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Let's begin with a little (rough) math. This June, 42% of primary voters didn't vote for either Knight or Strickland, and somewhere between two and three times as many people will vote in November than voted in June. This means that only about 20% of voters in November would have voted for either Knight or Strickland. And of that remaining 80%, over half would rather be voting for a Democrat.
With that in mind, imagine my surprise this morning when I see that Jean Merl of the LA Times reports this morning that none other than Tim Donnelly, the Minuteman-turned-Assemblyman who was nearly the GOP gubernatorial nominee, will be knocking doors with Steve Knight on Saturday right here in Santa Clarita.
It's timely, as Tim Donnelly has the distinction of being the only member of the Assembly to vote against AB 2444, the bill that, if signed by Gov. Brown, will prohibit the state from displaying the Confederate battle flag or selling items depicting it. When that bill came to the Senate a few months later, Steve Knight voted with Donnelly, to the astonishment of many, myself included.
Knight also endorsed Donnelly for Governor in this year's primary. Despite being the frontrunner for much of the race, Donnelley's website only claimed the endorsement of four members of the State Assembly, and just two State Senators: Steve Knight and Joel Anderson – who happens to be the other guy who voted no on AB 2444 (and the lone member of the Legislature who voted to keep homosexuality classified as a mental illness).
Then there's this: rumors have been circulating that Donnelly has his eye on Steve Knight's Senate seat, should Knight win in November.
Apart from being one of the most rightward politicians in Sacramento, Tim Donnelly is a little nuts.
In April, Buzzfeed got their hands on a 2006 speech of Donnelly's which contained the following gems (follow this link for the full audio):
“In the name of diversity, we are bringing millions of people into our country who want nothing to do with diversity,” he said. “Their creed is for anyone in the Hispanic race: everything. For anyone outside it, nada. Nothing.”“I am a decedent of Jim Bowie, who died at the Alamo,” Donnelly said. “It is rumored that he took a dozen Mexican soldiers to their deaths before they finally killed him. How many of you will rise up and take his place on that wall?”He said there was “a growing insurgency, right here in Los Angeles” and other cities, and compared it to insurgencies in cities like “Baghdad, Samarra, and Tikrit.”
Oh boy.
More recently, Donnelly accused his primary opponent Neel Kashkari of "submitting" to Sharia law, which was an especially odd charge as Kashkari is not a Muslim, but a non-practicing Hindu.
This led Darrell Issa to rip him to pieces: "As far as I'm concerned, this type of stupidity disqualifies Tim Donnelly from being fit to hold any office, anywhere. Donnelly is no longer a viable option for California voters."
I'm unsure why Knight would endorse a fringe character like Donnelly, much less trumpet his endorsement. But I'm completely stumped as to why he'd actually invite Donnelly to town, at this point in an election which will likely be decided by as-yet-undecided Democratic voters.
Update: Here's a screenshot Donnelly's email:
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