ADA SoCal Endorsements for November 2018
An Explanation
Superintendent of Public Instruction – Tony Thurmond
Thurmond's opponent is Corporate Charter School advocate Marshall Tuck. Los Angeles already has more Charter Schools than any other city in the country - schools that are draining our public school system. We can't let the official in charge of California's Public Education follow Betsy De Vos' program of school privatization and evisceration of our public schools.
United States Senator – Kevin De León
Dianne Feinstein has been as bad a Democratic Senator as our ever more progressive state could have. She has been the recipient of vast sums of corporate largesse from the Defense Industry, the Pharmaceutical Industry, the Health Insurance Industry among others. She has voted for every war or military action that the US has considered during her time in the Senate. She adamantly stands up for Spying on Americans, Incarcerating non-violent criminals as well as children as young as 13 years old. She opposes Medicare for All and legalized Marijuana. She ran for office on a pro-Death Penalty, anti-Immigrant platform and in 1995, authored a bill to build the same kind of wall with Mexico that we ridicule Donald Trump for touting. And she votes with the Trump and Republican agenda almost a third of the time. If we lived in Arkansas or Alabama, we'd feel lucky enough to have a Democratic Senator at all, even one who except for one or two signature issues, opposes almost everything Progressives stand for. But we're California and we can do better.
Fortunately, State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De León has made the runoff, and though Feinstein is flush with campaign cash, if we Progressives work hard over this next month, she might get to retire and let someone who is with us on Healthcare, the Environment and Immigration represent us in Washington.
United States Representative
District 25 – Katie Hill
District 45 – Katie Porter
District 48 – Harley Rouda
District 50 – Ammar Campa-Najjar
If we want to put a check on Donald Trump’s and the Republicans’ efforts to turn American into an Ayn Randian hellscape, we need to take back Congress. The best path toward doing that goes through Southern California. There are a number of vulnerable Republicans whose districts can be flipped, and the good news is that some of their Democratic opponents are actual Progressives! ADA has organizers working in a number of these districts. Please get involved with our efforts to flip Congress!
State Assembly District 63 – Maria Estrada
Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendón broke the hearts of progressives all over California by torpedoing SB 562, which would have allowed California to set up a Single-Payer healthcare system and provide much less-expensive healthcare to every Californian. He did this because he's the recipient of huge donations from the Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industries, who count on him to put their needs ahead of those of his constituents, many of whom lack good quality healthcare. In fact, the only reason that Anthony Rendón is Speaker of the Assembly is he managed to raise more corporate donations than any other Assembly Member.
AD63 can do better, and so can California! Which is why Americans for Democratic Action of Southern California is endorsing Rendón's opponent, Maria Estrada, for Assembly this November. Like Rendón, Maria is a Democrat, but unlike Rendón, Maria supports the kinds of progressive agenda items that all Democrats should be supporting: Medicare For All, a constitutional amendment to eliminate Citizens United, a real Living Wage, the elimination of Payday Lenders that prey on people's desperation, and end to Fracking, Free College, and the restoration of Rent Control.
Tossing Rendón out of office and replacing him with a real progressive will serve as a wake-up call to all the other bought-and-paid for legislators who constitute too large a share of the California Assembly. This is a fight worth having. Let's work to make Maria Estrada the next Assemblywoman from district 63!
Ballet Measures
Proposition 3 – Water Supply and Quality – NO
What seems like a good water bill turns out, upon further inspection, to be a giveaway to the ultra-right-wing Resnicks who own almond farms in the Central Valley.
Proposition 6 – Repeal Fuel Tax – NO
This is a cynical ploy by the Republicans who were alarmed that there might be a lack of enthusiasm on the part of their base to come out and vote in November. You can always count on Republicans to vote against any kind of Tax. But this tax is not a lot of money, compared to the ungodly profits the oil companies make selling overpriced fuel in California, and the money raised is going into repairing our crumbling transportation infrastructure and expanding public transportation.
Proposition 7 – Daylight Saving Time – YES
Studies have shown that when we change the clocks, more people die of heart attacks and industrial and traffic accidents rise as well. It’s very hard for a society to monkey with our circadian rhythms. The question is, should we join Europeans and a number of other states that are contemplating year-round Daylight Saving Time, and longer afternoons throughout the winter, or revert permanently to Standard Time? This bill won’t actually institute Permanent Daylight Saving Time, but will instruct our legislature to pass a bill calling for Congress to act. If California goes forward with this, we might see Congress enact it for the whole country. Now wouldn’t that be nice?
Proposition 8 – Kidney Dialysis – NO
Proposition 10 – Rent Control – YES
This is one of ADA’s top priorities for the Midterms. Since the passage of the Costa-Hawkins Bill which made it illegal for municipalities to enact rent control, rents in California have skyrocketed and homelessness has greatly increased. This bill would repeal Costa-Hawkins and let communities decide for themselves if there should be reasonable rules governing rents. Of course the landlords and apartment owners are spending millions to defeat it, so we are mobilizing renters to come out for it!
Proposition 11 – Emergency Ambulance Employees – YES
Los Angeles City Measure B – Public Bank – YES
This bill would instruct the LA City Council to begin studying the feasibility of creating a City Bank in LA. Right now, huge amounts our money are being paid to some of the biggest, most corrupt banks in the form of fees. We deserve better! North Dakota has had a Public Bank for many years, and during all the economic downturns, that bank has continued to be solvent and to fund projects for the state. Los Angeles can do that too!
