Some Special Interests Lost Big Time on Election Day

The City of Los Angeles once again held their on Tuesday.

Again we had a turnout at the polls. Does the public care about any of the City Council races? Do they care about the?

Let’s take a look at some of the races and the outcome of some city wide measures.

The biggest loser was organized labor as a whole. Labor’s independent campaign committee tried to destroy Bernard Parks in the south central district, spending more than $1 million to defeat him.

Labor was very unhappy with Parks because he has tried to limit pension costs for Los Angeles municipal employees. As Council Budget Committee Chair, Parks has played a crucial role in dealing with the serious budget crisis with the City of Los Angeles.

Parks received just over half of the votes cast in the 8th District. He was outspent three to one, and his opponent has not conceded.

There continues to be a serious backlash against public employees in Los Angeles because their total health care costs are picked up by the city, county or state. Along with that cost, is the high pensions given to public employees in Los Angeles. Very few private employers give their workers such generous benefits.

The other loser on election day was UTLA, the 45,000 members United Teachers of Los Angeles. Mayor Villaraigosa has completely broken with the teacher’s organization, which he had supported his whole public career.

The board of education winners on Tuesday are not beholden to UTLA, including SF Valley Board member Tamar Galatzan.

The city and the taxpayers won with the passage of Measure M, the Marijuana Initiative. New revenue will come to the city as a gross receipts tax of marijuana sales.

Independent lawyers question whether the city can tax a use which is deemed illegal by the federal government. The courts will decide this question

The oil tax was defeated because of fear of the unknown. With gasoline prices skyrocketing everywhere in the last month, voters were fearful of any action with could hurt the oil industry, or raise prices any higher for the consumer. The oil industry spent many millions of dollars to defeat Measure M. There was no real campaign to  pass the measure.

, the library initiative was successful, because readers in the city went to the polls. City libraries throughout Los Angeles, have great support from their readers. Many school children use the city libraries as their place to do homework. In rougher parts of Los Angeles, the community libraries are a safe haven against gangs and drugs. The proponents of Measure L ran an effective campaign, and got out their library support members to the polls.

On May 17, the voters will be asked to go to the polls once again. There is only one community college trustee race to be decided city wide. I suspect the turnout will be less than 5 percent.

Maybe the City Council, since we are already paying for the election, should put an advisory vote on the ballot to generate voter interest. How about asking the voters, ”Should Charlie Sheen be forgiven for his recent outbursts, and be re-instated as the star of Two and A Half Men?”

This would be a test to see if anything could persuade the young voters age 18 to 25 to come to the polls and vote. We could also find out if the public supports Charlie Sheen or not. It is the most popular television show in the United States, and is produced in Los Angeles.

After graduating from California State University, Northridge, Jack McGrath spent the next 20 years working in politics and federal, state and local government. He has managed a number of local political campaigns and still pays close attention to elections and candidates.