For state Treasurer Bill Lockyer-- age is nothing but a number.
He's almost 71. And the Mercury News reports that he's already squirreled away more than $2.5 million to run for state controller when he's 73.
Lockyer isn't letting personal turmoil scandal him down either. His wife just resigned from the Alameda County Board of Supervisors after a drug-fueled affair with a meth addict.
Asked whether recent events will affect his plans to become California's new controller, the state's top fiscal officer, his spokesman, Tom Dresslar, replied with a firm "no."
"He still plans on running," Dresslar told the Mercury News.
Whether Lockyer can survive the fallout and win voter confidence is still an open question. Many Californians no doubt find it hard to reconcile his reputation as a political heavyweight with his troubled marriage to a woman three decades his junior who claimed that he supplied her with drugs for years before she wound up in rehab-- allegations he adamantly denies and which police say don't amount to much.
Lockyer also claims he didn't know his wife, Nadia, was in outpatient treatment for alcoholism when he funneled $1.5 million into her November 2010 election campaign.
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Many of California's political gurus predict Lockyer, who has remained mum since shortly after the scandal broke, will weather the storm just fine. They note that he's been an elected officeholder since 1973, as well as a formidable fundraiser.
The Lockyer for Controller 2014 committee had about $51,000 cash as of March 31, and his 2010 treasurer campaign committee still has $2.55 million that could be transferred.
