Don’t stick local taxpayers with special election costs

The question has been answered. Bakersfield Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong can run for two seats on the same ballot — reelection to his 32nd Assembly District seat and for the 20th Congressional District seat.

For months, the legality of appearing twice on the same ballot has been disputed. Last week, the 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled that Fong can run for both offices at the same time. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who oversees the state’s elections, had contended that Fong’s dual candidacy defied more than a century of precedent and state election laws.

But appeal court justices ruled the sloppy wording of state election laws created a loophole that allows Fong to run for both offices. It’s up to the Legislature to fix the laws.

Following his historic ouster as speaker of the House and as the deadline neared for candidates to file for election approached, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, first announced his decision not to seek reelection. He then abruptly quit Congress altogether — midway through his two-year term and leaving his seat vacant. His last-minute decisions created a political scramble to replace him and triggered a dominolike scheduling of costly special elections.

First, there was the March 19 special election to complete McCarthy’s unfinished term. Fong finished first and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, a fellow Republican, finished second. The two now face each other in a May 21 special election runoff.

If Fong wins the May 21 runoff and is sworn into Congress, a special election will be called to select a replacement to fill Fong’s unfinished Assembly term.

Fong and Boudreaux were the two top vote-getters in the March 5 primary to fill the 20th Congressional District’s two-year term that begins in January. Under California’s top-two primary system, they advance to a November general election runoff.

Fong also remains a candidate for reelection to his 32nd Assembly District seat. In the March 5 primary, Fong ran unopposed. With his being the only name on the ballot, he finished first. Write-in candidate Ken Weir, a Bakersfield city councilman and Republican, finished second.

A reading of state election laws suggests that a top-two candidate cannot resign between the primary and runoff. Even if a candidate dies, his or her name will remain on the ballot. If voters elect the dead candidate, the seat will be declared vacant at the beginning of the new legislative session in January and another special election will be held to fill the vacancy.

These special elections could have been avoided if McCarthy had announced earlier his intention not seek reelection and if he had just finished his two-year term, rather than up and quitting.

This election mess highlights a long-festering problem that needs fixing. Since 2008, the state has dumped the cost of special elections onto counties.

Depending on how you add up the costs and how many “what if” special elections are conducted, ballpark estimates are that just the March 19 and May 21 special elections will cost Kern County $4 million — maybe more. Crunching the numbers, KGET-TV 17 reported Fresno, Tulare and Kings counties, which are also in the 20th District, will be stuck with a combined $2.45 million bill. That’s a lot of local tax dollars that were supposed to be used to pay law enforcement and fire salaries as well as public services.

Counties have no control over the scheduling of legislative and congressional special elections. The governor calls those elections and sticks counties with the tab.

It wasn’t always that way. Until the Great Recession of 2008, when state tax dollars were stretched, the state reimbursed counties for the cost of special elections. In recent years, bills have been introduced to restore the reimbursement, but callous legislators killed them.

In 1990, California voters passed Proposition 140, which limits the number of years state legislators can serve. This set off the frenzy of special elections we see today, as ambitious politicians jump from one office to the next to keep themselves employed.

It’s time for the state to pay the tab. Sticking counties and local taxpayers with special election costs is just plain wrong.