Sam Blakeslee

(August 20, 2010) An independent effort by JobsPAC, a coalition of California employers political action committee, helped push the pro-jobs candidate to victory this week in the hotly contested campaign for Senate District 15 on the Central California Coast.

The Secretary of State’s website showed Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) won with 48.8 percent of the vote to 44.1 percent for former Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz).

The victory for Blakeslee, a former Assembly Republican leader, helps prevent Senate Democrats from attaining a veto-proof two-thirds majority and the ability to raise taxes and increase spending.

“This election demonstrates that employer contributions do make the critically important difference. By getting involved in this campaign, JobsPAC helped sustain an important check-and-balance on the Legislature,” said California Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Allan Zaremberg.

Before Blakeslee’s victory, Democrats held 25 of the 40 seats in the Senate, two short of the 27 that would constitute a two-thirds majority. A Democrat victory in Senate District 15 would have narrowed the margin to 26 Democrats, 14 Republicans.

The seat had been held by Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), who Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed as Lieutenant Governor when John Garamendi was elected to Congress.

JobsPAC Effort

“When you’re one vote away from two-thirds, anything can happen,” said Rob Lapsley, executive director of JobsPAC, the CalChamber-led employer coalition political action committee that backed Blakeslee. “That’s what this is about. It’s simple and straightforward math.”

JobsPAC mounted an independent campaign in the district to educate the public about Laird’s anti-jobs record on the budget, spending and taxes.

The district has the longest coastline in the state and Democrats tried to use the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to turn voters against Blakeslee, who once worked for the Exxon energy company.

Semi-official returns from the Secretary of State show Blakeslee won in the counties of San Luis Obispo (56.6 percent) and Santa Barbara (61.8 percent). Laird was ahead in the counties of Santa Cruz (57.7 percent), Monterey (54.2 percent) and Santa Clara (46.7 percent).

Blakeslee’s strong showing reflects a shift in voter sentiment from 2008, when the district supported President Barack Obama by a margin of more than 20 percentage points.

Independent Jim Fitzgerald received 5.1 percent of the overall votes and Libertarian Mark Hinkle received 2 percent.

CalChamber Vote Record

In the five years since being elected to the Assembly in 2004, Blakeslee has voted in accord with CalChamber positions nearly 100 percent of the time.

During six years in the Assembly, before being termed out of office in 2008, Laird voted in accord with CalChamber positions less than 40 percent of the time, frequently having only one or two votes in the positive column.

Staff Contact: Rob Lapsley