By Michael Powell
Staff Writer
Whose bright idea was it to host elections the night of a Laker game? The elections on June 8 saw the lowest recorded voter turnout since 1914 with only 2-percent of eligible voters participating in the elections, and to a plethora of upsetting results for liberal democrats.
The eight-way assembly contest for the Democratic nomination really showed just how difficult it is to win an election. James Lau, the most qualified candidate for the 53rd Assembly District Democratic nomination, lost despite being an early front runner.
Lau has been an environmental policy advisor for the state senate and assembly. He also racked up endorsements from dozens of state senators and assemblymen as well as the California Medical Association. Lau won 59.4 percent of the Democratic party’s endorsement at the state convention in Los Angeles, one vote short of the endorsement.
This feat, however, was impressive in an eight-way race. The second-place winner in that endorsement, Betsy Butler, received only six percent of the endorsement but still went on to win the nomination last week.
Lau was a favorite in the party, in the community, and in the state legislature. Butler, a lobbyist, has, over time, made several enemies in high places, who were able to afford commercials on MSNBC during primetime. Her opponents include Exxon, AIG, Johnson & Johnson, and 53 other large corporations.
The fact that she is a lobbyist isn’t a negative quality, but the fact that she has many people vehemently against her could pose a large threat in the general election.
Lau, on the other hand, has had much more direct policy making experience than Butler, which would pick up where Ted Lieu, our current assemblymen, left off. The assembly, although seemingly insignificant, is a cornerstone in policy making in our state. It currently combats issues ranging from water scarcity to the severe budget crisis.
Butler has appeared quite disconnected from these issues, seeing as she began her campaign months before everyone else. This demonstrates that she has been directing her focus toward winning rather than focusing on new and pressing issues.
The election of Lau as the Democratic nominee in our district would have given our large district a qualified and competent representative who would lead the fight to fix our environment, our education system, and the floundering economy.
This loss, however, isn’t the end for Lau. He will continue fighting for education and the environment.
Although Lau lost, the Democratic Party must make sure factionalism doesn’t take the party by storm. Democrats must put all the hard feelings behind them in order to win the assembly race and also keep the corporate-backed Republicans from sweeping Sacramento.
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