#  Shake, Abel, Shake

     Details    Joe Mathews   ![logo](https://mail.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         September 16 2013       [ARCHIVE](https://mail.citywatchla.com/archive)   - [  Previous Article **Wizard Aquino’s Yellow Brick Road** ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5725:wizard-aquino-s-yellow-brick-road&catid=16)
- [  Next Article **SOS-LA: Paying for Our Streets – TWICE** ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5727:sos-la-paying-for-our-streets-twice&catid=16)

  ###### Typography

- [](# "Smaller Font")  ****Smaller** **Small** **Medium** **Big** **Bigger****  [](# "Bigger Font")
- [](# "Previous Font Style")  ****Default** **Helvetica** **Segoe** **Georgia** **Times****  [](# "Next Font Style")

- [ Reading Mode](# "Reading Mode")

> <a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a><a class="a2a_button_print"></a>[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
>
> ![](https://mail.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Sept-2013/cw11075r.png)POLITICS - The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Abel Maldonado has shaken up his campaign. There’s good and bad in this news.

 First, the good. Maldonado’s shake-up serves as a helpful reminder that there is an Abel Maldonado campaign for governor. I had a vague notion that there might be such a campaign going on, but this was confirmation.

The shake-up also serves as what law enforcement professionals involved in the retrieval of kidnap victims refer to as “proof of life.” You need to know that the kidnap victim is alive before negotiating over ransom after all. Maldonado might have been wise to release the news of his shake-up with a photo of himself holding that days’ newspaper.

Then there’s the bad. Maldonado has jettisoned a whole host of expensive GOP consultants who had shown a proven ability to lose campaigns in California. Since Maldonado is going to lose this campaign, it sure would be nice to have consultants who know how to do that.

And since spending money on consultants is what politics is all about, at least in California, Maldonado now will have to find other consultants who can lose and take his money. A search like this is harder than you might think.

Or he could try something different. Come up with California-specific plans on the issues that really matter to people – housing and education. And run both to Brown’s right and left by relentlessly pointing out the governor’s failure to address the state’s long-term issues have left us paying more for less in services.

If Maldonado loses in this way, it would at least be a useful, productive loss that could force Brown to stop playing small ball.

If he ran a campaign like this, he wouldn’t have to fire media-connected consultants to prove that his campaign actually exists.

*(Joe Mathews is Connecting California Columnist and Editor, Zócalo Public Square, Fellow at the Center for Social Cohesion at Arizona State University and co-author of California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It \[UC Press, 2010\]. This column was posted first at [FoxandHoundsDaily.com.](http://FoxandHoundsDaily.com.)*

*-cw*

*Vol 11 Issue 75*

*Pub: Sept 17, 2013*

  - [  Previous Article **Wizard Aquino’s Yellow Brick Road** ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5725:wizard-aquino-s-yellow-brick-road&catid=16)
- [  Next Article **SOS-LA: Paying for Our Streets – TWICE** ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5727:sos-la-paying-for-our-streets-twice&catid=16)
<div data-id="1" 
	class="eb-inst eb-hide eb-emailform eb-1 eboxContentLocker"
	data-options='{"trigger":"onPageLoad","trigger_selector":"","delay":3000,"early_trigger":true,"scroll_depth":"percentage","scroll_depth_value":80,"firing_frequency":1,"reverse_scroll_close":true,"threshold":0,"close_out_viewport":false,"exit_timer":1000,"idle_time":10000,"close_on_esc":false,"animation_open":"slideInDown","animation_close":"fadeOutDown","animation_duration":400,"disable_page_scroll":true,"test_mode":false,"debug":false,"ga_tracking":true,"ga_tracking_id":"G-P16BQ7X1SW","ga_tracking_event_category":"EngageBox","ga_tracking_event_label":"Box #1 - Global Email Signup Form","auto_focus":false}'
	data-type='popup'
	>

	<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-outside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>
	<div class="eb-dialog eb-formVer" role="dialog" aria-modal="true" id="dialog1" aria-label="dialog1">
		
		<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-inside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>	
		<div class="eb-container">
						<div class="eb-content">
				
<form action="https://citywatchla.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=34d69f33624fd058ee9b56516&amp;id=4bfa422f51&amp;f_id=00d6c2e1f0" class="eb" method="post" id="mcform-1" name="mcform-1" target="_blank">
			<div class="eb-form-header"><p><img src="/images/2023/06/be-a-city-watcher.png" alt="be a city watcher" width="350" height="97" loading="lazy" data-path="local-images:/2023/06/be-a-city-watcher.png"></p>
<p>Sign up to receive our special e-news blasts on Monday and Thursday evenings!</p></div>
	
					<div class="eb-field-row">

			
			
			
			<input class="eb-input" type="email" name="EMAIL"  placeholder="Email address"  id="EMAIL" value="" required>

			
		</div>
										
	<div class="eb-footer">
    	<button class="eb-btn" type="submit" name="subscribe" style="background-color:rgba(93, 183, 93, 1);color:rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">
    		Sign up    	</button>
    </div>
</form>			</div>
		</div>
	</div>	
</div>
<div data-id="3" 
	class="eb-inst eb-hide eb-yesno eb-3 "
	data-options='{"trigger":"onScrollDepth","trigger_selector":"","delay":0,"early_trigger":false,"scroll_depth":"percentage","scroll_depth_value":80,"firing_frequency":2,"reverse_scroll_close":false,"threshold":0,"close_out_viewport":false,"exit_timer":1000,"idle_time":1000,"close_on_esc":false,"animation_open":"fadeInUp","animation_close":"fadeOut","animation_duration":300,"disable_page_scroll":false,"test_mode":false,"debug":false,"ga_tracking":true,"ga_tracking_id":"G-P16BQ7X1SW","ga_tracking_event_category":"EngageBox","ga_tracking_event_label":"Box #3 - Yes \/ No Donation Popup Box","auto_focus":false}'
	data-type='popup'
	>

	<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-outside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>
	<div class="eb-dialog " role="dialog" aria-modal="true" id="dialog3" aria-label="dialog3">
		
		<button type="button" data-ebox-cmd="close" class="eb-close placement-inside" aria-label="Close">
	<img alt="close popup button" />
	<span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span>
</button>	
		<div class="eb-container">
						<div class="eb-content">
				
<div class="ebox-yes-no">
	<div class="ebox-yn-text">
		
		
		<div class="ebox-yn-headline" style="font-size:22px;color:#888888">
			<p>If you only give once a month, would you consider giving to CityWatch?</p>
<p>Your support fuels our mission to promote and facilitate civic engagement and neighborhood empowerment, and to hold area government and its politicians accountable.</p>
<p>Would you like to help? Even if you can only give $5, it will make a difference.</p>		</div>
			</div>
	
	<div class="ebox-ys-buttons" style="font-size: 16px;">
		
<a
					data-ebox-prevent="0"
		data-ebox-cmd="close"
				target="_self"
		href="https://www.citywatchla.com/donate"
		rel="noopener"
	
	
	
	
	class="ebox-ys-btn"
	style="background-color:#2ec664;color:#ffffff;min-width:100px">
	Yes
	</a>
<a
	
	
			data-ebox-cmd="close"
		href="#"
	
	
	class="ebox-ys-btn"
	style="background-color:#ef2345;color:#ffffff;min-width:100px">
	Not Right Now
	</a>	</div>

	</div>			</div>
		</div>
	</div>	
</div>