LA Weekly Picks the Best
LA Weekly today announced their endorsement for the 41st Assembly District:
41ST ASSEMBLY: JONATHAN LEVEY
Few sections of California are as ecocentric as the 41st Assembly District, a stretch of Southern California that takes in Santa Monica, Malibu, Calabasas, Agoura Hills and other suburbs on each side of the L.A.-Ventura County border — not to mention the Santa Monica Mountains and a good stretch of coastline. Five candidates — four of them waging persuasive campaigns — have stepped forward to fill the seat being vacated by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, an outspoken leader in Sacramento on environmental issues. Pavley and another force in the district, state Senator Sheila Kuehl, have thrown their considerable support behind Julia Brownley, an extremely likable school board member for Santa Monica and Malibu who has promised to make public schools her No. 1 issue. Yet despite her promise to direct more funds into the classroom, Brownley showed a surprisingly limited understanding of education funding issues, particularly the strategies needed to increase per-pupil spending. Attorney Barry Groveman and activist Kelly Hayes-Raitt show an impassioned interest in the environment, yet neither seems entirely suited to the work of getting difficult bills through the state Legislature. Our choice is a relative outsider to the world of politics — college teacher Jonathan Levey, an attorney who shows an understanding of state government and an ability to communicate his progressive ideals to moderate legislators and a doubting business community. We like that Levey speaks with specificity on complex topics, and with candor on the challenges facing the Democratic Party agenda, such as comprehensive health care. We also like that Levey tried to engage voters with a 162-page policy booklet, even one that went a little heavy on the platitudes.
While I of course agree with their choice, I’m a little surprised that they fell for the Groveman sanctimony. Groveman shows an impassioned interest in the environment? Sure he does, the way that Donald Trump shows an impassioned interest in high-rises - as a meal ticket. Barry Groveman would have you think that he was bringing polluters to justice, but he was actually the defense lawyer for the chemicals company that was hit with the biggest hazardous waste fine in state history.
And LeoRonal was far from the only corporate polluter Groveman has ever defended. After all, he isn’t loaning his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars with the money he made as a government lawyer.
