2024 is ridiculous. Here’s one way your vote can make things better.
There’s one race in this spring’s Los Angeles County primary election where you can actually make a real difference.
Let me tell you about my cousin Kim.
Kimberly Repecka is a dedicated public servant, who first began practicing law in dependency court (working on cases involving parents and children) before becoming a public defender. I cannot emphasize enough the passion Kim has for her job: The question “How’s work going?” is always answered by a story, about one of her clients and how all she wants is for him or her to receive fair treatment by the court. There is always a problem, though, and that problem is usually tied to a prosecutor’s misconduct or a judge’s ignorance of the issues.
Because of Kim, I actually started paying attention to the judge elections many of us regular voters might regularly skim through — which is to say, I started asking Kim who she thought the best judicial candidates were, and following her recommendations when it came to my own ballot. It thus feels karmically apt that I now tell you: If you’re a Los Angeles County resident, you should vote for her in this spring’s election, as she’s running for Judge of the Superior Court, Office №124. (Yes, County. If you’re not technically a city resident, you can still vote for her.)
There are two major reasons to vote for Kim: One, she would do an amazing job, using her deep understanding of the law and deep compassion for humanity to rule wisely. Two, the incumbent she’s running against… Well, let’s just see what the Commission on Judicial Performance had to say about Judge Emily Spear in their 2023 public admonishment:
In light of the number of incidents of misconduct, the judge’s lack of insight into the seriousness of her misconduct, and the fact that some of her misconduct reflected a lack of integrity (Policy Declarations of Com. on Jud. Performance, policies 7.1(1)(a), 7.1(2)(a), 7.1(1)(d)), the commission has determined that a public admonishment is the appropriate discipline.
Just one of the things Spear was admonished for was lying and manipulating her calendar so that she could take a longer vacation. I think we can all agree that in our judicial candidates, prioritizing work over vacations is a quality we should cherish. Maybe even a bare minimum requirement?
Despite being admonished, Spear was set to keep her job for another six years, starting this spring — if no one else ran against her. Spear’s name wouldn’t have even been on the ballot, if there wasn’t a challenger. Kim wasn’t planning on running for judge this year, and had never run for any office before, but when she found out last fall that Spear wouldn’t have any other opponents, she decided to step up.
The first publication to write about Kim’s candidacy, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, said some incredibly nice things about her and her suitability for the office over Spear. It also said that “absent a miracle, Spear will win.”
The problem is, getting the word out. Boil it down to the most basic level — you walk up to anyone on the street and say “Who would you vote for as judge: Someone who will actually show up for the job, or someone who seems dedicated to blowing it off?” It’s an easy choice, especially when the other candidate is also a qualified, smart, and capable person in her own right. But people have to know the choice exists in the first place.
Because Spear is the incumbent, she has access to money and other resources way beyond Kim’s scope. So this is grassroots David and Goliath political activism in its most pure form. Kim’s been working so so hard on making that miracle happen, by meeting voters and racking up endorsements around the county. She’s posting videos on Instagram with her beloved dogs as backup. Her friends are creating handcrafted merchandise. I helped organize a bake sale to raise funds.
The political landscape these days has never been more discouraging — on a national level, it’s the world’s most disappointing rematch, and the more local you get, the more weird and depressing things seem. It’s easy to want to give up on the whole system. Easy not to care, because caring can be so hard. However, here is one way you, as a Los Angeles County voter, can potentially make a real difference. Yeah, your vote may be inconsequential when it comes to the primary, but at the back of the book is where real change is possible. That’s where it’s actually, really true: Every. Vote. Counts.
Kim cares so much about people, and about justice, and I believe so few things with absolute certainty, but one of them is this: If elected as judge, Kim Repecka will make lives better. And she needs your vote to do so. Go to her Instagram or her campaign website to get to know her better. You can give her campaign money, but more importantly, you can just do what I’m doing here — spread the word. Here’s one small way we can improve Los Angeles County, and maybe that’s not much, but it’s something. It’s a ripple in a pond, perhaps. But we can make that water move.
Get information about voting in Los Angeles County here. Mail-in ballots are currently now out. The primary election concludes on March 5th.
