Handy Elections Advice: Don’t Vote for the White Supremacist

Okay, you know when you get to the part on the ballot that lists candidates for judgeships, and you have no bloody idea which of these mystery people ought to get your vote? So you just randomly pick whoever has the name that vaguely appeals to you–like you pick the Irish sounding guy(or woman) because you’re Irish on your mother’s side, or you pick the woman because you’re a woman, or you pick the guy who has the same last name as your college girlfriend—even though you know you’re making these choices for completely irrational reasons?

Alright, well maybe not you. YOU probably bring a nice, smart annotated endorsement list with you, even for the judges.

But studies show that’s what a lot of people do.

This time, however, we definitely cannot afford to go the eeny-meeny-miny-mo route.

Here’s the deal: In this coming Tuesday’s election on June 3, a couple of men are running for the position of Superior Court Judge. One of them is named James Bianco. He is very experienced and would likely make a dandy Superior Court Judge. Write his name down.

The other one is Bill Johnson and he—-according to an opinion piece in the LA Times and a far more extensive and well-sourced article in the Metropolitan News-Enterprise.—is a racial separatist.

In other words, if they’re right, electing Bill Johnson would be really, really Not Good.

The voters, writes the Times, “if they don’t pay attention, could hand judicial robes to a racial separatist who called for restricting U.S. citizenship to persons ‘of the European race’ and deporting blacks, Asians, Latinos and others who don’t meet his racial criteria.

…Under the name James O. Pace, he wrote the racial exclusion as a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution and a 1985 book supporting it. Under the name Daniel Johnson, he ran a losing race for Congress in Wyoming in 1989 with a Ku Klux Klan organizer as his campaign manager. As William Johnson, he ran a losing race for Congress in Arizona in 2006. He now may have found a race he can win, unless voters here find out who he is.

The Met News has even more, and it’s creepy. So please vote on Tuesday. But cuidado.

HOWEVER PLEASE DO VOTE FOR THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

If you live in the 23rd State Senate district, you have the choice between Fran Pavley and Lloyd Levine, as your candidate to succeed the extremely well-liked Sheila Kuehl, who has been termed out. Both Levine and Pavley have served as state assembly members, and both have a long list of endorsements.

But the LA Times has endorsed Pavley and I strongly agree. Levine is perfectly competent, but Pavley is more than competent. She is also a low-key environmental superstar who has a stellar record for being able to get Republicans and Democrats together to pass smart and forward-looking green legislation. (Note: even the business people like her because most realize that green is the future.)

And even more than that, Pavley is the leader in the battle to cut carbon emissions across America.

Here’s a special that PBS’s NOW did on the subject featuring Pavley. Watch it. It’s impressive.

Then vote for Fran Pavley.

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PS: Thanks to my smart USC student, Allison Hong, for first flagging the Bill Johnson issue.