premiere. A bit hyperbolic, that; when the Golden State's white middle class riots, it normally happens at the ballot box.
Oct. 7 may turn out to be the Day of the Locust after all, with Davis devoured by an angry mob. If so, the next governor of California will likely be either Schwarzenegger or the least charismatic of the state's Democratic leaders, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. The lieutenant governor is one of the dimmer stars in California's political firmament, but he comes by his obscurity honestly. Bustamante has no notable achievements he can to point to from his years in the legislature or as the state's number-two official. Worse, he comes loaded down with two kinds of baggage.
The first is his longtime, and current, dependency on Indian casinos to fill his campaign treasury -- not necessarily the most prudent source of funding at a time when his opponents are already running against the special interests controlling Sacramento. The second is his rocky relationship with some of the state's key unions, in particular the farm workers (Bustamante has been a friend of agribusiness) and the hotel employees (who are endeavoring to organize those tribal casinos). These unions play a critical role in the massive Latino voter mobilization campaigns conducted by the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, and Bustamante cannot win unless the L.A. Fed goes all out for him. "Cruz has a Spanish surname," says Fed leader Miguel Contreras, "but he needs a Latino effort."
For all that, Democrats in this heavily Democratic state can be confident that a Gov. Bustamante would sign, as Davis has, much of the groundbreaking legislation that the progressive-dominated legislature sends his way. And Bustamante may have caught an odd break when Schwarzenegger announced that his campaign would be chaired by Pete Wilson, the former governor. Wilson may help Arnold win more Republican votes, but he may also help Bustamante turn out Latinos, who still hate Wilson for his support of 1994's Prop. 187, which would have denied public services -- including the right to attend school -- to illegal immigrants and their children.
Schwarzenegger advertises himself as an immigrant success story, but whether his story will resonate with the bulk of California's immigrants -- overwhelmingly Latino, poor, Democratic and backers of unions and big government -- is another question. It would be interesting to know how Schwarzenegger voted on Prop. 187, if indeed he voted at all. Time was when leaders of California's white-middle-class revolts didn't have to concern themselves with nonwhite voter turnout, but those days are passing.
Oct. 7 may be yet another Day of the Locust, but I suspect it will be one of the last.
The writer is editor at large of the American Prospect and political editor of the L.A. Weekly.
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