Walker Beats Recall, Republican War On Public Employee Unions See Silver Lining

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