Roll Call (“The newspaper of Capitol Hill since 1955”) reported this morning on a breakfast hosted by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at this week’s Democratic National Convention.
The breakfast’s theme, according to the article, was that the road to a new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives runs through California, and the “non-partisan” re-districting committee handed the Democrats gifts toward that renewed majority.
One of those gifts?
Our own Congressional District 47, which was supposed to be a gimme for Alan Lowenthal:
[Rep. Jared Polis (Colo.), co-chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program] highlighted the DCCC’s Red to Blue candidates in California: Ami Bera and Raul Ruiz, “the dynamic duo of doctors”; astronaut Jose Hernandez; Mark Takano, who would be the first openly gay Member from California; state Sen. Alan Lowenthal; and San Diego Port Commissioner Scott Peters.
“You in California have the opportunity to help return Nancy Pelosi to be speaker of the House of Representatives,” Polis said.
Strictly speaking, the District wouldn’t be going from Republican to Democrat because it’s new. But residents of the chunk of conservative Orange County carved out and grafted to the east side of a blob of Democrat-dominated Los Angeles County take no comfort in misapplied labels.
State Senator Lowenthal’s voting record from March 2006 through August 27, 2012, is available at Project Vote Smart.
From where I sit, his voting record this year as a state senator is not entirely deplorable — he voted against funding high-speed rail, for instance. But there are other votes that indicate his alignment with “San Francisco Democrats” — yes on SB 1221, prohibiting the use of dogs while hunting; AB 1081, prohibiting local authorities from checking immigration status; and SB 1476, authorizing courts to designate more than two individuals as parents of a child.
Voters in District 47 should review Senator Lowenthal’s voting record before deciding how they will vote in November.
Related articles
- Former Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill endorses Alan Lowenthal for Congress (oc-breeze.com)
- New O.C. House seat tilting Democratic (totalbuzz.ocregister.com)
- Congressional candidate DeLong announces debate with opponent Lowenthal (oc-breeze.com)
- California passes $8 billion high-speed rail bill – The Columbian (columbian.com)
- California Senate approves funding for high-speed rail (sacbee.com)
- Horrible… Pelosi Refuses to Condemn Dem Leader Who Just Compared Republicans to Nazis (Video) (thegatewaypundit.com)
- California key to Democrats’ strategy to take back the House of Representatives (mercurynews.com)
- California high-speed rail: on wrong track (sfgate.com)
- Fight for female voters to continue at DNC (charlotteobserver.com)
About the Author
Since the realignment based on the 2010 Cenus was drawn by the reportedly “non-partisan commission” it is clear that Los Alamitos specifically is going to be challenged to remain engaged in the state and federal arena. We’ve lost districts shared by our neighbors where we have common concerns and issues, Congressionally we have been moved into the much larger Long Beach with bigger city issues. Let’s face it, we are in a NEW assembly district, a NEW state senate district, and a NEW congressional district. In fact, our senate district won’t be on the November ballot until 2014, yet our current senator is termed out as of the end of 2012. Many voters are unaware of these major changes. We have the possibility of the new assembly district (72nd) going to a Los Alamitos resident, Troy Edgar, when prior assembly candidates have always come from Huntington Beach. That is the closest to ‘local’ as we’ll get on these races. The congressional district, as noted in the article (47th) is between Long Beach councilmember Gary DeLong and state senator Lowenthal. It appears that the governor will appoint Senator Lou Corea from Santa Ana, to oversee the new senate district for the next two years. Please recognize that local electeds can play a role in this representation as well, since they traditionally have better access to state and federal elected official. I will be one of four residents in Los Alamitos seeking your vote on the November ballot, for the two positions that are up for consideration. I would appreciate your vote.
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