Term limits, retirement, clear way for new leaders
Congressman Henry Waxman’s departure from Congress and Ted Lieu’s ascent were the double bill, marquee events in a year in which shifts in the national political landscape were reflected in the South Bay. But contrary to changes at the national level, the change here wasn’t an ideological one. Waxman has been among Congress’ most liberal members and Lieu isn’t any less blue.
Waxman has represented the 33rd Congressional District, which now includes the South Bay for four decades. That’s nearly as long as Lieu has been alive.
Waxman passed more legislation than any other sitting member of Congress, including the Clean Air Act and the Affordable Care Act. He also lead several high-profile investigations, perhaps most famously leading the Congressional hearings into tobacco companies in the 1980s that would result in warning labels, advertising restrictions and one of the most successful public health campaigns in modern history.
Ted Lieu makes an appearance at an anti oil drilling rally in Hermosa Beach in April, prior to his election to Congress in November. Photo
Lieu improves record
Lieu’s election to the House of Representatives, the result of a 16 point waxing of Republican Elan Carr in the November election, only adds to the story of his fast rise up the political ladder.
The son of immigrant parents won a scholarship to Stanford, served in the Air Force and graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown law school. After a few years in the private sector he jumped into politics, rising from the Torrance City Council in 2005 to the State Assembly and then the State Senate. He stumbled in a run for the State Attorney General’s office but may have landed a bigger prize with his election to the 33rd Congressional District Seat.
That he’s been elected president of this year’s Democratic Party freshman class is a strong vote of confidence in his abilities. Despite being in the Democratic minority, Lieu is confident in his abilities to get legislation passed. “I have a record of working with Republicans in the State Legislature to get things done…I’ll need to do that even more now.”
Hadley wins first race
David Hadley, a Republican out of Manhattan Beach, upset incumbent Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi for the 66th district seat in the California State Assembly in November by little more than one percentage point. Hadley’s first run for public office was rife with attacks.
While some were warranted (Muratsuchi’s upheld complaint that Hadley’s campaign had accepted a donation $40,900 greater than the $4,100 limit from the Republican Party of Los Angeles County—66th AD state committee) and some not (Hadley’s claim from that Muratsuchi had raised more than 90 percent of his campaign funds from Sacramento, which the Easy Reader proved false in an analysis of campaign finance records), the result was a Republican victory in a district with a Democratic plurality.
Hermosa schools can’t answer Q
Hermosa Beach voters chose to go against the 2014’s political trend by defeating Measure Q, a $54 million school bond measure. The measure fell about 100 votes short of the 55 percent figure needed to push the measure through. The $54 million would’ve been used to upgrade facilities at Hermosa Valley and Hermosa View Schools and reopen North School. More than a third of the students at Valley and View are in temporary classrooms. A plan created in anticipation of Q’s failure included the purchase of seven more portable classrooms and a portable restroom.
Redondo keeps it short
In choosing to not make a change to current term limit laws, Redondo Beach voters ensured that change was inevitable, voting down measures that would have increased limits for council and school board members. Measures CM and BE would have extended term limits from two four-year terms to three.
“The longer a politician is in office, the more he understands how to sway voters, raise money and build an empire,” District 2 councilmember Bill Brand said in an argument against Measure CM. “Government, especially at the local level, needs fresh perspectives, fresh ideas, fresh policy making.”
Redondo voters also voted in favor of shifting the position of City Treasurer from full-time to part-time on the back of a campaign from current treasurer Steve Diels.
Allen wins all Democrat Senate race
Ben Allen, of Santa Monica, defeated fellow Democrat Sandra Fluke handily in November to win the District 26 State Senate seat vacated by Lieu.
Allen’s won 60.78 percent of the votes, though the race was was neck-and-neck in terms of campaign contributions. The eventual victor landed a larger number of weighty endorsements, including those of Henry Waxman, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, Redondo Beach Mayor Steve Aspel, Manhattan Beach Mayor Wayne Powell and most of the Hermosa Beach City Council. Allen also benefitted from a $1.3 million contribution from an independent expenditure campaign helmed by Manhattan Beach businessman Bill Bloomfield.
Fluke capitalized on her earlier brushes with the national stage (though one could dispute the value of fame that comes from talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh) and captured a number of organizational endorsements, scoring support from Planned Parenthood and the Sierra Club, as well as approval from Congresswoman Janice Hahn and Attorney General Kamala Harris.
Still, Fluke expressed frustration with the support Allen received from Bloomfield. “Living my values around independence and campaign finance reform is a stark difference between me and my opponent,” Fluke said in an October email, elsewhere noting that campaign finance reform would have been chief among her priorities in Sacramento.
Setting the stage
Setting the electoral stage for 2015 were two ballot measures approved this year. Both have the potential to change the their respective cities’ political and physical landscapes.
In Redondo, AES qualified Measure B for the March 2015 ballot. Measure B will ask voters to rezone AES’ power plant to allow commercial and residential development.
In Hermosa, the city council placed Measure O on the March 2015 ballot. Measure Q will ask voters to lift the city’s ban on oil drilling to make way for 34 wells to be drilled from the city’s maintenance yard into the city’s tidelands. ER