This year, the Statewide Direct primary falls on Tuesday, June 3, and we all will be voting for Congress and a number of statewide offices, including governor, state assembly, judges and a number of other state and county offices and state measures.
What makes this election unique is that a number of longtime incumbents have decided not to run or are termed out. Henry Waxman decided not to run after 40 years in the congress; Zev Yaroslavsky is termed out.
The county assessor is in jail and the sheriff was sort of run out after serving multiple terms, which leaves a number of wide-open contests, and everybody and his brother or sister have jumped into the fray.
The rules have also changed and now we all get to vote in the same primary — whatever your party or non-party — and the two top vote-getters go to the general election in November, unless someone gets more than 50% in the primary, which doesn’t seem very probable in most contests. That means, since this is a democratic state, you may see two democrats running against each other for the same office in the general election in November.
There are many offices in which we’ve made no endorsement only because we don’t know many of the candidates and there are just too many for us to interview. Besides, I’m a liberal democrat (I think we’re called progressives these days.) and you know many I would suggest.
Secretary of State
There are a number of very competent candidates, including Sen. Alex Padilla (Democrat), Pete Peterson (Republican), Prof. Dan Schnur (no preference) and Sen. Leland Yee (Democrat).
Controller
John Perez (former democrat, Speaker of Assembly), Mayor Ashley Swearengin (republican of Fresno) and Betty Yee (democrat member of Board of Eqaulization) are all competent.
Treasurer
We would highly recommend John Chiang (Democrat) who has done an excellent job as controller and probably will be a candidate for governor some time in the future.
Attorney General
We endorse the incumbent Kamala Harris (Democrat) who is very able, very focused and very judicious.
U.S. Representative
Too many candidates for now, we will give it a relook after the primary results are in.
State Assembly
We endorse the incumbent Richard Bloom (democrat).
Judges of the Superior Court
The Los Angeles County Bar goes through a very extensive evaluation process before they rate candidates for judicial office, rating them either exceptionally well qualified, well qualified, qualified or not qualified. I’ve listed the candidates recommended with their LA County Bar rating:
Office #22 Pamala Matsumoto, well qualified
Office #48 Both candidates Rose and Calderon are rated not qualified, so hold your nose and choose, although the title Judge Calderon would seem to be a total oxymoron.
Office #54 Both are rated well qualified.
Office #61 Commissoner Jacqueline Lewis rated exceptionally well qualified, the only candidate rated so this year.
Office #76 Helen Kim, rated well qualified.
Office #87 Steven Schreiner, rated qualified.
Office # 97 Both rated qualified.
Office #107 Emma Castro, rated qualified.
Office #113 Referee Steven Klaif, rated well qualified.
Office #117 Incumbent Judge James Pierce, rated well qualified.
Office #138 Both rated qualified.
Office #157 Both rated qualified.
Just a footnote: You’ll notice that many District Attorneys running for a judgeship are either a gang prosecutor, a gang murder prosecutor or a gang something prosecutor. Obviously some political consultant has told them that is a very effective ballot designation. But it makes you wonder if the DA’s office is doing little things, like murder, robbery, burglary or car theft, if it isn’t committed by a gang. Perhaps it’s time for a new ballot designation.
Superintendent of Schools
We endorse current Superintendent Tom Torlakson, a former senator and a very competent individual who has spent a lifetime involved in educational issues.
Assessor
The former assessor was already in jail, or out by now, and the office a mess. Many others seem to be looking outside the office for a candidate and I’ve heard John Morris, the head deputy DA, mentioned by many.
Sheriff
Same problem here: The department is filled with some former weak leadership and many competing factions. Of the seven candidates, it’s hard to know who are the good guys and who are not, so I’m looking for someone outside of the department to take it over, figure out what’s wrong, and fix it. The only candidate that fits that bill is Jim McDonnell, Police Chief of Long Beach and former LAPD, who we endorse.
Supervisor
Going to wait until after the primary.
State measures
#41 We endorse the $50 million per year bond measure for veteran and homeless housing.
#42 Legislative constitutional amendment: All local governments already print their agendas and staff reports for their governing bodies before the meetings. Today, it’s all put online by the localities, so the state wants to stop local governments from trying to extract charges — sometimes outrageous charges — for what the localities are doing already.
Absolutely vote yes and stop this boondoggle; the localities are already absorbing these costs and have been for a long time.
See you all at the polls.