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Who to vote for Board of Equalization? How about no one?

After spending millions of her own money on two failed state campaigns, a former Monterey Park City Council member is among three unimpressive candidates trying to get a seat on this do-nothing board.

Who to vote for Board of Equalization? How about no one?
Screen grabs from a video attacking Board of Equalization candidate Mike Gipson, depicted on left, was produced using AI by the campaign of another candidate, Yvonne Yiu, right.

I’ve seen a lot of ugly attack ads, but this one felt weirdly aggressive – especially for an obscure state office that rivals the American vice presidency in the “not worth a bucket of warm spit” category.

Among other AI-generated depictions of termed-out Assemblyman Mike Gipson, the video showed the Democrat from Gardena in a robe with a cigar, supposedly living the high life off campaign contributors’ largesse. The outlandish renderings of the Black legislator set to ragtime music gave the spot an unmistakable minstrel-show vibe.

The big reveal came near the end: