ELENA POPP FOR CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY, DISTRICT 45

I waited a long time to endorse anyone in the 45th Assembly District (AD 45). The three major candidates all seemed to be sufficiently liberal for my taste. They all had some heavyweights behind them. Kevin de León has Fabian Nuñez and the party machine. Elena Popp has the retiring incumbent, Jackie Goldberg. Christine Chavez, well she has the ghost of her grandfather Cesar Chavez. Pretty interesting race.

Each one recently moved to the district, though Elena Popp is the one who grew up here. She immigrated from Mexico at the age of 8 and went to public schools, including Marshall High, just down the road.

Elena was my early favorite because she actually came out to some of the activist events I was at, and stayed. She didn't just shake hands and leave, she listened and seemed genuinely interested in what was going on. When I questioned her she gave firm answers. Do you support the Clean Money bill? "Yes." Do you support Sheila Kuehl's universal healthcare bill? "Absolutely. And Senator Kuehl has endorsed me."

So I waited to hear from the other candidates. Surely Mr. de León would reach out to a delegate from his district. After all, I get to vote on the party's endorsement. Ms. Chavez sent a bunch of shallow mailers reminding me, ad nauseam, of her relation to her grandfather.

Hearing nothing of substance, I decided to call the campaigns. I asked about universal healthcare, Clean Money, gay marriage, and eminent domain, all hot issues that the legislature is or will soon be working on.

I found a phone number somewhere on the Chavez website which led me to her campaign treasurer, who referred me to her press guy who wouldn't answer any questions. He said he'd try to get Chrisine to call me back.

I called the de Leon campaign and the staffer who answered had no idea where his candidate stood on the issues. Again, I was offered a call back.

I called the Popp campaign, and heard, "Well hello, David!" It did not impress me that she had me programmed into her phone. It impressed me that she actually answers it. When I asked about eminent domain, she took a renter's rights perspective. I was already aware of her work defending the evicted tenants of Lincoln Place in Venice when their landlord decided to convert low income apartments to luxury condos. And of course she's for gay marriage; she's gay.

What I liked was the level of detail I got, and the candid quality of her answers. The LA Times noticed this too and endorsed her. The other thing they noticed was her independence. As a social justice attorney, she's been fighting for the little guy for years. Jackie Goldberg hand picked her and groomed her for the seat.

Kevin de Leon owes his childhood friend, Fabian Nuñez big. Nuñez is likely going to get challenged for the speaker of the Assembly position next year by Richard Alarcón. Word on the street is that Nuñez asked Mayor Villaraigosa to endorse Kevin in return for Nuñez' support for his school takeover. Kevin has signed a pledge to oppose mayoral control, but now says he's open to it.

Christine Chavez' big time political consultant is Richie Ross, whose star client is Alarcón. Ross is said to have a stable of Assembly candidates numbering in the teens, chomping at the bit to to support Alarcón's challenge. Remember too, that Alarcón ran against Villaraigosa in last year's election for mayor, pissing off a lot of people who thought he'd split the latino vote. Mmmm. The plot thickens.

By the way, I love Alarcón and I think he'd do a fantastic job as speaker of the Assembly. But in the race for the 45th AD seat, who will look out for the voters, and who will be holding water for one of the speaker candidates?

I went to a forum with Elena, Kevin, and Gabriel Buelna, who I thought he had no shot, but has made a great showing. Christine doesn't go to the forums, except sometimes to shake hands and then leave before the questions start.

As they spoke, I made a chart where I put checks under the candidate's names when I agreed with them on specific issues. Kevin came off as the big picture guy, telling a lot of emotional stories. Gabriel was the pothole guy who seemed to know the district best. Elena was the policy expert who understood the issues at all levels and went into to most detail.

Besides her work on behalf of renters, particularly low income renters, Elena Popp also founded a self-help domestic violence prevention program in the courts that helped her get the support of LA County Sheriff Lee Baca. She worked for Legal Aid. She created a program for mentally ill homeless people. She's helped preserve tons of low income housing. In fact she's done so much for social justice causes that Chavez' aunt, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers, Delores Huerta has endorsed Elena.

At the end of the forum I had a page full of check marks. In her closing Elena pointed out that since all three candidates appear to take the same stands on all the issues, it's a good idea to choose the candidate who gives a place at the table to three underrepresented groups -- females, latinos, and gays. That made a lot of sense.

But what makes even more sense is brains. Elena Popp knows her shit. Vote for her.

The LA Times Endorsement:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-assembly30may30,1,6733327.story?coll=la-news-comment

The LA Weekly on all the political intrigue:
http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/jackies-warring-clan/13658/

Elena Popp's website:
http://www.elenapoppforassembly.com/