The 2014 midterm election is over, and the results are in! Locally, the county will see new faces in old seats. Statewide, Gov. Brown moves forward with a historic fourth term. Also, how will the passing of Prop 47 affect prison populations? Then, how will the new Republican majority affect California?
The immediate effects of the election on LA County and California
The 2014 midterm election is over, and the results are in! On one front, not much has changed in Los Angeles County: all incumbents to the House of Representatives were re-elected. On the other front, the county will see new faces in long-held seats: Democrat Ted Lieu took retiring Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman’s seat in the 33rd district, and Sheila Kuehl has succeeded Zev Yaroslavsky for LA County’s Board of Supervisors’ Third District. In addition, voters passed Measure P, the special $23 parcel tax to fund parks and elected former Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell to lead the LA County Sheriff’s Department. Voter turnout in LA County was 23.4%.
Moving to the state level, Democrats swept the field: Governor Jerry Brown was re-elected to an historic fourth term, and Democrat Alex Padilla defeated Republican Pete Peterson for Secretary of State in a race that was too close to call until this morning. However, the same could not be said for all of the state’s propositions. Propositions 1 and 2, the Brown-backed ballot issues that tackled water and the state budget, respectively, both passed. Contrastingly, Propositions 45 and 46 regarding insurance rates and medical malpractice did not. The state’s effort at continuing sentencing reform, Proposition 47, succeeded in becoming law whereas Proposition 48 failed to bring another casino to the state. Overall voter turnout for the state of California stood at 29.9%.
What do these results mean for LA County and California? Will these results ripple on a national scale?
Guest:
Jonathan Wilcox, Republican Strategist; former speechwriter for Governor Pete Wilson
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist, Rodriguez Strategies; former senior Obama advisor in 2008
Linda Feldmann, White House and Politics correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor
Frank Gilliam Jr., Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and a professor of public policy and political science
Jessica Levinson, Professor at Loyola Law School, where she teaches Campaign Finance, Former Director of Political Reform at the Center for Governmental Studies
Francine Kiefer, Congressional Correspondent, Christian Science Monitor
Future of the California Republican Party
The Republican Party staked its claim in the U.S. Senate in Tuesday’s election, setting up what is likely to be a contentious final two years of President Obama’s presidency. However, here in California, the tale of the tape was much different.
Governor Jerry Brown was elected to his fourth term as governor and Democrats managed to hold on to every statewide office. However, the GOP was able to win enough seats to keep Democrats from holding a two-thirds supermajority in the California State Senate and Assembly.
After yesterday’s results, where does the California Republican Party go from here? What does this election mean for the state GOP going forward?
Guests:
Harmeet Dhillon, Vice Chair of the California Republican Party
Tony Krvaric, chairman of the San Diego County Republican Party
Tim Donnelly, Republican member of the California State Assembly, representing the 33rd district; former candidate for California Governor
Does Prop 47’s passage portend a bigger change in crime sentencing nationally?
Proposition 47 has passed, which means sentencing reform is set to commence throughout California. In a pendulum swing away from the "tough-on-crime" attitude that was exemplified in bills such as 1994's "Three Strikes Law," many low-level drug and property offenses will now be classified as misdemeanors rather than felonies.
The sentencing reform could affect as many 10,000 inmates, and the savings from keeping the prisoners in jail would be used for anti-recidivism measures. And just as California was one of the first to push the three strikes law, a popular bill that exploded across state legislatures throughout the 1990s, California's enactment of Proposition 47 has the potential to spark new efforts for sentencing reform on both the state and national levels.
While opponents of sentencing reform note that most of its funding has come from wealthy billionaires and foundations like that of George Soros, proponents are succeeding in their strategy of causing grassroots changes in opinion through organized campaigns that include social media and funding for education.
Will the passage of Proposition 47's sentencing reform reduce crime and prison populations?
Guests:
Jackie Lacey, Los Angeles County District Attorney
Barry Krisberg, UC Berkeley Criminologist