San Fernando Valley residents who have gone without a voice on the Los Angeles City Council for six months will choose between a school board member and a former assemblywoman in a special runoff election today.
Nury Martinez and Cindy Montanez are vying to replace Tony Cardenas, the former Sixth District councilman elected to the House of Representatives last November.
Montanez and Martinez were the top two vote-getters in the May 21 primary election, but neither obtained the more than 50 percent needed to win the seat outright, setting the stage for today's contest.

Some of you may have gotten whiplash following the latest kerfuffle over California's Public Records Act (CPRA).
First, as part of the budget deal it looked like there would be limited access to government documents. Why? Because the deal provided that the CPRA would be suspended, instead of paid for from state coffers. Specifically, the state is required to reimburse local agencies for the cost of compliance. The anticipated cost of the CPRA totals in the tens of millions of dollars.

It was just as bad as expected. The voter turnout for the Los Angeles' May 21 election was 23.3 percent, the lowest in 100 years for a general election.
Councilman Eric Garcetti was elected mayor with 222,300 votes, which is less than any other non-incumbent mayor elected since the 1930s, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis. The numbers also represent just a little over 5 percent of the population of Los Angeles. The low enthusiasm has been blamed on the similarities between the candidates -- both Democrats supported by unions.
The election was also the most expensive Southland election season on record. Independent expenditure committees and candidates in city and LAUSD races racked up almost $54 million in expenses, according to Ethics Commission figures.
The previous record was set in 2001 by James Hahn and Antonio Villaraigosa. Candidates and outside groups at that time ran up $44.9 million in expenses, and voter turnout during the runoff was 37.67 percent .
There is a concerted effort underway to toss out the majority of the city of San Bernardino's elected officials. The recall is targeted at the mayor, the city attorney, and all seven members of the city council. This is significant if only for the sheer number of elected officials that recall proponents are seeking to toss out of office.
I discussed this issue during a live chat hosted by the Los Angeles News Group.


| Photo:











