Assembly member Monique Limon, two weeks past her promised date for announcing if she will run for the state Senate or re-election in 2020, declined on Monday to disclose a new time certain for making her intentions clear.
“Life happened,” Monique told Newsmakers, by way of explaining why she blew her deadline for a pronouncement about her plans.
On January 17, we asked the state lawmaker in an interview whether she would seek the senate seat to be left vacant by termed-out Hannah Beth-Jackson, or run for another term in the Assembly next year. Here's how that went:
“By March I will have a decision,” Monique told Newsmakers in a telephone interview from Sacramento on Thursday.
“It’s not my intention to make it harder for others who may want to run for” Assembly or Senate, she said. “But I’m not making this decision for anybody else. I’m doing my due diligence about where the best spot is for me.”
To say the least.
Newsmakers’ Department of Political Junkie Recovery and Abacus Algorithm Calculations figures it's been seventy-four days - 74, count 'em, 74- since Limon made her start-of-the-year 60-day vow.
As a political matter, her Hamlet act is a substantial annoyance, not only to us, but also to platoons of Central Coast politicians, who are trying to make their own assessments and judgments about plans for 2020, a campaign season that will be shaped by her choice.
If she goes for Hannah-Beth’s seat, Limon would be formidable, and likely clear the field. In that case, a batch of Santa Barbara pols – hello Jason Dominguez, Jonathan Abboud and half the officeholders in Ventura – might be expected to run for the Assembly.
If she stays put, on the other hand, Supervisor Das Williams, who previously told us he won’t run for senate if Monique does, would be terrifically tempted to return to Sacramento via a senate campaign.
Under current term limit laws, a new state senator could serve 12 years – three four-year terms. Limon, elected last fall to her second two-year term, would be eligible to serve four more terms – for a total of 12 years – if she sticks with the Assembly.
Adeo ut cogitabo.
The Hollister conundrum. To her credit, Limon has not been idle on policy while politically frittering away her 60 days.
Mega-kudos to her for, among other things, tackling the extremely venerable and thorny problem of public access to Hollister Ranch.
Last year in Sacramento, she passed a bill that sought to impose an extraordinarily controversial 1980s era plan for widespread access, but then-Governor Jerry Brown vetoed it, saying that the multiple state agencies with a stake in the matter should come up with a new plan.
This year, Limon is pushing a new measure calling for those agencies to develop a plan by April 1, 2020, on pain of the earlier plan being imposed from on high.
Read all about it in the By God L.A. Times.
Life happens. Finally, we note with sadness that among other things on which Monique has been focused in recent weeks has been the passing of Genoveva Gil, her grandma and matriarch of Santa Barbara’s sprawling Gil clan.
Of whom Raul Gil, her son, Monique's uncle and great friend of Newsmakers, wrote:
For all of us who were blessed to have known her, Mamá was the ultimate mother. Her legacy can best be described by a total devotion to family and instilling in the core, true moral values of human decency: respect, dignity, humility and compassion.
We wish you comfort and strength. May she rest in peace.
JR
Images: Monique Limon; Newsmakers String Theory Team at work; Genoveva Gil.