Showing posts with label AD-50. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AD-50. Show all posts

CA and MD Openly LGBT Caucuses Reach Seven Each

Congressman-elect David Cicilline (RI-01)
Last night was a big night for openly LGBT candidates, with the most ever being elected nationwide, including a fourth openly gay member of Congress in David Cicilline, the openly gay mayor of Providence, Rhode Island who was elected to represent the 1st Congressional District.

There are now five African Amererican LGBT state representatives around the country: Simone Bell (GA), Mary Washington (MD), Marcus Brandon (NC), Jason Bartlett (CT) and Gordon Fox (RI). Two states have the largest LGBT legislative contingents ever: seven in both Maryland and California.
Maryland: Senator Rich Madaleno (D-18) and Delegates Maggie McIntosh (D-43), Heather Mizeur (D-20), and Anne Kaiser (D-14), Bonnie Cullison (D-19), Mary Washington (D-43), and Luke Clippinger (D-46)
California: Senators Mark Leno (SD-3) and Christine Kehoe (SD-39), Assemblymembers John Perez (AD-46), Ricardo Lara (AD-50), Tom Ammiano (AD-13), Toni Atkins (AD-76) and Rich Gordon (AD-21)
So, it's not all bad news out there.

Hat/tip to Denis Dison of the Victory Fund.

MadProfessah Endorsements for CA's November 2, 2010 General Election

Finally, the moment you have been waiting for!  Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I will be voting in the November 2 Statewide General Election, compared with endorsements from other organizations like the Los Angeles TimesCalitics.comCA Democratic PartyLos Angeles County Democratic PartyStonewall Democratic Club (LGBT group), CA League of Women Voters and Courage Campaign's Progressive Voter Guide. Previously, I had posted my endorsements for the June 8, 2010 primary election.

Proposition        ME   LAT  CALITICS CA DEM LA DEM LWV
19 (Marijuana) YES NO YES --- YES ---
20 (Redistricting) NO YES NO NO NO NO
21 (State Parks) YES NO YES YES YES ---
22 (Local Funds) NO NO --- NO NO ---
23 (Suspends AB-32)NO NO NO NO NO NO
24 (Ends Tax Cuts) YES   NO    YES    YES    YES   YES
25 (Majority Vote) YES   YES   YES    YES    YES   YES
26 (2/3 Fee Vote)  NO    NO    NO     NO     NO    NO
27 (Undoes Prop 11)YES   NO    YES    YES    YES   NO

Statewide Races ME LA TIMES DEMOCRATS
Governor Brown Brown Brown
U.S. Senator             Boxer*     Boxer*   Boxer*
Lieutenant Governor Newsom Newsom Newsom
Attorney General Harris Cooley Harris
Secretary of State Bowen* Bowen* Bowen*
Treasurer  Lockyer* Lockyer* Lockyer*
Controller               Chiang*    Chiang*  Chiang*
Insurance Commissioner Jones Jones Jones
Supt. of Public Inst. Torlakson Aceves Torlakson
Bd. of Equalization, #1  Yee*       ---      Yee*    
Bd. of Equalization, #2  ---        ---      Parker
Bd. of Equalization, #3  ---        ---      Christian-Heising
Bd. of Equalization, #4  ---        ---      Horton*  

Jerome Horton is an African-American incumbent, but when he was in the state legislature he was an unreliable vote on LGBT issues. He has since tried to make amends, but MadProfessah can not in good conscience endorse him, although I will note that the Stonewall Democrats have.

There are several judicial races on the ballot for which it is often hard to get information on.

Other Races                ME        LA TIMES        DEMOCRATS
CA Sup. Crt. Chief Justice ---- Cantil-Sakauye
CA Sup. Crt. Justice       Moreno    Moreno          Moreno
CA Sup. Crt. Justice       ----      Chin            ---
Superior Court, No. 28     Ameli     Hammock         Ameli
Superior Court, No. 117    Schneider Schneider       Schneider
L.A. County Assessor       Noguez    Yong            
Noguez 
Additionally, every Court of Appeals Justice and three State Supreme Court justices are up for re-election (or re-appointment). The Los Angeles Times basically says that every incumbent justice is worthy of re-election. However, Justice Carlos Moreno is the only State Supreme Court justice that thought Proposition 8 violated the state constitution. Ming Chin was in the minority of the 2008 In Re Marriage Cases decision and should NOT be re-appointed. Tani Cantil-Sakauye is Governor Schwarzenegger's nominee to replace Chief Justice Ron George; if approved she'll be the first female and Phillipine-American to head California's highest court. Since we know so little about her, I can't support voting to confirm her. I think it's silly that George didn't wait until the new Governor to be elected  before retiring earlier this year anyway.

There are numerous openly LGBT people running for elected office. John Noguez for Los Angeles County Assessor. In statewide legislative districts there is Ricardo Lara (AD-50) and John Perez (AD-46).

CA LGBT Legislative Caucus Increasing to ≥ 7

Back in May 2008 I predicted that the next California LGBT legislative caucus (January 2009) would have five members. I was correct on the numbers (5), but not on the names (Assemblymembers Perez, Ammiano, Senators Kehoe, Leno and Ashburn). And the last of these was not out until a scandal this year.

The LGBT legislative caucus of the 2011-2013 session should have at least 7 openly LGBT members, 5 in the Assembly and 2 in the Senate.

June 2010   (FIVE)         January 2011 (SEVEN)
ASSEMBLY
Tom Ammiano (AD-13) Tom Ammiano (AD-13)
John Perez (AD-46) John Perez (AD-46)
                           Ricardo Lara (AD-50)                                    
                           Toni Atkins (AD-76)                                    
                           Richard Gordon (AD-21)
SENATE
Christine Kehoe (SD-39) Christine Kehoe (SD-39)
Mark Leno (SD-3) Mark Leno (SD-3)
Roy Ashburn (SD-18)

Ashburn is not running for re-election, but makes history as the first openly gay Republican member of the California Legislature (who was out wile still serving).

Additionally, there is a good chance that former Assembyman John Laird may re-join the caucus as its 8th member if he wins a special election in the 15th Senate District in August.

2010 CA Statewide Primary Results

Yesterday was the statewide primary election. Results for Los Angeles County are available here, and statewide results are available here.

Statewide Races

Constitutional Offices
MadProfessah was correct in every statewide constitutional office except Superintendent of Public Instruction, where the top two (non-partisan) candidates were Larry Aceves and Tom Torlakson, who are both registered Democrats just squeaked ahead of my endorsed candidate Gloria Romero.

Propositions

MadProfessah was correct in 3 of the 5 propositions, although it was a scary night, because initially it looked the pro-business scams Prop 16 (PG&E) and Prop 17 (Mercury Insurance) looked like they were passing, but happily they were rejected. Sadly, Proposition 15 failed and Proposition 14 passed. This means that from now on, all June primary races will be a "jungle primary" where the Top 2 candidates will face each other, REGARDLESS of which party they are a member of. ONLY those two names will be allowed to appear on the November ballot, with no write-in option.

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

Statewide Constitutional Officers MadProfessah DEMOCRATS REPUBLICANS
U.S. Senate                            Boxer*        Boxer*    Fiorina 
Governor                               Brown         Brown     Whitman 
Lieutenant Governor                    Newsom        Newsom    Maldonado
Attorney General Harris Harris Cooley
Secretary of State Bowen* Bowen* Dunn
Treasurer Chiang* Chiang* Strickland
Controller Lockyer* Lockyer* Walters
Insurance Commissioner Jones Jones Fitzgerald
Superintendent of Public Instruction Romero Aceves(D) Torlakson(D)

Statewide Legislative Races
You can click on the Assembly District number for the actual vote counts. MadProfessah endorsed candidates are in italics, with winning candidates in bold. Incumbents are marked with an asterisk*.
AD-43. MadProfessah-endorsed Mike Gatto won the special election to replace Paul Krekorian and won the Democratic primary election.
AD-44.
Anthony Portantino* .
AD-45.
Gil Cedillo.
AD-46.
John Perez*.
AD-47.
Holly Mitchell, won a tight race over CA Democratic Party Secretary Reggie Jones-Sawyer 43%-37%.
AD-48.
Mike Davis*.
AD-49.
Mike Eng*.
AD-50.
Openly gay Ricardo Lara won his primary to and will become the second openly LGBT person of color elected to the California Legislature in November (after John Perez).
AD-51.
Steve Bradford*.
AD-52.
Isadore Hall*.
AD-53.
MadProfessah endorsed openly gay, African-American Mitch Ward in this huge primary to replace Attorney General hopeful Ted Lieu, but former Equality California board member and registered lobbyist Betsy Butler won the primary and will be elected in November.
Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County Assessor. MadProfessah endorsed openly gay John Noguez becomes the first openly gay County Assessor of Los Angeles County.

Measure E. MadProfessah endorsed a Yes position on this County measure to benefit Los Angeles Unified School District. The measure leads 53-47, far less than the two-thirds needed to be enacted.

Superior Court Judges.
5 of the 6 judicial candidates endorsed by MadProfessah won, the same ratio as the Los Angeles Times, although we got different races wrong. Click on the office number for the vote counts.
              RESULTS     LA TIMES          MadProfessah
Office 28: Hammock Randy Hammock Ameli
Office 35: Bruguera* Bruguera Bruguera
Office 73: Matz Matz Matz
Office 107: Salkin Tony de los Reyes Salkin
Office 117: Schneider Schneider Schneider
Office 131: Nelson* Nelson Nelson

Get ready to vote again in November!

VOTE TODAY: CA Statewide Primary Election

Today is the the June 8 Statewide Primary Election, Here are my endorsements compared to those 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'sProgressive 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 endorsedMike 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

I've already voted!

AD-50: Lara Is Apparent Frontrunner

Ricardo Lara is an openly gay, Latino candidate for California's 50th Assembly District. The 50th Assembly District is in Los Angeles and contains the entire cities of Bell, Bell Gardens, Bellflower, Commerce, Cudahy, Lynwood, South Gate, and Walnut Park. Lara is the District Director for the only openly gay Latino Assemblymember in California history, John Perez who represents the 46th Assembly District. Lara is supported by HONORPAC, the LGBT Latino political action committee in the June 8, 2010 Democratic primary.

UPDATE 09/09/09 17:06 (CORRECTION): Lara is the Communications Director for Assemblymember Kevin DeLeon, in the 45th District, not District Director for Assemblymember Perez in the 46th.

This is interesting, because in 2006 Lara initially ran against his future boss in the 46th District but was convinced to step aide and clear the field for Antonio Villaraigosa's cousin (Perez). However, now that the 50th District seat (currently held by Hector de la Torre) will be an open seat in 2010 the two former rivals appear to have joined forces to double the Latino LGBT representation in the California Assembly.

According to HONRPAC, Lara apparently has raised over $100,000, the most money of the three Democrats declared to be running for the seat, with Carmen Avalos, [UPDATE 09/11/09 18:06 (CORRECTION)] (a de la Torre staffer) (City Clerk of South Gate and Chair of the Cerritos Community College Board of Trustees) his most formidable rival. The other Democrat Art Chacon, is a member of the Central Basin Municipal Water District. FPPC records show Lara with about $70,000 on hand.

MadProfessah will be keeping track of this race very carefully. It's very important that openly LGBT members be elected to replace retiring members of the California LGBT Legislative Caucus, especially people of color which reflects the diversity of California.