Last night could have been ugly, but to a certain degree everyone won, including California’s environment.
Both the Republican and Democratic Parties were able to celebrate huge victories as Republican Sharon Runner won her election for SD 17 and Democrat Ted Lieu won his election for SD 28. More importantly, both elections resulted in outright wins, which means no need for a run-off election in April or May for either seat. This is where everyone else in California wins, as a run-off election for a Senate seat can cost the state another $500,000 to a million dollars that we couldn’t afford.
The results of these two elections is a mixed bag for the environment. With a 1% lifetime Assembly score on CLCV’s Scorecard, the environmental community shouldn’t anticipate anything short of antipathy from Sharon Runner. Her husband, George Runner had a 4% lifetime score after serving both in the Assembly and the Senate, so the real question here is if it’s worth betting on the over or under on her beating his record.
Still, the environment can breathe a much needed sigh of relief that Ted Lieu is returning to the legislature. With a 96% lifetime score, Lieu was an environmental champion in the Assembly and will be a refreshing voice and vote in the Senate that has become dominated by corporate-friendly Democrats who have introduced bills that would set California’s environment back. If that were not enough, for months now, the Senate has had one less pro-environmental voice due to the passing of the late Senator Jenny Oropeza. Her vacancy left a void in the Senate that desperately needed to be filled.
Lieu’s win is also timely as it maintains the balance of power in the chamber. Had Runner won her election to the Senate last night and Lieu not received enough votes to win outright, the anti-environmental forces in the Senate would have had, at least temporarily, one more solid vote in their favor without a pro-environmental vote to counterbalance them. This is particularly important in having a majority of pro-environmental votes in Senate committees, and currently of the utmost importance to Governor Brown in his effort to gain enough votes in both chambers of the legislature to pass his budget. Runner has openly said she’d join the Republicans in voting against the budget and essentially do as they do every year: hold the state hostage in exchange for large corporate giveaways. Meanwhile, Lieu has said he has some concerns about the budget, but is willing to work with the governor on it. Unlike Runner, he is not particularly interested in trying to shutdown California’s government. With little doubt, this is good news for Governor Brown.
Although yesterday’s results weren’t perfect, CLCV is happy to have once again endorsed and helped Ted Lieu win a seat in the legislature. Though we’re not exactly happy about Sharon Runner, we’re excited to know that with Ted Lieu we’ll have another friend in the Senate speaking on behalf of California’s environment for years to come.
