Democrat Furutani Narrowly Misses Election Outright to California State Assembly--Will Prevail on February 5 Presidential Primary Ballot

By Frank D. Russo

In a special election yesterday, Democrat Warren Furutani came tantalizingly close to winning outright the 55th Asssembly district seat vacated by Laura Richardson who was elected to Congress a few months ago to fill the remaining term of Juanita Millender-McDonald who died earlier this year.

According to Semi-Final results from the Los Angeles County Registrar's office, Furutani has 49.2% of the vote with all precincts reporting. He needed 50% of the overall vote to avoid a runoff, but fell 173 votes short of this mark--unless there are a lot of uncounted ballots out there, which are not likely to affect this result. He will be in a runoff election with a Libertarian Party candidate and one from the American Independent Party. Squirrelly things are known to happen in ultra-low turnout special elections, but since the runoff is on the February 5, 2008 presidential primary ballot, a good turnout makes him the effective elected member of the Assembly in this solid Democratic District.

Furutani beat Mike Gipson, a fellow Democrat who received 38.4% of the vote for the Democratic nomination. Gipson had more of the moderate or conservative endorsements, including that of the departing Laura Richardson. Independent expenditures were made on his behalf by the "Alliance for California's Tomorrow, a California Business Coaliton" which received its funds from real estate interests and the California Building Industry Association PAC.

Furutani has been a senior consultant to Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez. He had the backing of a number of progressive organizations including the California Nurses Association, The California Federation of Teachers, California League of Conversation Voters, and the Sierra Club. Although split, he also had the most support within the house of labor, and was officially endorsed by the California Democratic Party. He also had support from Nunez, Congressmember Hilda Solis and most of the progressive base in and outside of the district.

Furutani outraised Gipson, with his largest contribution of $7,500 coming from the Democratic State Central Committee and most of his other major contributions coming from labor and environmental organizations. Labor also made independent expenditures on his behalf.

Furutani has an extensive background in education. He was first elected to the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, the largest school district in Califrona in 1987. He was the first Asian Pacific American ever to be elected to the Board. In 1991, he was reelected and served as the Board's President. He also was twice elected to the Los Angeles Community College Board and has served as President of that body.

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