Jim Rainey: Los Angeles Voters Don't Know About Local Elections, Don't Care (VIDEO)

Voter turnout is expected to be low for the mayoral primaries in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Times political writer Jim Rainey didn't mince words when describing the typical Los Angeles voter. In a discussion on HuffPost Live Monday, Rainey claimed that Angelenos suffered "no social stigma" if they didn't know a single thing about local politics.

"If you don't even have an opinion or don't even know who the mayor is, you can go out and there's no social stigma attached to knowing nothing," said Rainey. "It's part of the local culture."

Unfortunately, voter turnout rates for LA's most recent mayoral races seem to validate Rainey's observation. When Antonio Villaraigosa first won his mayoral seat in 2005, only 28 percent of registered voters took to the polls, notes LA Daily News.

Twenty-eight percent seems low, especially when compared to LA's 51.6 percent voter turnout for the 2012 general election. However, Villaraigosa's first mayoral campaign was an historic one, and the turnout ended up dwarfing figures for his 2009 re-election: 17 percent.

Voter turnout for Tuesday's municipal elections is also expected to be very low.

So what gives? Pollster Dan Schnur of USC thinks that LA's 2013 mayoral race suffers from a lack of outsized personalities.

"You have to feel bad for them. They have debated 40 times," said Schnur to The Daily Beast. "It is like watching a very long and detailed spelling bee."

But could there be another way to encourage voter participation, besides praying for more inspirational (or kooky) candidates?

Yes, according to former LA City Controller Laura Chick. In a February op-ed for the LA Times, she noted that moving municipal elections to coincide with state or national elections would save the city money and encourage more people to vote for local issues that have a direct impact on their everyday lives.

Rainey pointed out that some critics claim local issues could get buried if municipal elections are moved to "on-years," but added, "I do think that with these paltry turnouts it would be good to do something to try and get more people to pay attention."

USC/LA Times' latest polls, released Sunday, show that Councilman Eric Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel are statistically tied for first place (27 percent and 25 percent, respectively), while radio host Kevin James and Councilwoman Jan Perry are tied at 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Tech executive Emanuel Pleitez racked up just 5 percent.

In order to win the primary election, one person has to gain more than 50 percent of the vote. Given the most recent polls, it seems all but inevitable that the mayoral race will end in a runoff election, scheduled for May.

If you're voting in the primaries Tuesday, check out our cheatsheet and click through the slideshow below for information on all five candidates:

Loading Slideshow

Party: Democratic Platform: "Bringing practical solutions to the economic challenges that are holding our city back -- solutions like the structural pension reforms I've spearheaded to reduce the financial burden on taxpayers now and in the future; responsible budgeting that protects core city services; and key investments to make our neighborhoods stronger, safer, and attractive to jobs and businesses." -- campaign website Current Gig: Councilmember representing the 13th Council District (Atwater Village, Echo Park, Hollywood and Silver Lake) Donation Amount As Of First 2012 Filing: More than $1 million Quotable Quote: "I've seen shuttered storefronts transformed into thriving main streets, and I've seen dangerous streets reborn as some of the city's safest neighborhoods. We've nearly tripled the number of parks, given every student in my district access to an after school program, and deployed the city's first constituent services 'smart phone' application so you can report graffiti or a pothole from the palm of your hand." -- campaign website More Info: ericgarcetti.com

Party: Democratic Platform: As LA's city controller, Greuel has made headlines for exposing waste and fraud with her financial audits of the Memorial Coliseum, LA housing department and other city agencies. On her campaign site, Greuel writes, "It is time to increase accountability and transparency in our government. Please join me in this pursuit." Current Gig: Los Angeles City Controller since July 2009 Donation Amount As Of First 2012 Filing: $1.1 million Quotable Quote: "People just say, 'I'll vote for you for anything if you just repair Wilshire Boulevard'. " -- KNX 1070 via The City Maven More Info: wendygreuel.org

Party: Democratic Platform: As a councilwoman, Perry has emphasized policies and courted projects and businesses that will help bring jobs to her district, sometimes to the point of controversy. On her campaign site, she writes that she's running for mayor because, "I want to do more and believe that Los Angeles is and will continue to be a great place for investment and development. We cannot tax our way out of the recession we need to continue support investment that create the jobs that will do just that." Current Gig: Councilmember representing the 9th Council District (Parts of Downtown LA and South LA) Donation Amount As Of First 2012 Filing: $827,328 Quotable Quote: "In recent months, I have felt that we have drifted away from the kind of openness and frank discussion that has characterized this council, especially as it pertains to the future of council leadership, the council as an institution, and the future design for council districts." -- Jan Perry on her resignation from the City Council. She was protesting new district lines that separate Downtown LA from South LA, via the LA Times. More Info: janperry.com

Party: Republican Platform: James' top priorities include bringing jobs back to LA, balancing the city's budget and repairing infrastructure. In 2011, James told LA Weekly that he wants to be the first openly gay mayor in Los Angeles. Current Gig: Radio host for conservative talk show on 870 KRLA AM. The show runs from 12am to 3am. Donation Amount As Of First 2012 Filing: $154,253 Quotable Quote: "There's no doubt that if I became the first openly gay mayor of Los Angeles, it would help [the gay community] enter the mainstream in America even more." -- LA Weekly. More Info: kevinjamesformayor.com

Party: Democratic Platform: "I believe City Hall should listen and respond to the needs of every community. Our city is in trouble, and to save it, we need to raise our graduation rate, reform our pension system, and invest in our most under invested communities, that means South LA, the eastside, the East San Fernando Valley, and Pico Union, not just Downtown and in Hollywood." -- Emanuel Pleitez, in an email to HuffPost Current Gig: Board of Directors Chair for both the Hispanic Heritage Foundation and the Salvadoran American Leadership and Education Fund (SALEF); citizen leader for No Labels, a movement to get Democrats, Republicans, and independents to work together; founder and executive producer of INSPIRA, an ongoing web series featuring Latinos' stories Donation Amount: $221,568.18 in contributions + $24,500 in personal funds + $299,265.00 in matching funds = $545,333.18 Quotable Quote: "I was at Goldman till November 7th. I remember watching the Congressional hearings into the financial crisis with some of my colleagues there. It was sad to hear the reactions from my friends. They were laughing at the questions asked by some of the members of the Finance Committee, mocking them because they didn't understand the details of how the banking system works. Yes, we need members of Congress who have expertise in finance. That's one of the reasons I'm running. But there should also be a level of respect for people who give themselves to public service--not the disconnect that exists now." -- Emanuel Pleitez quoted by HuffPost blogger Eric Greenberg More Info: pleitezforla.com

Get Alerts

View the original article here

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran Supreme Leader, Scolds Ahmadinejad Ahead Of Elections

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Iran's supreme leader is supposed to be many things in the eyes of his followers: Spiritual mentor, protector of the Islamic Revolution, a moral compass above the regular fray.

Political referee is not among them.

Yet that is the unfamiliar role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has adopted as the political mudslinging gets heavier ahead of elections in June to pick a successor for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"Bad, wrong, inappropriate," scolded Khamenei on Saturday in his most stinging rebuke of Ahmadinejad for his mounting attacks on rivals – including an ambush earlier this month in parliament when he played a barely audible videotape that purported to show corruption inside the family of the chamber's speaker.

Khamenei then went on to chide the parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, for publicly humiliating Ahmadinejad in response to the tape.

"When there is a common enemy and conspiracies are hatched from all sides, is there any way other than strengthening brotherhood and resisting the enemy?" Khamenei said in reference to widening Western sanctions and pressures over Iran's nuclear program.

Hardball politics are nothing new in Iran, whose elected parliament and government can make even Washington's bickering seem genteel. It also is unlikely to threaten the real power in Iran: The ruling clerics and their guardians led by the Revolutionary Guard.

But the deepening nastiness inside Iran speaks volumes about the importance of the presidential election on June 14 and how it could reset Tehran's political order.

Khamenei seeks to tamp down the rising political spats that could signal weakness to the West in nuclear negotiations set to resume next week. He also wants to close off any openings for public complaints over the economic pain from the expanding sanctions.

At the same time, however, Khamenei risks blows to his image if his unprecedented personal intervention fails to calm the growing tremors whose epicenter is Ahmadinejad.

Parliament on Sunday showed obedience. More than 260 lawmakers – nearly the entire 290-seat chamber – expressed loyalty to Khamenei. Ahmadinejad made no immediate comment.

"The presidential election has raised the stakes in the ongoing blame game," said Abolghasem Bayyenat, a former Iranian trade official who runs the website irandiplomacywatch.com.

Khamenei "certainly does not want the political wrangling ... to get out of control," he said.

But Ahmadinejad shows no signs of heading into a quiet retirement after his second and final term. This raises the possibility he could become something Iran has rarely seen: a political wild card able to muster allies and grass roots backers to complicate life for rivals such as Larijani.

And one of those rivals could very well be sitting in Ahmadinejad's old office in Tehran. Khamenei has pushed back hard against Ahmadinejad's attempts to challenge his authority in the past two years. As payback, the ruling clerics are likely to block any key Ahmadinejad backer from the presidential ballot and bring in someone who has sided with Khamenei as his relationship with Ahmadinejad drifted from cozy to cool to outright hostility.

In the meantime, Ahmadinejad heads into his final months eager to land some punches on his opponents.

"We are witnessing a new precariousness in Iran's internal politics," said Suzanne Maloney, an Iranian affairs expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

There's no clearer evidence than Khamenei, whose hard-core followers believe is answerable only to God. Yet even he can't seem to calm Iran's political tempest with rare – and increasingly sharp – orders from on high.

It suggests a diminishing regard for Khamenei and the ruling clerics to fully set the political tone inside Iran – which could be the ultimate political legacy of Ahmadinejad from his defiance while in office and his possible gadfly role after leaving later this year.

Khamenei's main worry is not whether the opposition can regroup after being hammered following the post-election unrest in 2009. Its leaders are under house arrest and activists know they would face punishing reprisals if they return to the streets.

Instead, it appears Khamenei senses that the internal political rulebook could be under threat.

Ahmadinejad first broke taboos – and earned himself instant political enemies – by challenging the authority of Khamenei in 2011 over the appointment of the powerful intelligence ministry post. Since then, Khamenei has been gradually drawn into the mix despite the traditions of the supreme leader remaining aloof from day-to-day affairs.

It seems part of Ahmadinejad's tactics to hector Khamenei as a way to boost his status as an alternative pole of power, said Rasool Nafisi, an Iranian affairs analyst at Strayer University in Virginia.

"Ahmadinejad ... seems to have adopted a strategy of pressuring Khamenei to either force him out – which would be a confession to Khamenei's poor judgment as the main support of Ahmadinejad – or live with Ahmadinejad's continuous assaults on his position and close associates," Nafisi said. "Either way, Ahmadinejad will turn out a winner."

The unraveling of their relationship began when security forces crushed the protests over Ahmadinejad's re-election. Ahmadinejad increasingly bristled at having to take a back seat to the ruling clerics, who control all key political and policy decisions.

A political temper tantrum in April 2011 – when Ahmadinejad boycotted meetings for 10 days to protest Khamenei's intelligence chief appointment – opened the flood gates.

Dozens of Ahmadinejad's political allies were arrested or pushed to the margins, effectively blocking his chances of having a protege on the ballot in June. Meanwhile, the political fortunes brightened for Ahmadinejad rivals, such as parliament speaker Larijani.

Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad stunned parliament with a crude videotape that purported to show a discussion over bribes that included Larijani's brother. A week later, apparent Ahmadinejad backers hurled insults and shoes to disrupt a speech by Larijani in the seminary city of Qom.

On Friday, one of Khamenei's close allies, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, used his nationally broadcast Friday sermon to urge authorities to take "strong action" in response to the incident.

"Give up these hateful disputes," he told worshippers at Tehran University in an open reference to Ahmadinejad and Larijani. "People are tired of your fighting."

But Ahmadinejad seems to be suiting up for a pre-election scrap. Last week, he led gatherings that were interpreted as unofficial campaign events for his top aide, Esfandiari Rahim Mashaei, in an apparent challenge to election-vetting authorities who either have to clear him or reject him.

Ahmadinejad "is a political figure who has some residual popular base, a political infrastructure, who knows where all the bodies are buried and is very eager to talk," said Brookings analyst Maloney. "That makes Ahmadinejad the most dangerous man in the Islamic Republic."

View the original article here

2012 Elections: In Polarized Nation, Iowa Finds Itself Oddly Split

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Republicans and Democrats in state capitals across the country are talking ambitiously about what they'll do next year with the unchecked power they amassed in the fall elections. In more states than not, one party now has full control of government.

But you won't hear much brash talk in Des Moines. Here, party leaders are warning supporters about what they shouldn't look forward to next year and speaking mildly about compromises.

Iowa inhabits an unusual parallel universe in this politically polarized time. It is one of only three states where control of the legislature is split between the parties. Instead of laying out bold initiatives for overhauling taxes or education, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad and legislative leaders are trying to figure out a few things they can agree on so that when the session is over, they won't wind up with nothing.

"You don't always get everything you want," Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said in an interview, in what could serve as the legislature's rallying cry.

At a time when other states are pursuing purer – and often diametrically opposite – visions of how government should work, Iowa will likely take some from Column A and some from Column B, in an approach that could later provide a hybrid counterpoint to the more ideological ventures.

At very least, Branstad said, citizens "don't get some of the excesses that you don't want."

In the fall elections, Republicans won veto-proof majorities in many of the 26 state legislatures they already controlled, which will allow them to roll over any opposition. Democrats also gained concentrated strength. Half of state legislatures now have such "supermajorities," up from 13 only four years ago.

So armed, Republican-dominated states like Kansas and Oklahoma will aim to cut their income taxes to prove the conservative argument that the economy will benefit even if public services suffer. Republicans in Wisconsin hope to stimulate mining with relaxed regulation. Tennessee, Texas and others will pursue a more loose-knit version of public education, replete with independently run charter schools and cash vouchers.

But Republicans in Iowa won't be going there.

The GOP kept control of the 100-member House in November, but only by four seats. Democrats held the Senate held by the narrowest of margins, 26-24.

"We better sit down and start talking and be more serious about accommodating each other interests," said Senate Democratic leader Mike Gronstal.

While other Republican states are in action mode, Branstad has named the head of the Democratic-leaning state teacher's union to a new task force studying how to improve schools.

Gronstal said Democrats will work with Branstad on an education initiative to base teacher advancement more on merit and results. The goal is to boost performance without remaking the whole system.

He said the Senate will also give a new look at business-friendly property tax changes, which Democrats torpedoed last year.

"We all have a set of things we want to accomplish, but our shared focus is to continue getting Iowans back to work," he said.

Branstad and Republican House Speaker Kraig Paulsen say Iowa's improved economy has eased some of the budget pressure of the past four years, enough to open a discussion of higher spending for education and job protection for public workers. The state's unemployment rate of 5.1 percent in November was the fourth-lowest in the country, the result largely of what has been a stable farm economy.

Divided government isn't a new experience in Iowa. Although Republicans dominated in the late 1990s and Democrats did six years ago, balance has been the norm. The state has had one Democratic and one Republican U.S. senator for 28 years (Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley, respectively). During that time, Iowa had a Republican governor – Branstad – for 16 years and a Democratic governor for 12. The four House seats are split evenly.

Iowa's redistricting process is a factor. Unlike in other states, the congressional and legislative maps are drawn by a team of non-partisan analysts rather than legislative committees. Thus, the results more accurately reflect the state's partisan balance.

Again in this election, "For better or worse, the electorate did not say, `OK, one party, we're going to take your philosophy on everything and ignoring the other,'" said David Roederer, a veteran Branstad adviser and Iowa's budget director.

The parties took a more partisan tack in the last legislative session, with the result that, other than passing some pressing budget control measures, little else was accomplished. Gronstal says 2013 provides a ripe opportunity for compromise before the approaching 2014 elections heighten partisan tensions. Branstad, who was governor in the 1980s and 1990s before running again in 2010, is expected to stand for re-election.

Except for lawmakers in Kentucky and New Hampshire – the other two states with divided legislative control – those elsewhere can barely imagine what Iowa expects to experience. In Oklahoma, where Republicans hold every statewide elected office and supermajorities in the House and the Senate, Democrats weren't invited to the budget talks with the governor's office. In Minnesota, where Democrats won both chambers this year and hold the governor's office, Republicans are expecting a parade of Democratic policy initiatives.

"There isn't really anything we can participate in unless asked," said outgoing Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Zellers, a Republican.

___

Associated Press writers Brian Bakst in St. Paul, Minn., and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

Also on HuffPost:

Get Alerts Subscribe to the HuffPost Hill newsletter!

View the original article here