Dan Walters writes:
"What if they held an election and nobody voted? That's not exactly what happened in California on Tuesday,
but voting was very light, perhaps setting a record
low for a primary election, even though voter registration
had been surging, topping 16 million for the first time in three years."
As of election night, 3.6 million votes were cast, which is 22.2% of registered voters.
This does not include provisional ballots and some
election day absentees.
Nevertheless, we have winners:
Congress: Tom McClintock (CD04)
Senate: Mark Leno (SD03), Loni Hancock (SD09), Jeff Denham (SD12), Fran Pavley (SD23), Rod Wright (SD25), Bob Huff (SD29), Mimi Walters (SD33), John Benoit (SD37)
Assembly: Jim Nielsen (AD02), Dan Logue (AD03), Mariko Yamada (AD08), Jack Sieglock (AD10), Nancy Skinner (AD14), Joan Buchanan (AD15-D), Abram Wilson (AD15 -R), Gerald Hill (AD19), Paul Fong (AD22), Bill Monning (AD27), Connie Conway (AD34), Steve Knight (AD36), Bob Blumenfield (AD40), John A. Perez (AD46), Isadore Hall (AD52), Bonnie Lowenthal (AD54), Curt Hagman (AD60), Norma Torres (AD61), Brian Nestande (AD64), Jeff Miller (AD71), Marty Block (AD78), Manuel Perez (AD80)
"Californians on Tuesday rejected a state ballot measure that would have phased out rent control and barred
government agencies from taking homes, businesses and
farms for private development," reports Patrick McGreevy in the Times.
"While Proposition 98 was falling short, voters approved Proposition 99, a more narrowly drawn competing measure that prohibits
government agencies from using eminent domain powers
to force the sale of owner-occupied residences for private projects.
"The backers of Proposition 99 declared victory and the backers of Proposition 98 conceded defeat, but appealed to the governor and
Legislature to expand homeowner protections.
"'By placing a second eminent domain measure on the ballot,
opponents of private property rights created enough
confusion between the ballot measures to defeat Proposition
98,' said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. 'Proposition 99's loopholes will allow eminent domain abuse to continue.'
"Opponents of Proposition 98 charged that the measure was sold as eminent domain
reform when its real purpose was to eliminate rent
control.
"'The voters saw that Proposition 98 was a deceptive initiative -- in fact, the worst kind of ballot abuse where a populist
issue is used to conceal an attack on renters, the
environment, homeowners and our communities,' said Tom Adams, board president of the California League of Conservation
Voters.
"San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno used an overwhelming showing in his home city Tuesday
to beat former San Rafael Assemblyman Joe Nation and incumbent
state Sen. Carole Migden in the Democratic primary for her three-county state Senate seat," report John Wildermuth and Wyatt Buchanan in the Chron.
"With 81 percent of the precincts reporting, Leno had 43 percent of the
vote, Nation 29 percent and Migden 28 percent. Leno beat Nation by
about 25,000 votes in San Francisco and held Nation's margin of victory
in his home base of Marin County to fewer than 3,000 votes.
"The results were a dagger for Migden, who has been
in political office
since she was elected to the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors in
1990. She arrived at her campaign headquarters in downtown
San
Francisco to thunderous applause around 9 p.m., shook some hands and
told supporters that she hoped to get "some unexpected, wonderful
results."
"But a political pro like Migden knows how to read the
polls, and it
was clear that she wasn't counting on a victory Tuesday night.
"'I'm proud of my years of service,' she said after her speech. 'Regardless of what happens, I'm very grateful and proud.'"
"Voters pummeled the recall against state Sen. Jeff Denham on Tuesday, leaving the Merced Republican to serve
out the rest of his second term," reports Scott Jason in the Merced Sun-Star.
"More than 84 percent of the voters in District 12 said they want Denham to remain in office, according
to the secretary of state's election results.
"'It's been very humbling to see so much support and so
much new support,' he said as the landslide results came in. 'We've won over people who are frustrated with this process.
They wanted to send a message that this won't be tolerated in the Valley.'"
"In
the hard-fought primary for the 22nd Assembly District, where the two
front-runners were a young moderate and a longtime member
of the
state's Democratic firmament, voters appeared to have chosen
the latter
Tuesday," reports Denis Theriault in the Merc News.
"College professor and party stalwart Paul Fong, 56, was pulling away from 33-year-old Santa Clara Councilman Dominic Caserta for the opportunity to succeed Sally Lieber in Sacramento. Cupertino Councilwoman Kris Wang and Santa Clara County Board of Education trustee
Anna Song were trailing.
"In the South Bay's only other contested Assembly primary, the 27th District, Monterey attorney Bill Monning was leading a pack of Democrats looking to replace
John Laird.
Like Lieber, Laird is a termed-out liberal. Results, however, were slow
to arrive from Santa Cruz County, which makes up the
largest portion of
the district."
"Tom McClintock, emerging victorious Tuesday from a bruising Republican
primary
, will face Democrat Charlie Brown in a November match-up to replace
retiring Rep. John Doolittle in Congress," writes the Bee's Peter
Hecht.
"With nearly 80 percent of the vote counted, McClintock held a
decisive lead over former Sacramento-area Rep. Doug Ose, 54 percent to
39 percent.
"'It looks like we're headed toward a monumental victory,' McClintock,
a state senator representing a district 400 miles away, told cheering
supporters in Placer County.
"Despite an intensely bitter campaign, McClintock said
he and
Ose "are no longer rivals." He added: 'Tonight we are partners … in a
historic struggle to restore our nation.'
"His victory came despite a campaign in which Ose spent
nearly $2.85
million of his own money in a largely negative media
blitz portraying
McClintock as a carpetbagging, do-nothing state lawmaker abusing
legislative expense perks while casting votes against
benefits for
veterans.
"McClintock responded with a campaign assailing Ose
as a political
liberal who abused his position in Congress by taking
farm subsidies
while serving on the House Agricultural Committee."
The Sacramento mayoral race will move to a runoff , with Kevin Johnson securing 46.58% and incumbent Heather Fargo receiving 39.65% of the vote.
In what can only be considered a bad omen, a large tree branch fell on attendees of Fargo's victory party at Vallejo's.
The Los Angeles Supervisor's race is also headed to a runoff. "The most expensive supervisorial race in Los Angeles
County history
will continue to a November runoff, with neither of
the top candidates
garnering the simple majority needed to win outright,
according to
unofficial election results tallied today.
"State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles City
Councilman Bernard C. Parks face another five months
of campaigning in
the contest to replace county Supervisor Yvonne B.
Burke, whose
sprawling district has South Los Angeles as its base.
"Buoyed by $4 million spent on his behalf by a coalition of labor
unions, Ridley-Thomas led Parks 45% to 40% in the race to represent the
2nd District, even as Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and other county
incumbents coasted to easy victories."
In San Diego, "Mayor Jerry Sanders' message of steady progress resonated with voters yesterday,
as he declared re-election victory and avoided a fall runoff against millionaire businessman
Steve Francis," reports the U-T's Matthew Hall.
“'I think voters are telling people right now they like
the way things are moving forward,' Sanders said. 'I feel real comfortable with that.'"
"Mendocino County voters were repealing, by a 56-44 percent margin, local marijuana standards that had earned the county a national reputation
as a haven for commercial growers," writes Mike Geniella in the Press-Democrat.
"The tally represented votes from about 90 percent of the precincts, including the Ukiah Valley
area where strong support for Measure B was expected.
However, votes still were to be counted in Willits
and Laytonville, rural areas where the underground
marijuana economy is more pronounced, and along the
Mendocino Coast, a liberal voter bastion.
"The divisive Measure B campaign was marked by high-profile, local criminal cases, including the marijuana
possession arrests of a local high school teacher and
of the daughter of a former congressman."
In the public safety lobbyist vs. the chief of staff
(Sen. Ducheny) vs. the restaurant lobbyist race for Yolo County Supervisor,
Jim Provenza easily beat John Ferrera and Cathy Kennedy.
In San Francisco voters opted to raise their property taxes to pay for
schools . This in a town of mostly renters and hardly any
children.
The Chron reports, "Proposition A, which required
two-thirds voter support to pass, had 80,000 yes votes to 35,000 no
votes with all precincts reporting.
"The parcel tax was one of 16 Bay Area school measures on Tuesday's
ballot, including 10 parcel taxes, which all require two-thirds
support, and six facilities bonds, which need 55 percent of the yes
votes to pass. Late in the evening, 10 of those measures were winning."
San Francisco also passed a major redevelopment plan that could tranform portions of the city in what mounted
to a major victory for Mayor Gavin Newsom.
"Newsom have said Prop. G
ensures that the neglected land at the polluted shipyard
and nearby
Candlestick Point will be transformed by new housing
and businesses
without tapping the city's coffers.
"In exchange for free land, Lennar has promised to spend
more than $1
billion on infrastructure to remake the combined 720 acres with homes,
retail shops and a green office park ringed by 300 acres of parkland -
and possibly build a new stadium for the 49ers if the team stays in the
city. The company also said it would rebuild the Alice
B. Griffith
apartments, a run-down public housing development."
OK, deep breath. Have a glass of water. On second thought...
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will formally declare today that the state has plunged
into a drought, putting Californians on notice that rationing could
be next if conservation efforts are not stepped up," reports Michael Gardner in the Union-Tribune.
"'The governor is ringing the bell. We're heading over a cliff,' Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources,
said in an exclusive interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune."
How Dickensian that in this year of draught, we have
a water resources chief named Les Snow.
"Schwarzenegger will issue an accompanying executive
order to launch an aggressive campaign to transfer
water to parched regions, pursue federal aid, quickly
funnel more state money to conservation projects and
to lay the foundation for a emergency water bank, beginning
in 2009, that would be filled by supplies purchased from farmers.
"The state is already feeling repercussions of drought
conditions, from idled farmland to reduced deliveries
to metropolitan areas between San Diego and the Silicon
Valley. Relief is a gamble, given the changing weather
patterns blamed on global warming, Schwarzenegger plans
to say."
"Tobacco, once considered investment poison to California's biggest public pension systems, is poised to make a comeback," reports the Bee's Jon Ortiz.
"The $172 billion California State Teachers' Retirement System today will consider adding tobacco
stocks back into its portfolio. Nearly eight years
ago it dumped all such investments, convinced that
looming lawsuits, bankruptcies and government regulation
would push investors to the exits en masse and pummel
the industry's stock prices.
"But those dire predictions didn't pan out – and CalSTRS figures it would have been up to $1 billion richer if it hadn't divested its tobacco holdings.
"So despite objections from anti-smoking groups, CalSTRS officials say tobacco could
again be a sound investment for the fund.
"'In 2000 the marketplace was in such turmoil that the prudent
action was to cut the potential risk,' said CalSTRS spokeswoman Sherry Reeser. 'Now we're in a completely different marketplace.'"
And from our Heeeeeeeeeeere's Foreclosure Files, Laura Richardson isn't the only quasi-celebrity with home loan problems.
"Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight
Show," is fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar
Beverly Hills estate.
"McMahon
defaulted on $4.8 million in mortgage loans with a unit of Countrywide
Financial Corp., which filed a notice of default in
March, according to
ForeclosureRadar, a company that sells default data
pulled from public
records.
"The 85-year-old pitchman for various products, including American
Family Publishers, is the highest-profile person to be caught up in the
nationwide real estate downturn and mortgage crunch.
"'He's
not alone. There are plenty of people affected by the
weak economy, bad
housing market or bad health,' McMahon's spokesman, Howard Bragman,
said late Tuesday.
You are correct, sir!
And our thoughts go out to a 21-year-old Dutch man who is recovering after "a mooning that went horribly wrong."
"It says that at one point the 21-year-old 'pushed his behind against
the window of a restaurant' that broke and resulted in 'deep wounds to
his derriere.'
"The statement released Tuesday says police detained
the three men
after the incident Sunday morning. But the cafe owner
decided not to
press charges after the men agreed to pay for the broken
window."
