There is a crowded and diverse field of candidates this year in the campaign for California Secretary of State. This is far different from decades ago when March Fong Eu practically ruled that office for 20 years and dispatched the opposition with regularity.
This year, there are eight candidates vying to serve as the state’s chief elections officer; the position oversees state elections and provides public access to campaign and lobbying financial information. The office additionally supports state business by registering and authenticating certain types of businesses and trademarks, regulates notaries public and helps secured creditors protect their financial interests. As well, the office of Secretary of State preserves state history by acquiring, safeguarding and sharing the state’s historical treasures/landmarks, and registers domestic partnerships and advance health care directives. The office also protects the addresses of domestic violence victims and certain others entitled to confidential addresses.
The candidates on the June 3 ballot include Democrat Jeffrey Drobman (Westlake Village), Republican Roy Allmond (Sacramento), Democrat Alex Padilla (Los Angeles), Republican Pete Peterson (Los Angeles), Dan Schnur (Willows), the Green Party’s David Curtis, Democrat Derek Cressman (Sacramento) and Democrat Leland Yee (San Francisco).
Padilla, former member of the Los Angeles City Council and State Senate, said if elected he can reach across party lines to accomplish the best objective for the office. During his political career, Padilla has helped to pass 80 laws from improving education, to protecting patient’s rights. He is nearing the completion of a 58-county tour hearing from voters, local officials, and community leaders. “I’ll modernize voting so we can vote when and where it is convenient,” he said.
Peterson believes he can provide California with its first “chief engagement officer” and wants to lead the fight to make California government more “…responsive, more transparent and more accountable” to voters and small businesses. Peterson is the executive director of the Davenport Institute for Public Policy at Pepperdine University. “I will bring my background in civic engagement and my private sector career in direct marketing to Sacramento to increase informed participation, while protecting the integrity of our ballot box,” he said.
Schnur, while serving as chairman of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, once said he was “appalled by out-of-control campaign fundraising” and, upon election, will “stand up” to both parties and fight to ban all fundraising by politicians during the legislative session. He has vowed to encourage politicians to represent the interests of all constituents before they begin raising money for their next campaign.
Curtis wants to establish “proportional representation” within multi-seat districts, restore civil liberties and end surveillance and data mining. “Businesses must improve our environment and pay living wages,” he said. Curtis advocates the labeling of GMOs, legalization of marijuana, closure of nuclear plants, a statewide ban on fracking and divestiture from fossil fuels.
Cressman decries the political overshadowing of corporations and billionaires. “When secretive, out-of-state groups funneled $11 million into California’s 2012 elections, I blew the whistle and got record fines for two front groups in the Koch Brothers’ big money political network,” Cressman said referring to his work with California Common Cause. If elected, Cressman will upgrade the current voter information guide to a digital format, and will demand “rapid disclosure” of campaign contributions.
When he was a member of the state legislature, Yee wrote a law that gave almost 1 million more Californians access to online voting. “When Sarah Palin was paid to speak at California State University Stanislaus, I uncovered where the money came from and authored a law to stop government agencies from hiding how they spend your tax dollars,” he said. Yee also fought to end tuition discrimination against immigrant college students and supports the Dream Act “…so these Dreamers can pursue the American Dream.”
