Feinstein TV Ad Proves We Need Kevin de León

-by Dorothy Reik
President, Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains

Dianne Feinstein has no trouble stealing. In her latest commercial she even steals Kevin de Leon's campaign motto-- "California Values"-- as if she mirrors our values the way Kevin does! But she cannot steal his legislative accomplishments. After 24 years in the Senate you would think that Dianne Feinstein would have a laundry list bills signed into law that have helped her constituents but that is not the case. She points to three things-- money for subways, money for water and her long ago sunsetted assault weapons ban. What she does not point out is how she steered government contracts to hubby Richard Blum-- they have quite a lucrative partnership. Thanks to profits earned during her "service" on the Defense Appropriations Committee she and Blum were able to buy a $16 million mansion in San Francisco for weekends while spending the week in her $7 million dollar home in DC. Nice. And more recently (she was thrown of the Defense Appropriation Committee when her steering of contracts was discovered) Blum has gotten contracts on California's high speed rail and the selling off of our beautiful post offices-- one even went to Donald Trump!

Meanwhile Kevin de León in just a few short years has a list of accomplishments as long as your arm and, when he gets to DC, he will continue on his trajectory starting with endorsing Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All bill opposed by Feinstein. In his years in the Senate, two as the President Pro Tem, he has helped Californians more than her highness has in 24 years. He passed SB100 to mandate that California reach 100% renewable energy by 2045. He wrote and passed SB 54 to protect our immigrants and when Trump challenged it in court Kevin's bill, carefully crafted to withstand such an assault, was confirmed.

He insured that California would lead in achieving the $15 an hour wage by negotiating a bill instead of taking a chance on a proposition.

As we watch another shooting, this time in Pittsburgh, Kevin can take credit for authoring SB 1235 requiring background checks for buying or selling AMMUNITION! And he worked on No Place Like Home, legislation to provide permanent housing for the homeless with mental issues-- the only way they can get well-- because you cannot get will while you are living on the streets!

He created retirement security for low wage workers by passing the Secure Choice Retirement-Savings Program-- the first in that nation! And he saved the Disclose Act from dying in the Senate. And he has started us on the road to free public college working hard to pass AB19 to insure the first year of Community College will be free-- one step at a time we will get to four years of free college!

His foreign policy advisors include Jodie Evans of CODEPINK-- so we can be sure Kevin will not be voting for endless wars as Feinstein did and he will not be voting to secretly spy on American citizens as Feinstein also did. She only objected to the spying when she herself got spied on!

Kevin has traveled up and down California, meeting voters and listening to their concerns. He has been to corners of the state Feinstein has never even heard of! And if the "non-likely" voters turn out on Tuesday we could be fortunate enough to have a Senator who will stand up to Trump and his fascists in Washington just as he has stood up to them here in California. There is no better Senator for California than Kevin de León. We cannot let this opportunity slip away only to have Gavin Newsom appoint some worthless Blue Dog [note from editor: Adam Schiff recently left the Blue Dogs and joined the other half of the Republican wing of the Democratic Partry, the New Dems] once Feinstein decides to retire to her mansion on the Knob Hill.