LA Times Endorses Pete Peterson, Only [Major] Republican Preference Candidate for Secretary of State, Because He Would Focus on “the More Mundane Tasks of the Job”

Just as interesting is why the Times does not like the “reform” candidates in the race:

Like Peterson, Derek Cressman, a Democrat, has excellent qualifications for the job. As an executive with the good-government group Common Cause, Cressman advocated for fair elections and campaign finance reform, and he would continue that advocacy as secretary of state. He has intelligent ideas about how to improve voter education, including creating an online voter guide with candidate videos, footage of debates and campaign contribution data.

Similarly, Dan Schnur would fight for anti-corruption laws, including banning political contributions during the legislative session. A former Republican consultant who became the director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, Schnur is running as an independent and hopes to be the first independent candidate elected to statewide office.

But both Cressman and Schnur are too focused on making the office a bully pulpit for political reform rather than addressing the more mundane tasks of the job.

State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) has immersed himself in the details of the job, meeting with most county election officials and introducing bills to ban campaign contributions in the final 100 days of the legislative session and to increase the frequency of campaign finance disclosures. Yet we are concerned that Padilla sees the job merely as a steppingstone to higher office, at a moment when California needs a secretary of state who is 100% committed to modernizing the office, creating more transparent political campaigns and helping increase the number of educated, engaged and voting citizens.

Note: I have updated the title of this post because it turns out there is another Republican preference candidate in the race, Roy Allmond.

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