Do you want to know what Jenny Oropeza thinks about health care? Do you want to know how Laura Richardson would work for civil rights for all? Do you want to know how Peter Mathews would end the occupation of Iraq? Well, you’ll have a chance to find out all of this and more on June 14!

LBPost.com, Charter Communications, and the Long Beach Democratic Club are co-sponsoring a debate among ALL THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES running to fill the vacated seat in the 37th Congressional District. If you live anywhere from Carson to Long Beach, then you’ll definitely want to come to this. Come, and see for yourself what the candidates have to say about the issues that you care about most.

Follow me after the flip for all the details on next week’s debate…

Please RSVP for the debate HERE!

Cabrillo High School
2001 Santa Fe Ave
Long Beach, CA 90810
(562) 951-7700

Here’s the map of the school.

This event is free and open to the public! All they ask is that you show up by 6:30 PM. There, isn’t that easy? And isn’t that worth making an informed decision for such an important election? : )

Two big endorsements have come out in the last week for the special election down south.  Sen. Jenny Oropeza walked away with the California Democratic Party endorsement, allowing her to say that she is officially endorsed by the CA Democratic Party.  It sounds good, but does not mean extra resources.  The bigger prize, that of the Los Angeles County Labor Federation goes to Assemblywoman Laura Richardson.

Like Steve Maviglo at CA Majority Report says, this means boots on the ground, especially useful in a low-turnout election like this one.  The Fed will get their phone banks working, labor members walking precincts and spend money to message their own members.  The LA Fed is a particularly strong one, in a very labor friendly area, making it a particularly plum endorsement.

Orepeza is chalking up the decision to her vote for the massive Indian gaming expansion compacts.  Labor has been in strong opposition and people were pretty surprised when she voted in favor.  As for the role of that vote in the endorsement decision:

Maria Elena Durazo, the executive secretary-treasurer of the County Fed, said the vote on the tribal compacts did come up in endorsement discussions, but that it was one of a number of issues.

“It was by no means the only reason or the driving reason,” she said.

(developments in next month’s CA-37 special. Oropeza snagged the endorsement of the CDP, not the DNC. – promoted by dday)

[crossposted at From the Fever Swamp]

(Note: I’ve amended the diary title to reflect that I’m saying there are clear differences between the candidates; although the facts presented in the article support such a conclusion, the author doesn’t claim that.) 

The 37th district is extremely blue and it’s clear whichever of the Democratic favorites wins (Jenny Oropeza or Laura Richardson), she is going to vote the way progressives would want her to vote most of the time.  On most issues, they’d vote similarly.

On gay rights, though, there appears to be a clear difference between them:

Kuehl also noted that when Richardson was on the Long Beach City Council, she voted against a resolution to oppose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

At the time, in 2004, Richardson said she opposed gay marriage.

Oropeza, by contrast, was a co-author of the 2005 bill to allow gay marriage in California. The bill passed both houses of the Legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In a race in which Richardson and Oropeza can be expected to agree far more often than they differ, the gay rights issue appears to create some daylight between them.

If this difference between them is being characterized fairly, I’d say that’s reason enough to get off the fence and support Oropeza if gay rights are important to you.

UPDATE: L.B. Press-Telegram reports Oropeza gets endorsement of Democratic Party.

State Sen. Jenny Oropeza won the Democratic Party’s endorsement for the 37th Congressional District on Saturday, demonstrating her strength among grassroots activists.

The party’s backing is an important stamp of approval in a district dominated by Democratic voters, and could bolster Oropeza’s crew of door-knockers and phone bank volunteers.

Oropeza took 119 of the 168 ballots cast by party delegates, or 71 percent, easily reaching the 60 percent threshold needed to win the party’s backing.

Assemblywoman Laura Richardson, Oropeza’s top rival, trailed with 45 votes in polling of party delegates at a union hall in Gardena.

Not sure if this is the state or national party giving endorsement. 

In any case, most of the delegates are from out of the district, as the Richardson campaign points out, so it is not a good representation of the views of district activists or voters. 

The significance is in the resources which will go to Oropeza as a result – both officially from the party as well as from Democrats for whom this endorsement carries weight. 

The upcoming special election to replace the late Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald is getting nasty.  There are 19 people who have filed already, but there are just three front runners, State Assemblymember Laura Richardson, State Senator Jenny Oropeza and the daughter of the late Congresswoman Valerie McDonald.  Power-brokers down in SoCal are taking sides. Yesterday, Senator Sheila Kuehl blasted Richardson for being “homophobic” in a letter and started fundraising for Orepeza.

The charges stem from an incident ten years ago when Richardson ran and lost to openly lay Gerrie Schipske for a State Assembly seat in Long Beach.  Kuehl’s letter yesterday charged that Richardson’s campaign mailers during that race “were filled with homophobic hate speech so shocking that many of her biggest supporters withdrew their endorsements of her candidacy.” Capitol Weekly:

The mailer, sent by Richardson during her 1996 Assembly run against Gerrie Schipske, accused her opponent of being “committed to the radical gay agenda” and “strongly backed by ultra-liberal Santa Monica Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl, the Assembly’s only openly gay member.”

The mailer was so aggressive that it cost Richardson support, said Parke Skelton, a consultant to both Kuehl and Oropeza. “A number of [Richardson’s] major supporters saw that and withdrew their endorsements,” he said.

Though ten years have passed, but the wound still seethes for Kuehl.  Richardson’s team declined to respond, but Jasmyne Cannick, a well known out African American political activist “says Richardson’s positions has been distorted.”

“Richardson is not homophobic. Ten years ago was 10 years ago, and a lot can happen in that span of time, including education and new sense of right and wrong. Ten years ago, Richardson looked at things differently as it related to the gay community and in that 10 years, she’s changed,” Cannick said.

“So is she going to be labeled as homophobic forever? Not to mention the fact that gay and lesbian issues aren’t the end all in this race,” added Cannick, an aide to Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, D-Compton.

They may not have been in this race before, but they are now.  And has she changed in the last 10 years?  MadProfessor over at dailykos took a look at her record.

As far as MadProfessahcan discern, Richardson is not a co-sponsor of any of the California LGBT community’s major legislative priorities in the State Legislature: Mark Leno’s AB 43 (Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act) or Kuehl’s SB 777 (Student Civil Rights Act) or John Laird’s AB 14 (Civil Rights Act of 2007). A lack of such sponsorship does not mean that she’s homophobic, but since most of the Democratic caucus is signed on to all or at least one of these pieces of legislation it is significant that Richardson’s name is nowhere to be seen, especially considering she represents a district which is putting on the third largest gay and lesbian pride celebration in the country this weekend.

Today, Cannick posted multiple pictures of Richardson appearing with Black LGBT activists as well as a picture of Kuehl herself appearing with Richardson from 2006. It appears as if Richardson AND Kuehl have some “splainin” to do. So far silent in the dispute is State Senator Jenny Oropeza, who may be waiting to see how the dispute between the African American and LGBT communities shakes out and hope that bolsters her candidacy.

If this story leaps beyond the insider CapWeekly, to the mainstream news Richardson will have to talk about her support for GLBT issues.  Kuehl is no shrinking violet and will not back down from this battle.  Thus far Kuehl has only raised $1,655 for Oropeza on ActBlue.  This campaign is only a few weeks old and it is already getting nasty.  I expect there will be way more to come.  An open Congressional seat doesn’t happen all that often.

It’s behind the firewall, but Republicans in John Doolittle’s district are determined to get him out of the 2008 race by threatening to run a primary challenger.  I would assume that even the NRCC wouldn’t be too keen to mount any resistance to such a challenge.  They know well that Charlie Brown is poised to beat Doolittle the second time around, but it would be a more difficult task with a fresh opponent who is less tainted by scandal.  My question would be, who could they possibly find up there that has no connection to Doolittle?  Even mini-Rush Tom Sullivan, a non-politician, had Doolittle on his show as recently as last week.  And the other “vultures” that are circling, to borrow Sullivan’s phrase, certainly have some connection to Doolittle as well.

The other report would be a bombshell if true.  CMR is reporting that Maxine Waters may retire this weekend to run for a seat on the LA County Board of Supervisors.  I would hope this doesn’t happen, but retirements like this in favor of elections closer to home are inevitable.  Waters’ seat is as safe as they come, but any election for it would be a free-for-all.

Speaking of free-for-alls, 19 candidates have filed for the June 26 special election to replace the late Juanita Millender-McDonald.  This is pretty much a three-way race between Sen. Jenny Oropeza, Assemblywoman Laura Richardson, and neophyte politician and Rep. Millender-McDonald’s daughter, Valerie McDonald.

I should have another full roundup in a couple weeks.

Yesterday I reported on Sen. Jenny Oropeza running for the late Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald’s seat. Assemblywoman Laura Richardson is also running for that seat.  While Oropeza may have greater name ID from her longer service, it will be no walk in the park.

The upcoming congressional race between Sen. Jenny Oropeza and Assemblywoman Laura Richardson has no shortage of subplots. There is an ethnic component: Richardson is African-American, Oropeza is Latino. Then there’s the inherent Senate vs. Assembly rivalry. But the race may also become a proxy in the battle between labor unions and Indian tribes over new gaming compacts pending in the state Legislature. … Oropeza, D-Long Beach, has long been a champion of organized labor. But earlier this year, she voted against labor, and with Senate leadership, to support the compacts on the floor of the state Senate.

Soon after the vote, a group of labor leaders, including Maria Elena Durazo, the powerful head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, met with Oropeza to express their displeasure. “There were a lot of folks who were unhappy,” says Mary Gutierrez, the organization’s spokeswoman. (Capitol Weekly 5/3/07)

On the previous thread, some pointed out jennyoropeza.com, which is a hit site that lingered from her failed run against our current Speaaker. Or perhaps it was pre-emptive for just such a race.  Either way, somebody has some bad blood with Senator Oropeza.

On the other hand, Assemblywoman Richardson is pretty new to this game. So, she still has yet to garner a whole lot of enemies, but converse may also be true. So, either way, I don’t think this is going to end so smoothly as was anticipated. Term limits ensure that.

(And Assemblywoman Laura Richardson – promoted by blogswarm)

Sen. Jenny Oropeza has announced that she will run in the special election to replace Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald.

California state Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D) announced Wednesday afternoon that she will run in the special election to fill the seat of recently deceased Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D).

“We are all deeply saddened by the event that has brought me here today,” Oropeza said in a statement.(The Hill 5/3/07)

Oropeza, who now represents much of the district, is the early favorite to win the seat.