If you look at state economic statistics and the consistently worsening projections as each month of revenue collection goes by, you would recognize that, even if the positive talks on closing the current budget gap result in a deal, the possibility – even probability – of another deficit requiring a revision could take hold as early as this winter. That’s what happened last year, and if anything the economy in the state has softened since then. At this time, the value of having a fully seated Senate and Assembly, due to the need for 54 Assembly votes and 27 Senate votes to move anything, becomes even more pronounced. Right now, we are down one Assembly seat owing to Curren Price’s move to the Senate (owing to Mark Ridley-Thomas’ election as LA County Supervisor last November). The CA-10 race could leave another opening if Sen. Mark DeSaulnier or Asm. Joan Buchanan emerge victorious. And in Los Angeles, an opening on the City Council may cost the Assembly another seat for a period of time.
Los Angeles voters showed a profound disinterest in the civic election in March when just 18% turned out, but there was a virtual stampede of candidates this week to run for the San Fernando Valley seat of former City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who won the race for city controller.
The slate of 14 candidates for the Sept. 22 special election reflects the varied geography of the 2nd District, which stretches from Studio City and Sherman Oaks at its southern border, through Van Nuys, Valley Glen, North Hollywood and Sun Valley to the rugged reaches of Sunland-Tujunga at its northern edge […]
With just two months to raise money, a number of City Hall watchers are eyeing several strong contenders: former Paramount Pictures executive Chris Essel; state Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, a Democrat who lived in Burbank until moving this spring to Valley Glen; and Los Angeles Unified School District board member Tamar Galatzan.
Krekorian, who is an assistant majority leader, moved into the Council District but not out of his own Assembly District (Valley Glen is on the edge) to pursue this seat. If he wins, it probably wouldn’t take effect until December 8, assuming that he doesn’t reach 50% +1 on September 22. AD-51 (Curren Price’s old seat) will have a new Assemblymember by November 3 at the latest, but Joan Buchanan or Mark DeSaulnier could reach the US Congress on the same day, and Krekorian might move to the LA city council and vacate AD-43 soon after. By the time all these special elections shake out, we’ll be well into 2010.
All of this shows the need to modernize our system of filling special elections, which always seem to be more widespread in California. Wendy Greuel was elected City Controller back in March. There’s little reason to drag out the search for her replacement this long. And if we had Instant Runoff Voting for the first round, we would not need to wait two months for an additional round, paralyzing state and local government and costing the state money in setting up additional elections. In the case of federal and state legislative elections, this is particularly perverse, since the way in which runoffs occur (with the top vote-getter in each party) almost always become useless races where the ultimate victor is well-known from the beginning.
Ok–here we are in a major meltdown at the state and city level and the Instant Runoff Voting that would SAVE an untold amount of MONEY is still not being considered by our electeds.
Last year, the idea was presented at the LA City Council AGAIN. Councilman Garcetti was supposedly dealing with it and bringing it to a vote. My councilman, Zine, was seated to his right. I had earlier had a meeting with his chief deputy–Cliff Ruff– and learned that he was “leaning” but had “concerns.”
Well, I don’t think we should be passing the ball down the court any longer. We’ve seen how that has NOT WORKED for the state legislators as they have to grapple with their years of inaction over budget and initiative reforms.
JUST HOW MUCH would be SAVED if we had Instant Runoff Voting? Obviously, the TIME and EXPENSES of a general election. Let’s hear how much they’ve continued to be wasting as a result of their indecisive waffling.///
but you can also see why someone would see a move from the Legislature to the L.A. City Council as a promotion. It has got to be very frustrating to be an Assemblymember or Senator now with the two-thirds rule and an obstructionist Governor and minority party. People want to accomplish something in their jobs and that is very difficult right now in Sacramento.
I have heard in recent years from at least one other state officeholder who ran for L.A. Council that avoiding the commute (and need for a second residence in Sacto) was a major factor in deciding to run for the council (I think it was Tony Cardenas who said that.)
L.A. is a major city with a larger population than many states so it isn’t like there aren’t a lot of big issues to tackle as a councilmember. Also the pay is competitive; I think our city councilmembers make more than legislators. In the past moving from state to local office would have been seen as a demotion but in the era of short term limits it now makes sense for some people.
I agree that we should find ways to reduce the time to fill vacancies in the Legislature and other positions and think that IRV should be part of the solution.
Election Reform also has to consolidate all regular elections to Nov of even # years. That would control the period of time when special elections could occur in addition to increasing turnout and voter involvement in local races and also probably save money. More candidates would also be at the end of their terms in prior office and have no free ride.