California Gov. Gavin Newsom's appointment of Laphonza Butler to the Senate corrects his political mistakes.
There’s an old political axiom that cautions: Never make a decision until you have to. Gov. Gavin Newsom ignored that doctrine when he did a double flip-flop over aThe opposite of premature decision-making, of course, is procrastination. Lots of politicians are guilty of that too when the politics get tricky. That’s a frustrating Newsom flaw. He tends to make grandiose announcements about bold new agendas, then interminably delay announcing details.
Laphonza Butler, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s appointee to the U.S. Senate, says she wants to carry the baton of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.Newsom wound up exercising damage control and landing pretty much where he should have in the first place by completing a double flip-flop. On Sunday, he appointed a Black woman highly respected in Democratic circles and left it entirely up to her whether to run for a full term next year.
For what it’s worth — probably little — two of the last three California senators appointed by a governor wound up losing when they ran for the seat: Republican John Seymour lost to Democrat Feinstein in 1992 and Democrat Pierre Salinger — John F. Kennedy’s former presidential press secretary — to Republican actor George Murphy in 1964.The late Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced earlier this year that she would not seek reelection.
Butler has never held an elective office. But she has been enmeshed in high-end politics for many years. She’s not exactly a neophyte.
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