California Democratic Party files ethics complaint about governor's budget ads

The California Democratic Party filed a complaint today with the state’s ethics agency, alleging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has improperly used funds from a ballot measure committee that he controls to pay for television ads touting his position on the budget crisis.

The complaint, which seeks an injunction to stop the ads, was filed with the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which in January adopted new rules aimed at preventing ballot measure committees controlled by elected officials from promoting the officials rather than the initiatives and referendums.

"However, the governor’s ad refers repeatedly to state budget negotiations rather than any current or anticipated ballot measure," the state party said in a statement.

In an interview, state Democratic Party Chairman John Burton called for immediate action. "The ads should be taken off the air. They violate the regulations of the FPPC," he said.

Judy Chu trounces rivals in congressional race [Updated]

State Board of Equalization member Judy Chu has won the special election for the 32nd Congressional District seat to become the first Chinese American woman in the House of Representatives.

With 100% of the ballots counted, Chu, a Democrat, had 62% of the vote in Tuesday's election for the San Gabriel Valley-based seat vacated when Hilda Solis became U.S. Labor secretary.

Republican Betty Tom Chu, Judy Chu's cousin by marriage, was a distant second with  33%.   The third candidate on the ballot, Christopher M. Agrella, a  Libertarian, polled 5%.

Judy Chu became a crossover candidate in the district traditionally represented by a Latino by building a multi-ethnic coalition and winning the backing of organized labor.   She emerged in first place in a 12-way primary May 19 but fell short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff.

As the vote tally neared an end, California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton congratulated Judy Chu and issued the following statement:

“The California Democratic Party is excited to have Judy Chu as our newly elected Congresswoman in Congressional District 32.  Chu is an experienced legislator and committed Democrat who will improve the lives of the people she will represent.

“Chu will play an integral role in helping Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama advance a national agenda to improve our schools, reform health care and create more middle-class jobs for Americans.”

The district is heavily Democratic.

--Jean Merl

 

Judge, two others, indicted in alleged campaign scheme [Updated]

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has been indicted on charges of trying to bribe his opponent in a 2008 election campaign, a spokesman for state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said Thursday evening.

Judge Harvey A. Silberman and two political consultants are accused of trying to induce Deputy Dist. Atty. Serena Murillo not to run against him in the June 2008 election — apparently unsuccessfully, because she did run, losing by a margin of 53% to 47%. The three are accused of two counts each of solicitation. The charges were filed June 24, but Brown spokesman Scott Gerber said they were only unsealed Thursday.

Gerber said the two political consultants, A. Randall Steinberg and Evelyn Jerome Alexander of SJA Strategies, pleaded not guilty, and Silberman’s plea was postponed until a judge could be designated from another county to hear the case. All three were released on $20,000 bond.

Steve Meister, an attorney for Steinberg, said he couldn’t comment on the substance of the case but described his client as “a person of excellent character and high morals” who would be vindicated. Larry Bakman, a lawyer for Alexander, said his client had no comment except to express "her hope to resolve this through the trial process." He added that her defense would rest in part on raising "doubts regarding both the reliability and credibility of the prosecution's witnesses," including Murillo.

Neither Silberman nor his attorney could be reached for comment. Murillo declined to comment.

Gerber said he didn't know the details of the alleged scheme or what Murillo was alleged to have been offered. Before his election to Superior Court, Silberman served as a family court commissioner for four years and previously practiced public interest law, according to his campaign biography.

--Mitchell Landsberg

[Updated at 9:49 p.m.:Daniel Nixon, a lawyer for Silberman, said late Thursday that the judge "is appalled and outraged by these charges. He has done nothing wrong. He is absolutely innocent, and he is going to fight these charges with all of his might."

Nixon added that Silberman had cooperated fully with investigators, including an investigation by the district attorney's office that began well before the 2008 election.]

Steve Lopez: Villaraigosa's pullout announcement was 'pure Antonio'

Of course L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said no to a run for governor.

What else could he say?

You can't do a mediocre job, get lukewarm support in the polls, and announce one week before the start of your second term that you're graduating to bigger challenges. That'd be like getting a 2.0 GPA in high school and announcing you'd like to be a brain surgeon.

Although Villaraigosa had already made it clear he was probably going to bow out of the race, there was our guy on CNN with Wolf Blitzer this afternoon, making it official on national television. Pure Antonio. He actually thinks the rest of the country cares.

"I can't leave this city in the middle of a crisis," he said. "It's as simple as that."

Because of our crisis?

Here's a bulletin: He's not running because at the moment, he knows he wouldn't win, given all the self-inflicted damage he's done by way of empty public promises and dubious private choices.

 

Read the full story here.

 

 

-- Steve Lopez

 

Villaraigosa bows out of California governor's race [Updated]

Post updated at 3:13 p.m.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced on national television today that he would not be running for California governor in 2010 after flirting with a bid for higher office for months.

“I can’t leave this city in the middle of a crisis," Villaraigosa said. Noting that Los Angeles is grappling with a $530-million deficit, a 12.5% unemployment rate and more than 20,000 people who have lost their homes over the last two years, the mayor said: “I feel compelled to complete what I started out to do.”

Elected to a second, four-year term in March, the mayor broke the news to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room," saying he wanted to devote his full attention to Los Angeles.

The former state assembly speaker said he had been making up his mind “for a long time” and that the state's challenges had made the decision an "agonizing” one.  Villaraigosa called the situation in Sacramento “an abomination,” but hinted at the political risks of announcing a statewide run so soon after being reelected to a second term. “I was elected mayor and reelected by the people of this city.They’ve given me the honor for a second term, and I feel compelled to complete the promise that I made to them. I’m going to dream, and I want the people to dream with me,” he said.

Villaraigosa’s decision adds a dash of clarity to the race for the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nomination which, at the moment, appears will be between state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Brown has yet to say if he will run, while Newsom already has announced his candidacy.

In a personal note, Villaraigosa said the demands of the campaign trail would have kept him apart from his 16-year-old daughter, whom he called the “apple of my eye.” “She’s got two more years of high school and then she’s gone, and I don’t want to be campaigning for a year, and then leading the state in Sacramento and my little precious is, you know, finishing up her high school education.”

Will Villaraigosa run for governor? He may answer today

Will Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stick around for his second term?

Cable news network CNN said Villaraigosa finally will answer that question today when he appears with Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." The interview will be held just days after The Times reported that Angelenos were lukewarm on a gubernatorial bid in 2010.

The poll found that 48% of respondents did not want Villaraigosa to run for governor, compared to 42% who did and 10% who didn't commit either way.

Villaraigosa, who will appear on CNN at 1 p.m. PST, will begin his second four-year term July 1. He won re-election in March by a tepid 55% margin -- a percentage mirrored by his job approval numbers in the poll.

Some political experts believe Villaraigosa would need stronger support from his city to launch a bid for statewide office. Nearly half of the respondents to The Times' poll said the city needs to head in a direction different from the path charted by Villaraigosa.

-- David Zahniser

Photo: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa talks during a news conference at a downtown fire station in Los Angeles. Credit: AP Photo/Richard Vogel

South Pasadena voters approve parcel tax

Voters approved a parcel tax that is expected to raise $1.7 million annually for South Pasadena schools, county elections officials announced today.

Nearly 68% of the 6,179 voters who cast ballots by mail voted for the $288-per-parcel levy, which needed two-thirds approval to take effect. The tax will expire after four years, and officials say it will help the South Pasadena Unified School District retain small class sizes in kindergarten through third grade in the face of multimillion-dollar budget cuts from the state.

As schools deal with billions of dollars in state funding cuts, districts are increasingly turning to local parcel taxes to shore up their finances. In coming weeks, voters in the Palos Verdes, Rowland Heights and La Cañada Flintridge districts will cast ballots on parcel taxes.

-- Seema Mehta

South Pasadena parcel tax hinges on walk-in votes

The fate of a parcel tax that would raise $1.7 million a year for South Pasadena schools remained uncertain Wednesday.

More than 67% of the nearly 6,000 voters who cast mail-in ballots supported the $288-per-parcel annual levy, but county election officials have yet to count 228 ballots that were hand-delivered to the polls on Tuesday. The small number of walk-in votes is enough to swing the election because state law requires that parcel taxes be approved by two-thirds of voters. The ballots will be counted Friday.

As schools deal with billions of dollars in state funding cuts, districts are increasingly turning to local parcel taxes to shore up their finances. In coming weeks, voters in the Palos Verdes, Rowland Heights and La Cañada Flintridge districts will cast ballots on parcel taxes.

--Seema Mehta

Special election set for 51st Assembly District

Setting off a new round of political musical chairs, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has set Sept. 1 as the date for a special election to fill a Los Angeles-area Assembly seat.

The vacancy in the 51st Assembly District, which includes Lawndale, Gardena, Inglewood, Hawthorne and parts of Los Angeles, was created with the election last month of Curren Price Jr., a Democrat, to the state Senate seat formerly held by now-Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.

If no one wins a majority Sept. 1 in the heavily Democratic district, there will be a Nov. 3 runoff among the top vote-getters of each political party on the ballot.

--Jean Merl

Yaroslavsky warns L.A. Council candidates of voters' 'anti-development' mood

Here’s a warning for candidates looking to replace Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel in the Sept. 22 special election in the San Fernando Valley: pay attention to real estate development – and the fury it inspires among neighborhood groups.

That was the advice offered this morning by Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who picked the winning candidate in last month’s election for his own onetime Westside council seat.

Yaroslavsky backed former Assemblyman Paul Koretz, who won by a 51-49 margin. Appearing at the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, Yaroslavsky pointed out that the race, which started out with six candidates, went down to the wire as a nail biter between the two who were most skeptical of real estate projects.

“This was an anti-development electorate,” Yaroslavsky told the breakfast crowd. “Nobody in that electorate said, ‘I want to double the density [of buildings] on Fairfax Avenue or on Westwood Boulevard.’”

Beverly Hills residents allege voter fraud

A group of Beverly Hills residents alleged today that hundreds of illegal or fraudulent votes were cast last November in favor of a ballot measure that granted approval for a controversial expansion of the Beverly Hilton hotel.

Larry Larson, treasurer of the Citizens Right to Decide Committee, said the group would hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Monday at the Beverly Hills City Hall to announce the results of a preliminary five-month investigation. 

He said the research turned up instances of votes cast by multiple "wives" of residents, voters casting multiple ballots under maiden and married names and votes cast by dead people.

Measure H passed by 129 votes, and Larson alleged that fraudulent ballots might have skewed the results. He urged the Los Angeles County district attorney's office and the California attorney general's office to launch investigations.

Team Trutanich begins to form in L.A. city attorney's office

Former State Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg and former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Robert Philibosian will serve as co-chairmen of the transition team for City Atty.-elect Carmen Trutanich as he prepares to take office.

Trutanich, who takes over from City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo on July 1, named former city Planning Commission President Jane Usher as his transition team’s executive director. He also announced his first two hires. Former federal prosecutor William Carter will serve as Trutanich’s chief of staff, andformer state prosecutor Curt Livesay, who was chief deputy to current-Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley  from 2001 to 2006, will become chief deputy city attorney.

“I am thrilled that they have agreed to return to public service to reform and reshape the office of city attorney,” Trutanich said of Carter and Livesay.

Even as Trutanich began forming his new team, some old business involving Delgadillo -- who was forced out by term limits -- was playing out in a courtroom up the street. Superior Court Judge Mark V. Mooney agreed to move ahead with a hearing on Monday in the case to determine whether the city controller has the power to audit programs within the office of the city attorney.

Paul Koretz declares victory in L.A. City Council race [Updated]

Los Angeles City Council candidate Paul Koretz declared victory Tuesday night in his race to replace Councilman Jack Weiss, shortly after county election officials put him ahead of his opponent by 702 votes.

Koretz, a former state assemblyman, sent an e-mail to supporters shortly before 10 p.m., saying there were 100 votes left to count and that he could safely call himself the winner.

On election night, the two candidates were separated by 335 votes.

The latest tally puts Koretz at 50.98% of the vote, compared to 49.02% for neighborhood council member David "Ty" Vahedi. Vahedi and Koretz were running in a district that stretches from Cheviot Hills to Encino.

The winner takes office July 1.

[Updated at 2:40 p.m.: The Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office reports that there are, in fact, an estimated 500 to 1,000 uncounted ballots remaining in the 5th District race. That includes 100 damaged ballots. Eileen Shea, spokeswoman for the elections office, said official results were not expected until about June 15, and no winner had been declared in the race.]

--David Zahniser

Koretz widens his lead in L.A.'s 5th District council race

Former state Assemblyman Paul Koretz has widened his lead in the race to replace Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss, pulling ahead of neighborhood council member David T. Vahedi by 551 votes.

The tally, released Friday by county election officials, gave Koretz 50.8% of the vote, compared to 49.2% for Vahedi. County officials will continue counting the remaining ballots from the Los Angeles election next week, with the next update expected Tuesday.

Koretz and Vahedi were running in the council's 5th District, which stretches from the Westside to Encino.

—David Zahniser

Two top Democrats say they plan to make deep budget cuts

Two of the architects of the failed ballot slate – Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) – said during a joint press conference that they intend to make deep cuts, and resolve the crisis quickly.

Steinberg said voters sent a message to lawmakers that they need tackle the deficit in Sacramento, not resort to ballot-box solutions.

“The people were telling us – don’t bring this problem to our doorstep,” he said.

“We are committed to making sure it’s not a long, hot summer in Sacramento,” Steinberg said. “We are going to cut.... We’re not shying away from that.”

Even programs long favored by Democrats will be under the knife.

“Whatever needs to be done, you do it,” Bass said, adding that “we’re going to put everything on the table.”

With a looming cash crisis, speed is of the essence, Bass said. “We can’t have a long, protracted fight for a budget.”

While the big five meets behind closed doors, the two houses will be holding daily meetings to hash out the budgetary issues as quickly as possible. The first session is set to begin Thursday.

Meanwhile, Bass privately told Assembly Democrats not to expect any spending legislation to get traction this year. The focus on all fronts, she told lawmakers, will be slashing the deficit.

Like Schwarzenegger, the pair is targeting a long list of likely spending cuts to all corners of the state bureaucracy – corrections, health and welfare programs, the state workforce, schools, local governments. They also expect some state programs to be eliminated outright or consolidated.

They also said yet another push for tax or fee hikes remains an option, despite staunch opposition from Schwarzenegger and Republican lawmakers.

Steinberg, however, said that Democrats would not be “leading with our chin…. We’re not leading with taxes.”

A tax increase, he added, “is a little counterintuitive” given this week’s landslide defeat and the pain voters are feeling with the recession.

Steinberg also expressed hope that California can navigate a course out of this crisis to better days soon.

“The world is not coming to an end here,” he said. “California is going to live to fight another day.”

--Eric Bailey

Republicans see election results as vindication for hard-line stand against raising taxes

Republican lawmakers took the election results as vindication for taking a hard-line against new taxes and unreasonable borrowing, and were scrambling today to come up with an alternative fix.

"They have spoken unequivocally. They do not want to see budget gimmicks. They don’t want to see higher taxes and they don’t want to see further delays," said Assembly Republican Leader-elect Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo. "The public expects this Legislature to do its job and to make the tough decisions that frankly have been avoided for much too long."

The Assembly Republican Caucus will bring in outside financial experts to check the accuracy of revenue projections because of concern voiced by Blakeslee that the state may have been over-optimistic in its projections on the state economy.

Although Blakeslee said he was open to proposals to sell surplus assets and generate more lease revenue, he said the budget problem would require consideration of cuts to spending, including layoffs and pay reductions.

"All departments … need to be on the table for review for downsizing and restructuring," he said.

Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) and his caucus proposed a package of legislation that would generate additional private-sector jobs and shift money to classrooms that is now paying for the education bureaucracy.

Voters "clearly want us to solve these problems. That's what they elected us to do, not keep reaching into their pockets to pay for our mismanagement," Hollingsworth said.

-- Patrick McGreevy

Election winners and losers: Bratton, sea lions, police union and more

If anyone lost big last night in L.A.’s local elections, it was Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who risked his considerable clout to get Councilman Jack Weiss elected as city attorney – only to see former prosecutor Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich win instead. But who were the others whose fortunes rose and fell because of the whims of the electorate? Check out Times city hall reporter David Zahniser's Winners and Losers list:

^WINNERS

 

The LAPD’s police union: The Los Angeles Police Protective League spent nearly $746,000 on behalf of former prosecutor Trutanich, who defeated Weiss in a runoff election. Even more significant: In a race that was notably nasty, the police union’s ads were by and large positive.

Parke Skelton: This political consultant saw client Judy Chu, a member of the Board of Equalization, come in first in the race for the 32nd Congressional District in the San Gabriel Valley. And in the race for a Los Angeles City Council seat on the Westside, Skelton client Paul Koretz, a former Assemblyman, pulled narrowly ahead of his opponent, neighborhood council member David T. Vahedi. They’re separated by only 335 votes, but Koretz looks strong.

Councilman Dennis Zine: While most of his colleagues either stuck with Weiss or stayed quiet, this San Fernando Valley councilman came out early and often for Trutanich, regularly going on talk radio to stump for his candidate. On election night, Zine predicted that other council members would eventually fall in line behind Trutanich -- once all of the results were in, of course.

LOSERS

 

Police Chief William Bratton: Already under fire this year for endorsing so many political candidates and causes, the LAPD chief has another problem: His candidates aren’t winning. Weiss lost his bid for city attorney, despite TV ads featuring Bratton. State Senator Gil Cedillo, backed by Bratton, fell short in his bid for Congress. And two months ago, Proposition E, a proposal making it easier for L.A. businesses to get taxpayer subsidies, went down to defeat Those three losses come at a time when council members are unhappy with Bratton’s tough talk on the city budget.

Developer Michael Rosenfeld: Who’s he, you might ask? The man who wants to raze the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City and replace it with two 50-story towers, that’s who! The only thing is, Rosenfeld announced his plan in the middle of a political campaign, immediately prompting both candidates for Los Angeles City Council to denounce it. Koretz went the extra mile, sending a letter to voters promising to do everything within his power to stop the demolition of the Space Age-era hotel.

Sea lions: There were plenty of TV ads featuring these cute little suckers in the final days of the campaign, with backers of Weiss pointing out that Trutanich, a defense attorney, had represented a man who admitted to shooting at sea lions. One mailer even featured the adorable creatures behind a bull's-eye! Still, the ads weren’t quite the ace in the hole that Weiss’ supporters hoped for. And L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca argued that it’s unreasonable to equate a defense lawyer with the crimes of his client.

-- David Zahniser

Upper top photo: An LAPD officer on patrol. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Upper bottom photo: Dennis Zine. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Lower left photo: A sea lion. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Lower right photo: William Bratton. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Paul Koretz has slight lead in District 5 balloting [Updated]

Former Assemblyman Paul Koretz held a thin lead today over neighborhood council member David "Ty" Vahedi in the race to succeed Jack Weiss as the District 5 city councilman.

With 100% of the precincts reporting, Koretz had 50.5% of the vote while Vahedi had 49.5%. It was not immediately clear how many provisional ballots still needed to be counted in the Westside/Valley district.

[Updated at 10:15 a.m.: It could take at least a week for a definitive outcome in the close race, according to an official in the Los Angeles County Registrar’s office. Provisional and mail-in ballots will need to be counted, which will be done in blocks on Tuesdays and Fridays. Final election results will be certified June 16.]

Koretz was the consummate political insider while Vahedi aligned himself with residents upset at City Hall.

Vahedi tried to link Koretz to the budget crisis in Sacramento and warned that the former lawmaker would embrace the status quo.

Koretz, in turn, tried to shred Vahedi's image as a reformer.

 

"I'm holding my breath. I was hoping to be a little further ahead, but if this holds up, I'll be perfectly happy to win by five or six points," Koretz said of the early returns.

 

-- David Zahniser and Shelby Grad

 

Other election results:

Trutanich defeats Weiss in L.A. city attorney's race

Chu defeats Cedillo in 32nd Congressional District

California voters kill budget measures

Bee hive causes stir at Orange County polling station

A hive of thousands of active bees was found next to the door of the polling place at Grace Community Church of the Nazarene in Placentia, according to Orange County Registrar Neal Kelley.

Poll workers redirected voters around to a back door while an exterminator was called.

Shortly afterward, Kelley’s office sent an update via Twitter:

"Pest control just showed up in Placentia and removed the entire swarm and hive. The attack of the killer bees at the poll site is over!"

Kelley said in an interview that the insects were not "killer bees" and that the term was just used in the Twitter post for humor.

-- Patrick McGreevy

Voter voices: Robert Braun in Brentwood

Some voters encountered a snag at a polling place in a snazzy residential area in Brentwood.

When they arrived, they learned that voters in their precincts were supposed to cast ballots at Bel Air Presbyterian Church on Mulholland Drive, more than seven miles away via busy Sunset Boulevard and the 405 Freeway.

If they marked ballots at the Brentwood location, their votes would be “provisional,” meaning that the votes would not be counted Tuesday and would thus not figure in early election results.

“This is absolutely an outrage,” said Robert Braun, a doctor who lives in Sullivan Canyon who showed up at the Bristol Avenue polling place in Brentwood. He had received a notice saying that Bel Air Presbyterian was his polling place, but the notice said he could cast a provisional ballot at one of four other locations, including Brentwood.

“How do I know what that means?” Braun said. “It should say what a provisional ballot is.”

As for the Mulholland location, he said: “I’m not going to go up there in this traffic to vote in this stupid election. Who has 45 minutes to spend on that?”

An inspector at the Brentwood location said she and other volunteers were notified Tuesday that voters from at least two other precincts had been told to vote elsewhere.

“I could have handled three precincts,” said the inspector, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid upsetting county officials. “It’s wasting taxpayer money to use Bel Air Presbyterian.”

-- Martha Groves

Voter voices: Aura Cyger and Halina Wolf in Westside L.A.

Aura Cyger and Halina Wolf were casting ballots at the same Westside polling place this afternoon, but their reasons for voting differed.

Cyger said she was there primarily to vote against City Councilman Jack Weiss, who is running against Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich in what is likely to be a close race for Los Angeles city attorney.

“I think it’s time he was replaced,” she said of Weiss, who is her councilman.

Wolf said she was at the polling place at Olympic and Robertson boulevards because she felt a duty to vote at a time when she believes the country is headed in the right direction under President Obama.

“If I don’t vote,” she said, “I don’t think I have the right to protest if I don’t like something.”

-- Robert J. Lopez

Related:

Story: California polling stations see low turnout
Election Central: Voter guide
Photos: California's special election
Opinion: Times endorsements

Voter voices: Alex Rengifo in Los Angeles

Low voter turnout or not, Westside resident Alex Rengifo said he was out to send a special election message.

“I’m not too happy about the situation in California,” he said, explaining that he believes Sacramento politicians have pushed policies that have increased the economic burden for working people.

“It’s very difficult right now to make it,” said Rengifo, 54, after casting his ballot this afternoon at a polling place near Olympic and Robertson boulevards.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Video by Robert J. Lopez, Los Angeles Times

Related:

Story: California polling stations see low morning turnout
Election Central: Voter guide
Photos: California's special election
Opinion: Times endorsements

Voter voices: Monique Anthony, Ladera Heights

At Magic Johnson’s Starbucks in Ladera Heights this afternoon, chiropractor Monique Anthony, 41, was debating whether to go vote.

“At first, I thought about not voting today,” Anthony said. “I think people are so stressed and overwhelmed, just from the previous elections.... They want us to vote for something that we haven’t studied enough. I don’t think there was enough information about each of these core issues.”

What a difference an election can make. In November, for the historic election of President Obama, voters  lined up to cast their ballots long before their precincts even opened. By noon today at one precinct in Inglewood, poll supervisor Gerry Richardson said that only 51 of the 2,300 registered voters -- about 2% -- had turned out.

Even though the number was low, Richardson said she was surprised: “My thought was that we weren’t going to have 50 people come in.”

Robert Spearman, who is in the insurance business, was one of the few voters at Richardson’s polling station. He said that voting was his obligation and that it was important to set an example for his children .

“The reason I came out to vote is because I’ve been given this right and I want to make sure I exercise my right,” Spearman said.

-- Carla Rivera

Voter voices: West Palmdale poll workers have time to chit-chat

Belethia Myers volunteered the garage of her six-bedroom home on Tangerine Street in West Palmdale as the official polling station for the community of Anaverde.

As she and five poll workers waited for voters to trickle in, the group’s chit-chat ran the gamut: From work and family to horror stories about healthcare.

By 9.30 a.m., only 14 people from Anaverde, a community of 700 modern tract homes, had voted. By 10 a.m., the number had risen to 16.

“People are frustrated,” said Myers. “They’ve seen that nothing they do is going to work.”

Kenneth Maupin, an electrician, added that “people at my job said they don’t care about this election. They think it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

Anthony Infante, another poll worker, said he had worked the phone banks for a candidate running to fill a vacant seat on Palmdale’s City Council -- a measure also on the ballot for Palmdale voters. Hardly anyone he spoke to knew about the special election, he said.

Just before 10 a.m., Alex Iudica and Lisa Gunton pulled up in an SUV and wandered into the garage polling station.

“Where’s the beer?” Iudica joked as he approached to poll workers. “It’s gonna be a long day.”

Gunton, an unemployed worker of the construction company that built Anaverde, said she came out to vote because “it’s my duty and it’s my right.”

She recalled how during November’s general election, the line to vote stretched out into the street in front of Myers’ home.

Gunton said she was particularly opposed to Proposition 1D, which would shift about $1.7 billion dollars away from early-childhood development programs over the next five years, and use it to help balance the state’s budget. She also opposed Proposition 1E, which seeks to divert about $460 million from mental health programs over the next two years.

“We don’t want to steal from programs that help children, in order to pay the debt,” said Gunton. Like many voters, Gunton’s verdict on the special election was generally negative.

-- Ann Simmons

Voter voices: Will Durghalli in Santa Monica

Santa Monica resident Will Durghalli said the special election featured a confusing array of ballot measures. But he was clear about one thing: State politicians don’t deserve pay raises with California suffering from a fiscal crisis.

So he said he voted in favor of Proposition 1F, which would bar pay hikes to state elected officials during periods when California is running a deficit.

“I don’t want them getting paid when we’re in a budget deficit,” said Durghalli, 31, who had just cast his ballot at the city's Virginia Park. “None of them deserve it, anyway.”

-- Robert J. Lopez

Video: Robert J. Lopez / Los Angeles Times

Related:

Story: California polling stations see low turnout
Election Central: Voter guide
Photos: California's special election
Opinion: Times endorsements