CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– POLITICS
May 1, 2009 – 12:10 a.m.
Pre-Primary Tensions Rise in California’s 32nd District
By Rachel Kapochunas, CQ Staff
The competition between Democrats seeking an open House seat in California has escalated into political theatre, replete with accusatory campaign materials and rapid-response damage control.
Candidate Judy Chu , vice chairwoman of the state Board of Equalization, found herself deflecting blame for the country’s financial problems this week following mailers distributed by state Sen. Gil Cedillo, her rival in the May 19 primary for the open 32nd Congressional District seat.
An image of Chu surrounded by newspaper headlines of the Bear Stearns collapse and other crises of national significance appeared on Cedillo’s mailer, which also accused Chu of steering $12.6 million in tax breaks and contracts to her corporate campaign contributors.
“Politicians like Judy Chu give tax breaks to their big corporate contributors,” the mailer said.
The Chu campaign’s response: The “tax breaks” Cedillo referred to “were nothing more than routine refunds of overpaid sales taxes.”
Chu’s staff argued that the criticisms from Cedillo’s campaign were nothing more than desperate attacks.
“His campaign’s in free fall,” Chu spokesman Parke Skelton said in an interview, arguing that a recent Los Angeles Times article detailing Cedillo’s past spending of campaign donations on fine dining, hotels and shopping has damaged his campaign.
“He’s making up stuff about Judy and it’s astonishingly false,” Skelton said.
Cedillo campaign spokesman Derek Humphrey defended the mailer’s content as factual and responded that Chu is simply attempting to divert voter attention away from her “questionable behavior.”
With three weeks remaining until election day, the candidates’ back-and-forth highlights their front-runner status as well as what is at stake for them.
Chu and Cedillo are among the 12 candidates who qualified for the May 19 special election to replace Hilda L. Solis , who was confirmed as secretary of Labor in February.
Regardless of party, all 12 will appear on the ballot. If no one receives a majority, the top vote-getter from each party will advance to a special general election.
A special general election is expected, due to the multitude of candidates, but the May 19 contest is expected to be the race’s deciding factor.
A Democrat is highly favored to hold the East Los Angeles-area District. According to a CQ Politics analysis, Barack Obama received 68 percent support in the district last November and Republicans failed to field a candidate in Solis’ last three re-election contests.
The contest appears to have centered on Cedillo and Chu as front-runners, but surprises can still occur.
One factor that emerged in recent weeks is a candidacy by Republican Betty Chu, a Monterey Park city councilwoman. The similarity of her name to Judy Chu’s holds the potential to confuse voters.
Another unknown is how the district’s ethnic communities will vote.
“The big question has to be . . . the huge advantage of Latino voters that Cedillo is banking on,” said Los Angeles-based political strategist Victor Griego, who has long been involved in the local Latino and labor communities. “If that’s true, then it’s a runaway” for Cedillo.
According to the 2000 census, 62 percent of district residents are Hispanic and 18 percent are Asian. Griego said Cedillo, as a Hispanic, is expected to receive support from the Latino community, while Chu, an Asian-American, is expected to receive the most support from the Asian community.
But turnout for special elections is typically low. Voters also will be casting ballots for six statewide propositions, but those are not expected to offer a huge boost to the special election turnout.
Cedillo has been endorsed by Latino members of the state’s congressional delegation, but Chu has demonstrated her crossover appeal and won a notable endorsement from Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
While Cedillo is widely recognized as the most prominent Hispanic candidate running on May 19, several Latino candidates are also running and could cut into his base of support.
Former Obama transition staffer Emanuel Pleitez, Solis aide Benita Duran, and others will likely tap into bases of support that include Latino supporters.
Griego suggested that non-Hispanic, non-Asian white voters may also emerge as a deciding factor in the race, since neither major front-runner can lay claim to that ethnic community.
Chu received additional big name endorsements from the state Democratic party, the California Labor Federation and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The powerful political action committee Emily’s List, which supports female candidates who favor abortion rights, has also endorsed Chu.
Chu topped her competitors in fundraising, according to the first quarterly report. She raised $824,000 through March 31, Cedillo raised $568,000 and Pleitez raised $153,000.
“It’s going to come down to who has enough of a message that is going to resonate with the voters,” Griego said.
Comments
I can't believe that someone who gave millions in coorperate tax breaks to her contributers would have the guts to run for congress in this political enviroment. Shame on Judy Chu. She should step out of the race and not allow her personal ambitions to hurt the agenda of congressional democrats.
Dear Milly: I wouldn't be surprise that you are one of the Cedillo's volunteer. It is Cedillo who shouldn't be running for congress, he is just a typical hungry politician who uses the illegal immigrants to pretend that he is the guy from East LA who supports them. There is one thing for sure, he will be enjoying the donations of the "special interest" to support his nouveau lifestyle of a "white classy guy" , no more East LA tacos al carbon. No soy China, soy Latina.
I hate to see such a negative assessment of the democratic field but if I'm choosing between a guy who spends too much campaign money on campaign staff who make campaign wages and a woman who gives million dollar tax breaks to coorperate campaign contributers, the choice is clear.
Olga, Unfortunately, I can't vote in this one since I live outside of the district and even if I could, I wouldn't know who to vote for yet. Aren't there like 12 people running in this? I just want Obama to have the best congress out there backing him up and this isn't a time for democrats who are giving tax breaks to coorperate campaign donors.
Obama Gal, You also seem to see this as a two-man race. The coverage seems to say that it's either going to be Cedillo or Chu. Besides the lesser of two evils argument, is there any great reason to love one of these two?
Wow. Let me see if I understand this. Judy Chu's spokesman admits the $12.6 million were in fact given to corporations and "were nothing more than routine refunds of overpaid sales taxes." (If they were so routine, why did Judy Chu have to VOTE to make the refund?) And, astoundingly, Skelton (Judy Chu's spokesman) makes NO denial that some of these corporations contributed to Judy Chu's campaign???
I think Cedillo makes alot of sense for the 32'nd. No one spends more time speaking out for the voiceless in this state (and at a clear political cost to himself) than Gil Cedillo. He's good on health care, tough on violent crime, and active in the community. I have no reservations about putting this guy on Obama's congressional team, ready to put this country back on track.
Wow, as someone who lives in the district. Gil Cedillo offends me. What a carpetbagger. I am not associated with any campaign but we need someone who isn't corrupt and who's actually from the SGV.
Many commenters seem to be missing the point that these alleged "tax breaks to wealthy corporations" are nothing of the sort. They are REFUNDS of money that wasn't owed. Like when the state withholds part of your paycheck, and then on April 15 you do your taxes and find out they withheld more than you owed in taxes. You get a refund, because it's your money. Businesses do the same thing -- they have to pay in advance, based on how much they think they will owe. When they pay more tax than they owe, they get the money back. Does Cedillo want the state to just keep this money, even though it legally belongs to businesses (including mom-and-pop stores, not just huge corporations)? If the business that you work for had its money confiscated by the tax collectors, and then couldn't pay your salary, you might feel differently about this! The BOE votes on these things simply because the state wants some checks and balances to make sure a BOE staffer isn't just forging documents and mailing out checks to his friends or something.
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