Jerry Brown, California Democrats appear to be big winners in election

Gov. Jerry Brown’s $6-billion-a-year tax initiative to rescue California schools and the state's finances appeared to squeak by with a victory early Wednesday, and Democrats' grip on Sacramento tightened as the party crept toward winning a super-majority in both houses of the Legislature.

Tuesday's election also brought an end to the three-decade-long congressional career of Rep. Howard Berman, who early Wednesday morning conceded defeat in his political slugfest against fellow Democrat Brad Sherman in the San Fernando Valley.

The bitter contest between Sherman and Berman, awash in more than $13 million in campaign spending by the candidates and independent political groups, was triggered when California's newly drawn political boundaries put the two incumbents in the same district.

"I congratulate Brad. ... I will do whatever I can to ensure a cooperative and orderly transition," Berman said in a concise concession statement early Wednesday.

FULL RESULTS: California races

In a similar high-profile mash-up between Democrats, Rep. Janice Hahn of San Pedro was cruising to an easy win against Rep. Laura Richardson of Long Beach in a newly drawn district that includes many minority, working-class communities, election results showed.

Among other closely watched races for California House seats, Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Oak Park) narrowly defeated state Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) in Ventura County, and Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) bested former Republican Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, according to results with all voter precincts reporting in those districts.

California's senior U.S. senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, won an easy reelection victory over nonprofit executive Elizabeth Emken, her underfunded, little-known Republican challenger.

PHOTOS: California voters head to polls

The governor woke up Wednesday as one of the biggest apparent victors in Tuesday’s election, however.

Facing well-funded opposition, Brown campaigned heavily for Proposition 30 as a way to restore fiscal sanity to Sacramento and to stave off deep cuts to public schools and universities. The initiative calls for a quarter-cent increase to sales taxes for four years and a seven-year tax hike on California’s highest earners.

Californians have not approved a statewide tax increase since 2004.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected a competing measure bankrolled by millionaire civil rights lawyer Molly Munger -- Proposition 38 – which would have increased income taxes for most Californians to raise funds primarily for schools and early childhood education.

In one of the highest-profile state ballot measures, labor unions appeared to defeat Proposition 32, which would have reduced their political influence by barring unions from using paycheck deductions for political purposes.

Californians also soured on a measure to abolish the death penalty -– Proposition 34 -- which was trailing badly with most of the voter precincts reporting Wednesday morning.

Other law-and-order measures were greeting more warmly. Voters favored Proposition 36, which would change the three-strikes sentencing law so offenders whose third strikes were minor, nonviolent crimes could no longer be given 25 years to life in prison.

Voters also supported Proposition 35, which promoted increased punishment for sex trafficking of a minor. Both led by wide margins with most ballots counted.

With most ballots tallied across California, initiatives to label genetically engineered foods and change state law to create a new car insurance discount appeared headed for defeat.

One of the biggest surprises of the election was the Democrats' strong showing in legislative races. Democrats appear on the verge of winning a two-thirds majority in the state Senate and Assembly, enough to approve tax measures without Republican support.

In Los Angeles County, veteran prosecutor Jackie Lacey became the county's first female and first African American district attorney after defeating Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Jackson. Jackson conceded early Wednesday morning.

Lacey, 55, touted herself as the only candidate with the experience to run the office. She had the support of her boss, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who is retiring after three terms.

Los Angeles County voters also approved a local measure requiring adult film actors to wear condoms. With most precincts reporting, a measure to fund transportation projects by extending a countywide sales-tax increase for an additional 30 years remained just shy of the two-thirds vote required for approval.

Some races remained too close to call, including the San Diego congressional race between Rep. Brian P. Bilbray (R-Carlsbad) and Democrat Scott Peters, a San Diego environmental attorney. In the Coachella Valley, Democratic emergency room doctor Raul Ruiz was leading Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs) with just under two-thirds of precincts reporting early Wednesday morning.

ALSO:

Munger’s Proposition 38 fails, according to AP

Prop. 40, on state Senate districts, passes, per AP

Proposition 36 on three-strikes law passes, AP says

-- Phil Willon

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown addresses supporters of Proposition 30 and 32 at the Sheraton Hotel in Sacramento Tuesday. Source: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Pete Stark, veteran Calif. congressman, defeated by 31-year-old

Pete Stark, Fremont's 80-year-old dean of California's congressional delegation, has been defeated by a fellow Democrat, a 31-year-old city councilman from nearby Dublin, according to the Associated Press.

Eric Swalwell's campaign against Stark, one of Congress’ most outspoken liberals, put the incumbent in the toughest campaign he had faced since he was elected in 1972. Stark, a multimillionaire former banker, is fifth in seniority in the 435-member House.

Stark faced a tough race because of two big political changes in California: the political map drawn by an independent citizens commission that put him in a new district a bit less liberal, and the state's new top-two primary system that set up the Democrat-versus-Democrat clash.

FULL RESULTS: California races

Stark finished ahead of Swalwell in the three-candidate primary, 42.1% to 36.2%. Swalwell is a deputy district attorney who was elected in 2010 to the city council of Dublin, a suburb of 46,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was an intern to former Rep. Ellen Tauscher in 2001-02.

Stark first gained national attention as the "hippie banker" who, during the Vietnam War, put a peace symbol on the headquarters of the bank he founded in the East Bay. He was an architect of landmark legislation that allowed workers to extend health coverage for a time after leaving their jobs and required emergency rooms to screen and stabilize anyone who showed up at their doors, regardless of their ability to pay.

He also played an important role in developing the 2010 Affordable Care Act, President Obama's healthcare law. He also has called for cutting the defense budget and creating a Department of Peace.

His legendary outbursts probably cost him the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee when Democrats were in the majority.

Stark once called a Republican lawmaker "a whore for the insurance industry" and another a "fruitcake." During the George W. Bush presidency, he said that troops were being sent to Iraq to "get their heads blown off for the president's amusement."

Swalwell has sought to highlight Stark's flammable personality, saying it has contributed to Congress' sorry image.

-- Richard Simon in Washington

Berman concedes in 30th congressional district

Rep. Howard Berman has conceded to fellow Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman after a bitter fight with his younger House colleague over a San Fernando Valley seat.

In his concession statement, Berman said, "I congratulate Brad. ... I will do whatever I can to ensure a cooperative and orderly transition."

The battle between the two men with similar voting records grew from two recent changes in the state’s political landscape: fresh political maps that put both their homes in the reconfigured 30th Congressional District and a new top-two primary system that lets two members of the same party compete in the general election.

Sherman, 58, went on the attack almost from the start, taking swipes at the 71-year-old Berman’s age and criticizing his votes on foreign trade agreements and initial legislation to rescue the nation’s troubled financial  institutions.  

FULL RESULTS: California races

Berman at first tried to stay above the fray, emphasizing his achievements in three decades in Congress and his reputation for working effectively across party lines. But he changed course after finishing 10 points behind Sherman in the primary, and the race grew increasingly testy. Berman launched a “BS Report” to knock Sherman’s style and what it characterized as Sherman’s lack of substantive legislation.   

Things grew so contentious that the two got physical at a Pierce College candidates forum.  Berman stepped close to Sherman as the congressmen argued hotly, and Sherman thrust his arm around Berman, shouting, “You want to get into this?”

 Spending by the campaigns and outside groups had surpassed $13 million as election day neared.

 -- Jean Merl

Capps wins in 24th Congressional District

Democratic Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara beat Republican Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria in the race to represent the Central Coast in Congress, according to incomplete returns.

Maldonado conceded to Capps shortly before midnight. "A short while ago, I spoke with Rep. Lois Capps, and offered her my congratulations on her victory," Maldonado said in a statement.

The seat was one of the few in California that the Republican Party hoped to wrest from a Democratic incumbent on an election day that was expected to feature a strong statewide showing for Democrats.

The intensity and attacks sharpened as the political parties and independent political groups -- including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Planned Parenthood and a PAC supported by the son of billionaire investor Charles Munger  -- poured more than $3 million into the contest.

The 24th Congressional District had been a safe Democratic seat until new boundaries were crafted last year, giving Democrats just a 3-point edge over the GOP in voter registration. The new district includes San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and a sliver of Ventura County.

Capps and Maldonado accused each other of being in league with their party’s extremes while portraying themselves as moderates willing to work across the aisle.

Capps, in Congress since 2003, cast herself an even-tempered former school nurse who prides herself on recruiting Republicans to co-sponsor her bills.  Maldonado emphasized his impoverished, immigrant roots and his independence as a state senator when he bolted from GOP party ranks and voted for a 2009 budget that triggered tax increases.

-- Phil Willon

Capps leading Maldonado in 24th Congressional District

In the race to represent California's Central Coast in Congress, Democratic Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara was leading in partial returns over Republican Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria.

The seat was one of the few in California that the Republican Party hoped to wrest from a Democratic incumbent on an election day that was expected to feature a strong statewide showing for Democrats.

The intensity of the race increased as the political parties and independent political groups -- including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Planned Parenthood and a PAC supported by the son of billionaire investor Charles Munger  -- poured more than $3 million into the contest.

LIVE RESULTS: California election | National election

The 24th Congressional District had been a safe Democratic seat until new boundaries were crafted last year, giving Democrats just a 3-point edge over the GOP in voter registration. The new district includes San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and a sliver of Ventura County.

Capps and Maldonado accused each other of being in league with their party’s extremes while portraying themselves as moderates willing to work across the aisle.

Capps, in Congress since 2003, cast herself an even-tempered former school nurse who prides herself on recruiting Republicans to co-sponsor her bills.  Maldonado emphasized his impoverished, immigrant roots and his independence as a state senator when he bolted from GOP party ranks and voted for a 2009 budget that triggered tax increases.

ALSO:

Munger’s Proposition 38 fails, according to AP

Prop. 40, on state Senate districts, passes, per AP

Proposition 36 on three strikes law passes, AP says

-- Phil Willon

Berman, Sherman battle to the end [Google+ hangout]

Times reporter Jean Merl will join city editor Shelby Grad in a Google+ hangout at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the two Democratic House veterans battling for the San Fernando Valley's 30th District.

Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman are locked what has become one of the costliest and most contentious congressional races in the state. The two continued to pound each other as their campaigns entered the final weekend before the election.

From the latest from Merl:

Volunteers for Rep. Howard Berman planned to fan out throughout the San Fernando Valley's 30th District to distribute a double-message door hanger. One side features a photo of an angry Sherman reaching for Berman when things got physical at a Pierce College debate earlier this month. The flip side takes an entirely different tack — it shows Berman when he was invited to join President Obama at a fundraiser earlier this year and  lists some of Berman’s endorsers, including Gov. Jerry Brown, both of California’s U.S. senators, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles Times and the L.A. Daily News. One of Berman’s final two mailers strikes similar themes, and the other provides a chart comparing the two congressmen’s records.

[...]

[Campaign spokesman John] Schwada said Sherman currently is airing two cable TV ads, one a positive piece about his family and accomplishments for constituents and another slamming Berman for travels abroad financed by taxpayers or special interests. The last piece of campaign mail will land in mailboxes over the weekend, but Schwada wouldn’t say what it contains.

Sherman has campaigned on his accessibility and visibility at community events and has tried to turn Berman’s long list of endorsements from national political figures on both sides of the aisle into a shortcoming.

ALSO:

Berman-Sherman battle enters final weekend

George Skelton's guide to California ballot measures

Disclosure by Arizona nonprofit shows ties to Koch brothers

Bloomberg's Super-PAC spends $2.35 million to defeat Rep. Baca

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Super-PAC "Independence USA" poured an additional $2.35 million into a television advertising campaign to defeat Democratic Rep. Joe Baca of Rialto.

Baca is being challenged by fellow Democrat, state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod of Chino, in the 35^th Congressional District in San Bernardino County.

Bloomberg, a billionaire political independent who has endorsed Democratic President Barack Obama for president, in October announced that he was forming the Super-PAC to back candidates in either party who support his top causes, including tougher gun laws and same-sex marriage. The Super-PAC is targeting Baca because the mayor believes he is weak on gun control laws, he told the New York Times.

The $2.35 million will support a television ad campaign opposing Baca and supporting McLeod, according to a disclosure filed with the Federal Election Commission. That will be in addition to more than $400,000 spent by Bloomberg’s PAC on the race for mailers and other campaign material.

Baca, in a statement released Thursday, criticized Bloomberg’s campaign as being “full of lies.” Baca, first elected to Congress in 1999, is the only Democrat representing the Inland Empire in Congress.

“It is appalling that an East Coast outsider like Mayor Bloomberg is trying to dictate the outcome of a congressional race thousands of miles away,’’ Baca said.

ALSO:

California sets new record for voter registration

Arizona nonprofit must turn over records, judge orders

Gov. Jerry Brown has yet to pick a central Prop. 30 sales pitch

-- Phil Willon in Riverside

Photo: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Source: Associated Press.

California Democratic Party endorses Gov. Brown's tax measure

The California Democratic Party has endorsed Proposition 30, Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative on the November ballot, arguing that it "protects funding for schools and local public safety.''

The measure would temporarily raise the sales tax by a quarter-cent and boost the income tax on the wealthy to help balance this year's budget.

Meeting in Anaheim over the weekend, the state party's executive board also agreed to oppose Proposition 38, an alternative tax measure backed by civil rights attorney Molly Munger. The party stayed neutral on a third tax measure, Proposition 39.

It signaled that a top priority will be working for the defeat of Proposition 32, which would ban corporations and unions from contributing directly to candidates, although they could still give to independent campaigns supporting or opposing contenders.

"If Prop 32 were to pass, it would effectively silence the voice of working families at the ballot box while giving corporate interests and billionaire businessmen free rein to exert even more influence on our political system,'' said state party Chairman John Burton. "We're not going to let that happen."

ALSO:

California parks face a $54-million question

Berman goes negative on Sherman with new website

Death penalty repeal pits Mayor Villaraigosa vs. former Gov. Wilson

-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

GOP updates California House race prospects; Democrats disagree

 
A National Republican Congressional Committee official painted a rosey update of the GOP's prospects in several California House races on Tuesday but, not surprisingly, the group's Democratic counterpart had a different take.

"The Democrats' 'road to the majority' has become the roadblock to the majority," Brock McCleary, deputy political director for the NRCC told reporters in a conference call outlining the GOP's views on the dozen or so contested House seats in the state.

Democrats need a net gain of 25 seats across the nation to win back a House majority and party leaders are looking to California races as a key to that goal.

The call came the same day Republicans launched a "mobile billboard campaign" in four open-seat districts--in the Central Valley, Ventura County, Long Beach/Orange County and Riverside County. The billboards attack the Obama administration's healthcare legislation, McCleary said. He also announced the congressional Republicans have reserved $4.7 million in television advertising in Sacramento and San Diego, two battleground areas.

Republican candidates in those and other districts have more campaign cash in the bank than their Democratic opponents, McCleary said, adding that he believes the GOP has been more successful than Democrats in recruiting strong candidates to run in the contested districts.

Democrats, however, plan to remind voters why they should turn out to vote for President Obama and Democratic House candidates.

"After redistricting, Democrats are on the offense across California because House Republicans have put millionaires, insurance companies and Big Oil companies over the middle class time and again," Amber Moon, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

She noted that even some Republican leaders have acknowledged the GOP likely will lose seats in California.

Also, the California Democratic Party has launched  a microsite attacking  House Republicans in the state whom they consider  vulnerable  (www.wrongforca.com).

 ALSO:

Jerry Brown targets latest trends in student bullying

Jerry Brown gives Apple's new "spaceship'' campus a boost

Gov. Brown signs bill aimed at public officials convicted of felonies

--Jean Merl

Photo: The U.S. Capitol at night. Credit: The Lighting Project

National GOP aims at Westly

Steve Westly is big in the California venture capital world. He's also big in Democratic politics. 

Westly, a former state controller, ran for governor in the 2006 election. He lost in the primary to then-state Treasurer Phil Angelides. 

During the 2006 gubernatorial race, Westly was dogged by questions about whether he leveraged his position as a board member on the state pension fund to extract support for his political ambitions.

The charge was that Westly attempted to get companies seeking government investment contracts to support his campaign.   

A couple of years later, Westly would become one of the Obama campaign's biggest fundraisers in California. 

Now, the national GOP has posted a Web ad noting that Westly's investment firm also happens to be invested in several companies that get government subsidies. 

ALSO:

Ethics panel investigates state Sen. Mimi Walters

Campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee admits $7-million theft

Campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee to have sentencing delayed

-- Evan Halper in Sacramento