Of Abel and Arnold

As I pointed out here and here, Sen. Abel Maldonado has been increasingly distant with the governor. That came to a head in yesterday's L.A. Times story, where Maldonado ripped into Schwarzenegger on-the-record. Hours after Schwarzenegger's appearance with Latino supporters, the state's highest-ranking Latino Republican, Sen. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, questioned the governor's loyalty to Latinos. "Our governor cares about one thing only, and that's Arnold Schwarzenegger," Maldonado said in a telephone interview requested by his staff. Maldonado, who lost the Republican primary for state controller last month, said he was disappointed that the governor declined to support his candidacy. At Schwarzenegger's request, Maldonado had sponsored a bill to raise the minimum wage, a move that irked conservatives in the primary. "I kind of felt like I got left holding the bag," Maldonado said. The senator also said many Latinos thought Schwarzenegger had shown "a lack of respect" with the Latino community by spending too little time in Mexico. Schwarzenegger has visited Mexico twice as governor and plans to visit again before the election. "When he needs Latinos, Latinos are always there for him," Maldonado said. "When Latinos need him, the answer's been no." Now Jon Fleischman takes Maldonado to task for his comments. Maldonado has no ideologically consistent ground on which to stand in his new jihad against Arnold Schwarzenegger. And since he cannot make a credible argument that he has policy disagreements with the Governor, then clearly his problem is personal. Which leads us to an obvious place. This is one big case of sour grapes. The Governor didn't endorse me, and I lost. (I hear a baby crying in the background - or is that the Senator?). Grow up. Guess what? The Governor didn't endorse Tony Strickland in the primary either.