Today, Friday March 26th is the 70th birthday of Speaker of the U.S. House Nancy Pelosi. On Sunday night, she presided over the final passage of the most sweeping social justice legislation in over 40 years, Obama's national health care reform bill. Let's hope she has a good celebration of her 70th birthday!
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In the 53rd Assembly District race to replace termed-out Ted Lieu (who is running for California Attorney General) openly gay Mayor ofFeel free to send me any suggestions for future Saturday local politics stories!RedondoManhattan 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.
The ]Los Angeles] California Democrat becomes the 121st House member to cosponsor, reports Immigration Equality. "Waters sits on the House Judiciary Committee and its Immigration Subcommittee. She brings the number of Democrats on the Immigration Subcommittee who are current UAFA cosponsors to seven out of ten, and the number of Demorcrats on the full Judiciary Committee to 18 out of 24. UAFA has more cosponsors in the House than any other piece of immigration legislation."
Sharon Lettman, formerly of People for the American Way, has been named Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, the country's largest (and only) national Black LGBT advocacy organization."We must bring our families together," Lettman said. "Gay and transgender people are our children, our brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, parents, co-workers and friends. They are a vital part of the black community, and it is time for everyone to recognize the real issues we all face when our brothers and sisters are denied full participation in the life of our community.Congratulations to NBJC for selecting a dynamic leader. I look forward to continuing to work with NBJC here in LA to advance the mission of empowering the Black LGBT community.
"What has always drawn me to this work, and to the people I've been proud to stand alongside, is the knowledge that we must work together to create the better future we seek," Lettman continued. "In my new role at NBJC, that means lifting the voices of our community, building bridges so that all who experience discrimination can understand the common ground we share, and walking across those bridges together in greater and greater numbers toward equal rights for all."
The new front runner in AD-53?Well, I guess all's fair in love, war and politics?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."
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
Judy Shepard, the mother of Mathew Shepard, for whom S. 909, the Mathew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act is named, met with President Barack Obama in the White House on Wednesday May 20th.
Joe.My.God pointed me to this cool new online action hosted by the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center to thank straight allies of LGBT Equality on Valentine's day called "Heroes of Love."Julian Bond - NAACP Chairman
Jerry Brown - California Attorney General
Judy Chu - State Board of Equalization
Maria Elena Durazo - L.A. County AFL-CIO
Dianne Feinstein - U.S. Senator
Ronald George -Chief Justice California Supreme Court
Dolores Huerta - Co-founder United Farm Workers
Alice Huffman - California NAACP
Bill Maher -Host, Real Time with Bill Maher
Gavin Newsom - Mayor of San Francisco
Jack O'Connell - Superintendent of Public Instruction
Brad Pitt - Actor
Jerry Sanders - Mayor of San Diego
Antonio Villaraigosa - Mayor of Los Angeles
Karin Wang - Asian Pacific American Legal Center.
