Cruz Bustamante

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

Cruz Miguel Bustamante (born January 4, 1953) is an American politician. He was the 45th Lieutenant Governor of California, a former Speaker of the State Assembly and a member of the Democratic Party. He served with Governors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger and was succeeded by John Garamendi on January 8, 2007.

Early life and family

The eldest of six children, Cruz Bustamante was born in Dinuba, California. His family later moved to San Joaquin, California. He attended and graduated from Tranquillity High School in the 1970s, where he excelled in both football and wrestling, and later attended Fresno City College and California State University, Fresno.

With his wife Arcelia, Bustamante has three daughters. Nao Bustamante, Cruz's youngest sister, is an internationally known contemporary performance artist.

Political career

As a resident of Fresno, Bustamante was elected to the California State Assembly in a special election in 1993, and became the Speaker of the Assembly in 1996. He was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1998, the first Latino elected to statewide office in California in more than 120 years. He was also the highest-ranking elected Latino officeholder in the United States until Bill Richardson became Governor of New Mexico in 2003. Bustamante earned his B.A. via correspondence school from the California State University, Fresno in 2003.

2003 recall election

He was the most prominent Democrat to run in the 2003 California recall election to remove Governor Gray Davis, and placed second to Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, with about 2.7 million votes, 31.5% of votes cast (see full election results).

Bustamante had an apparently icy relationship with Governor Davis, a fellow Democrat, during his tenure. They reportedly had not talked in months before the recall election approached. Bustamante's decision to run in the recall election was controversial, as many supporters of Governor Davis had urged prominent Democrats not to run, in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the event. During the recall election, Bustamante ran on a platform slogan of "No on Recall, Yes on Bustamante," indicating he opposed the recall.

Bustamante drew some criticism during the election for his involvement with the Chicano organization MEChA in the 1970s. He also was accused of accepting donations above the state's contribution cap by funneling money through former campaign accounts. He was also criticized for accepting many contributions from Native American casinos.

2006 Insurance Commissioner election

Bustamante was the Democratic candidate for California Insurance Commissioner.

In Bustamante's official candidate statement, he says "I want to become an example to others to lead healthier lives by losing weight myself. Obesity in California costs $7.7 billion a year."

Bustamante claims to have recently shed 43 pounds to 235 pounds by means of diet and exercise. His campaign Web site features recipes that include "Cruz's Healthy Breakfast Frittata" and also includes tips on fitness.

Bustamante easily won the June 6, 2006 Democratic primary, receiving 70.5% of the vote and defeating his challenger, John Kraft. Bustamante ran against Republican Steve Poizner in November. In the June Primary Bustamante received 1,606,913 Democratic votes, Kraft 674,309 democratic votes, and Poizner 1,472,729 Republican votes. Many political analysts believed that Kraft, who ran a low-key campaign where he took no campaign contributions, received those votes as a protest for Bustamante's behavior during the 2003 recall election. However, Kraft planned to actively campaign for Bustamante, and donated a significant portion of his fortune as an heir to Kraft Foods to Bustamante.

Bustamante announced that he would not be returning insurance industry contributions to his campaign, a position criticized by Poizner and campaign ethicists. Bustamante also failed to meet a deadline to submit a campaign statement to voters. According to the Field Poll, on November 3, 2006, Bustamante trailed Poizner by 9%. Bustamante officially lost to Poizner.

Criticism

In 2001, Bustamante was speaking before a group of approximately 400 Black labor activists when, reciting a list of Black labor groups which came to existence over a hundred years ago, many which still had "Negro" in their title, he mentioned the National Negro American Labor Council, but misspoke the word as "nigger." Realizing the mistake, he immediately apologized to his audience: "If you heard what I think I heard, I want you to know it wasn't me," he said. "It's not the way I was raised, it's not the way I was taught, it's not the way I raised my children and it's not what's in my heart."

In April of 2004, The Fair Political Practices Commission fined Bustamante a record $263,000 for violating campaign finance laws.

Electoral history

Public Offices
Office	Type	Location	Elected	Term began	Term ended
State Assemblyman	Legislature	Sacramento	1993	May 3 1993	December 5 1994
State Assemblyman	Legislature	Sacramento	1994	December 5 1994	December 2 1996
Speaker of the Assembly	Legislature	Sacramento	1996	December 2 1996	December 7 1998
Lieutenant Governor	Executive	Sacramento	1998	January 4 1999	January 6 2003
Lieutenant Governor	Executive	Sacramento	2002	January 6 2003	January 8 2007

California State Assembly service
Session	Majority	Governor	Committees	District
1993–1994	Democratic	Pete Wilson		31
1995–1996	Republican	Pete Wilson		31
1997–1998	Democratic	Pete Wilson		31

References

External links

• California June Primary Results

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Monday March 03, 2008 at 15:26:08 PST (GMT -0800)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation