The San Fernando Valley is a large part of the L.A. area in Southern California. It is home to around a million and a half people and includes two whole House districts (CA-29 and CA-30) and a large part of a third district (CA-28), which also includes part of Pasadena in the San Gabriel Valley. All of these areas used to be swing districts or GOP strongholds but have become increasingly Democratic in recent years.
While all of these congressional districts were affected by the new redistricting the impact has been greater in the city of Los Angeles based districts (CA-29 and CA-30) than in the easternmost one. CA-28 has an incumbent Representative who is likely to be re-elected. The new CA-29 is now an open seat and CA-30 has two incumbent House members seeking to stay in Congress. Their names even rhyme, Berman and Sherman. They are both Democrats but are not exactly the same. This diary is an introduction to these districts and an attempt to answer the question of who should represent the SFV in Congress.
CA-28 (formerly CA-29) includes the cities of Burbank and Glendale and parts of Pasadena and Los Angeles. This was a GOP dominated area until 2000 when Adam Schiff, a Democratic State Senator, beat Rep. Jim Rogan in what was then the most expensive House race in history (over $10 million in all). This area has continues to trend Democratic, with growing populations of immigrants from Armenia and Latin America as well as entertainment industry workers. Schiff will not take it for granted but he should be safe for re-election. Schiff House site Schiff campaign
CA-29 is a new district based in the northeastern SFV. This was designed as a majority Latino district including the small city of San Fernando as well as many communities of the city of L.A. including Van Nuys, Panorama City, Pacoima, North Hills, Mission Hills, Sun Valley and most of North Hollywood. Much of this territory is in the old CA-28 which is now represented by Howard Berman (D-Valley Village). Berman looked at the new lines and didn't think he could win here. There are many ambitious younger Latino politicians who would want the seat. Even if he won this year he would never be safe in the seat (although it is a safe Democratic district.) It also would not be helpful to the cause of Latino-Jewish relations and L.A. Democratic coalition politics for him to run here. Berman could retire as he is age 70 and served 10 years in the CA Assembly before his 1982 election to the House, but like a lot of politicians he doesn't want to quit. His home is in CA-30, so he will run in that district instead. Berman House site Berman campaign
An open House seat, without term limits (unlike state or city offices) should attract a crowd of serious, well-qualified candidates. However this race has only one well-known candidate, L.A. City Councilmember Tony Cardenas. Cardenas is also a former Assemblymember. He mostly votes OK as a mainstream Democrat but I don't know about anything that especially distinguishes his leadership. I have never lived in his district so I haven't followed him that closely. It just seems to me that someone shouldn't be handed a safe seat without some competition. The filing period for candidates hasn't happened yet, so the field is not set. Safe Democratic, probably for Cardenas. Cardenas campaign Cardenas council site
The big battle is in CA-30, the westernmost SFV district. CA-30 includes most of the Valley west of the 405 freeway and also the southeastern parts of the SFV including Studio City and also "the best named community in America" (according to the other incumbent), Sherman Oaks. CA-30 has most of the more affluent areas of the Valley and more Anglos than in CA-29. The large Jewish community of the Valley is also mostly in this new district so it is an attractive district for both Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks). CA-30 includes areas from both of their old districts but has much more (59.8%) of Brad's old CA-27 than of Howard's old CA-28 (19.3%). An additional 17.5% of the new district was Brad's territory before 2002.
Brad Sherman was first elected to the House in 1996 after Tony Beilenson retired. Before that he served on the Board of Equalization, California's elected tax board. He is an accountant and tax attorney by profession who has also done stand up comedy. Brad uses some of those skills at his frequent town hall meetings in his district though he could definitely use some new comedy material. Sherman, like Berman, is pro-environment, pro-choice, in favor of civil rights for all people, progressive taxation, and a range of issues that make them mainstream liberal Democrats. Their differences are as much on style and areas of interest in their congressional careers. Sherman has been more involved with tax and finance issues while Berman is involved with issues of intellectual property and the entertainment industry as the "Congressman from Hollywood" (the industry more than the neighborhoods). So what are they going to argue about in their race? Sherman House site Sherman campaign
The CA-30 candidates debate on 1/5/12 began to reveal the shape of the campaign to come. The debate was held in the basement of a mall in Woodland Hills in a vacant retail space (formerly a large sporting goods store, its vacancy a sign of the times). The audience was large and enthusiastic, at least 300 strong, including vocal supporters of all four candidates there. The turnout was larger than expected with far more people than chairs. Sherman and Berman were joined by two Republicans. Mark Reed, an actor, was the 2010 GOP nominee in CA-27 who lost to Sherman. Susan Shelley, a writer, is a first-time candidate. Shelley is an interesting mixture of regular and libertarianish GOP talking points. She goes farther than Herman Cain by supporting a federal flat tax of only 5%! She is Some Dude with a book to sell. Reed is generic GOP on most issues but may have some remaining name recognition from his race two years ago in 60% of the new district. If there were a Republican primary, he would probably win it. This year CA moved to the top two primary so there will be no party nominees. The Greedy Old Party candidates are only a sideshow in this overwhelmingly Democratic voting district. This is a safe Dem seat; the only question is which congressman will be the one sitting in the chair when the music stops.
Berman's opening statement emphasized his seniority and effectiveness as a legislator. He recited a laundry list of his accomplishments for the area (widening the 405, money for the Santa Monica Mountains park lands, etc) and even read a bit from the Almanac of American Politics that described him as "one of the most aggressive and creative members of the House-and one of the most clear-sighted operators in American politics." He is the ranking member of the House Foreign Relations Committee and boasts of his strong support for Israel and opposition to the government of Iran. Both candidates are Israel hawks; they just argue about who is better at it. This is no surprise and goes with the territory; in West Virginia the congressmembers support the coal industry, here they support the Israel industry. Berman is also a big backer of the entertainment business who has been a leader on the push for SOPA, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and similar bills. He is a "free trade" supporter who voted for all the trade bills since NAFTA, most recently the Korea, Colombia and Panama deals. Howard Berman is not an especially compelling speaker; there were times during the debate where he had to be reminded to speak louder so people could hear him.
Sherman spoke after Berman. He emphasized that he is more in tune with the district because he has done over a hundred town hall meetings open to the public (most recently on 1/21/12) and has lots of local endorsements from a variety of individuals and groups ranging from members of local chambers of commerce to unions and Democratic Party groups. Brad has the biggest local party endorsement, the support of DP/SFV (receiving 62% of the vote at the endorsement meeting). The Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley is an organization of about two dozen local Democratic clubs. DP/SFV does a lot of campaign work; we get out the vote for our endorsed candidates and ballot measures. The official CDP party structure has not done its endorsement process yet, but it is likely that neither Berman nor Sherman will reach the supermajority needed for the state party endorsement. Berman has more national endorsements including more members of Congress but Sherman has some notable ones including Bill Clinton, Lt.Gov Gavin Newsom and fellow tax geek John Chiang, the CA Controller who succeeded him on the Board of Equalization. I don't think that endorsements will have too big an influence on the race except to the extent that they bring in money or volunteers.
Rep. Sherman pointed out the differences between the two on trade policy. He opposed all the trade deals that Berman supported. Brad Sherman is one of the few members of Congress that talks about the danger to the economy and job losses due to the US trade deficit with the rest of the world. Sherman opposed and Berman supported the original TARP bailout bill with which the Treasury would have bought toxic assets from the banks. He then supported the version where the Treasury received preferred stock in the rescued banks and will be paid back much of the bailout funds.
Another difference between the two is on the war in Iraq. Howard Berman was an early and strong supporter of Bush's war with Iraq. Sherman supported an alternative resolution that would have only authorized the invasion if Iraq kicked out the weapons inspectors (which they did not). After that resolution failed (thanks in part to lobbying by Berman against it) he voted for the war resolution. He now apologizes for that vote while Berman continued to support the wars. Berman's best line of the debate was where he mocked Sherman's position on Iraq as ,"I was against it before I was for it before I was against it." Unfortunately, Berman was for it all along.
The most dramatic part of the debate involved campaign finance reform. Both Brad and Howard claim to oppose the Citizens United decision and the existence of Super PACs. Even so, Berman has not one but three Super PACs aligned with him. Sherman challenged Berman to not use Super PACs and had a large pledge poster which he had signed but of course Berman would not. It was a "gotcha" moment that spoke to the issue of living ones values. It was also one of the points where political debate becomes closer to live community theater. Sherman has a geeky charisma and is a livelier speaker than the more reserved Berman. The debate audience ate it up. There were more Sherman supporters in the crowd. From applause levels I would guess it was about 40% for Brad, 30% for Howard and 10% to 20% for each of the GOPers.
CA-30 is safe Dem but a tossup or at most tilted to Sherman over Berman because more of the district has been represented by Brad than Howard. However, Howard Berman will have an extremely well-funded campaign as well as the three Super PACs. This race has a chance to be the most expensive in House history, yet there is no chance that it will result in a change of party control. Sherman will also be well funded ($3 million so far) but will not match Berman's warchest nor his PACs. I had originally hoped that Mark Reed would be able to be the Craig Huey of the race, consolidating enough of the GOP base vote to get into the top two runoff. However the presence of a second Republican candidate makes that highly unlikely so the Congressman, Schmongressman show will run until November with Republicans and independents as the swing vote.
Brief Rant: This campaign is a direct result of redistricting, but it will be extended (and more divisive and expensive) because of the top two runoff primary initiative that was pushed by former Gov. Ahhhnold the Califuehrer and former unelected Lt.Gov Abel Maldonado. Abel was unable to get elected as Lt. Gov. so now he is running for Congress against Lois Capps. Keep him out of the House by showing her some love. The top two primary makes the parties almost irrelevant and campaigns longer. Voters will have fewer choices in November. The millions spent on this race are not going to campaigns that will help return House control to the Democratic Party and reduce John Boner to a wanking member. What a waste!
My Position: I have endorsed Brad Sherman for CA-30. I support Brad for several reasons. I prefer his position on trade policy for fair trade rather than "free trade". I have never forgiven Howard Berman for his strong support of the wars. Sherman works harder to represent the district while Berman is more a creature of the Washington establishment.I also think there should be a few tax geeks in Congress. (I am an EA not a CPA or tax attorney but I can relate to him because of his background.) Brad has also been more supportive of the local grassroots Democrats. If he isn't at an event his mom, Lane Sherman is there. Berman doesn't get out into his district as much. This year 1/4/12 was the first public town hall meeting that Berman held that I am aware of in 20 years that I have been his constituent. Howard Berman has been an important member of Congress for a long time but no one stays forever except John Dingell and Charlie Rangel. He has been in elective office since before I got the right to vote and I am over age 50. Berman should retire or maybe run for Assembly since his old seat is open...
I would put a poll here but don't see how to do it in the current version of DKos.