Michelle Steel

On the June 6 primary ballot, Michelle Steel is identified as a deputy to a member of the powerful tax board on which she is seeking a seat. It is a job title that political analysts say is likely to help her win votes. But Steel held the job for only three months. In the meantime, the man she replaced was demoted, took a salary cut, and found a second job: working for the Steel campaign.

On the June 6 primary ballot, Michelle Steel is identified as a deputy to a member of the powerful tax board on which she is seeking a seat. It is a job title that political analysts say is likely to help her win votes. But Steel held the job for only three months. In the meantime, the man she replaced was demoted, took a salary cut, and found a second job: working for the Steel campaign.

-- District 1 -- -- 100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Democrat Betty T. Yee 580,433 100 Republican David J. Neighbors 271,743 100 Libertarian Kennita Watson 4,747 100 Peace & Freedom David Campbell 1,170 100 -- -- District 2 -- -- 100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Democrat Tim Raboy 227,933 67 Tom Bright 112,606 33 Republican Bill Leonard 277,643 67 Ed Streichman 136,628 33 Libertarian Willard Del Michlin 3,230 100...

As the Republican National Committee begins to chart its path after stinging losses in recent presidential elections, a major focus of its spring meeting in Hollywood is how to draw more support from communities that have shunned the party in large numbers, notably Latinos, Asian Americans and single women. Much of Thursday's agenda is focused on reaching out to such groups. This afternoon, committee members will take part in workshops about messaging, ethnic media, minority communities and women.

All four seats on California's elected tax board are up for grabs this November, but in three of the four contests incumbents have an inside track to reelection. The low-profile Board of Equalization has been divided equally between two seats favoring Democrats and two favoring Republicans since its districts were last redrawn in 2001. Board members are charged with collecting state sales taxes, arbitrating taxpayer disputes with the government and determining which companies are eligible for California tax breaks.

In the races for California's Board of Equalization, a little-noticed but powerful panel that oversees more than $40 billion in yearly tax collections, the past is ever present. California, which created the board in 1879 by constitutional amendment, is one of only a few states in the nation that has an elected panel, rather than a court, to resolve tax disputes and enforce collections.

THE ELECTION for California's Board of Equalization may be the state's equivalent of the human appendix: It must have made sense to whoever created the first one, but now no one can recall its original purpose and we keep it around only because it's too much of a hassle to get rid of. We certainly won't miss it when it's gone. The board has an important job -- overseeing sales and property tax administration and hearing appeals from the Franchise Tax Board.

A city panel this week adopted several measures intended to curb helicopter noise generated out of Van Nuys Airport, including a request that the federal government set a minimum altitude of 1,000 feet for choppers flying over the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners in a meeting late Tuesday voted to ask the Federal Aviation Administration to set the altitude minimum and to take other steps to reduce helicopter noise in the Los Angeles area.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan on Friday announced his choices to serve on three of the city's most influential policy-setting commissions, including a shift of trusted confidant and trouble-shooter Dan Garcia from the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency to the Airport Commission.

The routine reappointment of a Tarzana Republican to the Los Angeles Harbor Commission next week may become the next round of an increasingly contentious boxing match between Mayor Richard Riordan and the City Council. Carol L. Rowen, a former state Senate candidate who was active in the failed campaign to recall former state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), is likely to be grilled on her views of affirmative action before getting the council's nod, insiders said Wednesday.

Despite a landslide loss at the top of the ticket, jubilant Democrats emerged triumphant in most statewide races Wednesday with plans to push the party agenda while also pledging to work cooperatively with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. During a victory celebration at party headquarters here, several winning Democratic candidates -- including Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, the attorney general-elect, and incoming Lt. Gov.