RQILA Recommendations For Nov20 General Election: VOTE. Now. – redqueeninla
RQILA Recommendations For Nov20 General Election: VOTE. Now.
Below please find a compilation of RQILA recommendations and thoughts on this year’s election. They are centered on AD54, Sydney Kamlager’s state assembly district stretching across LA’s westside and south-central. RQILA represents AD54 in the LA County’s Democratic Committee.
The recommendations reflect a leitmotiv of education, schools and the money bubbling up from underneath to privatize it. Turns out this ideology so evident in the realm of education politics — and its money — is not as tightly focused as all that. It takes something of a step-back to see this thread weaving through many of the general races. It results in some conclusions surprising to some, but please consider the whole.
First, I’m urging you to vote like your life depends on it. As America’s president struggles for his, you know it’s true. In evaluating whether you can afford the risk of a third-party vote, please consider the risk of the alternative. No matter how distasteful you may consider neoliberals or corporate Democrats, there is no economy if their peasantry dies. Killing that goose which laid the golden egg appears to be no problem for fascism or aristocracy. Plutocracy keeps its base alive. As the sponsors of so many imperfect bills urge: we can fix this later. But right now our democracy is facing a chokepoint before reaching the luxury of fighting imperfection.
There are 28 races addressed below, 26 are on Mar Vista’s ballot (90066). A different constellation of races appears depending on where you live.
To find your sample ballot go here or use the County’s here. You may register or ask for a mailed ballot until October 19, 2020. It will take some time to transit through USPS mail so best to do this as early as possible. You may register and vote (provisionally) in person at the County Registrar in Norwalk through election day itself. President and Vice president
I’m as unhappy as the next by our electoral state of Check that forces a vote for Joe Biden. But when necessary to avoid Checkmate, move we must into Check.
State Measures
Many (if not all) propositions are considerably more complex than their simple name label. I believe any initiative too long (and therefore complicated) for a tweet, ought not to be. The concept is as a fail-safe, not a legislation substitute. When voters must invest hours of research to even superficially understand a proposition, we are being marked as gullible; our vote is being exploited. This is unfair. To make these complicated decisions is the job we voted our politicians undertake when we elected them to represent us.
The pdf below can be opened in a separate window here. But the links can only be reached through the text of that table which is reprinted at the bottom of the article, specifically to enable the urls. Use scroll bars to view the length of that table.
Some voters’ guides of possible interest:
LA Community College District Trustees
Seat 1: Andra Hoffman (incumbent)
Seat 3: Anthony Danna
Seat 5: Nichelle Henderson
Seat 7: Nancy Pearlman
It is important there be African-American representation on our Community College board. Particularly given the current intense concern with policing and equity and issues of social justice. The spectacle surrounding the appointment of Kamlager’s replacement revealed biases it is essential to rout out. The incumbents in seats 3, 5 and 7 should not be reelected. The above listed three candidates have expertise in educational matters and eagerness for the job. They deserve your support along with the terrific extant trustee and only incumbent, in seat 1, who voted without disgrace in this controversy. State Assembly District (AD) Representative
AD54: Sydney Kamlager
While I may not be completely comfortable with some of her positions, she is very present and approachable, thoughtful and transparent. In contrast it is hard to discern her opponent’s positions at all. She works very hard to represent us truly and deserves reelection.
United States Representative
D37: Karen Bass
We are lucky here in West LA to be so well represented by such an effective politician in Washington. Her presence is a relief.
LAUSD Bond Measure RR – YES. Unequivocally, undeniably, unavoidably Yes.
Uncontroversial is that our schools need more funds. Controversial could be that it is hard to materialize new money under pandemic and economic distress. Fortunately, the bond will phase in gradually to replace old bonds as they are retired: no one’s property tax bill will increase. We will pay it all off over more years but there will be no pinching. Far from dictating austerity, Covid mandates a strong governmental support that requires this crucial bond now. Don’t even think about starving our schoolkids in this time of emergency. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
District 2: Holly Mitchell
Senator Mitchell has been an amazing representative in Sacramento, keeping an eye out for what is happening back home in her neighborhood and in the city’s Neighborhood Councils while leading the Senate as finance chair. She is very accessible to constituents and full of good ideas for strategy and process. She is a teacher as well as a leader and a clearly honorable citizen. These are not qualities particularly evident among her opponent. This is an easy choice.
Superior Court Judges
Office No 72: Steve Morgan. I voted for Myanna Dellinger during the primary but her inappropriate campaigning at events such as a memorial service, and frequently intemperate expression during campaign events caused hesitation surrounding “judicial temperament.” Steve Morgan is a fine second choice and I am disappointed Dellinger’s diverse experiences suggest some impediment to stolidity.
Office No 80: David Berger. A seemingly lovely and compassionate person from his campaign appearances. If so the legal system will be better off for his leadership.
Office No 162: Scott Yang. It is a wonder he did not win his primary outright. So many of his colleagues speak so highly of him. Yet his opponent seems a fine choice as well. Reasonable minds can differ.
LAUSD School Board
Board District 3: Scott Schmerelson
Board District 7: Patricia Castellanos
LAUSD’s school board has been under assault by external political ideology that would privatize our public school system in favor of personal wealth and gain. The struggle is framed, erroneously, as between teachers’ unions and “education reformers.” It is in fact a struggle to wrest control of a public education system and render its public funds available to private interests.
This is a narrative parallel to that of the “unliberal” law enforcement choices I’ve outlined above. The skepticism stems from a “deeper” concern with motivation and ends.
I believe in democracy and the power of a statistician’s revered “big numbers” to flush the “right answer” out in the wash. The plutocrats underlying the push for LAUSD would sever our public elected school board from we its people as they successfully did in New York. That plan was pushed here in LA unsuccessfully by the acolyte of republican former Mayor Riordan, the Democrat Mayor Villaraigosa, and it succeeded in Chicago only to be recently reversed there.
Loss of public, people-elected control in our public institutions is the ground-breaking issue at stake here.
The former district school principal, Scott Schmerelson, is a formidable incumbent with a commendable voting record for all kids, not just those served by allies within this political arena. His opponent is a white collar support staffer in a charter school, cynically portrayed by privatization lobbyists as prepared in a manner that she is not, who represents a fringe religious group completely at odds with her would-be stakeholders at that.
The mom, labor leader and political staffer Patty Castellanos is revered by her coworkers as astute, effective and well-prepared to represent issues of public education policy. Her opponent is another tool of a political ideology that is underwritten by, and more about finance and personal opportunity than public education or opportunity for all.
Neither candidate is running in my district and likely not in yours, my AD54 constituents. But if you have friends who vote in BD3 or BD7 please consider commending the public candidates to them. No less than the democracy of our public school system is at stake. It is that important. With the plutocrat financier Eli Broad’s BFF, Austin Beutner, as superintendent, selected when last the board was controlled by these forces, there will be a significant shift in policy should either of these seats be lost. Please keep public education public. Vote Schmerelson and Castellanos.
