October 26th, 2024, a group called the Civic Engagement Taskforce hosted a Candidates Forum at the Culver City American Legion Hall.
Candidates for LA County Superior Court, Congress, and LA Community College Board showed up to make their case for office.
I really liked the opportunity to question and scrutinize the judicial nominees, since all too often they are overlooked or dismissed as unimportant, when judicial officers serve a very important role in Los Angeles County. Even if LA County residents elect a strong district attorney (which they most likely will this year), his efforts and the work of his deputy district attorneys can still be thwarted by liberal, woke, or rogue judges who ignore the law and push their own preferences.
The event started out with a great show of patriotism and respect for our country: Pacific Palisades Scouts Troop 223, led by third-year Scout
Bryce Young. Unfortunately, I arrived, late, so I could not see the show of colors or the Pledge of Allegiance. Members of the audience appreciated the service of these young men, so I know that they started the event on good footing.
Hope Howell began the event laying down the ground rules for the debate/discussion among the different candidates:
and here:
I will post specific comments regarding the candidates and their comments in the next posts.
For now, I just want to give a general overview of the forum.
1. Some of the candidates showed up late, and many of the invited candidates did not show up at all. I do not blame the Civic Engagement Taskforce for that outcome. Too many candidates, especially for countywide office, seem to think that answering questions and engaging with the public is beneath them.
That is really shameful, and LA County voters should start expecting more from their elected officials, and from all their candidates.
2. Hope Howell and the rest of the Taskforce team did a great job running the debate. They made sure that every person had a chance to speak. The only criticism I would offer is that they should provide placards indicating how much time each candidate has left to give their answers.
3. The judicial nominees were unusually candid in many of their answers, but also disturbingly uninformed for other answers. In order to run for judicial office in California, a candidate must have been a member of the state bar for at least ten years. It's a growing concern that many lawyers, and thus judicial nominees, are not prepared for running courtrooms or have a weaker understanding of case law than previous generations.
4. Nancy Pearlman was very entertaining and honest in her bid for LA Community College Board, even if I found her views too left-wing for my support. Of course, I don't live in that Community College district, so I was not going to vote for her. I did find her honesty very refreshing.
5. Melissa Toomim was prepared and consistent in her delivery. Like Nancy Pearlman, her opponent for office did not show up to the debate, so she could make the case for herself without any challenges.
6. Some of the audience members suggested after the event that the judicial nominees offered uninformed or even incriminating remarks because the audience was not as large as they expected. That unintended audience certainly works in the voters' favor!
We’ll see the LA County Registrar in court. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant granted our request for an expedited hearing on issuing a preliminary injunction against the Registrar. An injunction would compel the Registrar to fully cooperate with our team that’s reviewing every one of the 195,783 signatures the Registrar deemed invalid. Already, and with the Registrar placing absurd restrictions on our review process, we’ve identified clear, obvious, and legitimate challenges for about 39% of the invalidated signatures that we’ve reviewed so far. Our fight against George Gascon is not over, far from it.
While our fight moves to the courtroom, Angelenos are fighting for their safety every day. This week, Marissa Young came forward with her chilling story. On July 31, she was brutally beaten and raped at night in a Torrance park, by Darrell Dean Waters, a homeless man who was arrested the prior night for possession of a dagger, but released after just a few hours. “If he had been kept in jail, what happened to me wouldn’t have happened,” said Young. “I could have been murdered.” Last week, a homeless man in North Hollywood stabbed 24-year-old Kyli Watts in the back of her head with a pair of gardening shears. Watts had moved to LA only two weeks earlier. She immediately went into surgery and faces a difficult recovery. And did you see the deeply disturbing video of a 27-year-old criminal abducting a 14-year-old girl? He proceeded to force her into a bathroom and rape her. These stories are a regular occurrence under George Gascon. That’s why we’re fighting so hard to get rid of him, and why we won’t rest until every valid signature is counted.
PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO SUPPORT THE RECALL OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY GEORGE GASCON
Committee Major Funding from: Geoff Palmer Gerald J. Marcil Ioaban LLC and affiliated entities
