I’m sure we all remember Jason Hodge, the conservadem being supported by big business interests desperate to have a Senator in the 19th State Senate District who will be more pliant than the progressive Hannah-Beth Jackson. Clearly, undermining your own party by campaigning as “the Democrat who doesn’t think you need higher taxes” will convey that impression.

Well, Hodge is still campaigning as a Democrat. And in an effort to bolster in Democratic bona fides, he told Timm Herdt, the political correspondent at the Ventura County Star, that he had been a Democrat all his life. Problem? He was lying:

A couple of weeks ago in an interview, 19th Senate District candidate Jason Hodge told me he’d been a Democrat “all my life,” and I quoted him as saying so. County Democratic Central Committee vice-chairman David Atkins checked out the claim at the county registrar of voters’ office and asserts it’s untrue.

In fact, Hodge was from 2002 until 2008 registered as “decline to state” a party affiliation.

Hodge acknowledged that today — but asserted that doesn’t mean he hasn’t always been a Democrat in his heart. For example, he said that in primary elections he has always requested a Democratic ballot. A person can be a Democrat, he said, but the voter registration cards give a people an option whether to state or decline to publicly state their party orientation. He chose to decline, he said.

Let’s start the simple fact that Hodge’s explanation is a pile of crap. Before Prop 14 took effect, voters had the option to register with a political party, or as a “decline-to-state” voter–in other words, not to register as a member of any party. Decline-to-state doesn’t mean that you’re really registered as a member of a political party, but you just choose not to share that information with the public.

Even worse? Hodge is lying to cover up his lie. He claimed that he has always requested a Democratic ballot. Problem? That’s also not true. Here is Hodge’s voter registration history, straight from the Ventura County Registrar of Voters (edited to remove his address for privacy reasons):

Notice the entry for the June 2006 gubernatorial, where it says quite clearly that Hodge pulled a non-partisan ballot. If you recall, there was a hotly contested Democratic primary for the right to challenge Arnold Schwarzenegger that year. And apparently, despite being a “Democrat in his heart,” Hodge didn’t have enough of a Democratic heart to vote for either one.

Here’s a piece of advice for Hodge. If you’re going to be a business-friendly centrist, then be a business-friendly centrist, be honest about it, and campaign that way. But don’t try to become a Democrat out of convenience when you decide it’s the best way to suit your political aspirations, and then try to lie to us about it, and then lie again to cover up those lies. People like us who actually have been Democrats all our lives might get a little upset.

Probably the hottest race for Assembly this year is the race in Assembly District 50, where progressive legend Torie Osborn, who has the support of just about every single local Democratic club, as well as that of Julia Brownley and Sheila Kuehl, is going up against South Bay Assemblymember Betsy Butler, who currently represents about 1% of the new 50th Assembly District. The race has a classic “insider vs. outsider” dynamic: Osborn is well known for her nonprofit work for LGBT equality and against poverty, and has a ton of local grassroots support, including just about every single Democratic club that has endorsed in the race. Butler, meanwhile, is taking full advantage of the the money and endorsements that being a sitting legislator can provide. It’s well known that I’m an avid Osborn supporter; for a full rundown of all the stories that have made this race a fun one to watch, just check out this summmary from Marta Evry.

So far, Butler’s strategy in the race has been to attempt to convince voters that there’s nothing particularly special about this election: that she’s just your run-of-the-mill incumbent seeking re-election to her district. And even though it might be misleading to claim that when you’ve only represented 1% of the district, she’s technically correct: both the California Elections Code and the rules of the California Democratic Party allow her to claim that (and would also allow her to claim that if she were running in Shasta, but that’s a story for another day).

Today, however, changes the equation. I got a piece of mail today from the Butler campaign touting her credentials on women’s issues. The piece was obviously designed to be mailed to women, given the introduction–“mothers, daughters, sisters and aunts”–but I received it anyway. It was your typical mailing, except for one part:

Our Assemblywoman, Betsy Butler

And with that, we’ve transcended from “misleading” to “flat out not true.” I live in AD-50, and I don’t live in just the 1% that Betsy Butler currently represents. I live in the part that’s currently represented by Mike Feuer. The letter is signed by several people who are supporting Butler, and perhaps they could be trying to claim that the signatories are represented by “their Assemblywoman, Betsy Butler.” Problem is, that’s not true either, as the piece contains the signatures of activists in Beverly Hills (Mike Feuer) and Malibu (Julia Brownley), as well as some who don’t live in the district at all.

I’m not sure whether Butler’s claim that she already represents me is a sign of desperation given Torie Osborn’s strong campaign, or simple disrespect for the intelligence of the voters of the 50th District. All I know is, I’m not a fan.

Yesterday’s victory by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn in the special election for Congressional District 36 has set the musical chairs rolling once again, as Democratic Assemblymember Warren Furutani, who represents the 55th District, declared his intention to run for the impending vacancy. Via email release from Parke Skelton:

(LOS ANGELES) Quickly following Councilwoman Janice Hahn’s victory for Congress in the special election yesterday, Warren Furutani wasted no time in announcing his plans to run for City Council.

“I was born in San Pedro and have lived in the 15th Council District for almost 20 years,” said Furutani. “I’m an LA guy and I’m very excited at the opportunity to work closely with the community on important issues like job creation, gang prevention, education, transportation, air quality and improving the great neighborhoods of San Pedro, Watts, Wilmington, Harbor City and the Harbor Gateway.”

Furutani began his career in Los Angeles as a community organizer during the civil rights movement. He later worked as a counselor at one of the toughest continuation high schools for dropouts in Downtown LA to keep at-risk kids out of gangs and in school.

Per the release, Asm. Furutani currently represents approximately 30 percent of the turf that is Council District 15. If successful, Furutani would join fellow former Assemblymembers Paul Koretz (District 5) and Paul Krekorian (District 2) on the Los Angeles City Council. While going from the Assembly to a City Council would normally seem like a downgrade, Los Angeles is a distinct exception for several reasons, in no particular order: 1) the pay is substantially better; 2) City Hall is a much easier commute than Sacramento; 3) more authority over similar turf; and 4) members of the City Council are only term-limited out after three four-year terms without the threat of being redistricted out since the Council controls redistricting.

In Furutani’s case he would get nearly 14 years on the City Council should be be successful, since Janice Hahn’s unexpired term would not count against his term limit. Not a bad way to end a legislative career. As of yet, no dates have been set for a special election, as Janice Hahn has not formally resigned her Council seat.

Meg Whitman certainly didn’t do her imploding campaign any favors with her cowardly refusal to join Jerry Brown in running a positive campaign from now through election day at Governor Schwarzenegger’s Women’s Conference in Long Beach. And if women knew that Meg was just as non-committal on choice as she is on her campaign strategy, they’d probably be even less impressed than they already are. Thankfuly, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party has an ad for that:

Truth is, Meg Whitman doesn’t care about social issues, just as long as she gets impose her radical economic agenda on the state. So she’ll just say whatever she thinks is likeliest to get her elected. Pathetic, all in all.

(cross-posted with permission from my post on DailyKos)

There are few things worse for a politician than an unpaid tax lien, especially in a state like California where our perennial budget crisis makes it even more important for our politicians to demonstrate their commitment to paying their fair share.

Enter Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado, who was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the position after John Garamendi won the special election created by the appointment of Ellen Tauscher to the position of Undersecretary for Arms Control.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Abel Maldonado has had a substantial tax lien placed on his family farm:

The single-page IRS lien indicates that Maldonado owes the government $111,146 for underpaying a category of taxes that include Social Security, Medicare and federal withholding contributions for employees on his 6,000-acre farm in Santa Barbara County.

An IRS spokesman declined to comment on the ongoing case.

Maldonado’s people claim that this lien actually arises from a dispute about whether certain vehicles are for public or private use. But as someone who has administrated tax payments for small businesses, this seems like a strange defense: the category of taxes that the IRS is claiming that Maldonado owes are “form 941” taxes, which withhold income taxes, social security taxes and Medicare taxes from employee paychecks. It is possible for this form 941 withholding lien to be the result of a dispute over whether a vehicle is for personal or business use, as the IRS explains in its employer’s guide:

You may choose not to withhold income tax on the value of an employee’s personal use of a vehicle you provide. You must, however, withhold social security and Medicare taxes on the use of the vehicle. See Publication 15-B for more information on this election.

So this is apparently what this dispute is about. But even if we grant Maldonado the benefit of the doubt here, there’s a much larger problem: the tax lien is over $111,000. Do you realize how much the IRS would have to have been estimating the value of the “company vehicle use” he had been engaging in to rack up a tax bill that high? Simple mathematics based on the applicable tax rates would indicate that the total valuation of the “vehicle use” would have to have been in the high six figures, which is unconscionable in and of itself.

Bottom line is, Maldonado has some explaining to do. And it’s not even the first time:

It is the ninth time since 1992 that federal, state or local tax collectors have resorted to liens against the Santa Maria Republican’s family farm in an effort to compel payments totaling more than $240,000, public records show.

For Lieutenant Governor, California has a much better choice in San Francisco mayor and marriage equality hero Gavin Newsom.

Secretary Bowen tweets:

Abel Maldonado sworn in today as Lt Gov, meaning SD15 needs a special election. And Governor just proclaimed it: 6/22 primary, 8/17 general.

That means: less than four months to build a campaign that can prevail in a very winnable special election with a not insignificant Democratic registration advantage.

It appears that Gil Cedillo has decided to forgo his well thought out scheme to seek his final two years in the Assembly by challenging Speaker John Perez in AD-46, and will instead run for Kevin De Leon’s open seat in AD-45. I just got a notification 5 minutes ago on Facebook that the group “Gil Cedillo for Congress” has changed its name to “Gil Cedillo for State Assembly.”  From the group description:

“I am proud to announce my intent to run for the 45th California State Assembly District. As your representative I will work to create a competitive workforce, secure access to affordable health care, increase services to veterans and their families, and invest in public safety and transportation. Thank you for your support”

One would have to assume that Gil Cedillo would be a prohibitive favorite based on name recognition, if the 45th isn’t his home district. But we’ll have to see what other challengers emerge in this open seat.

It appears that the Assembly will be down a member very soon, as Paul Krekorian from the 43rd District appears to have won election to the Los Angeles City Council.

The election results at this moment:

Krekorian: 9,212 (57.18%)

Essel: 6,898 (42.82%)

This figure is with 62% of precincts reporting.  The campaign appears to have been won via absentees, as 10,988 absentee ballots were cast in the race, with Krekorian garnering 58% of those votes.  Essel’s mail and field campaign was expected to do better with in-person voters, but there just aren’t enough to go around.  With 62% of precincts reporting, there have only been 5,176 poll votes counted, which means that there should only be about 3,120 left to be counted from the remaining 38% of the precincts.  Krekorian leads by 2,314 votes as of this counting, meaning that Essel would need to have won over 74% of the votes that have yet to be counted.  There’s no way.

It’s worth pointing out that many prognosticators expected Essel to win this runoff in a low-turnout election with an advantage in spending that totaled somewhere around 4 to 1.  Sometimes, though, it seems like volunteers and dedication can beat massive amounts of independent expenditure money, and this appears to be one of those cases..

Later this week I’ll take a look at the field for the upcoming special election in AD-43.  Congratulations, Councilmember-elect Paul Krekorian.

Because I believe that John Perez’ sexual orientation is playing a role in the ongoing fight over who becomes the next Speaker of the Assembly here in California between the aforementioned Perez and Kevin De Leon.  As I’m sure we’re all aware, the election of John Perez to the post would make him California’s first ever openly gay Speaker.  And based on the words coming out of Karen Bass’ mouth, it sounds like it should be a done deal, given the fact that the choice of the majority caucus is usually confirmed without issue and Perez supposedly is the choice of the Democratic majority:

Bass said she had not spoken to de León about her decision to endorse Pérez. She said she wanted to be “very respectful and give him some space.”

“At the end of the day, democracy prevails,” she said, contending that she was the 29th vote in favor of Pérez, which is more than the traditional 26 votes needed to push a nomination forward.

So, why is there still an issue?  Because Asm. Kevin De Leon is still fighting, despite a lackluster showing from the Latino Caucus of the Democratic majority, which endorsed him in underwhelming fashion:

On Wednesday morning, de León met with a group of supporters within the Assembly’s 17-member Latino caucus at the Sheraton Hotel.

Ten members of the caucus attended the meeting, with seven present pledging their support for de León as speaker. Pérez is also a member of the Latino caucus, but he was not present.

Color me unimpressed, of course, when you claim an endorsement with less than 44% of the vote among voters who aren’t your opponent.  So all in all, it would seem that De Leon’s position isn’t all that strong.  But now I’d like you to consider the words of another De Leon supporter: Assemblymember and current candidate for Attorney General Pedro Nava:

“I do think that’s what really matters and what people should focus on was the number of votes for speaker is not 27 or 29, it’s 41,” said de León supporter Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara.

“I think that we have a large number of very independent-thinking people who are not going to be stampeded into making a decision,” Nava said.

Remember what I said about the choice of the majority party usually getting confirmed as Speaker without much hassle.  Well, 41 is, of course, the number of votes required to win confirmation as Speaker by full vote of the Assembly.  What Asm. Nava’s words quite clearly suggest is that De Leon’s supporters are contemplating going outside the Democratic Caucus to secure some Republican votes in order to defeat Perez, who would be the choice of the majority of Democrats.  If that’s not what Asm. Nava meant, I highly encourage him to clarify, because that’s the only logical interpretation of his statement.

And if that is the case, why would the Republicans agree to support De Leon against Perez?  They’re both Latino labor leaders from the Los Angeles area–except one of them is gay, and one of them isn’t.  And given the fact that many Republicans still see being gay as some sort of terminal character flaw that leaves one unfit for any public or private responsibility, it would be no surprise if that were reason enough for at least some Republicans to join the De Leon faction to support him against the wishes of the Democratic majority.

And then, of course, we return to the plight of Senator Gil Cedillo, who obviously has reasons to support De Leon over Perez because, as I’ve written earlier, the good Senator so desperately needs to serve in the Assembly for his last two remaining years of eligibility that he is willing to challenge Asm. Perez in the Democratic Primary, even if Perez is elected as Speaker.  Obviously, Cedillo has every incentive to promote De Leon’s bid, because trying to unseat a sitting Speaker in your own Party’s primary undoubtedly won’t win you a lot of friends.  Of course, there is no word on what Senator Cedillo will do if he either a) loses to Perez, or b) wins and serves his two years.  Given his unbridled desire to hold another political office and his lack of ability to do so in either circumstance, I hope he will determine that his life still has value.

But humor aside.  How likely is it that Cedillo will able to win a traditional campaign against Perez, regardless of whether the latter is the Speaker?  Cedillo won’t get the endorsement of the Democratic Party because Perez is the incumbent and he only needs 50% of the delegates.  And I really doubt anyone will give a boatload of money to someone who can only serve in the Assembly for one term and then has to leave town with little hope of promotion to a higher office.

And given the fact that they’re both strong leaders in the Latino community, the only way I see Cedillo being able to have any chance whatsoever is to make Perez’ sexual orientation an issue, most likely in a fashion that is slightly less than above board.  And given the fact that Cedillo’s previous campaign was more than up to the task of using character assassination in his failed run for Congress, I have no doubt that his next team would be willing to use the same sort of scorched earth approach.

So what’s the bottom line?  I call on Asm. De Leon and Senator Cedillo not to make this an issue, either in the campaign for Assembly Speaker or in Cedillo’s quixotic primary challenge.  California Democrats support full and total equality and acceptance of the LGBT community, and it would be a shame if one of our own used the issue for personal gain among a far less tolerant group of people–such as, for instance, the California Republican Party.

This will be brief.  It is with amusement that I read from Capitol Weekly’s Twitter feed that Senator Gil Cedillo is intent on challenging John Perez for his Assembly seat now that he is termed out of the State Senate–even if Perez is elected as speaker, which is an outcome that is looking increasingly likely.

Keep in mind that last time we saw Gil Cedillo, he was engaged in a mean-spirited, borderline racist, and completely mendacious campaign for the 32nd Congressional District against newcomer Emanuel Pleitez and current Congresswoman and former Board of Equalization Chair Judy Chu.

There are a couple of things that really stand out to me about this.  First, I was under the impression that Senator Cedillo had already served his terms in the Assembly from 1997 until 2002.  If he’s contemplating running, he obviously has some eligibility left, but how could it extend beyond one term?  I would appreciate enlightenment on this issue. (UPDATE by Robert: According to Capitol Weekly, Cedillo has 1 term left – he replaced Louis Caldera in 1997 when Caldera became Army Secretary under Clinton.)

Second–challenging a sitting Speaker of the Assembly who is also a Latino with roots in the labor movement to move to the lower house?  Whose support, endorsements or fundraising does he really think he’s going to get if he pulls a move like that?  He certainly won’t get the support of the CDP, or the prominent members of the local party.

And lastly, after the hit that the Senator’s reputation took in light of his disastrous campaign for Congress, why would he want to follow that up by challenging a sitting Speaker when we have an opportunity to have several uninterrupted years of continuous leadership in that position due to the fact that we’ll apparently have a Speaker who isn’t in his last term?

Sometimes, I guess, the thirst for an office convinces people to do things they probably shouldn’t.  This is one of those cases.