ALPERN AT LARGE-It's not hard to conclude that the outcry about low voter turnout in City and LAUSD elections, and the desire among certain (but not all!) elected officials to do anything (ANYTHING!) to increase voter turnout is NOT being promoted because of any desire to actually inform voters and create better and more citizen-serving government.
Quite the opposite--those promoting Charter Amendments 1 & 2 think that voters are too stupid to make the right decisions, and too lazy to figure out when to weigh in on matters that affect their lives and the lives of their families.
1) Take a look at who's for and against these two amendments, which would move City and LAUSD/Community College Board elections, respectively, to even-numbered years, and it's easy to figure out that the intent of these elections is to discourage (if not downright corrupt) individual knowledge of our City/LAUSD issues, not promote them.
Those who support Charter Amendments 1 and 2, as recently documented in an expose from the LA Times (LINK: http://www.latimes.com/local/cityhall/la-me-special-interests-20150216-story.html#page=1) include self-serving lobbyists and special interests such as the mega-billboard company Clear Channel, self-serving public sector unions, and self-serving electeds who are more than happy to take lobbyist/public sector union money.
Most prominent among these electeds includes Council President Herb Wesson--he of the "let's have a half-cent sales tax to prevent a rise in crime" which was voted down by the voters (and which was promptly shown to be unnecessary), and he of the "let's have a lottery to get more voter turnout" (and which was laughably tossed out by those who respect our election process in a serious and adult manner).
In contrast, those Neighborhood Council and other volunteer leaders involved with City and LAUSD politics, as well as the Community College District, oppose Charter Amendments 1 and 2.
These volunteers, who view voters as individuals to be encouraged, educated and respected to vote--not treated with contempt and good only for raising taxes.
Those who did and still do fight the good fight for greater democracy for all individuals, ethnicities and socioeconomic classes include the LA Neighborhood Council Coalition, former and current City Councilmembers Rita Walters, Bernard Parks and Joan Milke Flores, and Eastside County Supervisor Gloria Molina (now running for the City Council), and they all OPPOSE Charter Amendments 1 and 2.
2) Take a look at the limited information on the political races that we're getting now.
Are voters (even at the student level, when they're being trained in civics) being encouraged to ask themselves who's paying for these political pieces we're now getting in the mail?
Why are the campaign flyers focusing on endorsements, and not the issues...or the qualifications...or the ideas being promoted by the candidates? (Better still, do these candidates have proper qualifications or good ideas?)
It's not hard to figure out that those paying for the flyers and mailers are self-serving, and their endorsed happy/shiny/heretofore-unknown/unheard-of individuals have no truly innovative ideas on how to run our Community Colleges, the LAUSD and the City...but they all appear to support Charter Amendments 1 and 2!
And the big question...how many of the pro-Charter Amendment 1/2 ads and endorsements actually explain the implications of these Charter Amendments, and actually serve to INCREASE voter knowledge of the issues?
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The answer, of course, is that NONE of these pro-1/2 ads want the voters to be educated, but would love to BURY and DENY the influence of those who actually dig into the ugly and sordid reality of our local "democratic" political system, and who actually take the time and energy to educate themselves and vote during these odd-year, extra elections.
3) Take a look at how much the electorate really cares about "low voter turnout".
Both locally and at the state/federal level, folks who stay home and choose NOT to vote (even when they darn well know they can vote by absentee ballot) do so for a variety of reasons...but they're ALL voluntary.
Slipping in City elections during state/federal elections to voters who are probably already distracted by non-City issues will likely encourage the downright corruption and unsustainable fiscal and political behavior that's allowing City Hall, the misbehaving unions of the LADWP and LAUSD, and sneaky corporate interests to jack up our taxes and fees again and again...and yet again.
Because those we've entrusted and paid for our roads, schools, police, etc. want a raise...AGAIN...and are the voters and taxpayers getting back their investment in paid-for services?
The answer, of course, is NO.
When voters know that virtually ALL of their choices--especially those endorsed by major political parties or public sector unions--will just be "same old, same old" it's not hard to understand why the voters shrug their shoulders, stay home, and rely on those "suckers" who dig through the ugly reality to do the job of voting in the "least of all evils" and to hopefully vote out the worst of our unqualified potential leaders.
We need to open our minds, and sometimes our wallets...not the other way around.
In short, extra elections do involve a bit more work--but for those who choose to be engaged in the civic process, the opportunities are abundant to learn and play a bigger role in how we run our City.
Perhaps the voters are waiting for BETTER candidates, and BETTER ideas, and BETTER track records of getting things done.
The last thing we need is for a non-transparent, backroom-dealing City Hall, LAUSD and Community College Board to dodge the spotlight of City and local elections--Vote NO on Charter Amendments 1 and 2!
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] He also does regular commentary on the MarkIsler Radio Show on AM 870,and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 16
Pub: Feb 24, 2015
