In the history of our publication, we have posted “Mark Your Ballot” on Election Day, as an option for the undecided, and those in need of more information. This early edition is a response to the many calls to vote early. The more ballots we have cast before election day, the more clarity on the results. I have tried to make this column funny, offer a few laughs on a tense topic, but there just isn’t a lot to feel amused about.
While you likely have strong feelings on local measures or races, you may not have any feelings at all on the Community College District, or the Associate Justice for the Court of Appeals. A complete ballot – while optional – is the best way to go.
We urge you to vote early, vote in person, or at the least give your mail-in ballot to a ballot drop-box and not just the U.S. Postal Service.
Los Angeles County is required to certify the election by Dec. 3. We may be in for a long wait.
City Council – Choose Two
Vote for Freddy Puza and Thomas Aujero Small. They both have excellent track records, practical experience with policy decisions, professional standards of communication, and what I will call “smarts.” We need some really smart people on the dais right now.
There is, unhappily, a very shallow tradition in politics of running ‘against.’ By saying those people are doing a bad job, I will do a better job, candidates have to object to a record of success, and a feeling that the majority of local voters are happy with the way things are going. (Data backs this up -) Candidates rarely present themselves as a helpful next step, or a good team builder. When it’s just a ‘everything is awful’ campaign, it’s just contradiction.
Nobody is a team of one. When one candidate claims they can change things, all they are proving is they are not good at math.
Both Puza and Small have offered a view of “Let’s make what’s good even better,” and I think that’s a message that wins.
Culver City Unified School District – Choose Three
Vote for Stephanie Loredo, Brian Guerrero and Triston Ezidore. If you go to the top of this page and click on “Schools” you will see a lot of journalism that offers evidence that the board is running things well. Despite some statewide financial issues, the leadership has been very strong. Vote to keep them.
Los Angeles Community College District – Seat 2
Vote for Steve Veres – lots of support from organized labor, he has a a good record as an incumbent.
Los Angeles Community College District – Seat 4
Vote for Darryn Harris – currently teaches at Santa Monica College (not a LACCD campus) and has been an aide to Sydney Kamlager. He wants to build more low-cost housing on LACCD land, an issue that WLAC is already moving on. Support.
Los Angeles Community College District – Seat 6
Vote for Randall Winston – lots of organized labor endorsements, focused on getting student’s needs met.
State Senator, 28th District
Vote for Lola Smallwood-Cuevas – you can search this site for her legislative accomplishments in the last session. She has done well and will continue to do well.
Member of the State Assembly, 55th District
Vote for Isaac Bryan – a truly formidable politician, he has spent his time in office solving problems that you may not even be aware existed. His work has been an ongoing education in ‘justice for all.’
United States Representative, 37th District
Vote for Sydney Kamlager-Dove – I mean, c’mon, why would you not? Just about a decade ago, when she was elected to the Community College Board, she earned her seat by waking up some financial factors that were snoozing when they needed to be working for the colleges. She has succeeded at every office between there and here. She’s an all star politician, and I expect to see her in the Senate before this decade is over.
City of Culver City – Measure AA
Vote Yes – Paying 48 cents per square foot to help support schools, is a progressive tax supported by both the Culver City Federation of Teachers and the CCUSD Association of Classified Employees. If you really object to the parcel taxes that support our schools, you need to run for office in the state of California, and change the system whereby our schools do not get enough funding. Yes, it’s a band-aid, and it’s necessary.
City of Culver City – Measure T
Vote Yes – A graduated increase on the ‘bed tax’ for hotel guests is not going to send anyone to Los Angeles to book a hotel room. It’s estimated to be able to generate up to $2 million annually. Pennies on the dollar, and it’s going to first responders and public works.
City of Culver City – Measure YV
Vote Yes – There’s already an editorial on this site if you want more background. Suffice to say it is a good thing, and you should support it.
Los Angeles County Sheriff
Vote for Luna – I don’t adore Robert Luna, but I despise Alex Villanueva; he’s a cartoon character of self-importance.
And now – judges. For many of us, it’s the voting equivalent of throwing darts – at a target you can’t quite see. These picks come recommended from multiple sources I respect, and when I have multiple sources that don’t agree, I do more research.
Judge of the Superior Court
#64 – Vote for Rhonda Haymon
#65 Anna Slotsky Reitano
#87 A.J. Bayne
#131 David Ross
Los Angeles County Measure A
Vote No – takes away the right to strike, forces binding arbitration for Fire, Sheriff, Lifeguards and other county employees. My friends who have served in the military often note that when you sign up, you sign away your civil rights. Everyone should have rights. If your rights are not being respected, you should have the legal right to protest that.
Los Angeles County Measure E
Vote Yes – ethics are essential, and central to its ability to function effectively. It would establish our county’s first independent ethics commissions and restore the community-investment requirements of Measure J, which were inadvertently repealed by Measure G.
Governor of California
Vote for Xavier Becerra – he has a better-than-impressive history as a politician, and I imagine he will be a surprisingly good Governor.
Lieutenant Governor
Vote for Fiona Ma – she’s done well as treasurer, and is a capable politician.
Secretary of State
Vote for Shirley Weber
Controller
Vote for Malia Cohen
Treasurer
Vote for Eleni Kounalakis
Attorney General
Vote for Rob Bonta
Take a look at the Republican Party right now and ask yourself why anyone who identifies as a Republican should hold office.
Insurance Commissioner
Vote for Jane Kim – As much as I like Ben Allen personally, and he has done some excellent work on environmental issues, Kim has a focus that could truly make a difference. Running on a platform of aggressively regulating the insurance industry, and creating a public Disaster Insurance for All program, this is the kind of idea we need our electeds to carry forward.
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Vote for Richard Barrera – although how this plays out will be interesting. After Sonja Shaw won the primary, the governors office pretty much stripped the office of Superintendent of most of it’s power. Shaw is a MAGA mom, the kind of book-banning, bathroom checking conservative who thinks that your choices about your child’s education are not ever as important as her choices about your child’s education. Barrera is backed by the California Teachers Association, and defends immigrant and LGTBQ student rights.
State Measure 1
Vote Yes – authorizes bonds for affordable housing. Housing yes, housing yes, housing yes.
State Measure 2
Vote Yes – It’s not often that you find Governor Newsom, and the LA Chamber of Commerce sitting on the same side of the fence. Having a ‘rainy day fund’ is a smart strategy, and keeping it healthy is vital.
State Measure 3
Vote Yes – People who make more money should pay more taxes. Simple stuff, really.
State Measure 4
Vote yes – it’s not a complete campaign funding reform, but it’s a good move in that direction. Public funding for state and local elections should be as easy as public funding for federal elections.
State Measure 5
Vote yes – Changes recall elections by separating the recall and the replacement. Perhaps a long shadow of the “get rid of Gray Davis and replace him with Arnold Schwarzenegger” campaign, which was one long media blitz by the Republicans. No one is either officially in favor of or against this, but hey, an ounce of prevention.
State Measure 37
Vote yes – Loan program for middle income home buyers, because housing yes, housing yes, housing yes.
State Measure 38
Vote no – voters should not commit billions in public debt to a particular private institution. Medical research is a good thing, but public funding of private interests is not. The language is tailored to the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy; billionaire Gary Michelson is its co-founder and (surprise!) the biggest financial force supporting the measure.
State Measure 39
Hell NO. ACLU and League of Women Voters both oppose. Would cost millions of dollars to implement. Would disenfranchise millions of California voters, mostly the very old and the young.
State Measure 40
Hell yes – I know, we’ve all been drenched in propaganda telling us how passing 40 will mean the end of all health care and education in the state – those are lies. As Nicholas Lemann quotes Emmanuel Saez in his excellent piece on Prop 40, “For Richer” in the New Yorker, “If it passes, it will be a revolution.” Fewer people have more money than ever before in history. Requiring that they give back a tablespoon out of the swimming pool they are splashing in will benefit everyone. Even those in the pool.
I could do a whole essay on the culture of wealth, and specifically how it harms the wealthy but we are only on page 5. Back to the ballot, here …
Measure 41 and 42
Nope and Nope. It’s a drop down on trying to prevent Measure 40 from taking effect when if passes.
Measure 43
Vote no – Silences local voters by requiring a supermajority of two-thirds to approve a local ballot measures. (Who do you think wrote this ballot measure and why? Who benefits from stifling citizens from being in control of their own government? ) Just vote no.
Measure 44
Vote yes – Publicly funded health care should be spending their money on patient care. I’d a bit wary of the “90%” threshold, but if you’ve been watching the constant table-tennis of the last several elections in regard to dialysis clinics and a particular health care non-profit, it’s time for that to stop. If you get public funds to provide health care, that’s where those funds should go.
Measure 45
Vote no – Does CEQA need to be changed? Yes, but the building industry should not be the ones scripting those changes. But – housing yes, housing yes, housing yes – AND – we still need a healthy planet to build those houses on. The way that this is written is just a plan for more urban sprawl. Which is more traffic, and less community.
YOU’RE IN THE HOME STRETCH! JUDGES AND THEN YOU ARE DONE!
State Judicial
Joshua Groban – Yes; worked for Governor Jerry Brown
Kelli Evans – Yes; worked for the ACLU
Rashida Adams – Yes: specialized in employment discrimination
Helen Zukin- Yes; sued corporations over consumer complaints
Brian Hoffstadt – No; former federal prosecutor
Tari Cody – No; corporate lawyer
Gonzalo Martinez – Yes; state AG, worked on regulation of rideshare companies and arbitration for farmworkers
Michelle Kim – Yes; LA County Public Defender
Gregory Weingart – No; federal prosecutor
Anne Richardson – Yes; Public Interest law
Steve Goorvitch – No; federal prosecutor
Mark Hanasono – Yes; LA County Public Defender
Nicholas Daum – No; corporate law
Audra Mori – No; corporate law
Armen Tamzarian – No; corporate law
Kenneth Yegan – HELL NO; recommended by ultra-conservatives, so not recommended by CulverCityCrossroads
Natalie Stone – No; corporate law
John Wiley – No; federal prosecutor
Matthew Scherb – no; corporate law
Victor Viramontes – Yes; civil rights all-star
So, turn it in, or go and stand in front of the touch screen. Do it BEFORE next Tuesday, and let yourself know that your vote matters.
One of my favorite writers, historian Heather Cox Richardson, frequently reminds us that there are two ways to see the American government. One is that some people are more important than others, and they should make the decisions. The other is that everyone’s voice matters, and that we only get good decisions when everyone’s voice is heard.
We won’t all agree. But we all need to be heard.
Judith Martin-Straw
