Two Eagle Rockers Running for Re-Election to Nation’s Largest Local Democratic Party Entity

Mark Gonzalez and Gail M. Burns are supporting each other, along with five other contestants, for a seat in the Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee.

As the June 5 primary elections to the 51st District of the California Assembly draw nearer, two Eagle Rock residents are preparing for a second spell in what happens to be the largest local Democratic Party entity in the nation. Mark Gonzalez, who readers will recall as Assembly Member Anthony Portantino’s one-time field deputy, is contesting a re-election to the Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee for the 51st Assembly District, along with Eagle Rocker Gail M. Burns. The election will be conducted by the L.A. County Registrar of Voters. On April 29, Gonzalez, now a senior field rep to the California Assembly Speaker John Perez, was among a diverse group of six people who supported each other and were successfully elected to …

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VIDEO: Jan Perry Calls L.A. 'Fragile'

See Los Angeles City Council member and mayoral candidate Jan Perry in conversation before a live audience at Cal-State Northridge.

(If video window doesn't appear, refresh the page.) Los Angeles City Council member Jan Perry cruised through a list of issues at Cal State Northridge Tuesday in the second of the "Talking About Los Angeles" series of interviews with mayoral candidates. Moderator Christine Essel, the CEO for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, started off the event by saying that she had known Perry for 20 years. Questioned by Essel, Perry touched on redevelopment, jobs, housing, transit, education, pensions and the city's budget deficit. Patch is a co-sponsor of the series, which was organized by the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, a Latino voter participation organization; and Cerrell Associates, a Los Angeles political …

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Susan R

8:15 am on Friday, May 18, 2012

Looks like a bunch of empty seats. I don't think anyone even attended.   more ›

Jan Perry for L.A. Mayor? See Her Questioned Today on a Live Video

The city councilwoman will be the second mayoral candidate interviewed in the Talking About Los Angeles series. Questions from Patch readers will be presented to Perry.

A series of conversations with Los Angeles mayoral candidates continues Tuesday evening with an interview of Councilwoman Jan Perry that will be shown via a live video stream you can watch on this Patch site. The interview, the second in the "Talking About Los Angeles" series, begins at 5:30 p.m. before an audience in The Grand Salon of California State University, Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff St. (See attached PDF map.) If you would like to attend the event, you can register on the Talking About Los Angeles website. The moderator for the event will be Christine Essel, the CEO for Los Angeles’ Community Redevelopment Agency. She’s a former senior vice president of government and community affairs for Paramount Pictures and had been an …

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Richard Core

3:10 pm on Friday, May 11, 2012

We have reached the end of the period for taking questions. Thank you to all who participated. I'll present selected questions to Councilwoman Perry on Tuesday at Cal-State Northridge.   more ›

D.A. Race: Times Endorses Del Toro Prosecutor's Rival

Bobby Grace, who prosecuted LAFD Capt. David Del Toro for murder, brings 'insight and passion' but lacks leadership experience: L.A. Times.

Lopez Praises Obama for ‘Casting Aside Fear’ and Supporting Gay Marriage

The openly gay aspirant to the California Assembly says the president has officially shown his ‘full support for the full humanity’ of thousands of LGBT people in the 51st Assembly District.

President Obama’s historic endorsement Wednesday of gay marriage—a first by any U.S. president—has been hailed as a courageous “American value” by Luis Lopez, one of the four frontrunners in the race for California’s 51st Assembly District elections. Lopez, who is openly gay and lives in Eagle Rock, participated in an April 25 ‘'Meet the Candidates” forum at the Center for the Arts. He e-mailed Patch the following message in response to Obama’s support for same-sex couples: “I am immensely proud of our President today for making official his support for marriage equality. Casting aside fear and standing clearly on principle, President Obama has stated his full support for the full humanity of me and thousands of LGBT people in my district…

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Jimmy Gomez Gears up to Seek Your Vote (Video)

The Democratic Party’s officially sanctioned candidate for the 51st Assembly District elections renews his appeal to voters as the June 5 primaries draw near.

Roughly two weeks after the four Democrats in the race for the 51st Assembly District, squared off in a ‘'Meet the Candidates” forum in Eagle Rock, the campaign for one of the frontrunners, Jimmy Gomez, has posted a video on YouTube. The clip, shot at Gomez’s campaign office on Figueroa Street in Highland Park, essentially highlighting the same “Vote for me—I’m your candidate” talking points that Gomez, political director for the United Nurses Association of California, underscored at the Center for the Arts on the night of April 25.

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Susan R

8:18 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012

Chavez is a career politican, Oscar has good ideas (but I don't think he will win), Lopez is on the Planning committee (is that who brought in all the condos?) I think Jimmy Gomez is the only clear choice. I do not agree with his politics but he is the only clear choice.   more ›

Family Reasons: Why Austin Beutner Dropped Out of the Mayor's Race

The investment banker cites family responsibilities as his reason for pulling out of the mayoral race.

Lifelong Eagle Rocker Aspires to be Elected as Delegate to the Democratic National Convention

To increase participation in local as well as national politics, five aspirant to the DNC are supporting each other while also competing for the public’s vote.

On Sunday, April 29, Democrats across California will be participating in an exercise aimed at ensuring that they are part of the elaborate process of electing the future president of the United States. To that end, they will cast votes to elect district-level delegates, who, in turn will represent the district at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC, in September . In Los Angeles, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., registered Democrats are scheduled to gather at a building that houses the offices of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) located on 1545 Wilshire Blvd., where they will elect three men and three women to send to the DNC from the newly drawn 34th Congressional District, which encompasses Northeast L.A., …

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