Candidates Dau, Bianco, Moses, Blanchard Draw Wide Support (Analysis)

Friday, May 30, 2008

Page 9

Candidates Dau, Bianco, Moses, Blanchard Draw Wide Support

Analysis

Four candidates for the Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday’s ballot—incumbent Ralph W. Dau, court Commissioner James N. Bianco, and Deputy District Attorneys Jared D. Moses and Kathleen Blanchard—have grabbed higher ratings than their opponents from the Los Angeles County Bar Assn., monopolized endorsements by newspapers, and drawn support by the Democratic County Central Committee in this predominantly Democratic county.

Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Michael O’Gara enjoys all of those advantages, except the Democratic Party’s backing.

LACBA assigns ratings of “exceptionally well qualified,” “well qualified,” “qualified,” and “not qualified.” Ten candidates, including all four seeking Office No. 84, were denominated “not qualified.” Except in connection with that office, the only candidate with an “NQ” rating who attracted a significant endorsement was Robert Davenport, an unemployed lawyer, who got the nod from the Republican County Central Committee.

Endorsements by the Los Angeles Times, as well as the MetNews (whose early endorsements, beefed up with particulars, have through the years influenced developments in judicial elections) came out before the LACBA ratings were released. The ratings were in sync with the endorsements.

Later editorials in the Daily News and other newspapers of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group—which includes the Long Beach Press Telegram, Pasadena Star News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Daily Breeze, and the Whittier Daily News—recited close reliance on the LACBA evaluations.

No candidate with a lower rating than an opponent was able to attract a newspaper endorsement other than Superior Court Commissioner Patricia Nieto, the choice of the Times over her sole opponent, Deputy California Attorney General Lance Winters. Nieto was ranked “well qualified,” while Winters drew the top mark of “exceptionally well qualified.”

Candidate Statements

One factor in judicial elections—once regarded as significant but which has not proved so in recent elections—is whether the candidate has placed a statement in the sample ballot (this year costing $83,000, for English, only). Dau and his challenger, attorney Sydnee R. Singer, each has a statement. So do Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys Serena Raquel Murillo and Hilleri Grossman Merritt.

Another factor once seen as a substantial plus but which has not seemed to give a boost to candidacies of late, is the inclusion of the word “professor” in a ballot designation. This year, only one candidate, Deputy District Attorney Mark Lee, has used that word in the title under his name. He explains on his website that he is an adjunct professor at the University of Phoenix and Chapman University.

Four two-person races will necessarily be decided at Tuesday’s election. All signs point to the reelection of Dau who has the strong shield of incumbency which has incurred no nicks from his challenger’s scimitar. Probabilities are that Murillo—with the endorsement of the county’s newspapers, a candidate statement, and the vote-attracting ballot designation of “Criminal Prosecutor”—will prevail over Harvey A. Silberman, saddled with a description regarded by political observers as limp: “Superior Court Commissioner.”

Bianco’s Advantages

Despite bearing that very designation, Bianco—one of the four candidates mentioned above as having a superior LACBA rating (“well qualified,” in contrast to his opponent’s label as “not qualified”), newspaper endorsements, and Democratic backing (as well as a war chest stuffed with more than $200,000)—is an odds-on favorite to win in his contest with “International Corporate Lawyer” Bill Johnson. The prospect of white supremacist Johnson prevailing still exists in light of his electable name and the certainty that most voters are oblivious to his racist views, notwithstanding that revelations by the MetNews were picked up by the Times and others.

The Nieto-Winters contest will test the current strength of Times endorsements in judicial races.

The biggest unknown factor at this point is what effect there will be on judicial elections as the result of the anticipated light turnout of voters—except in the Second District where there is an open seat for supervisor—given that California’s election of delegates to the presidential conventions has already taken place. That factor means there will be fewer slate mailers than in the recent past.

The chart below shows how support for the candidates has shaped up.

Office No., Candidate, Ballot Designation	LACBA Rating	L.A. Times	Met News	Daily News*	Demo. Cent. Comm.	GOP Cent. Comm.
4
RALPH W. DAU Judge of the Superior Court	EWQ	X	X	X	X
SYDNEE R. SINGER Trial Attorney	Q
69
SERENA RAQUEL MURILLO Criminal Prosecutor	—	X	X	X
HARVEY A. SILBERMAN Superior Court Commissioner	—				X
72
MARC ALAIN CHOMEL Supervising Criminal Prosecutor	WQ		X	X
HILLERI GROSSMAN MERRITT Criminal Trial Prosecutor	WQ	X			X
STEVEN A. SIMONS Consumer Rights Attorney	Q
82
MARK LEE Criminal Prosecutor/Professor	Q
CYNTHIA LOO Superior Court Referee	Q	X			X
THOMAS RUBINSON Criminal Prosecutor	WQ		X	X
84
PAT CONNOLLY Criminal Gang Prosecutor	NQ	X		X		X
JOHN "JOHNNY" GUTIERREZ Administrative Law Judge	NQ
BOB HENRY Prosecutor Deputy Attorney-General	NQ
LORI-ANN C. JONES Superior Court Commissioner	NQ		X	X	X
94
EDUARD R. ABELE Criminal Prosecutor	Q
C. EDWARD MACK Criminal Trial Attorney	Q				X
MICHAEL J. O'GARA Criminal Prosecutor	WQ	X	X	X
95
PATRICIA D. NIETO Superior Court Commissioner	WQ	X			X
LANCE E. WINTERS Criminal Prosecutor	EWQ		X	X
119
ROBERT DAVENPORT Retired Lieutenant Colonel	NQ					X
JARED D. MOSES Criminal Prosecutor	WQ	X	X	X	X
DOUGLAS W. WEITZMAN Consumer Law Attorney	NQ
123
KATHLEEN BLANCHARD Gang Homicide Prosecutor	Q	X	X	X	X
ALLAN A. NADIR Criminal Gang Prosecutor	NQ
RICHARD A. NIXON Attorney at Law	NQ
125
JAMES N. BIANCO Superior Court Commissioner	WQ	X	X	X	X
BILL JOHNSON International Corporate Lawyer	NQ
154
PAUL "PABLO" BRUGUERA Calif. Deputy Attorney-General	NQ
ROCKY L. CRABB Superior Court Commissioner	WQ				X
MICHAEL V. JESIC Criminal Gang Prosecutor	WQ	X	X	X		X

*Judicial endorsements of other LANG newspapers generally mirrored those of the Daily News, but with exceptions. Notably, while the Daily News and the Daily Breeze sidestepped a choice for Office No. 84—saying that a run-off between Jones and Connolly would give the voters a chance to weigh those twos’ relative qualifications—the Press Telegram, Pasadena Star News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, and Whittier Daily News called for the election of Connolly. Although the Daily News, Press Telegram, and the Daily Breeze endorsed Jesic for Office No. 154, the Pasadena Star News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, and Whittier Daily News opted for Crabb.