LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The extraordinary diversity within the population of Los Angeles is reflected in a judicial race that pits a British-born prosecutor against a Vietnamese American civil litigator in a race that has brought background, experience and temperament to the fore.
One candidate was educated in London and steeped in the culture that produced the "Rumpole of the Bailey" television series. He attended Los Angeles-based Loyola Law School and has lengthy experience as a deputy district attorney in the Los Angeles criminal system.
The other is the child of Vietnamese refugees who attended Harvard Law School, has extensive Democratic backing, and is working as a deputy to Attorney General Kamala Harris who is leading the race to become the new U.S. senator from California.
Deputy District Attorney David Berger and Deputy Attorney General Kim Nguyen are vying for one of four spots on the Los Angeles Superior Court, the biggest court in the nation. They are fueling their campaigns through word of mouth, social media and slate mailers.
Berger, a rosy-faced, gregarious Englishman, said that as a child he was fed a steady diet of the British series "Rumpole of the Bailey" and the American series "Perry Mason," cultivating a love affair with the courtroom.
Berger, 59, now lives in West Los Angeles and works at the Airport Courthouse."I wanted to be part of that world," he said in an interview in the courthouse cafeteria. "I loved the drama of the courtroom. I love the precision of it. The artistry of it. When Judge Fox said he was going to retire, I thought this was obviously something I should do. People really admire the way he is as a jurist - scrupulously fair. He's either liked or disliked equally by both sides. That's what I think a judge should be."
Nguyen would be the only active Vietnamese-American on the court's bench in a county where 15 percent of the county's 10 million people identify as Asian, in a region where a majority of the population speaks one of 224 languages other than English at home.
Nguyen, 40, lives in South Pasadena, on the other side of the Los Angeles metropolis from West Los Angeles.
During an interview in a downtown coffee shop, her eyes glimmered through studious glasses as she described how her parents arrived in the United States in 1975 as refugees.
"My first memories are of a tiny cramped apartment on the border of Echo Park and Chinatown. My dad, his first job in this country was bussing tables at a restaurant. My mom sewed garments," Nguyen said. "Over the years they went back to school and through good luck, a lot of help from other people, hard work, they made their way into the middle class. That's my story. That's in many ways a perspective I can bring to the bench."
The candidates have amassed key endorsements from political organizations, newspapers, unions and judges.
Berger has the support of Superior Court Judge Elden Fox who is retiring from the seat both candidates want to fill. The prosecutor is also endorsed by the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, police groups and the British-American Bar Association. He has won endorsements from the Los Angeles Times and the Metropolitan News Enterprise.