Blue America Endorsement-- Georgette Gómez (CA-53)

In the last 2 days San Diego City Council president Georgette Gómez has been endorsed by some of the most trusted names int progressive politics-- AOC, Ro Khanna, Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal... Bernie had endorsed her the week before. Today Blue America adds our name to the growing list of endorsers. Georgette made history as the first queer Latina elected to the San Diego City Council and two years ago she was unanimously elected president of that body, earning the support of both Democrats and Republicans. She's used that position to champion progressive initiatives involving mass transit, affordable housing, environmental policies and standing up to Trump's dangerous and bigoted border agenda. She told us that her priorities in Congress will be tackling the climate crisis, providing quality and affordable healthcare to all, investing in infrastructure and reducing gun violence. Her opponent is Qualcomm heiress Sara Jacobs, whose family is trying to buy her a congressional seat... anywhere.

We asked Georgette to write a few paragraphs about the importance of affordable housing-- both looking backwards towards her job in San Diego and forwards to her job in DC. Please consider contributing to her campaign by clicking on the Blue America 2020 congressional thermometer below.

The Housing Crisis
-by Georgette Gómez


California has a housing crisis and it doesn't take being at City Council to know that we are feeling it here in San Diego. Rent and home value continues to increase, and despite the work that we are doing at the city, the number of people living on our streets continues to grow.

This crisis is personal for me.

When I was growing up my parents worked hard, often two or three jobs, but that still wasn't enough. There was a time that we lost our home, and my parents, my two siblings, and I shared a living room. We were lucky compared to many people. My parents managed to secure a new place, and we all moved in to a new house. It wasn't luxurious, but it was home.

The challenges that many people are facing now are even more difficult than the situation my family was in.

Our inability to solve this crisis at the Council is one of the most frustrating parts of the job. We have allocated millions to new housing, loosened the requirements for adding living spaces to existing homes, and have mandated that every new significant development has affordable housing units.

We have spent countless hours working on this issue, both amongst ourselves, with representatives from the state government, and with outside agencies.  But that still isn't enough.

This is not an issue that we can solve alone.

The State and the Federal government needs to do more. We need to dramatically expand the role that HUD is playing here in San Diego, partner with state agencies and nonprofits to bring in more resources, and make this issue the highest priority for our delegation.

If the Federal government can put a man on the moon, build the largest road system in the world, and provide trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the ultrawealthy, it can make sure that every American has a roof over their head at night. We are the richest nation in the history of the world, and our inability to provide shelter to the most vulnerable amongst us is shameful.

I am proud of the work that we have done during my tenure as Council President, and this is an issue I will continue to work on during my last year here. But we can't solve this crisis unless we have a Representative in Congress who will bring back the resources that we need.

When I'm in Congress I will never give up this fight. For me, it's personal.

The Qualcomm Heiress Is About To Get A Lot Richer Off The Patents On The Next Generation Of Cellular Antennae -- But Let's Make Sure She Never Gets Into Congress

Dishonest heiress, Sara Jacobs

California's 53rd congressional district offers Democrats an opportunity to flip a district-- not from red to blue but from pale blue to deep, beautiful blue. The incumbent congresswoman, centrist New Dem Susan Davis, is retiring, and although there 11 Democrats running, the race seems to be coming down to San Diego City Council President and district-shopping, female mini-Bloomberg, Sara Jacobs, who we've run into before.

The compact district includes the eastern half of San Diego, from Serra Mesa, Mission Valley, Balboa Park and El Cajon, through La Mesa and Lemon Grove, almost as far south as San Ysidro on the Mexican border. It's ethnically diverse, 40% white, 34% Latinx, 13% Asian and 8% African-American. The PVI is D+14 but Obama won it both times with around 64% and Hillary beat Trump 64.5% to 29.6%. Davis was elected in 2000 and has never had a competitive reelection battle.

The last time Jacobs ran for Congress, it was in the Orange County/San Diego County district that Darrell Issa had abandoned as "too blue." It also turned out to be "too blue" for the Qualcomm heiress. She spent gigantically in the primary-- $2,714,931, of which $2,125,798 (78%) came out of personal money her family gave her. The biggest single candidate expenditure-- by FAR (like nearly by a factor of 10!)-- that EMILY's List made-- $2,362,544-- in 2018 was for Jacobs. They sure love supporting rich women with big rolodexes, richer the better, which has become their top priority and their trademark. All those millions of dollars bought her just 28,778 votes. That's $176.43 per vote. At what point will trashy rich politicians like Jacobs and Bloomberg just directly hand out $100 bills to voters on their way to the polls?

Jacobs is still up to her old tricks, pretending to be a progressive, while involved with swimming in PhRMA and bankster money. Her investments make her one of the most conflicted politicians in history, with immense investments in Merck, Gilead and Medtronic. She may be promising lower pharmaceutical costs and universalish health care, but when these companies make money, her wealth increases. Same with her tens of millions invested with some of the most predatory banks and hedge funds on Wall Street. It makes it hard to believe her when she whines about "the inequalities in our current economic system" and how they "didn't happen by accident. They are the result of a concerted, long-term effort by powerful special interests-- and the Members of Congress they bankroll-- to write the rules in a way that benefit themselves," no doubt why her grandfather is spending so many millions trying to get her into Congress-- as well as $2.25 million on the anti-Bernie SuperPAC.

If you've been reading DWT coverage about Jacobs for the last few years, none of this is new to you. But I found a couple of interesting local San Diego reports that are new to me, so maybe to you too. The Union-Tribune caught her lying about her resume, which she is doing again this cycle, hoping the voters are too stupid to figure out what a phony she is. She pretended to have a high-level job in the Obama administration. In reality she was given junior make-work job to please the rich grandfather/campaign donor, something that was exposed when she got caught up in the wikileaks papers as a humorous footnote.

Union-Tribune reporter Joshua Stewart wrote that "Jacobs called herself a 'policy maker' who worked at the State Department under President Barack Obama [and Hillary]. But Jacobs was a junior-level government contractor who was prohibited by federal regulations from making policy." In other words, she lied to make herself look important, a trait that Congress doesn't need more of. She even released an ad claiming she was an expert in international affairs. On MSNBC she boasted, falsely, as the very rich always feel entitled to do (and as Trump and Bloomberg always do) that "I worked at the State Department under President Obama and her deceitful website "says she was a 'policy maker' who worked in 'key policy positions at the State Department.'"

Jacobs actually worked for 19 months at IEA Corporation, a firm that counts the State Department as one of its clients. She worked in State Department office space alongside government employees, and was involved in projects that focused on security in sub-Saharan Africa.

While she hasn’t mentioned the contractor during her campaign, she listed her employment at IEA on a resume she e-mailed to John Podesta, the head of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president, that was hacked and later published on WikiLeaks.

Like Bloomberg, Sara Jacobs is trying to mislead voters about her Obama connection

And although Jacobs referred to herself as policymaker on the campaign trail and used that claim as a point to distinguish herself from other candidates, her former supervisor said that Jacobs did not create policy. Rather, Jacobs held a position slightly above entry-level and she conducted analysis and reports that were later used by people several steps above her who could make policy, according to her supervisor at the time, Cindy Huang.

“My understanding of the regulations is that contractors can conduct research and provide advice and recommendations, and ideas, but they cannot be decision makers in the policy process,” Huang said.

Huang, who now works for a think tank that specializes in international development, also appeared in a recent commercial by the Jacobs campaign at the state Department, and the campaign connected her to the Union-Tribune for an interview where she spoke very favorably of Jacobs’ abilities to conduct analysis and offer advice.

Jacobs’ spokeswoman said that while she told Podesta she worked as a contractor it’s more transparent to not mention that detail to voters.

“[T]he way we describe her position to voters is the most accurate and transparent about what she did every day,” Jacobs’ spokeswoman, Chelsea Brossard, said in an email.

“She was heavily involved in the policy making process, which includes advising, so it would be accurate to say that was an experienced policy maker,” Brossard said. “Of course all of the advice she offered needed to go up the chain of command for decisions, as would be true anywhere in government.”

While Jacobs’ actual resume diverges with her claims on the campaign trail, she has worked in international affairs. She studied international relations as an undergraduate, and has a master’s degree in international security policy and international conflict resolution from Columbia University.

She has worked both as a regular employee and as an intern at United Nations departments, and at UNICEF as well. She most recently founded a non-profit organization that measures internet access at schools around the world in an effort to increase connectivity.

If Jacobs is elected and serves the term to completion, her two years in Congress would be the longest she has held a job, according to her resume. Between various internships and regular positions, Jacobs had about 35 months of international affairs experience before she started at IEA in February 2014. She stayed with the contractor for about 19 months, and then later worked for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

More recently, the Times of San Diego caught her lying about something else. Reporter Chris Jennewein wrote that Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party-- which is backing San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez-- accused Jacobs of "attempting to mislead voters about the party’s official endorsement."

Will Rodriguez-Kennedy said wording on both a mailer and a door hanger includes the words “endorsed by California Democrats” with a red-white-and-blue donkey logo.

City Council President Georgette Gómez is the candidate who was endorsed by both state and local Democratic parties in the race to succeed nine-term Rep. Susan Davis in the 53rd District.

“We find it deeply disappointing that Sara Jacobs is trying to fool voters,” said Rodriguez-Kennedy at an afternoon press conference at party headquarters in Murphy Canyon.

“She is doing this because she lost the Democratic Party endorsement,” he said. “This is a strategy that has been executed by some of the best political consultants.”

Rodriguez-Kennedy was joined in his remarks by Jess Durfee, chair of the western region caucus of the Democratic National Committee.

“It is important to set this record straight,” said Durfee. “It was always very obvious and undisputed that Georgette Gómez was the endorsed candidate.”

Rodriguez-Kennedy said he asking the Jacobs campaign to change the wording, noting that "our party and our voters are very forgiving."

Like I said, there are a lot of candidates-- even a lot of progressive candidates. We're heavy on the trail of who would be best for Blue America to endorse. Stay tuned; it won't be a plutocrat... or a liar.

Jacobs is proud to be endorsed by Abby Finkenauer, one of Congress' worst freshmen, who also endorsed  Status Quo Joe, just before he started his losing streak

California Democratic Party Convention

In 2018 EMILY's List shill, Brooklyn hipster, Hillaryite and wealthy Qualcomm heiress Sara Jacobs tried buying the San Diego/Orange County congressional seat that other people-- not her-- had driven Darrell Issa out of. She failed spectacularly and didn't get through the primary-- after spending $2,125,798 of grandpa's money. (Her family laundered another $2,369,074 through EMILY's List to support her with outside efforts.) She won 28,778 votes (15.8%). That's $161.81 per vote-- a bad investment... except for EMILY's List which was able to, as always, rake substantial cuts for itself and it's affiliates off the top.

In early September out of touch New Dem Susan Davis announced she wouldn't be seeking another term in San Diego's 53rd district, which includes communities just north of Interstate 8 from Linda Vista to El Cajon, and areas south of the freeway including Mission Hills, areas surrounding Balboa Park, parts of Mid-City, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Spring Valley, and parts of Chula Vista. CA-49 and CA-53 don't share a border. And the districts are very different. CA-49 is a rich (median income is $82,202) white (61%) mostly suburban district. CA-53 is a less well-off (median income is $68,799), less white (40.4%) mostly urban district. But with Jacobs, it's only about her own sense of entitlement, not about the people who live in whichever district she tries to buy.

But rich Sara and EMILY's List ran into a problem over the weekend: the Democratic Party. Oh, not the DNC or DCCC; no worries there; like EMILY's List, they always back the rich person. But the California grassroots Democratic Party. The state party was meeting in Long Beach over the weekend. Thousands of delegates and activists attended. The Times of San Diego reported that on Saturday San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez "won the endorsement by the party’s grassroots delegates with 75% of the vote," a stunning defeat for Big Money in politics. (In her first two months running, Jacobs has already raised over $300,000. The Times noted that "Party delegates tend to endorse the most progressive of competing Democratic candidates... [and that] If elected in November, Gómez would be the first LGBTQ Latina member of Congress."

The Associated Press reported that Bernie was the star of the convention, especially because neither Elizabeth nor Status Quo Joe showed up. "Bernie Sanders was greeted with booming cheers at a gathering of California Democrats Saturday, underscoring his popularity with the party’s liberal base as he looks to capture the biggest prize in the presidential primary season next year... He earned cheers when fending off suggestions that his agenda was pulling the party too far to the political left. 'I don’t think so, I honestly don’t,' he said. As AOC, one of his most prominent supporters mentioned earlier in the month in Iowa, "We're not pulling the party left; we are bringing the party home." That grates on conservative, corporatist Democrats like Bloomberg, the Clintons, Biden-- the whole Republican wing the Democratic Party-- but the sentiment went over very well in Long Beach. Bernie was overwhelmingly endorsed by the California Young Democrats.

Sanders has made clear California is a key target for his campaign: He already hired 40 staff members in California, far more than any of his competitors, and is treating the state as comparable to early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

Warren’s and Biden’s decisions to skip the party gathering drew a rare rebuke from Rusty Hicks, the chair of the state party.

“Your decision is a blatant disregard and disrespect to California’s grassroots leaders who make the phone calls, knock the doors, and give the money... in swing districts and swing states alike ... year after year after year,” he tweeted.

This will be the third major gathering of Democratic contenders Biden is skipping in California; he avoided the party’s summer convention as well as a Democratic National Committee gathering. Warren attended both.

Biden appeared in the state Thursday, attracting a few hundred people to an outdoor rally at the edge of downtown Los Angeles. He spent Friday raising money in Seattle before heading to Las Vegas for a town hall Saturday. Warren planned to spend Saturday in Iowa, the first state to vote.

Yet Biden remains among a cluster of rivals with no clear front-runner, state and national polls suggest.

Some California Democrats speculate Biden is avoiding the crowd because it’s made up of activists known to heckle more centrist candidates, particularly those who don’t support Medicare for All. And, indeed, the large group of Sanders supporters almost certainly would have had a different greeting for Biden.

Bloomberg also kept away, knowing full well he would have been boo-ed out of the convention center. The party refused to endorse Blue Dog Jim Costa, a reactionary Fresno congressman. And conservatives were generally poorly received. The level of interest in corporate whore Patrick Deval was zero and his speech went over badly. Among California politicians, Adam Schiff got the biggest cheers of anyone-- and a prolonged standing ovation for his work on impeaching Trump. The party also endorsed Berniecrat Liam O'Mara to run in CA-42 (a conservative-leaning Riverside district) to run against Republican Trumpist Ken Calvert.

The most recent California polling-- by Change Research for KQED-- shows Elizabeth (28%) and Bernie (24%) running ahead of the conservative wing candidates, Status Quo Joe (19%) and Mayo Pete (9%). Favorite daughter Kamala Harris didn't turn out that favored-- just 8% of the vote. She should drop out before she further sullies her own name.

Sara Jacobs Is Back-- And Ready To Drop Another Couple Million Dollars Of Her Parents' Money To Buy A Congressional Seat

The last time Sara Jacobs ran for Congress, it was in the Orange County/San Diego County district that Darrell Issa had abandoned as "too blue." It also turned out to be "too blue" for the Qualcomm heiress. She spent gigantically in the primary-- $2,714,931, of which $2,125,798 (78%) came out of personal money her family gave her. The biggest single candidate expenditure-- by FAR (like nearly by a factor of 10!)-- that EMILY's List made-- $2,362,544-- in 2018 was for Jacobs. They sure love supporting rich women, richer the better, which has become their top priority and their trademark. All those millions of dollars bought her just 28,778 votes. That's $176.43 per vote. At what point will trashy rich politicians like Jacobs just directly hand out $100 bills to voters on their way to the polls?

Mike Levin came out on top in that race and is the current congressman, widely judged to be doing a very good job. Jacobs, the heiress who was trying out the life of a Brooklyn hipster-- but not too hip-- had been part of the Hillary Clinton team and that's basically who and what she is-- an overly entitled, spoiled rich kid who thinks her shit doesn't stink and who wants to go to Congress to fight with all her might to-- let's be real-- maintain the status quo... while advancing her own career.

The 49th district where she ran last time, doesn't border on the 53rd district, where she's announcing this time-- and neither borders on Brooklyn. CA-52 is between CA-49 and CA-53-- but a someone like Sara Jacobs-- with EMILY's List at her back-- would never let geography stand in her way. Within milli-seconds of New Dem Susan Davis announcing her retirement, EMILY's List had Jacobs' campaign up and running. Jacobs, who has had her whole life handed to her on a silver platter: "This is an all-hands-on-deck time. Our country is at a defining moment, and I believe it’s more important than ever to have representatives who understand the federal government, can repair what’s been broken by the Trump administration and years of dysfunction in Washington, and who have a forward-looking vision for a more equitable future."

A friend of mine in Lemon Grove told me she would move out of San Diego if Jacobs is elected. "Jose Caballero is the grassroots progressive candidate here, who's been running for this seat all year on a strong progressive platform. It's funny watching a Hillary neoliberal like Sara Jacobs jump in as soon as it looks easy, flashing her parents' bank account and yelling about all the issues she has never backed, like Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal. She's going to blanket this district in her family's money and try to buy herself a congressional seat. It makes me want to throw up. I hope people can see right through her. Can you please endorse Jose already?"

Watch the speech her EMILY's List controller wrote for her. It has nothing to do with anything except persuading voters the little heiress is something she isn't and will never be:




After watching this video, the person who helps find my millions of typos, remarked that "Jacobs has about as much charisma as jello." That was the first non-typo remark in over a year.

Now, if you haven't already, please watch the Young Turks interview with Caballero (up top) and you will be able to easily imagine exactly why the Democratic Party establishment will quickly work to obliterate him in favor of a fine house-broken thoroughbred like Jacobs. Caballero wants to challenge their feckless leadership. She wants to revel in it and be part of it and be told what to do by it.

Congress already has too many self-funders who have bought themselves House seats-- and they're not all Republicans. These were the biggest self-funders for House seats last cycle, all the ones who spent a million or more of their own money or, in Sara's case, their mommy's and daddy's money:

• David Trone (New Dem-MD)- $17,913,172- won
• Scott Wallace (D-PA)- $12,756,892- lost
• Gil Cisneros (New Dem-CA)- $9,252,762- won
• Kathaleen Wall (R-TX)- $6,169,732- lost (running again in a different district, like Sara)
• Paul Kerr (D-CA)- $5,715,218- lost
• Mel Hall (Blue Dog-IN)- $3,112,000- lost
• George S Flinn Jr. (R-TN)- $3,068,270- lost
• Dan Moody (R-GA)- $3,040,237- lost
• Andy Thorburn (D-CA)- $2,886,900- lost
• Greg Gianforte (R-MT)- $2,400,000- won
• Van Taylor (R-TX)- $2,387,125- won
• Sara Jacobs (D-CA)- $2,125,798- lost
• Perry Gershon (D-NY)- $1,980,997- lost
• John Chrin (R-PA)- $1,687,182- lost
• Bob Corlew (R-TN)- $1,496,153- lost
• Tahir Javed (D-TX)- $1,433,416- lost
• Dan Meuser (R-PA)- $1,426,442- won
• Thomas MacArthur (R-NJ)- $1,360,000- lost reelection
• Dean Phillips (New Dem-MN)- $1,349,561- won
• Peter deNeufville (R-NJ)- $1,238,165- lost
• David Kim (D-GA)- $1,214,489- lost
• Denny Wolff (Blue Dog-Pa)- $1,200,071- lost
• Lena Epstein (R-MI)- $1,168,790- lost