Candidate Ali Cooper could make Jay Schenirer's re-election a real contest
The labor activist is going up against the Sacramento City Council incumbent
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For a while, it looked like Jay Schenirer would get a free ride to re-election in Sacramento’s 5th city council district. But labor activist Ali Cooper can make it real contest.
And if we’re lucky, Cooper can even start a discussion about how much power the wealthy and well-connected should have in City Hall, and how much power will be left for the rest of us.
“I see my role as a cheerleader for civic engagement. There’s no shortcut for building neighborhood power,” Cooper told Bites last week. He’s a union organizer and lobbyist by trade; his day job is state political director for the Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents state workers. To some people, that makes him the worst kind kind of special interest: a union boss.
But others in District 5—which includes progressive enclaves like Curtis Park (where he and his wife and two children live), Oak Park, City Farms, Hollywood Park—will probably be receptive to his bottom-up message. “I’m ready toorganize the hell out of this district,” he said.
Lots of politicians have adversity stories. Cooper’s is a tough one, but it fits the guy he turned out the be.
His dad was African-American, his mom Vietnamese. They met in Vietnam, where his dad was working after having served there in the war, and Cooper was born in Vietnam.
Soon after, they moved to Southern California, where his father went into business running a convenience store. When Cooper was 5, his father was gunned down in a robbery at the store. He was gravely injured, and spent the next 10 years in a slow decline. He died when Cooper was just 15.
Cooper says that experience—of also taking care of someone, of being really poor, of surviving—shaped his adulthood, his attitudes about politics, and even unions. “Had it not been for social workers and teachers, I would not be where I am today.”
He went on to UC San Diego, then
And if we’re lucky, Cooper can even start a discussion about how much power the wealthy and well-connected should have in City Hall, and how much power will be left for the rest of us.
“I see my role as a cheerleader for civic engagement. There’s no shortcut for building neighborhood power,” Cooper told Bites last week. He’s a union organizer and lobbyist by trade; his day job is state political director for the Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents state workers. To some people, that makes him the worst kind kind of special interest: a union boss.
But others in District 5—which includes progressive enclaves like Curtis Park (where he and his wife and two children live), Oak Park, City Farms, Hollywood Park—will probably be receptive to his bottom-up message. “I’m ready toorganize the hell out of this district,” he said.
Lots of politicians have adversity stories. Cooper’s is a tough one, but it fits the guy he turned out the be.
His dad was African-American, his mom Vietnamese. They met in Vietnam, where his dad was working after having served there in the war, and Cooper was born in Vietnam.
Soon after, they moved to Southern California, where his father went into business running a convenience store. When Cooper was 5, his father was gunned down in a robbery at the store. He was gravely injured, and spent the next 10 years in a slow decline. He died when Cooper was just 15.
Cooper says that experience—of also taking care of someone, of being really poor, of surviving—shaped his adulthood, his attitudes about politics, and even unions. “Had it not been for social workers and teachers, I would not be where I am today.”
He went on to UC San Diego, then
