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Deputy District Attorney Brookens Launches Campaign for Election to Judgeship
By a MetNews Staff Writer
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Above is an ad for a campaign fundraiser for Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Lena Christmas Brookens, a candidate for the Los Angeles Superior Court. |
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Lena Christmas Brookens has commenced a campaign for a Los Angeles Superior Court open seat in next year’s March 5 primary election.
Brookens—whose early advertising exhorts voters to “Elect Christmas For LA County Judge”—has, newspaper reports from past years reflect, traditionally used “Christmas” as her given name.
At this early stage, she has been endorsed by Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Troy Davis, Christopher J. Frisco, Richard M. Goul, Daniel J. Lowenthal, Judith L. Meyer, Tomson T. Ong, Kevin Stennis, Chet L. Taylor, Laura Walton, John Weller and Stacy Wiese and by Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Gregory S. Lesser.
Admitted to the State Bar in 2004, she earned her law degree at Pepperdine.
Abourched’s Candidacy
The candidate has already held a fundraiser and has a campaign website. She is the second candidate for the Los Angeles Superior Court to launch a campaign website, the first having been Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kurt Samuel Abourched, running as Sam Abourched.
Brookens and Abourched have the same political consultant, Crystal M. Litz. Abourched’s endorsers include Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Kathleen Blanchard, Andrew Cooper, Roberta Chu, Charles (Carlos) Chung, Lisa M. Chung, Emily Cole, Christopher G. Estes, Stephen I. Goorvitch, David Hizami, Lana S. Kim, Shannon Knight, Joel L. Lofton, Hilleri G. Merritt, Denise Mclaughlin-Bennett, Stephen T. Morgan, Stephen M. Ruble, Lisa Strassner, Frank M. Tavelman, Leonard Torrealba, Scott A. Yang, and David Yaroslavsky.
An early filing with the Secretary of State’s Office reflects that Abourched, whose law degree is from North Carolina Central University, on May 26 loaned his committee $38,500.
Third Candidate
The only other filing by a potential Los Angeles Superior Court candidate was by Deputy District Attorney Steven Yee Jak Mac who loaned his committee $5,000 on March 12 and another $5,000 on April 24. So far, Mac has not mounted a visible campaign.
Mac ran in 2017 in a special election for the congressional seat then held by Xavier Becerra, who had been appointed California’s attorney general (and is now secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.) In a field 23 candidates, Mac came in 14th, with 1.6 percent of the vote.
He was admitted to the State Bar in 2008. His law degree is from UCLA.
Mac is also a client of Litz.
Repeat Candidates
Two others have filed papers with the Secretary of State’s Office, in preparation of seeking campaign donations in races for the Los Angeles Superior Court, but have not begun campaigning. Both were unsuccessful candidates last year, coming in third in the primary.
They are attorney Thomas D. Allison, who secured 19.1 percent of the vote in a race won by then-Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender Patrick Hare in the run-off, and Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender Kevin McGurk, who attained 27.6 percent of the vote, with then-Deputy District Attorney Melissa Lyons winning in the general election.
The period for filing declarations of intent to run for judgeships begins Oct. 30 and ends Nov. 8, except that the period is extended to Nov. 14 for seats that are occupied by a judge who is up for election but has not filed a declaration.
Nominating papers may be filed from Nov. 13 to Dec. 8, with an extension to Dec. 13 where an incumbent who filed a declaration of intent to run has not filed nominating papers.
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