Archive: Berman-Sherman

Former congressman, defeated last November in that costly and bruising battle in the Valley with fellow Democrat Brad Sherman, has signed on as a senior policy adviser with the largest law firm on Washington's K Street.

And that's not even the most spent this year on a California congressional race.

Well this can't be good. The heated acrimony in the bitter race between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman boiled over into something a bit more...unseemly. At one point, Sherman roughly grabs his more senior colleague and shouts, "Do you want to get into this?" Then a lawman arrives to calm things down. Videos inside

"One of the toughest, and strangest, congressional races in the country is between two Los Angeles incumbents...Democrats," the national audience learned on "All Things Considered."

The Los Angeles Times editorial page on Sunday endorsed Rep. Howard Berman in the big Democratic Party battle in the San Fernando Valley. "The Times supported Berman in the first round of voting, and we're sticking with him in the head to head" over Rep. Brad Sherman.

The differences between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman are few, says the Daily News editorial, "but they're significant....We urge a vote for Howard Berman."

Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman are both liberal Democrats, more or less. But they also are fighting for their political survival in a San Fernando Valley congressional district that is about 26% Republican in registration, and by now most of the Democrats (48%) have probably long made up their minds who to vote for. So this has been claim a Republican week.

Rep. Howard Berman's latest television ad in his race with Rep. Brad Sherman is pegged to the service that Berman provided in the Valley after the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake.

One of Rep. Brad Sherman's new videos focuses on what he's done for the San Fernando Valley. The second, titled "Courage," is built around William Isaac, a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. who gives Sherman kudos for his opposition to the TARP bank bailout. View them here.

Rep. Howard Berman is airing two new campaign spots that push his record on issues in the Valley and show him being thanked by the Republican father of a soldier killed in Iraq. Also, rival Rep. Brad Sherman today alleged that Berman "enriched" his brother with campaign funds.

The Valley's battling Jewish Democrats debated Wednesday night in a Catholic school cafeteria in Sherman Oaks — first time since the June primary — and if anything the race is getting nastier. Our columnist Bill Boyarsky was there, as were other interested journalists and a crowd that was a bit on the old side.

When First Lady Michelle Obama ended her fundraising swing through Los Angeles today, the presence of Rep. Howard Berman by her side was noteworthy when viewed through the lens of Democratic politics. Berman was invited to the Ladera Heights luncheon and Rep. Brad Sherman was not.

There have been some developments, political and media, since we last checked in on the congressional race in the Valley between incumbent Democrats Brad Sherman and Howard Berman. Today's serve came from the Sherman side.

The Democratic strategist who joined the Howard Berman reelection campaign in March as a senior advisor is taking full charge of everything, campaign sources say. That would be a big and serious shift in approach by Berman, who for decades kept his political campaign machinery tightly in the hands of his brother Michael. For the first time, Berman is also using an outside pollster.

Both the Washington Post and the New York Times have taken note this week of the committee funded by Marc Nathanson that is spending big bucks on behalf of Rep. Howard Berman in the Democrats' congressional district showdown in the Valley.

This weekend's edition of "Wait Wait..Don't Tell Me" on NPR stations worked in a question about the caper we reported here a few weeks ago in which Rep. Brad Sherman either added or removed his mother from a campaign mailer. He later joked about it. See what the panel said.

3:30 a.m. update: Sherman beats Berman, Hahn beats Richardson, Lacey beats them all and Trutanich may be the biggest loser of this election. More inside with links and late results.

Rep. Howard Berman's camp thinks that Rep. Brad Sherman and his flacks just can't get their stories straight. I don't know. I think it's just the dry sense of humor we saw on The Colbert Report. You decide

Some Valley voters are getting campaign mail that shows Rep. Brad Sherman with his wife and three young children. The lucky ones also get his mother, apparently photo-shopped in to the same scene.

Rep. Howard Berman, not Brad Sherman, was invited to meet the president's helicopter at Bob Hope Airport this evening in Burbank. Berman then was swept into the car with Obama and got to discuss the weighty matters of state — or perhaps the Wolfgang Puck menu — on the drive to George Clooney's house for the big fundraiser in Studio City. I'll score that as a major point for Berman.

In "one of the most competitive congressional races in recent history," the Daily News editorial is asking voters to cast ballots for Democrat Howard Berman and Republican Susan Shelley. That leaves out the Valley's other big congressional incumbent, Brad Sherman. Here's what they say in this morning's editorial.

A supposedly independent committee that is spending money on behalf of Rep. Howard Berman in the big San Fernando Valley showdown is too close to the congressman, says the campaign of rival Rep. Brad Sherman.

The Berman campaign is rolling out a video spot with the backing of Betty White, the seemingly timeless former star of TV's "Golden Girls." She appears in the commercial with actress Wendie Malick talking up Berman, who is facing fellow Democrat Rep. Brad Sherman in the June primary. Berman is "the Valley leader who fights for the humane treatment of all animals," says White, who is known as an animal activist. "And he has very nice blue eyes." Watch the video.

Some of Rep. Brad Sherman's fundraising during this election cycle — he's in a tough fight in the Valley with fellow Democrat Howard Berman — is actually being carried on the books as money raised for his 2014 reelection campaign. Now that's being an optimist.

John Schwada, the former Fox 11 reporter and LA Observed contributor, goes to work for Rep. Brad Sherman's campaign.

Assessor John Noguez under investigation, Sheriff Baca sorry for breaking the law, Rep. Brad Sherman not moving and more.

Berman-Sherman are in one orbit, Richardson-Hahn in another with fewer zeroes.

This year's showdown in the Valley between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman does more than just echo the 1980 fight in Sacramento when Berman tried to unseat fellow Democrat Leo McCarthy as Speaker of the Assembly.

The Service Employees International Union in California will announce today its backing of Rep. Howard L. Berman in the San Fernando Valley showdown with fellow Democrat Rep. Brad Sherman.

The number of links to coverage of last night's forum between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman (and their Republican accessories) has kept growing through the day. So I'm gathering them here.

She resigned as ambassador to the Bahamas and will return to Los Angeles "to help fix the president's troubled relationship with the entertainment industry." Plus: Keith Olbermann, Berman-Sherman.

Berman's friends in the House are lending their name to a "California wine tasting" fundraiser next week in Washington.

Rep. Howard Berman looks like the big winner on the dollar side.

Rep. Howard Berman today endorsed Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas in his bid to win the Valley's newly drawn 29th congressional district.

The Jewish Journal intends to keep a close eye on the divisive local race.

Many in Hollywood (and especially in Valleywood) wish the looming primary fight between the two Democrats would just go away.

My weekly column this evening centered on the redrawing of political lines in California, mostly on the new districts that will see Reps. Henry Waxman, Howard Berman and Janice Hahn seek reelection outside their traditional home turf.

Rep. Howard Berman may face reelection in a new (if still Democratic) district, and a likely opponent from his own party in Rep. Brad Sherman. But his Hollywood friends are still with him.

The Daily News' Tony Castro writes on his personal blog that despite Alex Padilla's talk of running for mayor, the state Senator from Pacoima really wants to be in Congress.