Endorsements

There is something very wrong with the relationship between the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the voters who elect them. The supervisors oversee a county that is more populous than 42 states. But few county residents know what the supervisors do or how well they do it. The board members bear some blame for the problem; they are so expert in using the power of incumbency to raise campaign money that few challengers dare file to run against them, so there is rarely much public debate about the county's problems or the supervisors' fitness.

Since winning spots in the mayoral runoff, Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel have been scurrying around Los Angeles rolling out new endorsements as they seek to gain an edge in what is expected to be a tight, low-turnout election. In statewide and national races, many endorsements are seen as little more than window dressing. But political observers say that in this mayoral contest, some nods could play an outsized role, both in differentiating two Democrats who are similar in many ways and in determining who goes to the polls in an election that few voters appear to care about.

The mayoral candidates spent the weekend pressing the flesh and raising cash. City Controller Wendy Greuel was seen at the L.A. Marathon, being interviewed alongside termed-out Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former Dodgers' owner Frank McCourt. City Councilman Eric Garcetti hoisted a Guinness while toasting Los Angeles during a St. Patrick's Day bash at Tom Bergin's on Fairfax. Garcetti picked up the endorsement of former mayoral candidate Emanuel Pleitez on Saturday outside the Derby Dolls' roller derby rink.

Los Angeles mayoral candidates Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti touted separate endorsements from black community leaders Thursday, with Greuel receiving the backing of basketball legend Magic Johnson and Garcetti earning the nod from Councilwoman Jan Perry. Join us at 9 a.m. as we discuss the latest developments in the race for mayor with Times reporter Seema Mehta. Greuel thanked Johnson for his endorsement, pointing to the former Lakers point guard and part-owner of the Dodgers' credentials in the community.

Do endorsements for president still matter? Ed Morrissey of Hot Air and the Week recently wrote that “newspaper endorsements are at best meaningless anachronisms.” He argued that in today's information age, “news consumers consider themselves more informed than their local editorial board, and their own perspective as more valuable, especially as they progress from formerly low-information voters to sophisticated followers of current events.”...

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) has won the backing of the International Assn. of Fire Fighters, a major coup for the presidential hopeful, while leading contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) secured the endorsement of the United Transportation Union.

Voters go to the polls Tuesday to elect a member of Congress to represent California's 36th Congressional District, a South Bay area that is the bedroom community to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the historic home of much of this region's aerospace and related industries. The special election to fill the vacancy of departed Rep. Jane Harman has attracted a large and varied field. The Times endorses Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn. Hahn is not the only credible candidate in this race.

The socially conservative Alliance Defense Fund is recruiting several dozen pastors to endorse political candidates from their pulpits Sept. 28, in defiance of Internal Revenue Service rules. The effort by the Arizona-based legal consortium is designed to trigger an IRS investigation that ADF lawyers would challenge in federal court. The goal is to persuade the Supreme Court to throw out a 54-year-old ban on such endorsements by tax-exempt houses of worship. An opposing group of Christian and Jewish clergy will petition the IRS today to stop the protest, calling the ADF's "Pulpit Initiative" an assault on the rule of law and the separation of church and state.

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce announced its endorsement Thursday of Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks in his race against State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas for county supervisor. "Bernard Parks' steadfast commitment to business retention, economic development and promoting fiscal responsibility in government tipped the scales to his advantage," Chamber President Gary Toebben said in a statement. Ridley-Thomas has taken nearly all the key endorsements from labor organizations.

Re Orange County school board endorsement by L.A. Times. It is inconceivable that after a decade of harsh criticism from inside and outside the Orange County educational community The Times would endorse two of the incumbent members of the county school board. Norma Vander Molen, a former president of the Huntington Beach city school board, and Nicholas Siokos, a former Placentia schools superintendent, are challenging the incumbents Sheila Meyers and Dean McCormick, who have been members of a board which has allowed the $50-million-a-year budgeted county Department of Education to experience unchecked growth in an era which, by necessity, dictates cost-effective government.