Someone once quipped (and people have been repeating ever since) that the lieutenant governor's job is to wake up, check that the governor's still alive, and if so, go back to bed. Since California's chief executive hasn't died or deserted for another office since Governor Earl Warren ascended to the Supreme Court in 1953, recent lieutenant governors have had to confine themselves to exercising the governor's powers when he's been out of the state. The lieutenant governor also presides over the Senate, casting the tie-breaking vote when necessary, and sits on several boards and commissions—most notably, the University of California Regents and California State University Trustees boards. California's lieutenant governor and governor are elected independently, and may even be of different parties—a practice current lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom has said should change. It's that, he said, or “get rid of the position” altogether.

About the Office of the Lt. Governor (Lieutenant Governor's website)

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom Says His Job Should be “Dissolved” Unless Changes Made (by Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle)

The lieutenant governorship was created in California's original constitution in 1849. When the first lieutenant governor, John McDougall, was sworn into the office, all its major features were already there. Despite debate and controversy, they've remained much the same to this day.

Both lieutenant governor and governor initially served two-year terms. That changed under the leadership of Governor Leland Stanford, who oversaw the extension of those terms to the current four years in 1862.

The redrafted constitution of 1878 created the University of California Board of Regents, with the lieutenant governor as an ex officio member. Decades later, when the state university system was reorganized under the 1960 Donahoe Act, similar membership guidelines put the vice-executive on the Board of Trustees.

Lieutenant governors have collected seats on a few other bodies as they've been created—the State Lands Commission in 1938 and the Commission for Economic Development in 1971, for example—but have weathered all calls for more substantive change. In 1982, an initiative to strip the Senate presidency from the office failed. In 2003, a proposed amendment to remove the lieutenant's power to act as governor when the governor left the state stalled in committee.

Constitution of the State of California 1849 (Secretary of State website)

Leland Stanford 1862-1863 (Governors' Gallery)

About the Regents (Regents of the University of California website)

Donahoe Act (University of California Office of the President website) (pdf)

About the CA State Lands Commission (State Lands Commission website)

California Commission for Economic Development (Lieutenant Governor's website)

Proposition 2, Role of Lieutenant Governor as President of State Senate (Ballotpedia)

SCA 4 Senate Constitutional Amendment (Legislative Information)

Whenever the governor leaves California—on trade missions, testing the waters for a future campaign, etc.—the lieutenant governor is acting governor. The “lite gov” has all the technical authority of the governor in this role, including the ability to make appointments and sign or veto legislation. In practice, however, most lieutenant governors honor an implicit promise not to make any major decisions in the governor's absence.

The lieutenant governor also serves as the president of the state Senate in a largely honorary capacity. “He or she may be invited periodically to preside on ceremonial occasions, such as the opening of the Session,” the Legislature's website informs us. He or she also votes to break any Senate ties (known as the “casting vote”).

The lieutenant governor sits on the University of California Board of Regents and the California State University Board of Trustees, along with the governor, speaker of the Assembly, and superintendent of public instruction. (There are 26 regents and 25 trustees in total, most of them appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.) The boards have broad authority to set policies for California's public universities.

As a member—and, in alternate years, chairperson—of the State Lands Commission, the lieutenant governor helps appoint the agency's executive officer and oversees its stewardship of state-owned land: leasing it for oil drilling and port use, adjudicating disputes over its boundaries, and maintaining its safety for the public.

The lieutenant governor also chairs the (rather low-funded) Commission for Economic Development, serves on the California Emergency Council, and appoints (as do the governor, controller, and treasurer) five members of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine—the state stem cell agency.

Compared with other states' lieutenant governors, California's has moderate authority, hewing relatively closely to the pattern set by the vice presidency. Still, there's no question that the position carries less responsibility than other constitutional offices, which fulfill non-understudy functions and frequently entail at least as many board and commission memberships.

Consequently, the lieutenant governorship has been commonly seen as little more than a launching pad to the governor's chair or national office. While 10 of California's lieutenant governors (acting, appointed, or elected) have gone on to serve as governor, only three were elected to the office without inheriting it on a governor's death or resignation first.

California State Legislature—Leadership and Caucuses (State Legislature website)

Elected Offices (Join California)

The Office of the Lieutenant Governor has one of the smallest budgets in the state's government. The approximately $1 million dollars allocated to the lieutenant governor and staff will represent one thousandth of a percent of General Fund expenditures in the 2012-2013 fiscal year, and an infinitesimal sliver of total state expenses. The majority of those funds will go to the staff's pay and benefits, including the lieutenant governor’s $130,490 salary.

The lieutenant governor has the greatest financial impact through his or her vote on the higher education boards, which set tuition and employee compensation for the UC and CSU systems. The lieutenant governor's service on the State Lands and Coastal Commissions also make developers and environmentalists potential stakeholders in his or her decisions.

3-Year Budget (pdf)

Salaries of Elected Officials (California Citizens Compensation Commission website)

Acting Governor Curb Is Active

Governor Jerry Brown campaigned in both presidential primaries during his first stint in office. In 1976, when Mervyn Dymally was his lieutenant governor, this did not present undue problems back home—and indeed, would not have under most circumstances. For the 1980 primary, however, Mike Curb was acting governor in his absence, and Curb chose to exercise his power to the fullest.

By his own account, Curb signed more than 30 “bills and proclamations” and made 431 appointments while Brown was off campaigning.

In 1979, the governor began the process to fill a vacancy on the Court of Appeals by submitting candidate names to the State Bar and the Commission on Judicial Appointments, as is the custom. He then left the state for some campaigning, expecting to complete the process upon his return. The day after Brown departed, Curb appointed Armand Arabian to the court. 

 Brown returned and withdrew the nomination, and the conflict ended in litigation. The state Supreme Court declared Curb within his rights to make the appointment, but allowed Brown to withdraw it as well.

Later in 1979, when Brown was away again, Curb signed an executive order rescinding some Air Resources Board pollution regulations ostensibly to help ease a gasoline shortage. Brown revoked the order.

“When you have to work with a governor like Jerry Brown and you have to guide a state with an absentee governor, there is bound to be some controversy,” Curb explained during his campaign to return to the lieutenant governor's office in 1986. Curb estimates that he served as acting governor between 25 and 30% of his first two years in office.

In post-Curb years, Abel Maldonado has been the only lieutenant governor to sign a bill into law.

Mike Curb—Politics (MikeCurb.com)

When the Cat's Away . . . (by Jeremy Singer-Vine, Slate.com)

Mike Curb Enters Race for Lt. Governor (by Leo C. Wolinsky, Los Angeles Times)

JoinCalifornia—Mike Curb (JoinCalifornia.com)

Maldonado's Confirmation Kerfuffle

When Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi was elected to Congress, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated Abel Maldonado to the position with relative alacrity, making the announcement on The Jay Leno Show in late November 2009. It was five months before Maldonado was able to take the oath of office.

Both the Assembly and Senate—with Democratic majorities—had to confirm Maldonado, and they had a variety of reasons to decline to do so. Many balked at confirming a Republican to a post to which a Democrat had been elected. And Maldonado was beloved of few after crossing party lines to enable a 2009 budget with which no one was particularly pleased. The appointment was widely seen as political payment from Schwarzenegger for that vote.

Senate Democrat Dean Florez additionally declared it “especially troubling to see the governor miss out on an opportunity to save taxpayer money by rewarding Senator Maldonado with a post that could be left open until the next election, only months away.”

The Senate confirmed Maldonado in February, just weeks before the 90-day deadline to vote, but the Assembly failed to follow suit. Although more votes were cast for Maldonado than against him (37 to 35), the “yeses” didn't reach the overall majority necessary to confirm. Governor Schwarzenegger contended this point, first planning to swear Maldonado in regardless, then threatening to sue, before withdrawing and resubmitting his nomination.

Assembly Speaker-elect John Pérez said that the re-nomination “change[d] nothing.”

With another 90 days to confirm or reject, Democrats now had to consider the politics of an election to fill Maldonado's seat on the state Senate. The later Maldonado left for the lieutenant governor's office, the likelier it was that the special election to replace him would be rolled into the general election the following November, offering a higher voter turnout and a better chance for a Democratic candidate to win.

Assembly Speaker (no-longer-elect) Pérez delayed the vote until late April. When Schwarzenegger complained to the press, Pérez spokeswoman Shannon Murphy countered that “[l]ike most Californians, the Speaker is focused on jobs, reform and recovery. All jobs, not just one that was cooked up in a backroom deal.”

Maldonado became lieutenant governor on April 28th and served for slightly more than eight months before Gavin Newsom, his opponent in the campaign for the next term, took office.

Governor Schwarzenegger didn’t wait for the general election. He declared a special summer election to fill Maldonado's seat, despite an expected $2.5 million cost. Pérez complained that the date had been chosen “unilaterally and irresponsibly.” Democratic fears proved true in August, when Republican Sam Blakeslee won the seat by four points with a 39% turnout.

Arnold to Pick Abel Maldonado for Lt-Gov (by Robert Cruickshank, Calitics)

Schwarzenegger Backs off Legal Threat over Maldonado (by Anthony York, Capitol Weekly)

We Still Don't Have a Lieutenant Governor (by Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle)

Capitol Budget Fight: Part Kabuki, Part Tragedy—and Mostly Farce (by Anthony York, Capitol Weekly)

Official Canvass, State Senator, 15th Senate District, Special General Election, August 17, 2010 (Secretary of State website) (pdf)

A Shared Ticket

Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, whose feelings about his role and Governor Jerry Brown have been notably ambivalent, has recently suggested that governor and lieutenant governor should run on a shared ticket. “If they run together, then they have a team,” Newsom said. “Otherwise, get rid of the position.”

Twenty-six states have joint elections, including New Jersey, which just recently created a lieutenant governor's office in 2006. Missouri and South Carolina are considering amending their constitutions to join them.

California's 1996 Constitutional Revision Commission also recommended a switch to a shared ticket, reasoning that lieutenant governors are not intended to be a check or balance and so needn't be independently elected. The commission's recommendations were never seriously entertained.

While voters have raised no concern against joint election, there are reasons for politicians to oppose it. When a governor can select a lieutenant, politicians have one fewer position to freely pursue. For legislators limited to two terms in office, that may be a consideration.

And while a reasonable person could question how well served recent lieutenant governors have been by their low-profile job when seeking the governorship, running on a ticket with the governor could be a double-edged sword. A “lite governor” who was “truly a lieutenant,” as Newsom would have it, might be more empowered in office, but could also be tainted by association in the eyes of voters seeking change.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom Says His Job Should be “Dissolved” unless Changes Made (by Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle)

Lieutenant Governor (Ballotpedia)

SB 475—Requires the Joint Election of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor (Missouri Senate website)

2011-2012 Bill 3152: Constitutional Amendment Proposed (South Carolina Legislature website)

Newsom May be on to Something—if Not Something New (by Joel Fox, Fox & Hounds)

Gavin Newsom, a Lieutenant Who Thinks He's General (by Debra Saunders, Real Clear Politics)

Do We Need a Lieutenant Governor?

Given the accepted thinness of the lieutenant governor's duties, the main debate surrounding the office is whether to have one at all. The argument tends to resurface when the lieutenant governor is subject to any prolonged attention, such as during Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's scuffle with the Legislature over the confirmation of Abel Maldonado. During that battle, Republican Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries introduced an amendment to do away with lieutenant governors, making the Secretary of State next in the line of succession.

Jeffries' bill didn't receive much support from his fellow lawmakers, but neither was it the first time someone tried to give away at least part of the lieutenant governor's office. In 2003, Republican state Senator Jim Brulte introduced an amendment to strip the lieutenant governor's right to act as governor when the governor leaves the state. It progressed further than Jeffries' proposal before dying in committee. In 1982, voters rejected a proposition to relieve the second-in-line officer of the Senate presidency. Governor Schwarzenegger, prior to appointing Maldonado, cut the office's budget by more than half.

Even Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has gotten into the act. His jobs plan abolishes the Commission for Economic Development, which he chairs. (The CED was also under attack shortly after its creation, when Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally lobbied for its survival.)

It's as though the lieutenant governor has so little influence that politicians want to consolidate that power elsewhere, but in the end, decide it's not even worth the effort.

Abolish LG's Office, Says Jeffries (by Jim Miller, The Press-Enterprise)

Proposition 2, Role of Lieutenant Governor as President of State Senate (Ballotpedia)

Dismissed as Obscure and Irrelevant, “Lite Gov” Draws New Attention (by Anthony York, Capitol Weekly)

A New Twist on Fixing California's Economy? (by Dan Walters, Orange County Register)

Keep the Lieutenant Governor

Those who argue that the lieutenant governor is necessary usually point to his or her primary function as the spare governor.

In the few states without lieutenant governors, the president of the Senate or the secretary of state takes over as governor if necessary. Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom suggested that the president pro tem of California's Senate be second in line for the governorship if his office were abolished. The president pro tem is not a statewide official, however, and to replace a representative elected by all Californians with one put in place by San Francisco or Orange County alone seems less than ideal to many.

While California's Secretary of State is elected statewide, some have argued that the secretary—in charge of elections and campaigns—should be a nonpartisan appointee instead. Regardless, his or her responsibilities arguably require a different talent than those of the governor. To the extent that voters know what the lieutenant does, they elect her or him with an eye to fitness for the governorship.

There are also political reasons to maintain a lieutenant governor. It's both an extra office for career politicians to inhabit, and a place to largely neutralize troublesome leaders. When Gavin Newsom announced his campaign for lieutenant governor, reporter Paul Hogarth offered anecdotal evidence of tenant activists in San Francisco “delighted to see [him] take the plunge,” in order to be rid of him as mayor. Editors of the progressive website Calitics likewise charged Senate Democrats to swiftly confirm Republican Abel Maldonado, making way for a Democrat to potentially win his Senate seat.

Perhaps the main reason to retain a lieutenant governor is inertia: voters, who Democratic Assemblyman Charles Calderon openly guessed “don't know what a lieutenant governor does,” are not exactly clamoring to be rid of the office. A majority of those voters would need to agree to amend the constitution to nix the lieutenant governorship.

The public and even politicians notice the lieutenant governor mostly when there is a problem—many of which could be better resolved by placing governor and lieutenant on a single ticket, argue Newsom and others.

Throughout the states, the trend is to adopt lieutenant governors rather than get rid of them. When Robert J. Healey Jr. ran to become Rhode Island's lieutenant governor with a promise to abolish the office, he pointed to other states having similar discussions. The fact-checking website PolitiFact assessed his claim, looking for legislation rather than op-eds, and determined it “Mostly False.” Talk about eliminating lieutenant governors is, in other words, just talk.

Change It or Cut It—Lieutenant Governor Position is Pointless Now (Long Beach Press-Telegram editorial)

Could Newsom Become the Phil Angelides of 2010? (by Paul Hogarth, Calitics)

An Open Letter to the California Senate Democratic Caucus (Calitics)

Open Forum: Confirming Maldonado Is Not “Nonpartisan” (by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, San Francisco Chronicle)

Healey Says Many States are Discussing Eliminating the Lieutenant Governor Position (PolitiFact)

What's the Fuss over Lieutenant Govs? (by Daniel C. Vock, Stateline)

State Has to Have a Lieutenant Governor; Make the Position Meaningful (GoUpstate.com)

Out With the Lieutenant Governor

The lieutenant governor's position is much and easily mocked. The lieutenant is rarely called on to break ties in the Senate, sits on boards with little influence or many members (with the exception of the State Lands Commission), and, as documents and information can be whisked to and from the governor anywhere in the world, isn't really needed as acting governor. It's a job for which, journalist Joe Mathews wrote while playfully suggesting himself as an appointee, “selecting a proven leader would be a terrible mistake.”

Those who follow those kinds of jibes to their logical conclusion and suggest eliminating the office generally argue that a million dollars, however small a drop in the bucket, is still a million dollars. The lieutenant governor's budget could be saved, they say, without causing pain to students or firefighters or library-goers.

The idea of the lieutenant governorship as an affront to government efficiency appeals particularly to small-government types. And because California's lieutenant governors have been Democrats—with the exception of Schwarzenegger-appointee Maldonado—since 1983, Republicans could perhaps be more easily prevailed on to abolish the office. For the most part, however, the issue is nonpartisan: Democratic Assemblyman Calderon joined Republican Senator Jeffries in his call to be done with lieutenant governors.

The Perfect Lieutenant Governor: Me (by Joe Mathews, Los Angeles Times op-ed)

Lieutenant Gov: Time to Close This Office (Press Democrat editorial)

Some Advice for Schwarzenegger: Nobody for Governor Lite (by Tim Hodson and Ted Lascher, Capitol Weekly)

Does California Need a Lieutenant Governor? (by Wyatt Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle)

Abel Maldonado, 2010-2011

Mona F. Pasquil, 2009-2010 (acting)

John Raymond Garamendi, 2007-2009

Cruz Miguel Bustamante, 1999-2007. Bustamante was a state Assembly member starting in 1993, and speaker from 1996 to 1998. When he was elected lieutenant governor, he became the first Latino to represent California statewide since Romualdo Pacheco left the governor's office 124 years before. While moderate in terms of his policies, Bustamante's political decisions and gaffes often made him the subject of controversy. In a Black History Month speech in 2001, he used a racial slur—meaning to say “Negro”—while listing African-American labor organizations. In 2003, when he decided to run in the election to recall Governor Gray Davis, his “No on Recall, Yes on Bustamante” slogan was not enough to appease the Democrats who pointed out that his campaign legitimized the recall effort. During that campaign, Bustamante exploited a loophole to exceed campaign contribution limits, and faced lawsuits from Republican state Senator Ross Johnson and the Fair Political Practices Commission. He was ordered to return funds to their donors as a result of Johnson's suit, and to pay a $263,000 fine—the largest actually collected for such a violation in state history—to settle the FPPC's. In 2006, Bustamante's campaign for insurance commissioner emphasized his own weight loss—“an example to others to lead healthier lives,” he said. He lost that election, but is rumored to be considering a 2012 run for Congress.

Gray Davis, 1995-1999. Davis served as an Assembly member and controller, and ran a failed campaign for U.S. Senate, before becoming lieutenant governor. While he is one of the few lieutenant governors to win the governorship without inheriting it first, he’s also the only California governor to be recalled by popular vote.

Leo T. McCarthy, 1983-1995. McCarthy served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and in the state Assembly, including six years as Speaker, before becoming lieutenant governor. His 12 years in the office are the longest anyone's ever served (and will be, unless the state's term limits are revised or a pre-1990 lieutenant governor wins again). McCarthy ran for U.S. Senate in 1988 and 1992, but lost the first campaign in the general election and the second in the primary.

Mike Curb, 1979-1983. Curb was a music producer and vocal opponent of drug use in the industry before running for lieutenant governor in 1978. He wrote more than 400 songs, owned his own record label and produced albums and soundtracks in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Best known politically for taking advantage of Governor Jerry Brown's absence from the state to sign legislation and make appointments, Curb also ran for governor in 1982 without success and again for lieutenant governor in 1986. The latter campaign, against Leo McCarthy, focused on drug use and violent crime. McCarthy countered Curb's charge that he was “soft on crime” by alleging Curb produced “exploitation films” that glorified drugs and violence. Curb responded with a $7 million libel and slander lawsuit. He ultimately lost the election and returned to the music industry, and his lawsuit was dismissed.

Mervyn M. Dymally, 1975-1979. Born in Trinidad, Dymally was the first Trinidadian member of the California Legislature, and upon his election as lieutenant governor, the first black official to represent the entire state. In 1975, he cast the tie-breaking vote decriminalizing sodomy. While his bid for reelection was sabotaged by a false rumor that he was about to be indicted, he went on to serve in the House of Representatives from 1981 to 1993, and then returned to the state Assembly after a 10-year retirement. Dymally has weathered controversy over his “friendship” with Jim Jones (of the Jonestown Peoples Temple mass suicide) and his association with a diverse swath of leaders including Fidel Castro and Yasser Arafat. “Many feel it not appropriate to speak to those who disagree with them,” he said of his colleagues in Congress. “My position was just the opposite. Therefore, I traveled all over the world, 187 countries, talking to democrats, autocrats, socialists, fascists, to educate myself about them. It was a part of my intellectual curiosity.”

John L. Harmer, 1974-1975

Ed Reinecke, 1969-1974. Reinecke was appointed by Governor Ronald Reagan to fill the lieutenant governor post after Robert Finch left to advise President Nixon. The relationship between Reinecke and Reagan is the exception that proves the rule of disinterest between the two officers. Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally has suggested that they were the only executive team that “drank coffee [together] every morning.” While running for governor in 1974, Reinecke was indicted for perjury as part of the Watergate investigation. He was accused of lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his knowledge of alleged connections between a guarantee of funds for the Republican National Convention in 1972 and an out-of-court settlement of an anti-trust case against International Telephone & Telegraph Co. Reinecke was convicted and resigned one day before his sentencing hearing. While he was given 18 months in prison, he appealed on a technicality and never served any time.

Robert Hutchinson Finch, 1967-1969

Glenn Malcolm Anderson, 1959-1967

Harold J. Powers, 1953-1959

Goodwin Knight, 1947-1953

Frederick F. Houser, 1943-1947

Ellis E. Patterson, 1939-1943

George J. Hatfield, 1935-1939

Frank Merriam, 1931-1934

H. L. Carnahan, 1928-1931

Buron Fitts, 1927-1928

C. C. Young, 1919-1927

William Stephens, 1916-1917. Stephens’ road through the lieutenant governorship to the governorship resembles a game of musical chairs: Governor Hiram Johnson called him back from his seat as a congressman to assume the lieutenant governorship upon John Morton Eshleman's death from tuberculosis. Johnson then went to Washington himself as a senator, leaving Stephens to assume his seat. Stephens’ administration was plagued by conflict with labor activists, particularly after Industrial Workers of the World member Thomas Mooney was blamed and convicted for the Preparedness Day Bombing on a San Francisco parade. Stephens received death threats, and the Governor's Mansion was bombed. He went on to be elected in 1918, during which term he became a lawyer. When his party refused him a second nomination, he retired to practice law in Los Angeles.

John Morton Eshleman, 1915-1916

A. J. Wallace, 1911-1915

Warren R. Porter, 1907-1911

Alden Anderson, 1903-1907

Jacob H. Neff, 1899-1903

William T. Jeter, 1895-1899

Spencer G. Millard, 1895

John B. Reddick, 1891-1895

Stephen M. White, 1887-1891 (acting)

Robert Waterman, 1887

John Daggett, 1883-1887

John Mansfield, 1880-1883

James A. Johnson, 1875-1880

William Irwin, 1875 (acting)

Romualdo Pacheco, 1871-1875. Pacheco was the first governor born in California, and remains the only Latino governor of the state. He served as a judge in San Obispo County, a state senator, and state treasurer before winning the lieutenant governorship. When Governor Newton Booth was elected to the U.S. Senate, Pacheco assumed his position. His campaign to continue as governor failed, but he went on to run for Congress. The results of his first election (which he apparently won by a single vote) were contested, and he was unseated in favor of his opponent. His second election stuck, and he served as a congressman from 1879 to 1883.

William Holden, 1867-1871

Tim N. Machin, 1863-1867

John F. Chellis, 1862-1863

Pablo de la Guerra, 1861-1862 (acting)

Isaac N. Quinn, 1860-1861 (acting)

John Downey, 1860. Downey became governor after serving as lieutenant for only five days, when Governor Milton Latham appointed himself to fill David Broderick's seat on the U.S. Senate. The Irishman was the first California governor born outside the U.S.

John Walkup, 1858-1860

Robert M. Anderson, 1856-1858

Samuel Purdy, 1852-1856

David C. Broderick, 1851-1852 (acting)

John McDougal, 1849-1851. McDougal came to the state in 1848 after fighting in the Mexican-American War, and was one of the original signers of California's constitution. He assumed the governorship when Peter Burnett resigned in the face of the Legislature's dissatisfaction, and by the end of his term was unpopular in his turn. The Democrats refused to nominate him to continue in the office. Four days after Governor Peter Bigler was inaugurated to replace him, McDougal fought a duel with newspaper editor A.C. Russell, hurting Russell's hand. When he attempted to answer another insult with a second duel, he was arrested by San Francisco police.

List of Lieutenant Governors of California (Wikipedia)

Governors' Gallery

Gavin Newsom Seeks to Get Along While Awaiting His Shot at Jerry Brown's Job (by David Siders, Sacramento Bee)

Watergate Jury Indicts Reinecke (by George Murphy, San Francisco Chronicle) (pdf)

Former U.S. Congressman Mervyn Dymally: An Unapologetic Trailblazer (by Xavier Higgs, Our Weekly)

Curb-McCarthy Race Focuses on “Soft on Crime” Label (by Douglas Shuit, Los Angeles Times)

“Take Heat,” Curb Told, as Libel Suit Is Dismissed (Los Angeles Times)

Racial Correctness (by Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Mother Jones)

Lt. Gov. Agrees to Pay Hefty Fine (by Tim Reiterman and Jenifer Warren, Los Angeles Times)

Cruz Bustamante Plans for Political Comeback Surprises Friends (by John Ellis, Fresno Bee)