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L.A. Democratic Politicians Missing In Action

Paresh Dave |
October 22, 2010 | 12:02 a.m. PDT

Executive Producer

Though L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has punched his support for Brown, Boxer and Newsom, the local coalition of elected Democrats has been generally quiet. (Hillel Aron)
Though L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has punched his support for Brown, Boxer and Newsom, the local coalition of elected Democrats has been generally quiet. (Hillel Aron)

The city of Los Angeles' top two Democrats—Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Council President Eric Garcetti—have offered glimmering smiles at press conferences, rallies and meetings in recent weeks, stumping for fellow Democrats running for statewide office. But are their efforts a case of too little, too late for a party that is reeling in nationwide polls?

During the last week, Villaraigosa has spoken alongside Sen. Barbara Boxer, Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom—who together represent the top-of-ticket Democratic candidates in California. Two of the events were campaign-related; the third a press conference held by a group of Democratic politicians celebrating a federal loan for a South L.A. transit project.

Both Villaraigosa, who was once thought of to be a potential candidate for governor this year, and Garcetti appear to have aspirations to run for higher office, so experts say appearing on behalf of others gives them a chance to collect an “I owe you” here and there to boost their own campaigns some day. Others local Democrats have also been part of an effort to encourage their party's voters to cast a ballot in this year's midterm election.

And that party—the Los Angeles County Democratic Party—is the largest local Democratic in the nation. The top political leaders belonging to that group of 2.3 million voters hasn't been as active as they could be.

If every registered voter in California cast a ballot in this year's midterm election, L.A. County Democrats would account for three out of every 20 votes. By ensuring these voters make it to the polls, Garcetti and Villaraigosa stand to gain not only from a broader awareness of their names, but also from state and national governments that would be more supportive of their progressive environmental and transit policies. The lack of public appeals by local Democratic leaders to stir enthusiasm in their party in the months leading up to the elections leaves experts stumped.

“From Obama down to Mayor Villaraigosa and the councilmembers, the Democratic party should have been out there earlier,” said Pedro Castillo, professor of history at University of California, Santa Cruz. “I don't know what they were thinking.”

Across the nation, there's talk of lack of enthusiasm to vote among Democrats. Some observers of California politics believe that the Golden State has defied the trend. But the campaign manager for Jerry Brown notes polls are projecting only a six-point advantage for Democrats in terms of voter turnout in a state where Democrats have a 14-point lead in voter registration.

“The Democrats are trying to hold on by their fingertips,” said Raphael Sonenshein, a political science professor at Cal State Fullerton. “They have large working class electorate that gets mobilized very late.”

Brown will spend about $1 million a day on television advertising during the final two weeks of the election—enough to probably get the average television user to see his ads 10 times during the period. The Democratic Party and the campaign say they have 25,000 volunteers trying to contact six times as many voters. Another $4.5 million is being used to send up to 15 million hand-outs via mail.

The Republican camp has 12,000 more volunteers than Brown, so they plan to contact 500,000 more voters than Brown's forces. Both Democrats and Republicans use sophisticated database systems to send targeted advertising to highly-specific segments of voters.

Here in Los Angeles—a city that has more than twice as many registered Democrats as registered Republicans—local politicians who have been entrenched in power for many years have both access, contacts and cheer to offer statewide candidates. Though there's no doubt that the stakes are higher, it's unclear if activity at the local level is any more fervent than past years. Part of the problem, experts say, is an operation by leaders of the state Democratic Party that's been developed uncomfortably slow.

Another part of it may also be a lack of initiative by local politicians to launch their own efforts to drive Democrats to the polls. Perhaps, it's been calculated moves to avoid being drawn in with awful national public opinion of Democrats by refraining from associations with more noted Democrats unless asked.

“It shows poorly on Obama and the Democratic National Committee that they didn't lean on local politicians earlier,” Castillo said. “They should have stated their positions on statewide candidates and continued to hit the ground hard.”

Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who lost in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor to Gavin Newsom, is one who has only been attending events when asked by candidates. She's backed Newsom and supported Kamala Harris for attorney general, Debra Bowen for secretary of state and, of course, Brown. Like several other Los Angeles council members, she's simply standing by, ready to help.

Hahn's also found herself in front of labor unions, which represent the Democratic party's strongest mobilizer of voters in California. She spoke recently at a labor coalition breakfast, encouraging members to vote by the end of Nov. 2. Councilman Herb Wesson gave a similar pep talk to campaign organizers at the L.A. County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

Los Angeles County supervisors have also rose to the occasion, but again only when asked.

Gloria Molina has stood behind Newsom and Brown at separate press conferences. She's been most involved with Barbara Boxer's campaign, though, holding and participating events for the senator.

Calls placed to supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky were not returned. Same goes for calls to the City Council's east side delegation. It would make sense for the likes of Tony Cardenas and Richard Alarcon to be encouraging their Latino-dominated constituencies to vote. Ridley-Thomas spoke alongside Boxer at press conference on Wednesday announcing a federal loan that will pay for almost half the cost of a light rail line dissecting part of his district. He's likely to attend to Friday's event.

Congresswoman Diane Watson attended that press conference too. She plans to attend Friday's rally and “speak out strongly about the need for students to participate in GOTV and voting on Nov. 2.” Her big push will come Sunday, when she visits the congregations of six “mega-churches,” urging them to support the entire Democratic side of the ballot and vote against Prop 19.

L.A. Councilman Bernard Parks has been making similar trips to two or three churches each Sunday for several weeks. He's focused more on encouraging people to vote in general because he says, “You lose half the audience when you start talking about specific candidates.”

He told the Brown campaign he'd be happy to help out, but he hasn't ever heard back. As a result, Parks has focused mainly on Boxer's re-election bid. He and Councilwoman Jan Perry hosted a viewing party for the senatorial debate at the L.A. Sentinel, an African-American newspaper.

“In a close race, each candidate is looking for a specific percentage of specific communities,” said Jaime Regaldo, the director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles. “Those that can lead introductions into those communities will play a big role.”

For Jerry Brown's push into the Latino community, that man has seemingly been Gil Cedillo, the leader of the State Senate's Latino Caucus. Why Villaraigosa—a man more accustomed to television cameras—or even Parks haven't been involved as heavily remains unanswered.

The DNC seems to have enlisted Rep. Xavier Becerra, who's been busy saying kind words about candidates throughout the country. Beccera's been to at least Ohio, Colorado and Nevada. On Wednesday night, he was scheduled to be the featured speaker at a meeting of the Northeast L.A. Democrats. Come Friday, he'll settle into a seat at USC to watch Obama speak.

But for all the endorsements the local politicians are making, do any of them even matter?

San Francisco State political science professor Robert Smith doubts it.

“There's very low transfer of confidence from one candidate to another,” said Smith. “Oprah's endorsement would mean more. It's the talking that gets people to the polls that can be really effective.”

So, the impact of endorsements might be minimal for the actively campaigning candidates. But for politicians eyeing those statewide offices in the future, there's definitely promising value in lending a hand to the “big wigs.”

“It's nice to have an association with start power, especially if you have higher political aspirations, because it can help boost your statewide image,” said Jaime Regalado, a polticial science professor at Cal State Los Angeles.

A candidate could easily owe a debt to a council member or mayor if a candidate wins and feels the local politician aided in the victory.

“It's all about positioning,” Regalado said. “If you're sunsetting your current job because of term limits or looking to move up, you can help yourself out with a winner giving you a new job in Sacramento.”

Though Villaraigosa and Garcetti may be gaining steam in one position battle, their party seems to be losing a much wider race.

“The tide's not turning now,” Castillo said. “The Democrats should have started weeks ago if not months ago.”

With reporting from staff reporter Stevee Jo Eads.

Reach executive producer Paresh Dave here. Follow him on Twitter: @peard33.



 

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