MadProfessah Endorsements: June 8, 2010 Primary

Finally, the moment you have been waiting for! Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I will be voting in the June 8 Statewide Primary Election, compared with endorsements from other organizations like the Los Angeles Times, Calitics.com, CA Democratic Party, Los Angeles County Democratic Party, Stonewall Democratic Club (LGBT group) and Courage Campaign's Progressive Voter Guide (pdf).

Proposition Number (Topic)        MadProfessah  LA TIMES  CALITICS CA DEMS
13 (Seismic Retrofit Assessment)        YES          YES        YES      YES
14 (Top 2 "Open" Primary Amendment)     NO           YES        NO       NO
15 (CA Fair Elections Act)              YES          YES        YES      YES
16 (PG&E Utility Monopoly Protection)   NO           NO         NO       NO
17 (Mercury Insurance Premium Change)   NO           NO         NO       NO

Statewide Constitutional Officers   MadProfessah  LA TIMES  STONEWALL   CA DEMS
Governor                               Brown         None        Brown       Brown
Lieutenant Governor                    Newsom        Newsom      Hahn        None
Attorney General                       Harris        Harris      Lieu        None
Secretary of State                     Bowen*         None        Bowen*      Bowen*
Treasurer                              Chiang*        None        Chiang*     Chiang*
Controller                             Lockyer*       None        Lockyer*    Lockyer*
Insurance Commissioner                 Jones         Jones       De La Torre Jones
Superintendent of Public Instruction   Romero        Aceves      Torlakson   None

Statewide Legislative Races

AD-43. MadProfessah, LA CDP, Stonewall Dems and Los Angeles Daily News have all endorsed Mike Gatto.
AD-44. The incumbent here is Anthony Portantino* and has been endorsed by Los Angeles Democrats and Stonewall Democrats but NOT MadProfessah.
AD-45. MadProfessah lives and votes in the 45th Assembly District but can not, in good conscience, endorse State Senator Gil Cedillo's cynical attempt to hold on to elected office for two more years by switching seats with current Assemblymember Kevin De Leon. Especially after he ran an unnecessary (and losing) campaign against Judy Chu in the 32nd Congressional District Special Election last year.
AD-46. Openly gay speaker of the Assembly John Perez* is the incumbent here and is endorsed by MadProfessah.
AD-47. One of the toughest primary fights this summer is between Holly Mitchell and Reggie Jones-Sawyer. MadProfessah, Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass (current officeholder), CA Democratic Party and LA County Dems have all endorsed Holly Mitchell, while Stonewall Dems have endorsed Reggie Jones-Sawyer.
AD-48. The incumbent here is Mike Davis*, who was outed recently by a friend at a recent Stonewall Democratic Club meeting but who has not been endorsed by that club or MadProfessah.
AD-49. The incumbent is Mike Eng*, husband of strong LGBT ally Congressmember Judy Chu, and is endorsed by MadProfessah, Stonewall Dems and Los Angeles County Dems.
AD-50. Openly gay Ricardo Lara is trying to become the second openly LGBT person of color elected to the California Legislature.
AD-51. Strong ally of LGBT rights Steve Bradford* is the incumbent here and is endorsed by MadProfessah, Equality California, Los Angeles Dems and Stonewall Dems.
AD-52. The incumbent here is Isadore Hall* who has NOT been endorsed by MadProfesah, but who has been endorsed by LA County Dems and Stonewall Dems.
AD-53. MadProfessah has endorsed openly gay, African-American Mitch Ward. Equality California and Stonewall Dems have endorsed Betsy Butler. Honor Pac (LGBT Latino group) has endorsed Kate Anderson.

Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County Assessor. MadProfessah endorses openly gay John Noguez. The Los Angeles Times has endorsed John Y. Wong.

Measure E. MadProfessah endorses a Yes position on this County measure to benefit Los Angeles Unified School District. It is a $100 increase per parcel which LAUSD says will go to save the jobs of teachers. The Los Angeles Times urges a NO vote, while the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and Stonewall Democrats urge a YES vote.

Superior Court Judges.
I know it is really hard to make an informed choice about the Los Angeles County Superior Court judge races, so I always try and include what people who follow these races are saying about them. The Los Angeles County Bar Association has a page where they rate, but do not endorse, judicial candidates.

               LA DEMS          STONEWALL LA TIMES         MadProfessah  
Office 28:    Mark  K. Ameli      Ameli      Randy Hammock     Ameli
Office 35:    Soussan Bruguera*   Bruguera   Bruguera          Bruguera
Office 73:    None                None       Matz              Matz
Office 107:   Valerie Salkin      Salkin     Tony de los Reyes Salkin
Office 117:   Alan Schneider      Schneider  Schneider         Schneider
Office 131:   Maren E. Nelson*    Nelson     Nelson            Nelson

If you don't vote by mail (like I and the Other Half do) then please make sure to get out and vote next Tuesday.

AD-53: Lau Denied CDP Endorsement By 1 Vote

An interesting race in the 53rd Assembly District has had some exciting developments recently. On April 12th, Betsy Butler (the candidate with most cash) won the endorsement of the Stonewall Democratic Club by a vote of 38-22 (a margin of victory of a mere three votes, since the threshold is 60 percent, or at least 36 to 24) over openly gay Mitch Ward, the African American mayor of Manhattan Beach. This was seen as a surprising result by many, with an LGBT Democratic club endorsing a straight ally over an openly gay candidate. MadProfessah a member of the Steering Committee of the club, introduced Mayor Ward before he addressed the members of the club in the wee hours of the meeting. It was the most closely contested endorsement result of the evening.

But on Saturday April 17th at the Los Angeles convention of the California Democratic Party an even closer vote happened. James Lau was prevented from getting the endorsement of the state party at a caucus because he failed to garner 60% of the votes cast by one vote. And that one vote was a provisional vote that was for Lau, but was disqualified because the delegate turned out not to live in AD-53 and was thus ineligible. Butler and Ward were the only other candidates to receive votes. Other people who had not been following the race closely were surprised to see Lau with such a strong showing, but since he was once in the leadership of the 53rd Assembly District local Democratic club.

Saturday Politics: Ward's Internal Poll Shows Lead in AD-53

Mitch Ward released an internal poll showing him with a lead over the other candidates in the race to replace Assembymember Ted Lieu in the 53rd district. According to the telephone poll of 400 likely June 2010 Democratic primary voters between February 23-25, Ward was supported by 13%, James Lau 4%, Kate Anderson 4%, Betsy Butler 3% with "lower amounts for other candidates."

Considering that the poll has a margin of error of +/- 5 points, these results are not that unusual for 3 months before a low-profile election. But, wait, there's more!

According to the memo prepared by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, after voters learn more information about the candidates after being read "detailed and fair paragraphs" Ward takes a lead of 32% with all the other candidates garnering no more than 9% each.

The memo attempts to explain Mitch Ward's lead by showing that voters preferred a qualified candidate from the South Bay to a qualified candidate from the Venice and Marina del Rey area by a margin of 40% to 26%. Mitch Ward is the current Mayor of Manhattan Beach, and is the only major candidate whose political base is South of Los Angeles Airport. The memo goes on to note that two of the last three people to represent the district not only had race in common (Ted Lieu and George Nakano are both Asian American), but they were also both from the South Bay.

I guess we'll find out on June 8, 2010. MadProfessah has endorsed Mitch Ward, who if elected would become the first openly gay, African American person ever elected to the California legislature and the 3rd Black LGBT person to be elected to a state legislature, ever.

Saturday Politics: AD-43 and AD-53

Saturdays are local politics days at MadProfessah.com

Today there are stories about two Los Angeles area State Assemby races that I have been following closely, AD-53 and AD-43.

In the 53rd Assembly District race to replace termed-out Ted Lieu (who is running for California Attorney General) openly gay Mayor of Redondo Manhattan Beach Mitch Ward has been endorsed by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. Ward is competing in a crowded field which includes straight Equality California board member (and registered lobbyist) Betsy Butler, her ex-boyfriend Jim Aldinger, city prosecutor Nick Karno, enviromentalist James Lau, former staffers Kate Anderson and Edgar Saenz, and for good measure, a 22-year-old Tea Party activist named Neal Mintz. Only Aldinger and Ward have held elected office before. The big news this week is that HONOR PAC, California's Latino LGBT political action committee has endorsed Anderson in the race. MadProfessah has endorsed Mitch Ward. Lau has been the most successful fundraiser to date and still has the most cash on hand, closely followed by Butler, Anderson and Karno who each have close to 200,000 to spend before the June 8 primary.

In the 43rd Assembly District race to replace now-Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian, internal polls show a narrow lead for attorney Mike Gatto where the most popular candidate is "Undecided." Last week, we reported that Andrew Westall had dropped out of the race but in the poll conducted of 400 residents in the district he was included and the results were Gatto 16%, Nayiri Nahabedian 12%, Westall 10%, Chahe Keuroghelian 6% among Democratic primary voters with 56% undecided. Interestingly, when told information about the candidates, Gatto had the largest increase, rising 26 points to 42%, Nahabedian 19% (+7), Westall 14% (+4), Keuroghelian 8% (+2) and Undecided falling 39 points to a mere 17%. Gatto also leads the money race, but the path to victory is complicated by the three elections that one needs to win in order to claim the seat in November.

Feel free to send me any suggestions for future Saturday local politics stories!

Will California's Next Assembly Speaker Be Gay?

Freshman Assemblymember John Pérez is emerging as a leading candidate to replace Speaker of the California Assembly Karen Bass. In fact, Calitics is claiming it's all over but the wailing and the gnashing of teeth.

Perez entered the race after a number of his Assembly colleagues mounted an effort to draft him as a speakership candidate. Capitol sources said if Perez is able to secure a majority of his caucus, the vote on a new speaker could come by next week, when the Assembly reconvenes to vote on education legislation.

One of those involved in the Draft Perez movement was Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael. Huffman told Capitol Weekly Tuesday, "I believe John now has the votes. I think it's over."

[...]

Perez did not appear to have a majority of his caucus's support Tuesday, but momentum for his bid was clearly growing. Assemblyman Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, another candidate for the job, has told members he has support from 22 members of his caucus -- four shy of the 26 Democrats informally needed to secure the job.

Neither Perez nor De Leon's office immediately returned calls seeking comment.

Pérez is well-known around these parts as the first (and only) openly LGBT person of color to
be elected to the California Legislature. Although, if HONOR PAC has its way, he will not be the last. Openly gay (Latino) Ricardo Lara is a leading candidate in the 50th Assembly District and opely gay (African American) Mitch Ward is a leading candidate for the 53rd Assembly District.

Pérez's main challenger for the Speaker job, Kevin de León is my local Assemblyperson, and I am an elected Delegate to the California Democratic Central Committee from the 45th Assembly District.

That being said, I would still love to have an openly gay Speaker of the Assembly.

AD-53: Money Changes Everything?

The new front runner in AD-53?

The race to replace Ted Lieu in the 53rd State Assembly District has taken a strange turn since MadProfessah first reported on it in May. One candidate, Al Muratsuchi, has decided not to run and another has surprisingly joined the race, and the newcomer happens to be the ex-boyfriend of one of the other top candidates (not the gay one)!

According to a Daily Breeze article by Gene Maddaus, Jim Aldinger is the former boyfriend of Betsy Butler and she once sued him for $5,000 after they broke up to get some furniture back he attempted to bogart.

Aldinger and Butler parted on bad terms about seven years ago. He refused to relinquish some furniture that she'd had delivered to his house, and she had to sue him to retrieve it.

In 2004, a judge ordered him to pay her $5,000.

Both candidates say that episode is in the past and should not be relevant to the coming campaign. But their history together is likely to make the race somewhat awkward, at the least, and also raises questions about Aldinger's motives for running.

Aldinger, 48, said he is not motivated by resentment or hostility toward an ex-girlfriend who took him to court.

"This is something that's been in my mind for some time," he said. "This is not something that I would take lightly. I think I'm the most qualified."

Well, I guess all's fair in love, war and politics?

The question is, who is the frontrunner in this race? The August 2009 fundraising reports (pdf) by the Fair Political Practices Commission reveal some surprising data:

CANDIDATE                  CASH ON HAND       $RAISED    $SPENT
Jim Aldinger               $0                  $0         $322
Kate Anderson              $131,199           $135,090   $3,891
Betsy Butler               $101,487           $81,229    $25,277
Nick Karno                 $110,003           $115,768   $10,457
James Lau                  $211,030           $211,435   $2,267
Mitch Ward                 $32,725            $60,380    $29,154

The most important number is the amount of cash on hand right now, and clearly James Lau (who was not even on my list of potential candidates in May) is in the lead.

Interestingly, the openly gay Mayor Pro tem of Manhattan Beach Mitch Ward has spent the most money (so is clearly doing the most actual campaigning for the seat) is also way back in the middle of the pack on both money raised and cash on hand.

So, who is James Lau? According to his facebook page, he is the Director of the California League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and Chair of the 53rd Assembly District Democratic Central Committee. He is also apparently active on ActBlue and other online political junkie websites, like TotalCapitol.com.

MadProfessah will be continue to follow the contested Assembly races in Los Angeles County, especially where there is an openly LGBT candidate running.

Picture from Sunday's Juneteenth event

Here is a picture from last week's Juneteenth Pride Celebration and Awards organized by Jordan/Rustin Coalition. The openly gay Mayor of Manhattan Beach, Mitch Ward, is picture with Vallerie Wagner and Doug Spearman, winners of the first annual Barbara Jordan Award and Bayard Rustin Award, respectively.

AD-53: Hot Race Beginning To Get Coverage

Kate Anderson

Nick Karno

Al Muratsuchi

Mitch Ward

Betsy Butler

The Daily Breeze printed an article on the race to replace Ted Lieu (who is termed out in 2010 and is running for Attorney General) inthe 53rd Assembly District. At the California Democratic Convention in Sacramento last month MadProfessah was able to run into some of the major candidates in this (currently below-the-radar) electoral battle.

Here's an excerpt:

When the seat was last open, after the death of incumbent Mike Gordon in 2005, Democrats held a six-point registration advantage in the district. That advantage has since doubled to 12 points.

[...]

Perhaps the most formidable candidate at this early stage is Betsy Butler, who has secured several major endorsements despite being virtually unknown in the 53rd District.

Butler is the top fundraiser for Consumer Attorneys of California, a lobbying group for trial lawyers. Butler, 45, says she splits her time between her job in Sacramento and her home in Marina del Rey.

[...]

Lieu is staying neutral, at least for now.

The other candidates may have stronger ties to the local community, but they will have to struggle to compete financially.

Among them is Mitch Ward, who is the first black councilman ever elected in Manhattan Beach. Ward, 48, has the backing of his fellow council members, but he will have to introduce himself to the rest of the district, which extends from Venice to Torrance and Lomita.

Additionally, Nick Karno (deputy city attorney in Los Angeles and Venice Neighborhood Council member, 39), Al Muratsuchi (deputy State Attorney General and Torrance School Board member,44) and Kate Anderson (former aide to U.S. Rep. Waxman and lawyer, 37) are also considered in the article.

MadProfessah is interested in the race because if (as expected) Ward and Butler become the two top candidates in the race, as an elected delegate I will be voting on which one should receive the official nomination of the California Democratic Party at next Spring's convention in Southern California.

For LGBT People of Color this decision may be a difficult one because although Ward would become the first African American LGBT person ever elected to the California legislature. However, Butler is a longtime member of the board of directors of Equality California, the state's largest LGBT political advocacy organization and a very strong LGBT ally who is positioning herself as the more "viable" candidate.

It's almost like a mini-reprise of the Ragnarök battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Hopefully (for Ward) this battle turns out the same way.

Report from CA Democratic Convention: Day 1

Day 1 at the California Democratic Covention in Sacramento was a bit of a blur.

I joined and attended the African American and the LGBT Caucuses of the CA Democratic Party, although I only voted in the former. The two were scheduled at the same time! I also attended and voted in the Progressive Caucus.

So far I have seen at close quarters:

Attorney General Jerry Brown
SF Mayor Gavin Newsom
CA Lieutentant Governor John Garamendi
SF Attorney General Kamala Harris
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson
Speaker Karen Bass
Many state legislators...

In addition I met and spoke privately with two openly gay African American men who are both running for political office: Manhattan Beach mayor Mitch Ward (state assembly) and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" casualty Anthony Woods who is running for the soon-to-be-open 10th Congressional district seat curretly held by Ellen Tauscher (CA-10).

That's it for now!