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Proposal Details

Proposal ID14
ProposalSupport: Sarah Kate Levy and Nithya Raman, City Council, District 4, Los Angeles
PresenterMike Feinstein, Linda Piera-Avila
Floor ManagerAjay Rai
PhaseClosed
Discussion02/03/2020 - 02/04/2020
Voting02/05/2020 - 02/09/2020
ResultAdopted
Presens Quorum6 0.5001
Consens Quorum0 0.6666 of Yes and No Votes

Background

This proposal is to consider issuing an official GPLAC statement of support for both Sarah Kate Levy and Nithya Raman, for Los Angeles City Council, District 4 in March 3, 2020 elections.

GPLAC Bylaws 5-2.9(c)state that among the responsibilities of the County Council are to "Endorse Green Party members who are candidates for public office and make a statement of support for candidates for public office who are not Green Party members." http://losangeles.cagreens.org/bylaws/2016-07-02#section5-2.9

GPLAC Bylaws 9-4.2(c) require 2/3 for approval for candidate endorsements and statements of support, and a 3/5 quorum of county councilmembers. https://losangeles.cagreens.org/bylaws/2019-08-04#section9-4.2

Neither Levy nor Raman are Green Party members.

In November 2019 the GPLAC contacted the Los Angeles City Council District 4 campaigns of Sarah Kate Levy, Nithya Raman and David Ryu, notifying them that the GPLAC will be sending them a questionnaire to be distributed to GPLAC members, and to be used as the basis for potential GPLAC support (not endorsement) in the CD 4 race. In December 2019 the questionnaire was sent to all three campaigns. Both Sarah Kate Levy and Nithya Raman responded with completed questionnaires. A representative of David Ryu’s campaign stated they would not be participating in the questionnaire

The completed questionnaires have been send to GPLAC members in City Council District 4 and have been published via GPLAC social media.

The Los Angeles City Council District 4 election is a three-way race. Under Los Angeles’s municipal electoral system, if no candidate gets a majority in the March primary election, the top two place finishers advance to a November run-off general election.

Levy and Raman replied with questionnaires that are generally in line with Green Party positions. Ryu did not submit a questionnaire. Given that as an incumbent it is likely that Ryu will advance to the general election run-off if he doesn’t win the March primary outright, a run-off election with either Levy or Raman would serve to better highlight green issues that Ryu has not responded to in the primary.

If Los Angeles City Council elections were conduced by ranked-choice voting - as the GPLAC supports - the GPLAC could recommend supporting both Levy and Raman, and ranking them in the order of the voter’s preference. But since ranked choice voting is not in place, voters who seek a run-off with Ryu and another candidate need to make a choice between Levy and Raman, and hope that their combined vote makes up a majority of all votes, ensuring a run-off that would presumably include either Levy or Raman.

This proposal would have the GPLAC support both candidates, and ask Green voters to make their choice between the two. In either case, voting for one of the two increases the chance that the race would go to a run-off between Ryu and either Levy or Raman.

In making this recommendation to compel a run-off, this is not a statement against Ryu but rather one in favor of Levy and Raman and a desire for Ryu to address issues the GPLAC has raised.

Normally a vote like this will require a longer discussion and voting period, and this shorter discussion and voting period is not meant to establish a precedent. It has been made necessary to take action in time to communicate with Green voters in District 12, given that early voting has already begun. In order to compensate for this substantially reduced period - in addition to email discussion on the County Council email list - the County Council will discuss this proposal on its February 9, 2020 teleconference before the voting period concludes.

Proposal

That the GPLAC issues a statement of support for the city council campaigns of Sarah Kate Levy, Nithya Raman; to email it to Green Party members in City Council District 4, and to publicize it via the GPLAC’s website and social media; and that the email to Green Party members contains the background above as an explanation of the GPLAC’s support.

Resources

None

References

GPLAC Candidate Questionnaire - Los Angeles City Council District 4 (March 3, 2020 election) with side-by-side answers be each candidate on each question.
https://losangeles.cagreens.org/elections/los-angeles-cd4-questionnaire

Sarah Kate Levy: http://losangeles.cagreens.org/sites/all/Ext/candidates/GPLAC%20Questionnaire%20%20SKL.pdf

Nithya Raman: http://losangeles.cagreens.org/sites/all/Ext/candidates/DUE%20Green%20Party%20LAC%20Candidate%20Questionnaire.pdf

Certified list of candidates, Los Angeles City Clerk
https://clerk.lacity.org/sites/g/files/wph606/f/Certified_list_of_Candidates_Final.pdf

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