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Sen. Abel Maldonado became an instant celebrity on Thursday, casting the decisive vote in the state's months-long budget stalemate.

The Republican lawmaker, who represents parts of Santa Cruz County, crossed party lines in the predawn hours and voted for a Democratic plan to close a $42 billion deficit after his colleagues across the aisle reluctantly agreed to his demands.

Until Thursday, the budget deal had remained just one vote short, and the state, to the dismay of residents across California, had been operating without the cash to pay for a variety of social service programs and hundreds of road projects.

But while Maldonado basked in the glow of cable news cameras for breaking the logjam, fellow lawmakers and political experts were trying to understand the motive behind the senator's actions.

"I think both parties are not going to be happy with him now," said former Assemblyman John Laird, who chaired the Assembly's budget committee last year. "He's going to have nobody to turn to in the Legislature. If I were a constituent trying to get him to pass a bill for me, I'd start looking for another author right now."

In supporting the budget Thursday, Maldonado broke with his fellow Republicans who had opposed higher taxes included in the deal. Meanwhile, his sympathies from Democrats were lost on the last-minute demands he made in exchange for his vote.

"It was a surprise to see him not supportive of our initial budget and see issues unrelated to the budget attached to his demands," said Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, a Democrat who also represents part of Santa Cruz County.


In the negotiations, Maldonado was able to get Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to drop a 12-cent-a-gallon increase in the gas tax, approve a ballot measure asking voters to freeze lawmaker pay during tight times and remove $1 million in furniture funding for state Controller John Chiang, an office Maldonado sought three years ago.

Perhaps most controversial of Maldonado's terms, though, was that the Legislature sponsor a ballot measure calling for open primaries. Such a proposition would mean the top two vote-getters in a primary election, regardless of their party, advance to the general election.

Maldonado declined an interview after leaving the Senate floor Thursday, but observers were quick to point out the benefit of an open primary for Maldonado's political future: Middle-of-the-road politicians, like him, would thrive in a nonpartisan field as partisan primaries have historically favored more extreme candidates.

Maldonado, who lost the 2006 Republican primary for controller, has not been shy about his desire to win statewide office. Although the open-primary measure would not go before voters until 2010, the year of the next controller race, many say its passage would open doors for him after that.

"He's a young enough guy. He could wait and run for anything," said Tony Quinn, co-editor of the California Target Book and a Republican policy analyst. "I think he's done quite well with his demands."

It's not the first time Maldonado, 41, has broken party ranks to support a budget and, some say, get a political bump as a result. In 2007, the senator voted for the Democrats' spending plan, and the following year, the Democratic Party did not run a candidate against him.

"The word on the street was that then-Democratic Senate leader Don Perata gave him a pass," Laird said.

Whatever the case then, Fred Keeley, a board member of budget reform group California Forward, said Maldonado's current actions crossed the lines of decency.

"For a single member of either house to take the budget hostage for their own political ambitions is dishonorable," Keeley said. "When I was in the Legislature, one of the first things we were taught is that you can't trade your vote for anything ... this action by Maldonado is rather close to a felony."