Election Analysis: Assembly District 45 Special Primary Election

[cahwyguy]

Actions often have unintended consequences and costs. Quite a few years ago, everyone wanted term limits because it (supposedly) meant you would not have career politicians, and more people would run for office. Did that happen? Not in your life — we have politicians that just run from office to office. In California, what has happened is that politi-critters do their stints in the state assembly and state senate, and then move to the city councils.

That’s what happened to our state senator: Just reelected to the state senate for his last term, he opted to run for Los Angeles City Council to start over again. He won… leaving a vacant seat in AD45, bringing us a special election a week from Tuesday. [BTW, term limits is also going to bring a sea change to the LA County Board of Supervisors in the next few years] We’ve been getting calls for a few weeks from candidates we don’t know, and I tell them all the same thing: I will do a detailed ballot analysis and make my decision shortly before the election.

That’s this post.

So even though you aren’t in Assembly District 45, you’re the lucky winner of my analysis. The primary election brings us 11 candidates: 7 Democrats, 3 Republicans, and one who has no party preference. What factors will I use to determine things. First, I want a candidate that understands California’s problems — in particular, the issues with transportation infrastructure. I’d like a candidate that acknowledges understanding of cybersecurity issues, as I often see bills in the legislature about that. I’d also like a candidate that understands the valley, and (as they say) “shares my values” (which tend to be progressive Jewish values). In particular, regarding the latter, I don’t want a candidate that will push conservative Christian values. I look at who endorses the candidates: that often shows individuals with whom values and agendas are shared. So let’s look at the candidates:

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