President - No pick
I like Bernie and Hilary, and you have all been bombarded with info on the presidential election so you don’t need me to sway you on this one.
LA Supervisorial District 4 - Janis Hahn
Supervisorial district 4 runs from the South Bay to Southeast LA. If you live int his area I recommend Janis. Janis is a progressive democrat who is currently a congresswoman. Her father is the late, great Kenny Hahn - one of the most well known county supervisors in LA history. County government is in her blood. This is not a competitive race, but if she gets more than 50% in the primary she can stop campaigning and start planning her team and her agenda, so help her get there by casting your vote for her on Tuesday.
LA Supervisorial District 5 - Kathryn Barger
Supervisorial district 5 runs from the Antelope Valley to Pasadena to San Dimas. This is an extremely competitive race and one of the rare times I recommend a Republican. This is a conservative district and a Republican will win this seat. The questions is really want kind of Republican will win. Kathryn is a moderate who understands the County inside and out from serving many years as the current Supervisor, Mike Antonovich’s, Chief of Staff. She has good relationships on the Board and even though she will be more to the right than anyone else on the Board I think she is the only Republican running who will truly approach this seat as a non-partisan.
Party County Committee - 51st District
If you are a democrat you will be asked to vote for 7 party committee members. I have to confess that I have not idea what party committee members do, but I do have some friends who are running for this. If you you do not live in the 51st I can’t help you, but if you are in the 51st here are some good folks:
- Luis Lopez
- Hans Johnson
- Cecilia Cabello
U.S. Senator - Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris is the person I am most excited to vote for on Tuesday. She has been an extraordinary Attorney General. She has promoted criminal justice reform, which is somewhat unheard of for Attorney General. She has constantly spoken out about the schools-to-prison pipeline and pushed for schools to do more for students who are struggling. She will be a fantastic senator.
State Senate District 25 - Katherine Perez-Estolano
I have known Katherine for a number of years and she is an extremely intelligent leader. She would make a great state representative.
Los Angeles County Superior Court
I have not had a lot of time to research judges, but I am supporting the LA Times endorsements in all, but one race:
- Office 11: Steven Schreiner
- Office 42: Cyndy Zuzga
- Office 60: James Kaddo - one disclaimer here: the LA County Bar Association only rates Kaddo as “qualified”, but his opponent is rated as “not qualified.”
- Office 84: Susan Jung Townsend - another disclaimer: all of the candidates for this seat are only rated as “qualified” by the LA County Bar Association.
- Office 120: Ray Santana
- Office 158: Kim Nguyen - this is the one judicial seat where I am breaking from the Times endorsement. The Times endorsed David Berger, but the LA County Bar Association rated him as “not qualified.” I prefer Kim Nguyen, who is rated “well qualified.”
- Office 165: Kathryn Solorzano
Prop 50 - Yes
Prop 50 was proposed by then California Senate President Pro Temp Darrell Steinberg after three state senators were suspended for corruption, but continued to collect pay checks from the state. The state legislation can suspend members when they are under investigation for wrong doing, but not take away their pay. This proposition would allow the state legislature to suspend legislators and take away their pay if the 2/3 of the body voted in favor of doing so.
