Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Some post-election desk-clearing, and looking ahead to Campaign 2015 (and 2016?)
As speculation continues to swirl over whether she would run for president, Sen. Elizabeth Warren "solidified her standing as a favorite of Hollywood and Los Angeles progressives on Sunday when she delivered a speech hammering Washington for being beholden to corporate interests and the rich and powerful." Warren keynoted the ACLU of Southern California’s Bill of Rights Dinner. Variety
Variety senior editor Ted Johnson has a new weekly show for SiriusXM called PopPolitics. This weekend he features an interview with Aaron Sorkin, timed to the start of the final season of "The Newsroom" on HBO. Plus: Hollywood reacts to the midterm election results. PopPolitics
Hollywood reeling from bitter election defeats. THR
It's declaration of intent season: Former Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez is running (again) against Councilwoman Nury Martinez in a rematch in the East Valley. LAT, DN Among those running for the open seat of termed-out councilman Tom LaBonge are his chief of staff, Carolyn Ramsay; former Assemblyman Wally Knox; former Villaraigosa deputy Teddy Davis; Community College trustee Steve Veres; and community advocate Jay Beeber. Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian announced over the weekend he won't run for the La Bonge seat. As reported earlier, Supervisor Gloria Molina (and others) are challenging Councilman Jose Huizar. More City Council challengers and filers for school board and college board to file by Saturday's deadline: DN, City Clerk
Newcomer Patty Lopez is clinging to a 32-vote lead over Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra in the counting of provisional ballots in the Valley's 39th assembly district. DN, Registrar-Recorder
If Lopez’s lead holds up after further ballot-counting, "this will be the biggest political upset of the year in the Los Angeles area. Even Lopez said she can’t believe it." DN editorial board
Jim Newton columnizes that the elections of Jim McDonnell (LA County sheriff) and Sheila Kuehl (Board of Supervisors), and the statewide passage of Gov. Jerry Brown's water bond, "could have profound influence on the lives of everyday people here in Southern California." LAT Op-ed
Most of the post-election commentary on Kuehl's victory has focused on whether she can hold the line on county worker pay hikes, given the backing that public employee unions gave her. That's a fair question, though Kuehl is famously stubborn and a little bit prickly, so I wouldn't envy the person trying to call in a chit with her.To me, the more intriguing aspect of her victory is what it might mean for one of the county's gravest responsibilities: the operation of its foster care system, which cares for children who have been the victims of abuse or neglect and which has seen too much tragedy. This is an area that Kuehl knows and cares about.
Rick Orlov's Monday Tipoff column looks at Bobby Shriver's election night party, Robert Hertzberg's return to the Legislature and a new law firm gig with Glaser Weil, and LAPD Chief Beck meeting in New York with other law enforcement officials at the invitation of ex-LAPD chief William Bratton. Daily News
McDonnell takes over as sheriff on Dec. 1 after visiting his 88-year-old mother in Boston. "I am not looking at any big transition team.” DN
Hertzberg explains why he will maintain a government affairs law practice in addition to his salary as a full-time state lawmaker. LAT
With mid-term elections over, state politicians jump to 2016 and beyond. "Now the real fun begins." LAT/Cathleen Decker
The next few statewide elections hold the promise of turnover unseen in a generation.For 22 years, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein have held the state's U.S. Senate seats. Both must soon decide whether to seek reelection; for Boxer the announcement will come sooner, as her seat is up in 2016, two years before Feinstein's.
A majority of California voters say that Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer should not run for reelection, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. LAT
City Councilmen Mitchell Englander and Bob Blumenfield, both from the hot West Valley, increased their home water use after Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought state of emergency in January and called for conservation, says the Daily News.
The cost of trimming street trees has risen and City Hall doesn't seem to know what to do next. LAT
Zev Yaroslavsky reflects on a life in Los Angeles politics with Marc Brown. ABC7
Former President George W. Bush says his brother Jeb, the former Florida governor, is “wrestling with the decision” of running for president in 2016, and that the odds are 50-50 he will run. AP/CBS, NYT
The unlikely power couple that remade LA politics: Miguel Contreras and Maria Elena Durazo. Harold Meyerson/LAT Op-ed
Democracy has been canceled due to complete lack of interest. Doug McIntyre column/DN
This year’s state election coverage has been so meager in quantity and so half-hearted in quality that that one wonders why journalists bothered. On television and online, election news was eclipsed by scary-bad coverage of Ebola, which as of this writing had infected not a single Californian and had killed fewer U.S. residents than Kim Kardashian has married. Joe Mathews/Zocalo
