No Match for Arnold
Democrats can’t decide on next leader
Nunez is the surprise candidate, the freshman progressive who hasn’t yet finished his first year in the Assembly. Still, he said, many of his colleagues have called on him to make a play for speaker.
“I don’t think [the recall] is a call to the Legislature to move to the right,” Nunez said. But he added that as speaker his job would be “protecting what we’ve been able to achieve until now — but being very conciliatory going forward. We have got to improve the business climate in California.”
Nunez was political director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and a lobbyist for the Los Angeles Unified School District before being elected last year to represent the downtown district formerly held by Gil Cedillo.
Some in the Assembly refuse to back Nunez, saying this is no time to pick a leader with so little experience in elected office. Nunez countered that the Assembly would benefit from his “progressive view of the world but also my very practical approach.” But he added:
“It will be somebody who can fight for our caucus. The Assembly will be in good hands.”
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