Story of the Session of the California Legislature of 1909Hichborn, Franklin
History
Story of the Session of the California Legislature of 1909
Hichborn, Franklin
California -- Politics and government
Then again, the Party Circle bill and the Local Option bill were
measures on which several of the strongest of the opponents of the
machine differed with the majority of their anti-machine associates.
With the four votes taken on these two issues out of the reckoning,
Bell, Thompson, Roseberry, Cutten, Campbell, Boynton, Sanford,
Cartwright, Black, Holohan, Birdsall, Stetson, Rush and Strobridge, have
not one vote for a machine-backed policy against them. Caminetti's vote
to amend the Stanford bill excludes him from the list, but as this
measure was of the same character and policy as the Local Option bill,
Caminetti's name should in justice be included among those of the
Senators who made practically clear records. Looking at the table in a
broad way, the first nineteen Senators of the list made anti-machine
records. Of the eleven caucus Republicans among them, only one voted
against admitting Bell to the Republican caucus.
The nineteen voted for the Anti-Racetrack Gambling bill, they voted
every time against the machine on the Direct Primary issue, only two of
them voted for the Change of Venue bill, only two of them voted against
the Railroad Regulation bill. These comparisons can be carried out
indefinitely, and always to the advantage of the nineteen.
Senator Wright is twentieth on the list; Senator Anthony is
twenty-first. Those who followed these two Senators through the Direct
Primary bill fight will see immediately that Wright has crowded into
undeserved standing. There is a very good reason for this. In the
Senate, the roll of Senators is called alphabetically, and Senator
Wright's name is the last on the list. A glance at the table will show
that Senator Wright did not vote once against the machine when his vote
would have decided the issue. He voted for the Anti-Racetrack Gambling
bill, but before him thirty-two Senators had voted for the bill, and
only seven against it. Wright's thirty-third affirmative vote counted
for nothing. On the other hand, when Wright's name was reached on roll
call on the Change of Venue bill, with the vote standing nineteen for
the bill and sixteen against, and twenty-one votes necessary for its
passage, Senator Wright cast the twentieth affirmative vote, thus
ensuring the measure's passage. In the same way, Senator Wright's vote
the following day, tied the score on the motion for a call of the
Senate, thus defeating the motion, and preventing reconsideration of the
Change of Venue bill which would have meant its defeat.
The query is: Had the vote on the Anti-Racetrack Gambling bill stood
nineteen against the bill, and twenty for, when Wright's name was
reached, with twenty-one votes necessary for its passage, would Wright's
vote have been cast for or against it? Any person who has any doubt on
the question, is referred to Senator Wright's part in the passage of the
amended Direct Primary bill, and in the defeat of the Stetson bill.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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