Melvoin for Congress in the 30th District
The race to replace Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, in the 30th Congressional District — which stretches from west Pasadena to the Miracle Mile — as the longtime congressman steps down to seek a Senate seat is a contest in which the candidates must strive for name recognition, and campaign dollars, from vastly different constituencies who don't necessarily know their records or even who they are.
People who live near LACMA mostly do not know from a La Canada Flintridgearea legislator, just as the Glendale voters have little reason to know much about a former Los Angeles city attorney or an LAUSD school board member.
But after reviewing the records and the campaigns of all the 15 candidates for the seat in this wide-open race, and speaking to many of them, we are pleased to endorse the candidacy of the one who does happen to be a Los Angeles school board member, lawyer and former teacher Nick Melvoin.
A registered Democrat in a district that skews heavily Democratic, but probably the most truly moderate candidate in the running, and the one elected who just has experience at the schools level rather than in Sacramento or in a local city hall, Melvoin explained to us that he actually sees that as a plus.
“I've just spent seven years on the L.A. school board, so I know something about dysfunction,” Melvoin said, with a half-laugh. That's because his support of adding charter schools into the education mix and pushing for fiscal discipline over teacher union demands has put him at odds with some colleagues. “And I don't know that we want to promote someone who has been working in Sacramento for years.” Melvoin said that he actually thinks he has the advantage over other candidates who have been state legislators in a one-party Capitol, since they have never had to compromise, whereas he often has, and will be able to work across the aisle with Republicans, who currently are the majority in the House of Representatives.
Melvoin notes that he is by far the youngest of the candidates seen as having a chance to win the race. “I am 38,” he said, “and we are the first generation of Americans ever to generally feel that we will have opportunities less promising than our parents have. But unlike some who have gone into despair over that, I am using my work in politics to be practical and get things done.”
Melvoin says that his agenda includes making investments in affordable housing for working families and for mental health and workforce training support for those who are unhoused. He wants to see “fewer regulations for small businesses,” and wants more “investment in their resilience,” key points that most California Democrats fail to highlight as important issues.
He contrasts himself with two other prominent candidates — good ones who would serve well — Laura Friedman and Anthony Portantino, by noting that “Friedman and Portantino have voted for single-payer health care over the years and it has never passed into law. I am for practical things that move the ball an inch instead of a Hail Mary pass that fails.”
Melvoin also demonstrates sensible civil liberties instincts, skeptical of the NSA's warrantless searches of American communications and supportive of removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. And, importantly, he recognizes that the power to wage war is a constitutional obligation of Congress, not the executive branch.
If voters want sensible, scandal-free and balanced representation, Nick Melvoin is an excellent choice.
He has our endorsement.