Today, Tuesday March 7, 2017, is Election Day in the largest city in California, second largest in the U.S.A. If you didn’t know that you are not alone, as even many Angelenos are unaware or unconcerned about it (unless they have visited their mailboxes recently). This is the Daily Kos Elections version of my Zack’s picks email newsletter with recommendations and commentary about the elections. Let’s look at candidates and ballot measures together.
Angeleno political observers know that all our local elections are at least a little bit odd with interesting eccentric candidates and wacky ballot measure campaigns. This time you can vote for “Zuma Dogg” or “Pinky” for Mayor of Los Angeles. Does anyone else remember Eileen Anderson, who was the greatest joke candidate of all time? Actually this is the last odd election in Los Angeles because after this year the city elections will follow the federal and state calendar, with primaries in June and runoffs in November of even years. Maybe this will eliminate the embarrassingly low voter turnouts in local elections. When you vote this time your vote counts for more because so few others participate in the process...
First up on my ballot is L.A. County Measure H. I voted Yes on H to fund homeless services with a quarter cent sales tax increase. Homelessness is a growing problem in our communities so I voted yes despite my reservations about using sales taxes as a funding source. This one needs a 2/3 Yes vote to go into effect.
City of Los Angeles:
The top candidate race is for Mayor of Los Angeles. Eric Garcetti is running for re-election against a bunch of mostly unknown “Some Dude” candidates. The only other one to send mail to me was Mitchell Schwartz, who is trying to run as a progressive alternative to Garcetti, who is the only one who has TV spots. Among the other Dudes there is David Hernandez, who has run for Congress as a GOP in the past and even once ran for the nonexistent position of Mayor of the SFV (in the Valley secession campaign a decade or so ago.) “Zuma Dogg” is a regular attendee at city council meetings so you could do worse. There are also a factory worker, a creative artist, a writer/producer and more. We seem to be falling into a pattern where there is a highly contested race when the seat is open and then an easy re-election for an incumbent. Eric needs 50% +1 to win tonight; I think he will get close to 60% and avoid a runoff. The LA Times polling has him at just above 50% with a lot of undecideds. I voted for Eric.
The other two citywide positions also feature incumbents with easy re-elections. Both City Attorney Mike Feuer and Controller Ron Galperin are doing excellent jobs and are running unopposed. Interestingly I have gotten two mailers from Mike urging me to vote for him. If you have campaign funds, why not spend a bit eh? He may be positioning himself for future races; Mike was formerly my City Councilmember (when I lived in the Fightin’ Fifth District) then my Assemblymember in Sacramento. In the era of term limits there is a lot of job switching. The current CD-5 Councilman is Paul Koretz, who formerly served in the Assembly, and started out on the West Hollywood City Council.
L.A. City Council: The odd numbered districts are up this time. I haven’t been able to follow all the races closely; most feature incumbents who are likely to win. There have been some vigorous challengers in some districts so some runoffs might be possible. It takes 50% +1 to avoid a runoff.
CD-3 (southwest SFV): Bob Blumenfield is unopposed. I’m for Bob, he’s worth supporting.
CD-5 (Encino to Beverlywood): Paul Koretz. Smart and progressive, nice guy…
CD-7 (northeast SFV): This is an open seat free-for-all with about 20 candidates running. The best ones I am aware of are Karo Torossian, a council staffer for Paul Krekorian, and Monica Ratliff, who won her seat on the LAUSD School Board four years ago in a major upset. Northeast SFV politics can be unpredictable but it is clear that there will be a runoff here. Which two are in the runoff is the question to be answered tonight.
CD-11 (west L.A): Mike Bonin is the incumbent. I like Mike…
People with more information about different districts are encouraged to add their voices in the comments. Also I would like to know different perspectives on the LAUSD races out of my area.
LAUSD Board of Education: Nowadays these are battles between supporters and opponents of charter schools vs public schools in LAUSD. I am skeptical of the benefits of privatizing education, but education is frankly not one of the issue areas I focus on. In LAUSD-4 I support Steve Zimmer, the incumbent, who is a former public school teacher with the support of the UTLA (the teachers’ union). LAUSD-6 is open because Monica Ratliff is running for CD-7. There are several candidate about whom I know very little. Even Patty Lopez is running! The one who got the Democratic Party/SFV endorsement is Imelda Padilla. Is she related to Alex Padilla? I don’t know. This one will likely go to a runoff that will be clearer after tonight.
LACCD Community Colleges Board of Trustees: You get to vote for all seats districtwide.
LACCD-2: Steven Veres. LACCD-4: Dallas Fowler LACCD-6: Nancy Pearlman. LACCD Trustees are the most obscure elected officials in L.A. Steven is running to regain a seat after stepping down two years ago to run unsuccessfully for City Council in CD-4. Dallas is a newcomer. She has most of the Democratic endorsements against Ernest Moreno, an incumbent. Most of the Dems are supporting Gabriel Buelna, a challenger against incumbent Nancy Pearlman. Nancy can be a little bit prickly and is eccentric, but keeps winning re-election against better funded campaigns. Will her luck hold out again? Stay tuned…
L.A. City Ballot Measures:
Yes on M, No on N. Cannabis Regulation. M sets up a framework for taxation and regulation of marijuana sales in Los Angeles. The City Council would figure out the details of regulations after input from the community.These rules could be modified by the Council without having to wait for the next election. N is an initiative that was put on the ballot by cannabis proponents who now say we should vote for M instead. The tax rate would be 5% for medical marijuana and 10% for recreational use.
Yes on P: This minor measure would align the leases at the Port of L.A. with those of other harbors in California. We have to vote on this because it is changing the city charter. Sure, whatever…
No on S: Building Moratorium; Restrictions on General Plan Amendments. This is by far the most contentious thing on the ballot. I have mixed feelings on this one. We have a problem with inappropriate overdevelopment and mansionization in many L.A. neighborhoods and the power of developers to get their way in L.A. S goes too far with a complete ban for two years on any projects that would increase population density. This region keeps growing and properly planned density in some areas is better than endless sprawl. The community plans do need to be updated and the planning process needs to be more transparent. S is not the answer to our real problems.
I expect that S will lose, probably by 60% or more No votes. It is always harder to pass an initiative than to defeat one. Proponents need to convince the voters both that there is a problem and that their measure will fix it. The opponents merely have to cast enough doubts on the proposal. The opposition coalition to Prop S is very broad. It has both the unions and the Chamber of Commerce, and both of the big political parties. Most well known elected official have endorsed No on S, including Governor Brown and Mayor Garcetti. The main proponent is the Aids Healthcare Foundation, which is about to lose their third ballot measure race in quick succession. (They gave us Props 60 and 61 last November; at least those were about health matters.) This one will run stronger among homeowners than renters, but it ain’t gonna pass. If it does I will turn in my amateur pundit’s card!
So that is the ballot for the last odd L.A. election. Thanks for reading and for voting!