Will face off against at least Betty Yee

by Brian Leubitz

In the merry-go-round of politicians, it is never surprising to see elected officials turn up on down ballot statewide races. Speaker John Perez, the first openly gay speaker of the Assembly, has today announced that he will be running for Controller:

Assembly Speaker John Pérez announced Wednesday he will run for state controller next year when he is termed out of his current job.

The announcement came as Pérez fielded audience questions at his Town Hall Los Angeles talk at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown.

“I’m faced with the reality that I’m term-limited next year and really struggled with what I would do,” Pérez said. “In the last two days I’ve made a decision. This afternoon I will be announcing that I will be running for controller.” (SCPR)

While rumors have swirled as to whether former LA Mayor candidate (and City Controller) Wendy Greuel will run for the position, Board of Equalization member Betty Yee has been running for a while. Yee, who has served in the Dept. Of Finance prior to her election to the BoE, has a wealth of experience for the position, and her grassroots connections will make her a strong candidate. But Perez will have a big war chest for the race and has higher name id than Yee.

Perez probably scares away most of the LA area elected officials thinking about the race (other than Greuel), and no serious Republican challenger has announced a run yet. But if it is to be a contest between Yee and Perez, it would get interesting.