Candidates For LA County Board Of Supervisors Make Last-Minute Push For Votes
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide a number of key issues impacting this state's future.
And candidates for the L.A. County Board of Supervisors seat long-held by Zev Yaroslavsky were among those Monday making a last-minute push for votes.
KCAL9's Dave Bryan spoke with leading candidates Bobby Shriver, Sheila Kuehl and John Duran as they prepared for the final stretch in the race to represent residents of the Westside.
Former Santa Monica Councilman Shriver was joined by his sister, former California First Lady Maria Shriver, as well as L.A. City Councilman Tom Labonge, as he shook hands and tried to round up some 11th-hour votes at the farmers market in the Fairfax District.
Among the serious issues Shriver says are important to him is pushing for housing for veterans who've been left out in the cold.
"I've been trying for ten years to get people to pay attention to the homelessness, particularly the women - homeless women vets who have fought in two wars. We haven't given any housing for homeless women vets on the biggest V.A. facility in America, which is in West L.A.," he said.
Things were considerably tamer at a phone bank in Santa Monica, where supporters of former State Senator Sheila Kuehl were making phone calls to thousands of high propensity voters, urging them to get to the polls on primary day.
"We call a thousand, maybe 1,500 people, every time our people come over. And they were here Friday and Saturday and Sunday and today. And they'll be here tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. We target people who have voted consistently in the last five races - or four out of five - because those are the best bets. Those are the people you send the mailers too," Kuehl said.
Among the volunteer callers working the phones for Kuehl was former L.A. City Controller Rick Tuttle.
Kuehl says the other candidates may have good ideas, but she's the one who has a track record of actually passing new laws and making real changes in people's lives.
"My callers are saying, 'She had 171 bills signed into law. She established nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, she got paid family leave in California - first state to ever have it - things that I have done," she said.
In West Hollywood, Councilman John Duran rounded up votes as well by talking to voters one at a time outside a Starbucks on Santa Monica Boulevard.
"Today it's about pushing out the base to make sure the base gets out to vote. I have some help today. Mayor Garcetti just sent out a tweet for me and Supervisor Molina just did a robocall, so my allies are helping push out the vote too," Duran said.
Duran has some high-profile endorsements, but trails the two big names in campaign funding, and acknowledged he's pushing for an upset.
"We're the underdog, we're the David vs. Goliath story, but my people are very passionate about that. No paid phone bankers, or paid walkers or commercials every 30 seconds. My people are highly motivated and I think they'll go vote tomorrow," he said.
Two of the candidates will get into the run-off in November, assuming none of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday.
Polls are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.
For additional information about polling places, visit the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk website.
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