The Wisconsin race was perhaps the most watched election of the night with Gov. Scott Walker beating recall opponent by nearly 7 percentage points at 53.2 percent for Walker and 46.3 for Tom Barrett.
California’s Republicans, in search of a silver lining in this election gloated with glee the passage of pension reform initiatives in San Diego and San Jose—reforms that echo that of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker who beat the recall drive the same night. The ballot initiatives that passed in the two cities are very similar, with the following attributes:
- New Employees would be placed in a new, lower-cost retirement plan (view details)
- Current employees would be given the option to either: a) pay more to keep their current retirement plan or b) opt-in to a new, lower-cost retirement plan (view details)
- The City Council would have the ability to temporarily suspend retirees’ Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) during a fiscal and service level emergency (view details)
- Disability retirement rules would be reformed to prevent abuses (view details)
- “Bonus” Pension Checks from the Supplement Retiree Benefit Reserve (SRBR) would be discontinued
- Voter approval would be required to enhance retirement benefits in the future (other cities, like San Francisco, already require this)
In other election related news, Congresswoman Janice Hahn met expectations and won the night’s elections by nearly 20 points. But because of the state’s new open primary system, June 5 served more as a dry run for the November 6 elections than a decisive vote.
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE – 44TH DISTRICT
JANICE HAHN (DEM) 19,857 59.77%
LAURA RICHARDSON(DEM) 13,364 40.23%
The Los County’s District Attorney’s race probably had the most fireworks going into election night with many expecting Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, who raised $1.4 million about twice the amount of his nearest competitors combined to be one of the top two to go on to the runoff at least. Instead, he came in third with 22.34 percent, riding closely behind deputy district attorney Alan Jackson, who garnered 23.69 percent. Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey got the top spot with 31.95 percent and will be the one facing off against Jackson in November.
LOS ANGELES DISTRICT ATTORNEY
JACKIE LACEY 203,889 31.95%
ALAN JACKSON 151,199 23.69%
CARMEN TRUTANICH 142,576 22.34%
DANETTE E MEYERS 84,857 13.3%
BOBBY GRACE 33,412 5.24%
JOHN L BREAULT III 22,256 3.49%
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE – OFFICE NO 3
SEAN D COEN 300,603 51.38%
CRAIG GOLD 111,390 19.04%
JOE ESCALANTE 107,721 18.41%
LAURENCE N KALDOR 65,395 11.18%
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE – OFFICE NO 10
SANJAY T KUMAR 349,417 60.6%
KIM SMITH 227,207 39.4%
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE – OFFICE NO 38
LYNN D OLSON 381,350 69.75%
DOUGLAS W WEITZMAN 165,372 30.25%
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE – OFFICE NO 65
ANDREA C THOMPSON 309,636 54.69%
SHANNON KNIGHT 142,171 25.11%
MATT SCHONBRUN 114,325 20.19%
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE – OFFICE NO 78
JAMES D OTTO 396,224 69.91%
KENNETH R HUGHEY 170,568 30.09%
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE – OFFICE NO 114
ERIC HARMON 353,429 61.35%
BERJ PARSEGHIAN 115,989 20.13%
BEN M BREES 106,705 18.52%
State Measures
Proposition 28, the measure that would restrict the total number of years an elected official can run for office from 14 years to 12 in either chamber of the legislature, passed overwhelmingly.
STATE MEASURE 28 – LEGISLATOR TERM INITIATIVE
YES 431,572 61.5%
NO 270,184 38.5%
Proposition 29, a measure that would have raised taxes again on tobacco products to fund grants and loans for cancer related research in California, bucked the inevitability of a new tobacco tax. The measure failed by slimmest of margins.
STATE MEASURE 29 – CIGARETTE TAX INITIATIVE –
YES 351,491 49.26%
NO 362,079 50.74%
County Measures
On the county level in Los Angeles, there were two measures on the ballot intended to reaffirm existing taxes that pay for current county functions. An examination of recent case law has found that some taxes imposed after 1990 require voter approval. So to avoid legal challenges the Supervisors put the two most vulnerable to such litigation, the Hotel Occupancy Tax and the Landfill Tax. The both passed by significant margins.
COUNTY MEASURE H – HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX –
YES 411,663 60.41
NO 269,800 39.59
COUNTY MEASURE L – LANDFILL TAX CONTINUATION –
YES 425,511 62.74
NO 252,750 37.26