Newsletter: No, Katie Porter, the election wasn’t ‘rigged.’ California democracy is strong

Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, March 9, 2024. Let’s look back at the week in Opinion.

I’d like to mention two great things about Tuesday’s election, and one not-so-great thing.

The first great thing: We live in California, a state that makes it exceedingly easy to vote. Every registered voter gets a vote-by-mail ballot sent to them, and those inclined to fill out their ballots in person can visit vote centers distributed throughout their county of residence weeks before election day. In California, we invite political participation, something that Times editorial writer Tony Barboza reminds us is “denied to so many people in states where politicians have passed laws and restrictions that make it harder for people to vote.”

So, hooray for the home team.

The second great thing: Though nothing materially changed after Tuesday, I felt like I had the wind at my back commuting to work by bike later in the week. Yes, I was honked at by impatient drivers, and, yes, I still inhaled the same noxious air as before, but all the bad stuff had a more ephemeral feel to it. That’s because voters in Los Angeles overwhelmingly passed Measure HLA, the initiative to force implementation of the City Council’s own 2015 street safety plan, which calls for hundreds of miles of new bike lanes and changes that slow traffic and make the city more walkable.

And voters couldn’t have come to the rescue soon enough: More than 330 people died in L.A. traffic last year, greater than the number of homicides in the city and 150 more than in 2015, when Los Angeles pledged to hit zero traffic deaths within 10 years (we’re coming up on the mark, for what it’s worth). It also comes after L.A. County voters overwhelmingly approved funding for massive transit expansion with Measure R in 2008 and Measure M in 2016. Something tells me — and it certainly ought to tell our leaders — that L.A. voters are actively shedding their reputation as hopelessly car addicted.

As The Times’ editorial board put it, “What Measure HLA’s victory now shows is that the loudest voices don’t necessarily represent what Angelenos actually want. Voters support safe streets.”

And, finally, the not-so-great thing: Why, Rep. Katie Porter, oh why?

The Irvine Democrat used the r-word — “rigged” — in a tweet about her election loss to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Republican Steve Garvey, who earned the top two spots in Tuesday’s primary and will face each other in the general election. Now, “rig,” that’s a word thrown around by a certain ex-president who has done incalculable damage to the public’s confidence in election results. It connotes not just underhandedness, but also fraud and illegality. Its casual use marks the MAGA far-right, not a good-government public servant.

Rather than retract her statement after an outcry from fellow Democrats, Porter dug in, by saying “rigged” means “manipulated by dishonest means,” and that she was referring to false attacks funded by billionaires. Well, OK, then why didn’t she just say that? Liberals have been making that argument for years without using the r-word. And spending money to influence an election isn’t “rigging” it — just ask Jerry Brown, who handily defeated Meg Whitman for governor in 2010 despite being outspent $177 million to $36 million.

L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón is where he wants to be. Making it into the November runoff with around 20% of the vote isn’t a strong showing for an incumbent. He’ll face an opponent who recently ran as a Republican in a statewide race — an advantage for Gascón in Los Angeles, though his reelection is far from assured. The editorial board has some advice for the candidate it endorsed.

Don’t gut L.A.’s best shot at building affordable housing. Aaron Barrall and Shane Phillips, both of the UCLA Lewis Center Housing Initiative, decry the Los Angeles City Planning Department’s backpedaling on plans to allow more affordable and mixed-income homes in single-family neighborhoods, areas traditionally off-limits to denser housing. They say lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color shouldn’t have to absorb most of the new homes needed to alleviate L.A.’s housing crisis, while already wealthy areas remain largely unchanged.

This is what’s wrong with the rush to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Though the images of destruction in the Gaza Strip may appear to show genocidal intent, that is largely due to Hamas’ inability and unwillingness to fight a conventional war, says Jonah Goldberg. “There’s plenty to criticize Israel about without resorting to genocide accusations,” he writes.

What a doctor sees when Joe Biden hesitates: “Fortunately, President Biden shows no signs of Alzheimer’s disease,” writes Dr. Daniel Stone, a geriatrician. “At news conferences, he references new events and obviously creates new memories efficiently. He speaks slowly and pauses to find words like others with benign age-associated memory impairment. These issues are exacerbated by a chronic speech impediment.”

The Supreme Court was right to keep former President Trump on the ballot. Now, voters should oppose him, says the editorial board: “It is now clear that if Trump is to be prevented from returning to the White House, he must be rejected by the voters and denied a majority in the electoral college. Whatever the legal merits of the court’s ruling, its chief consequence is to bolster democracy.”

More from this week in opinion

From our columnists

• Robin Abcarian: How the Alabama IVF ruling unmasks the hypocrisy of antiabortion zealots
• Harry Litman: For the second time in days, the Supreme Court helped make another Trump presidency possible
• LZ Granderson: Biden and Trump? What a waste of the Super Tuesday primaries

From the op-ed desk

• How did a Moroccan pirate queen become the “Spirit of California”?
• “Oppenheimer’s” best performance — reminding us that we live in dangerous times
• Mars rocks are a science prize the U.S. can’t afford to lose

From the editorial board

• L.A. is now paying the price for the tough-on-crime era
• A right to IVF or abortion will never be protected if fetuses and embryos are declared people
• The legacy of California’s “three strikes” law is 30 years of wasted spending and ruined lives

Letters to the editor

• $400 for the Brightline train to Las Vegas? We’d rather drive
• The “science of reading” isn’t just about teaching phonics
• Katie Porter is a treasure. Shame on Adam Schiff for elevating Steve Garvey