Legislative Update

COLLECTOR’S INK July 2008 • Volume LIII, No. 6

Legislative Update

by Cliff Berg Governmental Advocate

une 4 was a critical Election Day in California to deter- Levine battled to replace Senate Sheila Kuehl. Pavley won mine who will be serving in the State Legislature next by a huge margin with 66.4 percent of the vote. Jyear for the 2009 Legislative Session. Because the voters South central Los Angeles saw Assemblyman Mervyn Dy- defeated a proposal in February to reform California’s term amlly running for the Senate seat vacated by Ed Vincent, limits law, a substantial number of current legislators were but the business community stepped in with over a million forced out of office at the end of this year and could not dollars for Rod Wright who defeated Dymally who was stand for re-election. This included Speaker Fabian Nuñez, backed by the labor unions. This election may create an Senate Leader Don Perata and Senate Republican Leader opportunity for moderate business friendly Democrats in Dick Ackerman. the Senate to finally have an impact. One of the consequences then of term limits is to force out In a closely watched special election State Senator Jeff Den- familiar faces, elect large numbers of freshman in open ham (R-Merced) easily defeated a recall election funded by seats, and also cause bloody primary battles between cur- Senate Leader Don Perata. Perata went after Republican rent Members or former Members over the few seats open Denham ostensibly for his vote against the State Budget that allow continued survival in the other House. Some of last year, although most thought this an excuse for a raw the more interesting Senate results follow; I will talk about political power grab. As voters and the media blasted the the Assembly next month. recall and pointed out that Denham had the good sense to Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) facing term vote no on a budget that was out of balance, Perata tried limits in the Assembly decided to challenge a sitting Demo- to distance himself from his effort but the 75% thrashing of cratic Senator Carol Migden who was up for re-election. It the recall was a clear defeat for him and a huge win for is generally considered a no-no for an Assemblyman of the Denham whom CAC supported. same party to challenge an incumbent, but Leno took on In the Republican suburbs of southern California, Bob Huff Migden, and at the last minute former Assemblyman Joe defeated Dennis Mountjoy to replace Senator Bob Margett, Nation jumped in. On Election Day, Leno prevailed with and Mimi Walters won by a wide margin over millionaire 43 percent which means he moves to the Senate next year Harry Sidhu to replace Dick Ackerman. and Migden is out. Out in the Palm Desert and Riverside area one of the nasti- In the East Bay former Assemblywoman Wilma Chan ran est and bitter primary battles took place between Republi- against current Assemblywoman Loni Hancock for Senator can Assemblyman John Benoit and former Assemblyman Perata’s seat. Chan had chaired the Assembly Health Com- Russ Bogh over the seat long held by Senator Jim Battin. mittee and authored many health care bills including the Benoit won by a wide margin. charity care legislation CAC worked on. Winner: Hancock the former Mayor of Berkeley with a strong environmental It is pretty much a given that all of the above Senate seats legislative record. are safe Democratic or Republican and that the primary winner will win in November. The current State Senate makeup Los Angeles was the battleground for two key Democratic is 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans. With Denham’s vic- Senate races. In Santa Monica and West Los Angeles for- tory in the recall there are two races worth watching this mer Assemblywoman Fran Pavley and Assemblyman Lloyd November. In the Santa Barbara/Ventura/West Valley area

State Senator Tom McClintock was forced out by term limits and moved to northern California to run for John Doolit- tle’s seat in Congress. He won. However, his State Senate seat will be a major fight between former Assemblyman Tony Strickland and former Assemblywoman Hannah Beth Jackson. This district has a Republican look but it is also a coastal area with many environmental independents and decline to states. In addition, the Presidential election could affect the outcome. This will be a huge battle. In the Central Valley State, Senator Mike Machado will be leaving and Republican Assemblyman Greg Aghazar- ian (Stockton) will be facing Democrat Lois Wolk (Davis) in November. This is a Democratic seat, but one Republicans have thought that they have had a shot at for years but have never been able to beat the popular Machado. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, State Senator Mark Ridley Thomas finished 1st in a race for the LA County Board of Supervisors against Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks. They face each other in a runoff this November. If Mark Ridley Thomas wins there will be a special election to fill his vacancy. State Senators Tom Torlakson and Jack Scott will be leaving and will be replaced by Assemblyman Mark DeSaulinier (D-Martinez) and former Assembywoman Carol Lieu (D- Pasadena). The Senate line up for next session looks largely the same; the Democrats could pick up one in Santa Barbara or the Republicans could pick up one in Stockton. Meanwhile State Senator Darrell Steinberg will replace Don Perata as Senate Leader. ••