Voter Exclusion
Politicians do their best to make elections meaningles
EVERY election, we urge people to exercise their democratic right by voting. Since bigger voter turnout breeds more competitive races, it would serve Californians well to use their one vote - no matter how useless it might seem at the time.
But it gets harder and harder to beseech voters to shake off their apathy, get off the couch and get to the polls - particularly in races where the outcome has already been decided by the political power brokers.
And the special election in May for the northeast San Fernando Valley Assembly seat held briefly by L.A. Councilman Richard Alarc n is a case in point.
It won't matter whether five or 150,000 people vote in that election. Felipe Fuentes, the former chief of staff to former L.A. City Councilman Alex Padilla (whose seat Alarc n now holds), is going to win.
Why? Because the election is fixed. It doesn't matter if you vote; the politicians have already decided the outcome.
The actual election is a mere formality. Fuentes, also a former deputy mayor of James Hahn, became the presumptive assemblyman the moment he withdrew his candidacy to succeed Padilla on the City Council, clearing the way for Alarc n.
Alarc n, who already won two terms on the City Council before going to the state Senate - a seat Padilla now holds - won the Assembly spot on the same day as city Measure R passed, giving council members a third term.
L.A.'s incestuous and corrupt political system deliberately thwarts the voting process by anointing candidates and pressuring everyone to fall into line.
It must be stopped. But, perversely, the only way to do that is for voters to vote in all races, every time.
That's right, it's a vicious circle, and it's why the politicians do their best to keep you apathetic.
See the article on Los Angeles Daily News website
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