Special Election Tomorrow

More than a dozen candidates are vying to succeed Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, a Democrat who died in April. The heavily Democratic district includes Compton, Carson, parts of Los Angeles and much of Long Beach. The election will be held tomorrow, and two top contenders have emerged as clear leaders in the race to represent the 37th Congressional District. They are State Assemblywoman Laura Richardson and Sen. Jenny Oropeza. Oropeza’s campaign has been bolstered by Indian tribes who have spent more than $400,000 on her behalf. Richardson has asked federal authorities to investigate the Indian expenditures. Campaign-finance records show virtually all of the money is coming from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, which is financing newspaper ads, phone calls to voters and bulk mailings to promote Oropeza's candidacy. Oropeza voted in April for legislation that would allow the Morongo tribe to more than triple the number of slot machines at its casino and Richardson is implying that the money is being in spent in exchange for Oropeza's support for tribal gambling interests.

Tribal money may be used as "independent expenditures," which are not subject to the donation limits imposed on candidates. Such spending is legal so long as there is no consultation with a candidate.

"The race between Oropeza and Richardson is now too close to call," said state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles), a Richardson supporter who commissioned a poll earlier in the campaign showing that Valerie McDonald (Juanita Millender-McDonald’s daughter who is also running) or Richardson, both African American, would beat Oropeza if only one of them ran but that Oropeza would win if both stayed in the race.Should Oropeza win, she would become the first Latina to represent the ethnically diverse district where blacks make up roughly 25% of registered voters and Latinos about 20%.

Voter turnout is expected to be low. There are 265,000 registered voters in the district, but it is estimated that as few as 20,000 people will cast ballots. Meanwhile, as many as 8,000 absentee ballots have already been mailed in, according to the county registrar-recorder.

Articles:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-race25jun25,1,4818896.story?coll=la-news-politics-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/24/politics/p192628D97.DTL&type=politics