54th Assembly District Race: Taxes Will Be the Issue In November
Posted by: Mike Spence | 05/27/2008 5:33 PM
Most Political Analysts see Bonnie Lowenthal winning the Democratic Primary and Gabriella Holt winning the GOP Primary for the 54th Assembly District. This district has the highest percentage of GOP voters in L.A. County and represents the best chance of a pick up.
Taxes will be the key issue. Long Beach City Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal sits on the powerful MTA Board. According to LBReport.com Lowenthal voted to ask the MTA board to bring back projects and a half-cent sales tax to fund the L.A. projects.
If you buy something in L.A. County you already pay 8.25% that includes a 1% sales tax for transportation. Of course that has worked so well why not more?
Obviously this gives Holt an opening should it be on the same ballot as Lowenthal.
Bonnie Lowenthal and Tonia Uranga both told Long Beach voters tonight at the Beer & Politics forum that they should be willing to pay higher taxes in order to get "the good things" like better education, better air quality and universal health care. Since Gabriella did not attend, Michael A. Jackson was able to scoop up the audience of majority Dems and tell them that he would not raise taxes, but would push for the Legislature to figure out why the 2003 budget was 48% less but paid for more services.
Of course, when he used the term "socialist" to describe those who did not agree with him, he turned them off again. People in Long Beach are hungry for some one to come and represent their values of fiscal conservatism and social moderation. So far, unfortunately, Bonnie is winning these people over, since she uses the "Clinton" approach and says whatever she feels a particular crowd wants to hear.