Brian
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Post by Brian on Feb 7, 2023 0:00:32 GMT -8
Here's hoping that others will weigh in here on next year's U.S. Senate race in California.
My story: I voted for Dianne Feinstein yet again in 2018 -- largely because of her leadership in assembling the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on CIA torture and getting a public version released -- and I haven't regretted it since. For one thing, her opponent was Kevin de Leon, and although his policies more closely mirrored mine, I was put off by his all consuming political ambition. We all heard how unscrupulous he really is when the recording of his redistricting discussion with other officials was leaked last October. Of course, we've also read all of the stories in the past year about Dianne's diminishing mental faculties. She's served two thirds of her final term, and I'm assuming that she will stay healthy enough while trusting her excellent staff to maintain her incumbency until January 2025.
That's important to me because I don't want the governor appointing both of our U.S. senators. California voters have had only one open Senate election since we made history by sending two women to the Capitol in 1992. Kamala Harris defeated Loretta Sanchez when Barbara Boxer retired in 2016. Governor Newsom named Alex Padilla, who's been magnificent, to replace Kamala when she became vice president. We should choose our next senator -- that is, unless Dianne dies or becomes incapacitated. Democrats only have a 51-seat majority now.
Rep. Katie Porter was the first to announce her candidacy, soon followed by our Rep. Adam Schiff. Rep. Barbara Lee has declared her intentions while trying to raise enough money to justify an entry into the race. I love all of them -- and I've donated to their campaigns for years. I unsubscribed from Katie's e-mail list in 2021 because her campaign filings revealed that she had enough money to get re-elected to her House seat and I wasn't up for her planned Senate run. I mailed my contribution to Adam to avoid e-mail blasts from him -- he's been a gentleman about soliciting more from me, perhaps because he didn't need to spend much to win again in 2020 and 2022. Barbara's a special case. I've always admired her career, especially her lone vote among 535 legislators against the Afghanistan war authorization in 2001. She doesn't need many contributions for a district she wins with three quarters of the vote every time. But she was fundraising for other candidates to raise her stature in the House Democratic caucus after losing a vote for a leadership position and I wanted to help. Barbara's crew has been candid about how difficult that's been in their daily e-mails.
To wrap this up for now: I'm going to vote for Adam Schiff. Already, it's clear that two of our people in Sacramento, State Senator Anthony Portantino and Assembly member Laura Friedman -- among other qualified candidates -- are going to run to replace Adam in our 30th Congressional District. Looks like we are going to be well represented in both the Senate and the House no matter who wins those races.
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Post by Sharon W on Feb 7, 2023 8:51:32 GMT -8
I agree with your analysis, all mentioned have been good representatives for us. Adam Schiff was our state senator before being elected to Congress. Barbara Lee should have been our first Black and female president, if only righteous moral positions won elections. Also our current Glendale mayor Ardy Kassakhian noted he's going to run to replace Laura Friedman.
However we decided to support Katie Porter for US senate because we believe her positions most closely follow ours. Just imagine what she and Elizabeth Warren could team up and accomplish! I've been advocating for Adam Schiff to "move left" for decades. He would make a good Attorney General.
The only downside is being friends with candidates running against each other.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Feb 14, 2023 0:00:16 GMT -8
Katie Porter has unique qualifications. As Sharon pointed out, Katie and Elizabeth Warren would be a dream team in the Senate with their intellect, experience and passion for achieving equity in our economy and holding the titans of finance to account, the culmination of their long partnership that started when Katie was Elizabeth's university student.
Her age is another big advantage. Katie is a full generation younger than Adam Schiff, who will be 64 in January 2025. Adam could only be re-elected twice before he turns 80. That matters a lot because the Senate is hidebound by seniority, unlike the House, and our new senator will be a freshman while Alex Padilla has so far served just two years. Forty million Californians will have to wait until the 2030's before our two U.S. senators have the kind of power -- the committee assignments and leadership positions -- that Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer wielded to our benefit for so long.
I still favor Adam, but if Katie wins I would be happy even though that means that Adam Schiff will no longer be in Congress. At least he will be eligible for a larger payout of his early Social Security benefit.
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Post by Brian on Mar 7, 2023 0:00:11 GMT -8
At the risk of being self-indulgent, allow me to outline my reasons for favoring Adam Schiff as our next U.S. senator, which touch on the personal along with the procedural.
One of the most satisfying votes of my life was for Adam in 2000, when he ousted Rep. James Rogan, a Clinton impeachment manager. I was glad to be represented by any Democrat in Tujunga, which had been solidly Republican since my birth. Adam joined the moderate Blue Dog caucus and voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq, unlike all of my favorite Democrats serving in Congress at that time. Then he resigned from the Blue Dogs and by 2012, he wrote an op-ed in a local newspaper calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. (We were out of Iraq from 2011 to 2014.) I cannot think of a vote of his in the last decade that I didn't like, except for those increasing the Pentagon budget which only a few progressive members have consistently tried to cut.
I recognize that rooting for the hometown guy isn't rational. If I had been born in my beloved Santa Cruz Mountains instead, would I be a Giants fan? But I'd hate to see Adam's 24 years of experience on the judiciary and intelligence committees go to waste. He's also been a champion for our Angeles National Forest and the Santa Monica Mountains State Recreational Area. If Adam doesn't win next year, we will lose one of our most valuable public servants.
My considerations for choosing a senator are different than most other offices because of the Senate's reliance on seniority -- and the filibuster. I think he's better equipped than Katie Porter and Barbara Lee to make the deals with Republicans and other Democrats needed to pass the best possible legislation in that body. Katie is a leader for economic equity and Barbara is a visionary on peace issues, but Californians deserve the most effective politician to overcome the disadvantages of being a freshman.
Still, I'm keeping my mind open until election day. Any of those three candidates could change my mind, and that includes Adam if he doesn't conduct a positive campaign.
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Post by Sharon W on Mar 7, 2023 7:30:01 GMT -8
And now Ben Savage is running to replace Adam Schiff along with State Senator Anthony Portantino and Assembly Member Laura Friedman. The latter two are personal friends. Whoever wins somebody is going to be out of office. Democracy sure is messy. Part of me wonders if it would be better if local Dems did more backroom strategizing and didn't cannibalize each other's supporters. Savage's announcement, www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/us/politics/ben-savage-boy-meets-world-california-congress.html
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Post by Free Palestine on Mar 9, 2023 8:14:36 GMT -8
Katie is a leader for economic equity Progressive favorite Rep. Katie Porter met with AIPAC to prepare for a recent junket to Israel and came away from the trip "extremely impressed" by Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Mar 10, 2023 0:00:23 GMT -8
Thanks to Free Palestine -- one of our favorite guest contributors (under different names) -- for posting that link. I was unaware of any congressional junkets to Israel since Netanyahu became prime minister again, and I certainly didn't know that Katie Porter had met with him. She needs more foreign policy experience if she wants to serve Californians in the Senate, but she's off to an inauspicious start according to that article. Someone should tell Katie that the majority of Jews in this state want apartheid to end in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem -- and not expanded violently by Netanyahu's new fascist regime. Also, that the BDS movement is one of our constitutionally protected means to try to help Palestinians. By the way, fuck AIPAC. In other news, Adam Schiff withdrew his application to join the Congressional Progressive Caucus. I'd heard that he applied so I checked the caucus roster online just two days ago and saw that his name was still missing. He should have joined years ago. Here's the article in Thursday's Los Angeles Times: www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-03-08/schiffs-bid-to-bolster-his-progressive-credentials-for-senate-race-hits-some-resistanceThe last paragraph doesn't say what the criteria were for a ranking of the most liberal House members, but it shows that Adam is almost as progressive as Katie -- and that Barbara Lee is our best representative, at least during the session in 2019-20.
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Post by Brian on Apr 13, 2023 23:00:27 GMT -8
You've probably heard that Dianne asked Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to appoint a "temporary replacement" for her on the Senate Judiciary Committee. She's left committee Democrats in a 10-10 tie with Republican members since she got shingles in February. Until that story came out Wednesday, I was unaware that her illness was holding up confirmation votes for federal judges. (So much for relying on Alliance for Justice for most of my news about the confirmation process.) I also didn't know that Vice President Harris had to preside to break three tie votes because of the absences of Dianne and John Fetterman. This is the worst case of shingles I've ever seen. She's served two thirds of her final term, and I'm assuming that she will stay healthy enough while trusting her excellent staff to maintain her incumbency until January 2025. That's important to me because I don't want the governor appointing both of our U.S. senators...We should choose our next senator -- that is, unless Dianne dies or becomes incapacitated. Democrats only have a 51-seat majority now. That was then. Two months later, I'm ready for Dianne to resign as soon as Fetterman returns, reportedly next week. Rep. Ro Khanna might have been the first member of Congress to call on Dianne to step down. He's co-chair of Barbara Lee's campaign. Remember, Governor Newsom promised to appoint a Black woman the next time a Senate vacancy came up after he named Alex Padilla in 2019.
Would Newsom allow himself to get involved in the Senate race? An incumbent Senator Lee would significantly boost her visibility -- and fundraising -- against Adam Schiff and Katie Porter in the primary. He could appoint a caretaker instead. Rep. Maxine Waters, age 84, may want to finish her career on the other side of the Capitol where her brand of good trouble would have a bigger impact for the next two years.
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Post by Brian on Apr 18, 2023 23:00:14 GMT -8
For Dianne's temporary replacement scheme to work, she needs the votes of every Democratic senator, Krysten Sinema and ten Republicans. Did her staff think this through? Maybe Dianne assumed that her decades of bipartisan goodwill would prevail and she had enough friends across the aisle to grant her wish. Now we see how delusional that is. Lindsey Graham, who she publicly hugged and praised at Amy Coney Barrett's hearing for doing such a great job chairing the Judiciary Committee, was among the first to say no way, Dianne.
Can't fault Lindsey. If Democrats were in the minority and an ailing and elderly Republican senator asked for a temporary replacement with a 10-10 tie on the committee confirming federal judges because he was "working from home," they would not -- and should not -- agree. Democrats have to solve this problem on their own.
If Dianne isn't able to return to the Capitol by next week, I hope she's well enough to talk to Chuck Schumer and her dearest friends on the phone about leaving with dignity now. I want this settled before I receive the first petition in my e-mail calling for her to resign.
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Post by Brian on Apr 26, 2023 23:00:26 GMT -8
Last week I said that I wanted this settled before I got the first e-mail blast with a petition calling for Dianne's resignation and now it's too late for that. Since Senate Republicans filibustered a temporary replacement for her on the Judiciary Committee on April 18, we've heard nothing from our senator or anybody else about her prognosis.
Rep. Ro Khanna paid The Nation to send an e-mail blast with a link to his campaign's website on Wednesday. I did not sign it because -- like so many so called petitions -- it did not say who was going to receive the signatures, which means nobody. Maybe Ro will tout tallies in tweets. (I'd sign it if the petition had a tight deadline and it was going to be delivered to Chuck Schumer.) Also, Ro's using the signatures to get e-mail addresses for his own fundraising. But if anyone is interested:
act.rokhanna.com/a/senator-feinstein-resign-judicial-confirmations-petition
Thirty-nine million constituents deserve to know if Dianne will be able to resume her duties -- and if so, how soon.
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