Updated: 4:07 p.m.
By Randy Economy and Brian Hews
Downey City Councilman Mario A. Guerra is running well ahead of former Assemblyman Tony Mendoza in the race for the 32nd State Senate District here in California, according to a poll obtained by Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper on Monday.
Guerra, a popular member of the Downey City Council and a successful business owner is facing former termed out California State Assemblyman Tony Mendoza.
If the election were held today, with voters informed on all aspects of each candidate, the outcome would result in a 37 percent lead in favor of a Guerra victory.
The poll was conducted by Moore Information Group, which is based in Oregon. Guerra is a moderate Republican and Mendoza is a Democrat. The firm has provided key polling data for GOP candidates in the past.
According to Richard Garcia, a spokesperson for the Guerra for Senate Campaign, the new poll “reveals that Guerra’s background as a businessman and job creator, his bipartisan approach to governance and his views on preventing crime, improving local schools and making colleges and trade schools affordable to all, strongly resonate with voters across the district.”
According to the poll, Guerra is doing as well among Republican voters as Mendoza is among Democrats and the race is tied among Decline to State/others with 22 percent of voters still undecided.
After voters were given additional details both pro and con against the two rivals, Guerra still held an edge over Mendoza by 44% to 40%.
A key finding of the poll research was how all voters see the race when presented with the quantitative pros and cons of each candidate.
“Voters tended to favor Guerra after learning of the Fair Political Practices Commission’s investigation of Mendoza’s past campaign finances, as well as Mendoza’s acceptance of thousands of dollars in gifts from special interests, his use of taxpayer dollars to finance his personal lifestyle, his vote for early release of criminals and numerous tax increases,” the poll data stressed.
In a statement related to the poll results, Guerra said, “This is a definitive and sound resolution from voters that factual acts of corruption will not be tolerated in our leaders and that change is the best option for Sacramento to begin anew with fresh ideas and a commitment to serve constituents, not interest groups or personal gains.”
The 32nd State Senate District has been a political stronghold of indicted California State Senator Ronald Calderon of Montebello and members of his family for the past 30 years.
Ronald Calderon, along with his brother Former Assemblyman Tom Calderon are both facing dozens of Federal charges in the biggest political corruption case to rock Sacramento in the last 30 years. HMG-CN was one of the first media outlets to expose and report on the misdealing of Calderon several months before they were indicated.
The district includes Cerritos, Artesia, Montebello, Downey, Norwalk, Hacienda Heights, La Mirada Whittier and most of Southeast Los Angeles County.
Guerra beat Mendoza and three other Democrats in the June Primary election after capturing nearly 45% of the total votes cast.
Corruption appears to be weighing heavily on the minds of voters in Southeast Los Angeles County this election year. The area known as “Corruption Row” by political onlookers, has at least two dozen elected officials indicted and or charged with political felonies during the past ten years.
Parke Skelton, who is a longtime Democratic Party consultant and who represents Mendoza scoffed at the poll results.
Skelton admitted that the Mendoza campaign has not conducted a poll since before the primary election that was held in June.
“We have not polled in the race. (However) look at the numbers. This is an overwhelmingly Democratic district. Even in June — when the turnout was an abysmal 14% in SD32, generating a universe that was about 10% higher in Republicans than the registration in the district as a whole — the combined Democratic vote in the primary was still 11% higher than the Republican vote. Even the Guerra poll indicates that Mendoza is leading by a substantial amount,” Skelton told HMG-CN in an email.
Skelton also told the newspaper, “Report the actual uninformed head to head number. If you are going to publish a ‘push number’ you must show all of the positive and negative statements.”
<img src=”http://www.loscerritosnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Guerra-poll-1.png” alt=”Guerra poll 1″ width=”723″ height=”333″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-66923″ />
<strong>Poll results were provided to Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper on Monday. Here are several of the responses to the actual questions given voters in the survey. </strong>
<img src=”http://www.loscerritosnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Guerra-Poll-2.png” alt=”Guerra Poll 2″ width=”684″ height=”365″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-66924″ />