Tuesday, October 21, 2014

CA Dems Respond to CAR Mailers: Endorse YES on Measures U&V

Democratic Party Says YES on Measures U&V

The California Democratic Party has made endorsements in the looming Emeryville election and they're peppering the town with door-hangers the Tattler has learned.  Of note is the endorsement of Measures U&V, the twin charter city and real estate transfer fee initiatives authored by the City Council.  U&V are meant to provide critical revenue for new and existing infrastructure maintenance lost after the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency was dissolved by Sacramento.   Since the Emeryville electorate is overwhelmingly Democratic, the door-hanger endorsements are a major bulwark against the wall-to-wall mailers from the Sacramento based California Association of Realtors (CAR) anti U&V campaign.  CAR has set aside $85,000 in Emeryville to stop U&V.

Election year 2014 marks another year that the California Republican Party has ignored Emeryville, with no endorsements forthcoming from them.  The Republicans have never dared to wade into local elections here it should be noted (at least not in modern Emeryville history).  However the California Association of Realtors donated heavily to the Republicans this year, giving in excess of $2 million to that party.

The California Democratic Party has also endorsed City Council candidates Dianne Martinez and Scott Donahue.

Here's the door-hanger cropping up around town:



Dems may wish to consider taking it with them to their polling station, although for State Assembly, Tony Thurmond would be the more progressive choice.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 21, 2014 at 5:51 PM

    People would do a great disservice to themselves and the democratic process by not researching candidates and measures for themselves and voting solely on a nomination.

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    Replies
    1. Brian DonahueOctober 21, 2014 at 9:09 PM

      That's one way to look at the political process. It's a personally disempowering way to conduct the franchise in my opinion. What you're effectively asserting is voting with and registering with a political party is somehow illegitimate. Political parties have been around since the beginning of the republic and they exist for a reason. The idea is that individuals with similar interests, say working people, should operate collectively as an interest group in order to increase their power rather than atomize and disassociate. Parties are a way for the disenfranchised of a cohort to collectively flex their political muscles. Not only is this OK, but it's a smart and effective way to comport oneself within the franchise. Your plea for atomization would disempower interest groups in order to assuage some abstract, presumably greater concept that is counter to people's interests. And the idea that political parties makes members incapable of 'researching candidates' is a straw-man argument. There's no "disservice" here. I can't understand your line of reasoning.

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