Bauman was everywhere. He introduced past Assembly speakers at one party and hosted a karaoke party the next night. He spoke to many of the caucuses. He was even on the main stage during Vice President Joe Biden’s speech.

Photo credit: Todd Hoover and Bob Levine

Stickers and signs and shirts were everywhere, worn and displayed by supporters of the Los Angeles Democrat.

And yet his opponent, Kimberly Ellis, was seemingly nowhere to be found (her campaign did not respond to queries of her whereabouts).

Bauman told CalWatchdog that he has secured support from at least half of the number of delegates required to win the election, which will happen in 2017.

“There’s 15 months for this election to go,” said Bauman. “Many things could happen in the meantime. But when you look around, do you see the people wearing ‘Eric Bauman’ stickers and holding ‘Eric Bauman’ signs? What does that tell you?”

About the candidates

Bauman has been Los Angeles Party Chair for seven terms and a state vice chair since 2009. He’s been an advisor to many top officials, including the out-going Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.

His competitor, Ellis, is a bay-area Democrat who runs Emerge California, an organization that identifies, trains and encourages Democratic women to run for elected office. Oakland’s mayor, Libby Schaaf, is one of the graduates.

Bauman told CalWatchdog that he had secured support from at least 800 delegates in his bid to replace John Burton, the outgoing chairman — and a cursory survey of delegates at the convention seemed to support that claim.

There are 3,200 delegates total — for context, 1,800 were registered for the convention. The chair will be elected by a majority of those voting, so the highest threshold the winner would need to meet is be 1601, meaning Bauman is around halfway there.

Party mechanics

At a campaign launch event earlier this month, Ellis outlined a platform of issues saying the party wasn’t progressive enough, the diversity in elected officials didn’t accurately represent the party’s diversity, and Democratic voter registration was slipping.

However, the primary function of party chair is to raise money, register voters and win elections. Ellis has proven to be effective in getting women elected to office through Emerge California. But Bauman has proven it as well, having won multiple political awards for his efforts, and evidenced by Democrats’ tight grip on Los Angeles County politics.

Many stories in the media this week highlighted the continued statewide rise in voters declining to state party affiliation. The trend is consistent in L.A. as well. But while Democrats’ share of the electorate in Los Angeles County is slipping, the total number of Democratic voters has increased compared to four years ago.

Bauman pointed out that his 800-plus delegate support comes from all of the different interest groups in the party — labor, environment, LGBT, various ethnicities (he even addressed the Latino caucus at the convention en Español). And he noted his access to a wide network of donors.

But even while describing why he was the best person for the job in an interview with CalWatchdog, he was complimentary of Ellis.

“She’s young and vibrant and exciting and has great ideas,” Bauman said. “I don’t argue that point. But I’ve been winning elections for 25 years.”

The endorsement seemed inevitable for Harris, who won with 78 percent of the vote at the California Democratic convention. And it’s a major blow for Sanchez, who spent the entire weekend trying to muster support from the different caucuses. The only problem was that for all of the warm reception Sanchez received, Harris’ receptions were warmer.

Sanchez generally is polling a step behind Harris. A Field Poll in January showed Sanchez trailing Harris 27 percent to 15 percent among likely voters, behind with nearly every demographic except for among Latinos.

Sanchez has a respectable $2.1 million in her campaign account, while Harris has $4 million. There were many people at the convention in Sanchez for Senate gear, but Harris had many more.

“Congresswoman Sanchez thanks the delegates that supported her with their vote,” said Sanchez spokesman said Luis Vizcaino. “But make no mistake, today’s vote was not the primary. Congresswoman Sanchez is on track to be one of two candidates in the general election where the electoral dynamics change in her favor.”

Slight differences

Neither candidates’ campaign has been flawless. Harris’s has endured bad press over excessive spending and staff turnover while Sanchez’s has been marred by a series of missteps, first with Native Americans, then with Muslims.

While there’s not a lot of room between the two candidates on issues, Sanchez is trying to draw on her lengthy experience as a legislator, having been elected to Congress in 1996. Several times over the weekend she pointed to making Congressional Quarterly’s recent list identifying Sanchez as one of the 25 most influential women in Washington, for being a “debate shaper and swing votes.”

Sanchez points to her voting record and it’s consistency, receiving consistently high marks on Democratic issues. She also highlighted her decisiveness, arguing that voters know exactly what’ll they’ll get with her, as opposed to the unproven Harris.

For example, Sanchez came out quickly on the side of Apple in the tech company’s battle with the federal government over privacy issues, and it’s refusal to help the FBI unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters.

“I fully support Apple’s decision to fight the court order through the judicial process and I believe Congress must address the broader policy issues raised by this case,” Sanchez said in a statement. Meanwhile, Harris has yet to take a position.

Experience matters

One of Sanchez’s proudest legislative victories was changing how sexual assaults in the military are reported and tracked, thereby increasing accountability. Knowing she had little chance of getting the bill passed as a standalone, she was able to add the measure as an amendment to a must-pass defense authorization bill.

She’s also consistently helped secure federal funding for Orange County’s groundwater replenishment system which provides water to millions of residents.

Sanchez, one of the few remaining members of the once-powerful moderate Blue Dog Democrats, has accrued seniority on the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees over two decades.

And she’s made relationships in a place where relationships are the only thing that matters, noting that she’d be able to make an immediate impact in the Senate, with a firm grasp on policy and how to legislate — and it helps that many senators she served with in the House.

“It’s the duty of a senator to make policy through legislation,” Sanchez told thousands of Democrats on Saturday. “Legislation is a complex and contentious process. Success requires consensus building and institutional knowledge. While other candidates talk about boldly changing Washington, I have done it for 20 years.”

Path to victory

Sanchez on Friday told CalWatchdog that she’s been favored head-to-head polls against Harris. Sanchez’s plan has been to advance through the primary and hope to draw enough support largely from Latinos, moderates and even some Republicans.

She’ll need a strong Southern California turnout, a strong showing from Latinos, and a few good issues mixed with a Harris misstep, said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at CSU Los Angeles.

“With the top two primary, her first goal has to be to finish second in the primary. so far, that looks doable with no major Republican running,” said Sonenshein. “Then anything can happen.”

After less than two years in the state Assembly, the former San Diego labor organizer has established herself as the state’s leading advocate for workers.

Last year, Gonzalez successfully authored legislation to force companies – large and small – to provide paid sick leave to nearly all of their employees. This year, she’s urging Democrats to wade into a politically-sensitive fight over the state’s workers’ compensation system.

“People in Sacramento, given past fights, don’t want to touch workers’ comp,” Gonzalez told CalWatchdog.com in a recent interview.

Nevertheless, or perhaps because her Democratic colleagues have shied away from the issue, Gonzalez has taken on the challenge. At last weekend’s state Democratic convention, she persuaded her party to endorse her call to end gender bias in the state workers’ compensation system. In the process, Gonzalez could upset a landmark compromise that drove down rising workers’ comp costs.

Gender bias in workers’ compensation

Employers are required to purchase insurance to cover injuries sustained by their employees at the workplace. Regardless of who is at fault, injured workers are eligible to apply for benefits and receive compensation under the employer’s compensation insurance.

In cases of permanent disability, workers are evaluated on the extent of their injury. But, not all injuries can be isolated to one cause or incident. Consequently, claims must go through an apportionment process to determine how much of the injury is due to the job and how much is due to another factor or pre-existing condition.

Gonzalez contends that the apportionment process is unfair to women in permanent disability cases by providing a lower or no rating for pregnancy, menopause and breast cancer. By comparison, conditions that affect men, such as testicular and prostate cancer, receive a higher disability rating.

“With workers comp claims, women are deducted because they’re pregnant or menopausal,” Gonzalez pointed out. “The most egregious (case) is the way the workers’ comp system deals with breast cancer. A women’s breast cancer is rated 0 percent, unless she is of child-bearing age, then she gets 5 percent.”

AB305 changes ratings, apportionment in workers’ comp

To address the inequity, Gonzalez has authored Assembly Bill 305, which would prohibit pregnancy, menopause or osteoporosis from being used in the apportionment of permanent disability cases. It would also require that the impairment ratings for breast cancer be equivalent to prostate cancer.

“It’s time for our state to stop treating gender as a pre-existing condition and provide equal protection under the law for everyone with a workers’ compensation claim,” she said. “I’m pleased that Democrats as well as Republicans recognized the importance of ending discrimination against women on the job.”

Her colleagues in the state Assembly agreed and recently passed the bill on a 59-18 vote. She’s proud that seven Republican Assembly members joined Democrats in supporting the bill. Not a small achievement considering the big name opposition from a collection of business groups, including the Association of California Insurance Companies, California Chamber of Commerce, California Newspaper Publishers Association and the California Retailers Association.

Gonzalez: It’s worth the price

Ever since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s landmark reforms in the early 2000s, workers’ compensation has remained a political lightning rod. Lawmakers have largely been reluctant to make changes to the reforms that are credited with bringing down the costs of insurance.

That’s one reason why the California Democratic Party’s support could help keep lawmakers committed to the issue. The party resolution passed the general session on consent by acclimation.

“Governor Schwarzenegger’s changes and other discriminatory policies are deeply embedded into the workers’ compensation system, as evidenced by the facts that carpal tunnel syndrome – a disorder that disproportionately affects women – too often has a disability rating of 0 percent,” the party’s resolution states.

In 2012, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law some changes to the state workers’ compensation system to increase benefits and revise the factors for determining permanent disability. However, those changes were largely embraced by both parties because they were sold as reforms to keep costs in line. To her credit, Gonzalez has been willing to take the potential cost head on.

“Civil rights are inconvenient and costly,” she said. “Even if there is a very small cost, I think it’s important to uphold the civil rights of women. If we are going to talk about pay equity, then we need to talk about everything.”

It’s unclear how widespread the problem is. According to the legislative committee analysis, “Some supporters have asserted that ‘we see it every day’ while some opponents assert that the wrongs complained of simply do not occur in the workers’ compensation courts.”

In person, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer is a mild-mannered fellow, whom I’ve enjoyed meeting with several times. But his class-warfare rhetoric makes him sound like a California Pol Pot. Here’s what he just said at this weekend’s California Democratic Convention in Sacramento in attacking rural-area Republicans who refuse to raise taxes:

It’s time you did your job and help the poorest in your own communities.

And if your district is 60 percent Latino and you represent white business elites and tea party activists, we’re coming after you!

That’s similar to what he threatened 16 years ago, in 1995, before the Orange County Forum when he was Senate President Pro-Tem:

I don’t understand the new sort of greed, [the] I’m-gonna-take- care-of-myself-and-to-hell-with-everybody-else-in-the-world attitude that I increasingly hear from people that you [Orange County] send to Sacramento, and people I bump into in this county. It is shortsighted, self-destructive and let me tell you, eventually those people [poor people from other areas] are going to come down and burn down your gated communities.

Get that? “...come down and burn down your gated communities.”

Lockyer himself for almost four decades has fattened on hefty state salaries in the numerous jobs he has held. And if he ever retires from government, he’ll enjoy a massive pension. All courtesy of the taxpayers, of course.

He’s also wrong about the rural Republicans who oppose Gov. Jerry Brown’s record, back-breaking $12 billion tax increases. It’s Latinos everywhere, but especially in poor rural areas, who are hit hardest by tax increases.

Jose’s muffler shop and Maria’s taco stand might not survive another massive tax increase. Meanwhile, billionaire Democratic fat-cat donors in Silicon Valley and Hollywood hardly would feel any tax increase.

“Burn down your gated communities” and “We’re coming after you!” — that’s Democrats’ Pol Potian rhetoric about productive citizens in this state. No wonder so many are exiting like Boat People.

May 1, 2011