Progressive Democrats Dominate Local Burbank Elections
If elections were determined by yard signs and advertising, any Burbank resident would assume republicans like Paul Herman, Michael Gogin and Eric Early would likely have been crowned victors in their respective political races. However, Tuesday night’s results show a very, very different picture.
Bernie-eqsue progressive Konstantine Anthony mopped the floor with a massive victory over all the competition. As arguably the furthest left-leaning candidate, his dominance is a far cry from the loudest conservative candidates.
Two seats for the council were open and the second went to Nick Schultz by a smaller, but still comfortable margin. Nick, like Konstantine, had leaned heavily into progressive messaging on his twitter and social media accounts at the height of the BLM movement, however, his main campaign promise is to protect funding for first responders. The city council already has a retired police officer and retired fireman, and as most Burbank residents know, first responders have overwhelming support from the community. Considering Konstantine’s positioning on key issues like rent control, public access to government, and fixing racial inequities, it makes you wonder if constituents will hold Nick to a more progressive agenda.
Speaking of agendas, neither of these candidates had endorsements from any current city council members. In fact, Mayor Sharron Springer endorsed Tamala Takahashi and Paul Herman. The Herman endorsement seemed quite odd considering Springer is a democrat.
Incumbent Tim Murphy did not retain a seat for another term, which was sort of expected considering he was appointed to city council after former mayor Will Rogers passed away from liver cancer in 2018 and not voted in.
Incumbent Krystle Palmer easily retained her seat as treasurer, taking in a whopping 58% of the vote, while expected, what’s interesting about this race is the strong showing from Lindsey Francois. Francois was not very active with advertising or yard signs, as seen in my previous piece on illegal yard signs. In fact, Darin Shea, who came in dead last with less than 7,000 votes, appears to have spent just as much, if not more on advertising compared to Palmer. Which begs the question — what is the value of big spending in small local elections?
As for US Representatives who cover Burbank in their demographic span, to the surprise of maybe only the owner of Tinhorn Flats, Adam Schiff annihilated Eric Early, the far-right vocal Trump supporter. Same goes for incumbent Brad Sherman with his win over Mark Reed.
Measure RC, the pro-rent control measure, failed by an overwhelmingly large margin. While this may seem like horrible news for Burbank tenants, the state already has a new statewide rent control initiative that will help keep predatory landlords at bay.
Longest tenured BUSD board member, republican Roberta Grande Reyonds came in last, losing her seat on the school board. Newcomer Emily Weisberg who picked up an endorsement from the San Fernando Valley Democrats, is vocally progressive on numerous school related issues, which follows the trend of younger, liberal faces replacing conservatives.
It will be interesting to see what direction the city council goes on key issues like housing, COVID relief and racial equity considering Konstantine Anthony’s strong win. 2021 should be an interesting year.
