MadProfessah Endorsements for California November 4, 2014 General Election

Finally, the moment you have been waiting for!  Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I will be voting in the November 4 2014 California General Election, compared with endorsements from other organizations like the Los Angeles Times,  California Democratic Party, East Area Progressive Democrats and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. For more information about judicial candidates, check out the LA County Bar Association.

Statewide Measures         MadProf   LA TIMES CA DEMS
Prop. 1 (Water Bond)       Yes       Yes      Yes
Prop. 2 (State Budget)     Yes       Yes      Yes
Prop. 45 (Health Ins.)     Yes       No       Yes
Prop. 46 (MD malpractice)  Yes       No       NEUTRAL
Prop. 47 (Sentence Reform) Yes       Yes      Yes
Prop. 48 (Indian Casinos)  Yes       Yes      Yes

Statewide Races          MadProf  LA TIMES  CA DEMS
Governor                 Brown*   Brown*     Brown*

Lieutenant Governor      Newsom*  Newsom*    Newsom*
Attorney General         Harris*  Harris*    Harris*
Secretary of State       Padilla  Peterson   Padilla
Treasurer                Chiang   Chiang     Chiang

Controller               Yee      Swearingen Yee
Insurance Commissioner   Jones*   Jones*     Jones*   
Supt. of Public Inst.    Torlakson* Tuck     Torlakson*

Bd. of Equalization, #1  NONE       ---      Parker    

Bd. of Equalization, #2  NONE       ---      Ma

Bd. of Equalization, #3  NONE       ---      Horton*

Bd. of Equalization, #4  NONE       ---      NONE

CA Sup. Court (Cuellar)  YES        YES      YES

CA Sup. Court (Liu)      YES        YES      YES

CA Sup. Court (Werdegar) YES        YES      YES

LA County Races          MadProf   LA TIMES   LA DEMS
Assessor                 Prang     Morris     Prang

Sheriff                  McDonnell McDonnell  NOT TANAKA
Supervisor, District 1   Solis     Solis      Solis
Supervisor, District 3   Kuehl     Kuehl      Kuehl
Measure P (Parks)        YES       NO         YES

Judicial Races            MadProf  LA TIMES  CA DEMS
Ct of Appeal (Rothschild) Yes      Yes       Yes 
Ct of Appeal (Johnson)    ---      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Hoffstadt)  ---      Yes       Yes

Ct of Appeal (Edmon)      Yes      Yes       Yes

Ct of Appeal (Collins)    Yes      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Manella)    Yes      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Turner)     ---      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Yegan)      ---      Yes       Yes

Ct of Appeal (Perluss)    ---      Yes       Yes


Ct of Appeal (Rubin)      ---      Yes       Yes

Ct of Appeal (Flier)      Yes      Yes       Yes


Superior Court, Office 61 Lewis    Lewis     Lewis  

Superior Court, Office 87 Stein    Stein     Stein

SATURDAY POLITICS: CA Democrats Dominating Statewide Races

Leveraging their significant edge in voter registration, Democratic candidates are dominating all statewide races in California. The latest figures show that registered voters in California are 43.4% Democrat, 28.2% Republican, 23.1% No Party Preference. The respected Field poll released their final poll before Tuesday's election and it shows how deep blue a state California is. Governor Jerry Brown is romping to an easy re-election for an unprecedented fourth term and carrying the rest of the Democratic slate of statewide candidates with him to victory.

The final pre-election Field Poll completed earlier this week finds Brown enjoying a 21-point preference advantage, 54% to 33%, over his Republican opponent Neel Kashkari. Since the June open primary in which Kashkari finished second and earned the right to challenge Brown in the November general election, Brown has maintained large double-digit leads over Kashkari ranging narrowly from 16 to 21 points. 

The latest poll also finds that in the six other partisan statewide election contests to be decided next week – Lt. Governor, Attorney General, State Controller, State Treasurer, Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner – the Democratic candidate holds the lead over the Republican by margins ranging from seven to thirteen points.

It's nice to see that the nation's largest state and my home state has decisively rejected the Republican agenda. Sadly, it looks like the same can not be said for races happening around the country in red and purple states. 

SATURDAY POLITICS: Pérez Ends Recount Effort, Concedes Defeat To Yee In State Controller Race

One of the closest electoral battles in California history ended Friday when John Pérez ended his bid for a recount and conceded that he had placed 3rd in the June 2014 primary, a mere 481 votes (out of more than 4 million balllots cast)  behind 2nd place finisher Democrat Betty Yee. Pérez continued insistence on a recount was roiling Democratic circles especially since he had failed to pick up many votes and since the Secretary of State had estimated that a full hand recount of all the votes could have taken until early 2015 (2 months after the general election is scheduled to occur!) The Chairman of the California Democratic Party started suggesting the 44-year-old, openly gay former Assembly Speaker was starting to damage his future political prospects.

Pérez sent an email to supporters, saying:

“Today I have made the decision to bring the recount process to an end, and pledge my full support to Betty Yee to be California’s next Controller.   

While I strongly believe that completing this process would result in me advancing to the General Election, it is clear that there are significant deficiencies in the process itself which make continuing the recount problematic. Even in the effort so far, we have found uncounted ballots, but there is simply not enough time to see this process through to the end, given the fact that counties must begin printing ballots in the next few weeks in order to ensure that overseas and military voters can receive their ballots in a timely manner.  

I began this process because every vote deserves to be counted fairly and accurately, and as the recount has made clear, California needs to rethink our approach and incorporate best practices from across the nation. This effort was not about the outcome of a particular election, but the integrity of every election, and the issues brought to the light over the last two weeks need to be addressed in a comprehensive and thoughtful manner. 

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in the Assembly these last six years, and to have led the Assembly at a time when we’ve turned multi-billion dollar deficits into multi-billion dollar reserves, expanded healthcare for more than three million Californians and made college affordable again by enacting the Middle Class Scholarship Act. I am grateful for the support my campaign has received from everyday Californians who have seen the work my colleagues and I have done in the Legislature, and embraced our vision of fiscally responsible and progressive government which expands opportunity for all Californians. We built a tremendous record of accomplishment together, and I look forward to making contributions to build on that record of progress in the future. 

In the immediate term, I will be continuing my service in the Assembly, and working hard to help elect Democrats up and down California.”

Now, Yee will face Republican Ashley Swearingen in November with Democratic pride to keep all of California's constitutional office in blue hands on the line.

SATURDAY POLITICS: Yee (Currently) Leads Pérez BY 659 Votes

Last week's Saturday Politics discussed the insanely close vote count between Democrats Betty Yee and John Pérez for the #2 slot in the California State Controller race. Last week, Pérez had a lead but in the latest update on Friday evening by the Secretary of State, Yee now leads by 659 votes (out of well more than 4 million votes cast in this race) over her Democratic rival, with a total of 876,670 compared to 876,011. The two are basically tied with 21.7% of the vote while a Republican is currently well ahead for the #1 run-off spot with 24.8%.

Regardless of who is declared to be the winner, it is very likely there will be a recount, and also likely that a Democrat will end up winning the general election. (After all, if you add up the Republican-leaning votes in the current tally, it only totals 45.8% of the vote.)

SATURDAY POLITICS: Nailbiter Election Between Yee and Pérez For State Controller Run-Off Slot

John Pérez, former openly gay Speaker of the California Assembly and Betty Yee, current member of the powerful but little-understood State Board of Equalization are in an incredibly tight race for the second slot in the Top 2 general election in November 2014. Pérez and Yee are both Democrats, and each won about 21.7% of the ballots cast in the June 3rd primary election, second behind Republican Ashley Swearingen, the Mayor of Fresno, who earned 24.9% of the more than 4.3 million votes cast in the state controller race. Swearingen was endorsed by the Los Angeles Times while neither Perez nor Yee were able to obtain the 60% threshold required for the state or county Democratic Party endorsement.

Yee and Pérez are currently just a few hundred votes apart with the lead switching multiple times as vote counting has continued since June 3rd. On election night, both Democrats were behind a second Republican, Dave Evans who now has 21.2% (and who spent an astonishing $600 on his campaign). A Republican has not been elected to any statewide constitutional office in the last general election of 2010 and the specter of Democrats being shutout from a slot on the ballot due to the Top 2 primary system shocked many observers. As of 5:44pm on Friday June 13th, Pérez has 852,243 and Yee has 851,921, a lead of 322 votes, or 0.008% of all votes cast. That is basically a tie!

It's likely (but not certain) that whichever Democrat comes second will be favored to win the Controller's race in November as the Party unites to keep its lock on the state constitutional offices in California in the 2014 general election.