Trump Lying-- And Lies-- Have Come To Define The Republican Party. It's Tragic But They Deserve It

It should always be news, even if it's the same story every single day-- which it basically is: Trump is a goddam congenital liar. He lies about everything... small pretty things and important business of the country. He's disgusting and for those of us who never watched his wretched TV game show, we're far less happy by having his putrid visage on our TVs every night. I doubt there has ever been a White House occupant so hated as Trump. Yesterday, Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler noted that there aren't enough Pinpcchios for Trump's CrowdStrike obsession. The garbled English of a someone who is both senile and a moron makes it hard to understand what he;'s even saying, like this idiotic quote: "The Democrats, a lot of it had to do, they say, with Ukraine. It’s very interesting. It’s very interesting. They have this server, right? From the DNC, Democratic National Committee. The FBI went in and they told them, 'Get out of here. You’re not getting it. We’re not giving it to you.' They gave the server to CrowdStrike or whatever it’s called, which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian. And I still want to see that server. You know, the FBI has never gotten that server. That’s a big part of this whole thing. Why did they give it to a Ukrainian company?"

Steve Doocy of Fox and Friends, whose head normally resides up Trump's ass, pulled it out long enough to ask during a November 22 interview, for a clarification: "Are you sure they did that? Are you sure they gave it to Ukraine?" Trump responded "Well, that’s what the word is," whatever that's supposed to mean. The word? From? Putin? Kessler pointed out that the orange baboon "persists in pursuing a debunked conspiracy theory. Somehow, we’ve never gotten around to assigning a Pinocchio rating for this claim. Maybe that’s because there aren’t enough Pinocchios available in our system to truly do this justice. Note to the president: When even one of your strongest TV allies expresses skepticism about a claim, it’s probably time to drop it."

This is a hoax hatched by Russian intelligence. No one believes it-- except Trump... and the 36% of Americans too stupid to be aware that Trump lies whenever he opens his mouth.

Fiona Hill, testifying before Congress: "Some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that is being perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves."

Trump’s GOP allies on the committee-- treasonous Republican garbage like Gym Jordan (R-OH), Devin Nunes (R-CA), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), John Ratcliffe (R-TX), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and Mike Turner (R-OH) "reacted with some outrage at her comments, insisting that they did not deny Russian involvement. Yet just hours later, Trump once again insisted the real culprit was Ukraine.

In the space of 10 sentences, Trump told four whoppers. Ukraine does not have the server, the FBI did not need physical possession to investigate, CrowdStrike was not founded by a Ukrainian, and it is not a Ukrainian company. It is dismaying that despite all of the evidence assembled by his top aides, Trump keeps repeating debunked theories and inaccurate claims that he first raised more than two years ago.

There are some days when we wish we were not limited to just Four Pinocchios. We were tempted to display 16 Pinnochios, four for each false statement. But this claim will certainly end up on our list of the Biggest Pinocchios of 2019. Four Pinocchios

The topic didn't have to be CrowdStrike or Ukraine or anything specific at all. The topic is the shit-pile the Republican Party has become. Next week's New York Review of Books has a brilliant essay-- two reviews by Joseph O'Neill, No More Nice Dems-- that gets right to the heart of the problem. The 2 books O'Neill reviewed, or rather used as his platform, are Meaghan Winters All Politics Is Local: Why Progressives Must Fight for the States and Dana Fisher's American Resistance: From the Women’s March to the Blue Wave. O'Neill began by noting that "In the realm of state government, the Republican Party is wiping the floor with the Democrats. The 2016 elections are remembered for the presidential race, but they also gave the GOP control of sixty-eight state legislative chambers to the Democrats’ thirty-one. Amazingly, the lives of almost half of the national population came under the sway of a Republican trifecta—that is, a state government with all three branches controlled by the GOP. Even after the 2018 Blue Wave, the score was 61–37, Republican to Democrat." The sickness of the GOP is, alas, reflected in the Democratic Party establishment. As bad as they are, do you want to surrender to the embraces of Chuck Schumer, Dan Lipinski, Cheri Bustos, Michael O'Halleran, Steny Hoyer, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rahm Emanuel, Greg Meeks, Jim Costa, Kyrsten Sinema... The worse the GOP gets, the more leeway the Democrats have to get sloppier and more corrupt and more corporate.

What’s salient here is that Republican dominance represents an extraordinary political overperformance. Republican state governments strongly align themselves with the national party leadership-- and by conventional measures, and certainly by comparison with the Clinton and Obama administrations, the national GOP has long been a disaster. Every Republican administration from Reagan onward has crashed the economy and exploded deficits. (Trump has already achieved the latter.) Their track record on health care is one of failure. Their handling of national security has been catastrophic (see the September 11 attacks, the rise of ISIS, Trump-Russia, climate change). Their criminality and corruption is scandalous: fraud, perjury, bribery, Boland Amendment violations during the Iran–contra affair, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, theft, and misuse of public funds are just some of the crimes committed by Republican administration officials and operatives-- and that’s without counting those chalked up under Nixon and Trump.

And it’s not as if red-state governments have been better. For at least a quarter-century, GDP growth in blue states has exceeded that in red states. Living standards-- educational attainment, household income, life expectancy, tax equity-- tend to be distinctly higher in blue states. These disparities are mitigated by what economists call “fiscal flows”-- blue staters subsidizing red staters in the form of federal taxes. When states go all-in on Republican economic strategies, not even fiscal flows can avert disaster, as the fates of Kansas and Oklahoma have revealed. Some red states even reject fiscal flows: fourteen have refused the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid, with predictable consequences. If you wanted to tank the country, or part of it, your best bet would be to get Republicans to run things.

So why do they keep winning state races? To put it another way, why do Democrats-- the party of prosperity-- keep losing to them? Can this be changed? How much does it matter?

Meaghan Winter’s All Politics Is Local: Why Progressives Must Fight for the States looks into these questions with remarkable clarity and tenacity. She closely inspects liberal grassroots activism in three states-- Missouri, Colorado, and Florida-- that “are not places where it is inevitable that right-wing politicians will control the narrative and agenda. Nor are they places where a progressive movement is easy to assemble.” Her method was to visit these regions repeatedly over a period of years; to intimately acquaint herself with the local issues and people and developments, which involved spending hours watching legislative committees at work; and to attempt to gain insight into what a sustainable and progressive reinvigoration of the Democratic Party might require.

Winter’s starting point is that effective political engagement at the state level is not only intrinsically desirable but that, “especially ahead of redistricting, there is no way for a political party or social movement to win long-term without building strategic power in cities and states.”

This might seem obvious. The maps of most congressional districts are determined by state legislatures. After the midterm election of 2010, Republicans used their state-level wins to ensure dramatic partisan overrepresentation in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia, Indiana, New York, and Michigan. This guaranteed a Republican majority in the House of Representatives that could be undone only by an election like the 2018 Blue Wave. Gerrymandering was also applied to statehouses. This gives the GOP a continuing advantage, in states like Wisconsin and Ohio, in the redistricting that will follow the 2020 census.

Nonetheless, the importance of regional politics hasn’t been obvious, or obvious enough, to the Democratic powers-that-be: as Winter writes, “for years, it has been an open secret in political circles that Democrats and progressive interest groups have prioritized federal candidates and policy at the expense of the states.”

Winter suggests that this is because, first, there has been a generational conviction among baby boomers that federal politics is the most instrumentally effective. And second, the liberal political apparatus is “largely guided by the moral whims of rich people.” She gives the billionaire presidential candidate Tom Steyer as an example. Liberal megadonors with private foundations are reluctant to invest in uncharismatic, long-haul grassroots projects. They are typically afraid of appearing “political.”

... The subject of what should be done differently by Washington Democrats, in Congress and in the national organs of the Democratic Party, is a huge one. In essence, Democratic officials are about as useless as they could be in the matter of turning, and keeping, the political map blue. They need to change how they think about their jobs and their responsibilities.

They need to embrace partisan commitment. It is mystifying and demoralizing for grassroots activists that their basic assumptions (say, that the Republican Party, not just the Republican president, is unfit for power in a democracy) find no echo among their Washington representatives. When ordinary people are emptying their wallets, getting arrested, and putting their careers on hold to fight for the cause, the least they expect of the well-paid professional politicians they have worked to elect is that they will conduct themselves with equal determination and will side with them, not Republicans. Republican politicians, some Democratic officials seem not to grasp, are not guys in a bar with opinions different from your own. They are people who have chosen to devote their lives to undermining the core interests of your supporters and their families and communities. When Representative Peter King, a Republican from Long Island and a loud Trump fan, recently announced his retirement, he was lauded by Schumer for being “principled” and having “stood head & shoulders above everyone else.” If the Democratic Party is to remain viable, that kind of thing has to stop.

Democratic officials also need to start outmaneuvering the Republicans in Congress. Here, Democrats have a couple of no-brainers. The fact that each state is allocated two Senate seats, regardless of population, means that a Republican majority will likely prevail in the Senate for at least four of every six years-- which in turn means that judicial appointments will remain largely in Republican hands. It’s essential, therefore, that Democrats at the first opportunity grant statehood, and four Senate seats, to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. It surely goes without saying that they should immediately naturalize 11 million undocumented Americans, ideally with voter registration as part of the administrative process.

They need to favor proactive policies that address the concerns of their grassroots base rather than the wishes of corporate donors or of mythic pipe-smoking moderates in Ohio.

Finally, and very importantly, they need to use their national visibility to message effectively and develop a clear “brand.” This is another enormous subject. A powerful brand has deep structural benefits. A successfully Democratic branding strategy would involve, at a bare minimum, negatively branding the GOP, not just Trump, at every opportunity-- on the economy, on national security, on American values.

This is a feasible program. It will probably require a generational overhaul of Democratic officialdom. There are promising signs. The new chairman of the Wisconsin Democrats is Ben Wikler, formerly of the progressive action group MoveOn. His up-to-date grassroots expertise has ensured that in Wisconsin, a must-flip state for the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, local partisan activism is at an extraordinary level a full year before votes are cast. Wikler is thirty-eight years old. He thinks very differently from, say, Joe Biden. Biden, like so many other Democratic leaders of a certain age, possesses sensibilities, strategic instincts, and values shaped by decades of losing ground to the GOP. He asserts that, once Trump is gone, Republicans will have an “epiphany” and discover inner moral resources. You could call Biden and his ilk Charlie Brown Democrats. They believe, against all the available evidence, that Lucy van Pelt will one day let them kick the football, and eventually they hoof at the ball in the unconscious hope that Lucy will indeed whisk the ball away. This generation of whiffers views Republican dominance as natural and, ultimately, acceptable. That won’t cut it.

A Guest Post By Eric Ohlsen-- Cleaning Up Sacramento

Eric Ohlsen is the progressive candidate, endorsed by Blue America, running for the Antelope Valley state Assembly seat occupied by Tom Lackey, the last Republican in the Assembly from Los Angeles County. One of his top priorities is to help clean up corruption in Sacrament by getting corporate sewer money out of the electoral process. Please consider contributing what you can to his grassroots campaign by clicking on the state legislative 2020 thermometer below.

I want to mention that though the Democrats control both houses of the state legislature-- and by very big margins-- corruption is still rampant in Sacramento. Though there are no good Republicans-- not one-- there are both good Democrats and bad Democrats-- plenty of bad Democrats-- serving in the state legislature. Most of the most conservative, corporate-friendly Democrats happen to also be the most corrupt ones. That's the nature of conservatism and the nature of the kinds of individuals who embrace conservatism. Based on the research from California's Courage Campaign, there are 15 Democrats who have been graded failures ("F"), based on their alignment with the corporate interests that exploit Californians. Here's the list, from bad to worst (with their 2019 vote scores):

• Al Muratsuchi (Torrance, Redondo Beach, Gardena)- 54
• Joaquin Arambula (Fresno, Coalinga)- 50
• Freddie Rodriguez (Ontario, Chino, Pomona)- 48
• Jacqui Irwin (Oxnard, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks)- 47
• Patrick O’Donnell (Long Beach)- 42
• Tim Grayson (Vallejo, Concord)- 39
• Tom Daly (Santa Ana, Anaheim)- 36
• Brian Maienschein (Rancho Santa Fe, Poway)- 32
• Sharon Quirk-Silva (Fullerton, Buena Park)- 32
• Ken Cooley (Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova)- 27
• Sabrina Cervantes (Corona, Jurupa Valley)- 27
• Rudy Salas (Bakersfield, Hanford)- 18
• Jim Frazier (Vacaville, Fairfield, Antioch)- 11
• Adam Gray (Merced, Los Banos)- 9
• Jim Cooper (Elk Grove, Lodi)- 9

The Corruptive Effects of Lobbying
by Eric Ohlsen

When we think about the topic of corruption in our political system, it is easy for the mind to focus on the overt acts of corruption and abuses of power that come from the White House in a steady torrent. And we are not wrong to be concerned by that. However, that type of bald faced corruption is not the only kind that should concern us.

Moneyed interests use their leverage on our politicians every day in an effort to subvert the will of the people for their own financial gain. That is what cooperate lobbying is, and it is an activity that is corrosive to our democracy. Now, to be fair, it doesn’t have to be corrosive; there are groups, causes, and issues that deserve an opportunity to be heard, but the problem is that corporate lobbying has the money and influence to drown out the worthy types of lobbying, allowing their interests to overpower all others.

During the 2019 legislative year, lobbyists in Sacramento spent $219.4 million. That is a startling $2 million spent every day that the State Legislature was in session. It is a figure that has continued to rise. Corporate lobbying has increased 24% over the last 4 years and shows no sign of slowing down. Some of the most concerning lobbying efforts have come from the energy industry. During the 2018 election cycle, the petroleum industry lavished $19.2 million into California politics. Republicans have traditionally been the most welcoming to contributions from the oil industry but they are not the only place that the oil industry directs its effort.

The petroleum industry has been working hard to push their agenda by aiding conservative Democrats who are amenable to their cause. In 2018 there was more than $853,000 in direct contributions split between 47 Democrats who were in races for both Assembly and Senate, plus another $2.8 million to help Susan Rubio, $343,000 campaign supporting the re-election of Democratic Assemblyman Rudy Salas of Bakersfield, and $160,000 to a committee that campaigns for "business-friendly"-- meaning BIG business-friendly-- Democrats.

The thinking is that since the Republican Party has waned in California in recent years, the energy industry should try to reshape the type of Democrats that are getting sent to Sacramento. By helping to elect conservatives from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, the oil lobby hopes to slow the momentum of progressives who will not be willing to kill or water down environmental legislation at the behest of big money donors.

Also, let’s not limit the energy industry’s lobbying efforts to just the oil and gas sectors, this is true too for Pacific Gas & Electric which spent more than $10 million in 2018 to buy political influence. And while the numbers have dropped some, they have still spent more than $6 million on lobbying this year as well. Meanwhile PG&E has continued to pour out $4.5 billion in dividends to its shareholders rather than conducting the necessary maintenance needed to prevent fires. It is a bald faced effort to buy their way out of accountability for failing to maintain the system that California rate payers have paid them to maintain. And as the legislature begins to revisit the rules around the role of utilities to prevent wild fires in the future, you can bet that PG&E’s spending on lobbying efforts will ramp up.

It is not just the energy industry trying to buy its way into our legislative decisions. There was, of course, recently California had the opportunity to provide a single-payer Medicare option to all Californians, only to have the bill blocked by Democratic members of the Assembly who were bought off by the lobbying efforts of the health insurance industry. They managed to get SB-562 killed at the last moment.

Another area where there is a concerning amount of money trying to purchase influence is around the issue of education. If ever there is an issue that we, as a community, a State and a Nation that we need to get right, it is education. However it took a yeoman’s effort for the California Teachers Association to get Assembly Bill 1505 passed which gives local school districts necessary control over the expansion of charter schools. Charter school groups spent about $900,000 on lobbying and even more poured in by other outside groups. These charter schools cost the same amount as public schools, while providing fewer services and not producing any better results, but because they are backed by interests seeking to privatize education they are able to funnel money into efforts to avoid necessary oversight by local school boards.

And finally I want to talk about the lobbying efforts of the NRA. This is the most infamous and insidious lobby, and it really is worth considering the NRA as a meta issue about lobbies and not as a discussion of the Second Amendment. However you may feel about gun ownership rights, when you look at the methods, tactics, and money that the gun lobby throws at legislatures around the country it is clear that they have managed to subvert the will of the people in a way that has been both incredibly successful and unbelievably dangerous. It is not just about getting their way, the greater problem with their lobby is that they have poisoned the water on having a meaningful debate about how to manage and regulate guns in a sensible way, to ensure public safety. The most egregious example of this is the gun lobby and their allies in Congress managed to block the CDC from even studying gun violence as a public health issue.

Ultimately, when you look at all of these points, the problem becomes clear, that while lobbying does not have to be inherently bad, the way that it is currently regulated tips the scales to those with the most money. And whenever money is such a decisive factor in democracy, then it becomes extremely difficult for the legislature to pursue the interests of the people.

The Anti-Trump Wave Helped Democrats Almost Everywhere That Racism Isn't Enshrined As The State Religion

Paul Ryan was whining about how long it was taking for all the votes to be counted in California, primarily because absentee ballots were coming in overwhelmingly for Democrats and after election day, vote counting flipped 4 more Republican seats including one in Orange County and two in the Central Valley that left Ryan allies Mimi Walters, Jeff Denham and David Valadao unemployed. But what Ryan failed to mention is that there are still ballots being counted and recounted all over the country. The Alaska state legislative races are a good example. First Alaska's Republican Senate President Pete Kelly was ousted by Fairbanks state Rep. Scott Kawasaki (D) after a handful of votes were counted a week after the election. But the vote to replace Kawasaki is still in turmoil. On election night Republican Bart LeBon held a 5-vote lead over Democrat Kathryn Dodge but since then, the lead in that race has gone back and forth as ballots have been counted. Control of the House depends on the final outcome! And this week, it came down to whether or not one ballot would be counted! Last Friday, the Division of Elections gave LeBon the win with 2,263 votes to Dodge's 2,262. Yesterday Dodge announced that she's appealing the recount.

But, whether decided on election night or a few days or weeks later, the anti-Trump wave was significant in state legislative races almost everywhere in the country. It looks like 393 seats flipped nationally-- give or take a few. That includes 7 chambers that flipped from red to blue (Senates in Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and New York and, quite spectacularly, Minnesota's House.) On top of that GOP supermajorities were broken in state Senates in North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania, while Democrats gained supermajorities in the Illinois, Vermont, Nevada and Oregon state Houses and in the California and Oregon Senates-- while holding onto supermajorities in Senate races in Illinois, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Hawaii and Maryland and in state Houses in New York, California, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware, Hawaii and Massachusetts.

There were a handful of reactionary, low-education, racist states, mostly in the Old Confederacy (like Alabama and Arkansas), were the GOP made gains, but most of the gains went to Democrats, even in states like Georgia and Texas. In Arizona the Democrats picked up 4 House seats, putting them 2 votes away from grabbing the majority. In California , Democrats picked up 4 Assembly seats and 3 Senate seats, as the state GOP continues to disintegrate. Out of the 80 California Assembly seats, just 19 are in Republican hands, although one seat is still too close to call.

These were some of the other highlights:

• Colorado House- Democrats expanded their 36 to 29 seat majority by picking up 5 more seats
• Connecticut House- Democrats expanded their 80-71 seat majority by picking up 12 more seats, while breaking the 18-19 Senate deadlock by winning 5 Republican seats
• Florida House- Dems picked up 6 seats
• Georgia House- Dems picked up 9 seats with 2 more too close to call
• Idaho House- Dems picked up 3 seats
• Iowa House- Dems picked up 5 seats with 2 more still uncalled
• Kentucky House- Dems picked up 3 seats
• Maryland House- Dems picked up 6 seats with one still uncalled
• Maine House- Dems said goodibye to Paul LePage by picking up 16 seats (while watching their pals in the Senate turn that chamber blue by picking up 4 seats
• Michigan House- Dems picked up 6 seats in the super-gerrymandered state
• Minnesota House- Dems crushed it-- picking up 20 seats
• Montana Senate- Dems picked up 2 seats
• North Carolina House- Dems broke the GOP supermajority by taking 9 of their seats, while Dems in the state Senate did the same by winning 6 red seats
• New Hampshire- Dems flipped control of both chambers. But the House went from 176 Democrats and 217 Republicans to 233 Democrats and just 167 Republicans
• New Mexico House- Dems flipped 9 seats with another seat still not final
• New York Senate- Dems flipped 8 seats and took control
• Nevada Assembly- Dems created a supermajority by flipping 2 seats that Trump had won
• Pennsylvania House- Dems picked up 11 seats
• Texas House- Dems flipped 12 seats
• Utah House- Dems picked up 4 seats
• Vermont House- Dems picked up 15 seats
• Washington House- Dems picked up 7 seats
• West Virginia House- Dems picked up 5 seats including John Doyle's win over GOP Majority Leader-designate, Riley Moore.

Hawaii Got Rid Of Its Last Republican State Senator Last Year. When Will Massachusetts Do The Same?

-by Glenn Wiech
Vice Chair, Milford Democratic Town Committee

Southern Worcester County in Massachusetts is like other suburban and semi-rural areas across the country. It’s fair to say that the Blackstone Valley is one of the prettiest parts of the state. Nonetheless we have our share of problems. Many of our once humming factories have been converted to lofts or left to rot. Decaying infrastructure has left towns with low-quality drinking water. More than half of the towns in this area have tried to fund their schools through ballot measures because they’re being starved of state revenue. And the opioid crisis is raging through the area. What we need is a state senator who is an advocate interested in solving the many problems in this district. But that's not what we've got.

Our current state senator is Republican Ryan Fattman. For the four years he has been in office, little has been done for the district. Of all the senators in our state senate, Fattman is the least progressive. He is known for skipping meetings with his constituents, sending a low-level representative in his place or skipping the meeting entirely. Many people call his office for clarification on an issue or his stance on a bill and receive no return call, no answer at all. In this session he voted against a bill that would protect employees against wage theft, and against another bill that had a tax of 4% on the wealthy that would have funded improvements to education and infrastructure. I know what you are saying to yourself: it sounds like every other Republican. Fattman goes a step further.

Fattman has cultivated a working relationship with an anti-immigrant hate group called the Center for Immigration Studies. He appears with them at press conferences to oppose Massachusetts becoming a sanctuary state and he has them writing anti-immigrant legislation on his behalf. He was a mini-Trump before Trump even announced his presidential campaign. How does he get away with this in liberal Massachusetts? Like our current governor, Governor Baker, he uses a nice guy image and demeanor to mask his really terrible policies.

Many of my friends have been stewing over this rein of error. Late last year one of them, Tom Merolli, decided to step up and run against him. Tom is a public employee in the small town of Mendon, where he’s the assistant treasurer. At 28, he is already the chair of the Mendon Democratic Town Committee, is a field consultant for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, and was an intern for Congressman Richard Neal. A pro-Bernie progressive, he’s running on a platform of Medicare for All, increasing state aid for education, stronger environmental regulations, and safe patient to nurse ratios as outlined in one of state’s ballot questions.

Tom and his team have done an impressive job of mobilizing progressives all over the district. They’ve knocked on over 20,000 doors and have had as many as 88 volunteers at his canvassing events. Tom’s campaign has generated a great deal of enthusiasm and his signs are all over the district, however like most other progressive candidates he’s short on money. As a long-time fan of DWT, I would like nothing more than for DWT to help get Tom over the finish line. You can donate directly to Tom and to other DWT-approved state-level candidates by clicking on the 2018 ActBlue state legislative thermometer on the right.

Remember, progressives candidates like Tom can become our bench for future congressional or senatorial races on the national level. Although national races take up most of our attention, races like this will create more opportunities for progressives in the future.

The Corrupt Forces Of The Status Quo Come After A Young Latina In Brooklyn-- Meet Julia Salazar

Blue America is primarily a PAC that endorses candidates in congressional races, but occasionally we endorse in a state legislative race. With thousands of legislative seats up for grabs, we look for men and women who will strengthen Democratic benches in their states or who have an important and extraordinary contribution to make. Right now we have a dozen candidates on our state legislative page, half of whom in primaries coming up imminently. One of our candidates is Julia Salazar, running for the New York state Senate next Tuesday in Brooklyn's 18th district, which stretches from Greenpoint and Williamsburg in the north all the way down through Bushwick to Cypress Hills in the south. Her opponent is Martin Malavé Dilan who was first elected to the Senate in 2002 and is generally considered an Albany sleazeball with financial ties to the IDC, the crooked Republican wing of New York's Democratic Party.

Salazar, a community organizer, is running as a progressive from Dilan’s left, focusing on issues such as affordable housing, healthcare, and immigration while refusing donations from the real estate industry, which has been generous to Dilan and, even more so, to Klein and the IDC. She has criticized Dilan’s record, particularly on housing and tenant protections, over his eight terms in office, highlighting the rampant gentrification that has hit the northern Brooklyn district, which includes Williamsburg and Bushwick, and taking aim at his vote for vacancy decontrol, which he has since disavowed.

..."The recent flood of endorsements for Julia Salazar and IDC challengers demonstrate how electeds and key institutional players are following the cues of progressive grassroots activists,” said Susan Kang, a spokesperson for No IDC NY, a group opposing the former IDC members which has its own multi-candidate campaign committee. “Incumbents like Dilan with deeper connections to the real estate interests than his own constituents are out of the step with the current political moment," she added.

Julia is a Democratic Socialist, like Bernie and Alexandria. She identifies as Jewish and because her father came to the U.S. from Colombia also identifies as coming from a working-class immigrant background. Her right-wing brother-- with his own political ambitions-- has called these claims into question and her honestly has become an issue, stoked by Dilan, his IDC allies and other conservatives within the Democratic Party. On Wednesday, 9 of her classmates from Columbia University stepped forward with a compelling OpEd in the Jewish Daily Forward to settle the ginned up controversy over her background.

We came to know Julia during her college years, a key period where her politics and Jewish identity were shaped and formed. Her personal story is complex, and it has been misrepresented by her opponents as she has gone from being a private individual to a public candidate for office over the course of just a few months.

We are writing this letter to affirm who we know Julia to be as a Jew and as someone with moral character that we believe more than qualifies her to represent North Brooklyn in the New York State Senate.

All of us lived in Jewish community with Julia at Columbia and Barnard. We knew her as a woman with her own place in Judaism’s complicated history who yearned to connect with her roots and her past. Julia’s story is a celebration of 21st-century American Jews who embrace Judaism and Jewish life as adults, even when provided few resources to do so while growing up.

As an activist and student leader in the Columbia Jewish community, Julia was a model of integrity. Fierce and committed, she was never afraid to stick her elbows out, especially when she perceived injustice or unfairness.

Yet she also approached leadership with a quiet dignity and humility. We knew Julia as someone who took risks yet wasn’t afraid to question her own beliefs or even change her mind.

She is the sort of Jewish leader we are proud to see seeking elected office in these times.

So we have been furious and saddened to see articles questioning her character.

It seems there are those who want to plant a seed of doubt about Julia, her Jewishness, her class background, and the many-layered heritage of men and women who come from immigrant families. We can only conclude this is an attack on her candidacy, in part because the policies, programs, and politics that she is advancing are resonating in her district and across the country.

It also suggests that Jews like Julia-- a working-class Latina woman who grew up outside of traditional Jewish educational settings-- aren’t fit to lead. These misdirections are plain wrong and deeply hurtful.

During Julia’s time on campus, we shared Shabbat dinners with her. We prayed with her. And we knew her in the many informal ways that living in a Jewish community draws its members close to one another.

We are happy and proud that Julia has found grounding and purpose in Judaism, in her values, and, now, in local politics. But we cannot be silent when cheap shots for political gain have placed a beloved member of our campus Jewish community under attack.

Now more than ever, we need truth to be at the center of our democratic process. We believe that Julia’s integrity and leadership qualities are unquestionable, and we hope this helps her potential constituents confirm what they have surely already sensed from her remarkable campaign.

The people of North Brooklyn have a chance to elect a new state senator with a serious vision for her district. Julia’s calls for universal rent control, affordable housing, single-payer healthcare, labor rights, immigrant rights, a living wage, and more are the kind of progressive policies that our unequal society-- and our Jewish tradition’s model of covenantal community-- demands.

Voters should be thrilled and excited to cast a vote for Julia on September 13th.

The right-wing campaign against Julia has them throwing every crap accusation they can muster and make up against her. The shady characters at Tablet, a status quo Democratic Party hack operation, has been leading the smear campaign. Their latest bullshit is that she was suspected of impersonating a family friend, Kai Hernandez, the then-wife of baseball player Keith Hernandez. The assholes at Tablet have been trying to get someone to run with this but no legitimate papers wanted to because Julia was never charged with anything. One of the UK scandal sheets did pick up on it from Tablet though, dredging up the "fake Jew" nonsense and claiming she was having an affair with the Mets legend while he was in the middle of divorcing Kai. Salazar sued Kai claiming she "engaged in character assassination by falsely accusing her." Kai paid Julia to settle the case. Tablet is so obsessed with destroying Julia-- and progressives in general-- that they're peddling this crap worldwide.

We agree and if you'd like to help Julia win her race against a corrupt, real estate developer-backed conservative, please consider contributing to her campaign by tapping on the thermometer above.

Russell Walker, As Much The Face Of The GOP As Donald J Trump

Right, not every Republican is a racist. But... every racist-- at least every open racist who wants to let his freak flag fly-- who wants to get into electoral politics knows exactly which party to get involved with. In North Carolina yesterday, the News and Observer ran a story under a chilling headline, 'God is racist,' candidate for N.C. House seat says. 'What’s wrong with being a racist?' and, his website kicks in, "Jews are descended from Satan." Meet Russell Walker-- not be be too confused with far right extremist and closet racist Mark Walker-- running for the state House in district 48, which includes Scotland and Hoke counties. The 48th is 51.2% Black and 11.8% Native American.

These aren't even red counties. Both voted for Deborah Ross over Richard Burr in the last Senate race. Both voted for Roy Cooper over Pat McCrory in the gubernatorial race and in the presidential 2016 presidential contest Hoke County went for Clinton 53.8% to 43.0% and Scotland County went for Clinton 53.0% to 45.2%. The 48th is represented by Democrat Garland Pierce, an African American minister, and the GOP didn't run a candidate against him in 2012, 2014 or 2016. 2018 was going to be the big GOP come-back. There was even a Republican primary. Walker beat John Imbaratto 824 (64.8%) to 447 (35.2%). And now that's all in ashes. On Tuesday, the state GOP withdrew its support for Walker.

A multimillionaire and former congressman, Robin Hayes, who serves as the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, said on Tuesday that "based on recent behavior and previous statements, the North Carolina Republican Party is unable and unwilling to support the Republican nominated candidate for North Carolina House District 48. The NCGOP along with our local parties in Hoke, Scotland and Robeson Counties will be spending our time and resources supporting Republican candidates that better reflect the values of our party.

His website does accurately represent a vital and growing portion of the Republican Party. He didn't win the primary because he's a devotee of Martin Luther King, Jr.

What is wrong with being a white supremacist? God is a racist and a white supremacist.

Someone or group has to be supreme and that group is the whites of the world ... someone or something has to be inferior ... In all history in sub-Saharan Africa, no two-story building or a waterproof boat was ever made.

Several years ago we visited the beautiful city of Djenne in Mali

These have been Walker's themes for years and he has never tried to hide them-- quite the contrary. It's what GOP primary voters elected to support in the party primary this year.

Walker has carried signs during a protest outside a North Carolina newspaper’s office that said “What is wrong with being a racist” and “God is racist,” the newspaper said.

Walker says on his campaign website that he is suing the Hoke County News-Journal newspaper “because they have refused to print any of my letters to the editor.”

In January, the editor of the paper, Ken MacDonald, wrote on the front page that Walker holds frequent protests outside the newspaper’s office holding up racist signs.

The website Walker says is his features racism, conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, including:

• “God made the races and he is the greatest racist ever.”
• “What is wrong with being a white supremacist?”
• “The Jews are not Semitic they are Satanic as they all descend from Satan.”

A Facebook page for Russell Walker is the only account following the website’s Facebook page.

Another post on the website refers to Martin Luther King Jr. by a racial slur. “MLK wanted to destroy the Caucasian race through mixing and integration. He was an agent of Satan.”

In a 2017 Spectrum News video of Walker following the dismissal of a lawsuit he filed to keep Confederate flags and portraits of Confederate generals in a South Carolina courtroom, Walker uses the same slur against King... Walker had not stepped down as a candidate as of Wednesday afternoon, and cannot be forced off the November ballot.

And racism isn't the only way that Walker is just like Trump. He is "convinced that vaccinations, especially for young children, create a favorable climate for Autism," according to his website. The GOP is still resisting the racism label, But they ought to look at the pile of shit who leads the party nationally and get used to it... at least for a while-- a long while, in all likelihood.

Tuesday In Maine-- Much At Stake... And South Carolina And Wisconsin

Tomorrow there are primaries in 5 states, Nevada, Maine, Virginia, North Dakota and South Carolina. We're watching Maine more closely than any of the other states. Blue America has only endorsed one federal candidate in any of the 5 states-- Jared Golden, who's running for Wall Street oriented Bruce Poliquin's seat in the sprawling non-Portland bulk of the state. Tomorrow he has to get through the establishment richie rich guy, Lucas St. Clair, whose mother cheated the founder of Burt's Bee's out of his company and then moved it to North Carolina. St. Clair is wealthy and so are his friends and they're spending dark money like mad to beat Golden, a former small town kind who joined the marine, saw front line duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and came back home and is now the state legislator's majority whip. Golden is a dedicated progressive. St. Clair is an environmental care with no clear political point of view-- kind of "whatever." Bernie won the district over Clinton but in the general Trump won by over 10 points-- and won an electoral vote. The PVI is R+2 but Golden has what it takes to communicate with the people in the district far better than wither St. Clair or Poliquin.

With Maine's own Trumpanzee, Paul LePage termed out, there's also a gubernatorial race-- and there lots of candidates running from both parties and a brand spanking new anked-choice voting system. So... impossible to predict-- and certainly something we're not going to get a final conclusion on for a few days. The 7 Democrats are front-runner Janet Mills, the state's Attorney General, former state Rep Mark Eves, former state Rep Diane Russell, state Senator Mark Dion, former mayor Donna Dion, Adam Cote and Betsy Sweet. There are 4 Republicans, state Rep Kenneth Fredette, state Senator Garrtee Mason, Mart Mayhew and Shawn Moody. There are also 6 independents. Independents are important in Maine since they sometimes win and sometimes throw races to Republicans, which is how LePage won.

Maine has a U.S. Senate race for Angus King's seat. He's an independent and considered a shoe-in, although there's a Democrat, Zak Ringelstein running unopposed tomorrow (far more progressive than King) and two Republicans vying for their party's ticket, Eric Brakey and Max Linn.

The state Senate is a big deal tomorrow. Currently there are 18 Republicans and 17 Democrats but in n 2016, five seats won by Democrats had a margin of victory of less than 10% and four seats won by Republicans had a margin of victory of less than 10%. Also, Hillary won five districts that elected Republicans to the state Senate and Trump won four districts that elected Democrats to the state Senate. The races to watch tomorrow:

• District 1- Troy Jackson (D) is the incumbent but Trump won by 7.2 points
• District 2- Michael Carpenter (D) is the incumbent but Trump beat Hillary by a whopping 29.9 points
• District 3- Rodney Whittemore (R) is the incumbent and Trump won the district by 19.5 points, although Obama has taken it in 2012 by 4.6 points.
• District 11- Michael Thibodeau (R) is the incumbent but Clinton narrowly won the district in 2016 (by less than a point); Obama had won it by almost 11 points.
• District 14- Shenna Bellows (D) is the incumbent but Trump took the district by 2.4 points.

The Democrats control the state House 74-70 with 7 Independents hoping seats. There are 4 seats that are the most flippable, one Republican seat, one Democratic seat and two independent seats. Remember, Trump won 18 districts that elected Democrats and Hillary won eight districts that elected Republicans. Four of the districts held by independents went for Clinton and one went for Trump.

• District 33- A GOP district that Hillary won by 31 points
• District 82- An independent incumbent where Trump won by 23 points
• District 94- An independent incumbent where Hillary won by 40 points
• District 138- A Democratic district where Trump won by 26 points.

BONUS: South Carolina

As Alex Isenstadt pointed out today, Mark Sanford (R-SC) may be in trouble tomorrow. No friend of Señor Trumpanzee, he's up against a Republican primary opponent, state Rep. Katie Arrington, who is-- and in a district that voted 53.5% to 40.4% for Trump. Arrington has cast Sanford as a disloyal Never-Trumper. We'll see if that works among Republican primary voters tomorrow.



And... Wisconsin

There are no primaries tomorrow. That's on August 14. Tomorrow though are 2 crucial special election. A few days ago the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel summed it all up: "Tuesday's special elections in Wisconsin could offer clues about a possible 'blue wave'" There's a state Senate district and an Assembly district which Scott Walker desperately tried to avoid special elections in. Two courts told him to stop behaving like a fascist. Tomorrow's the day. Randy Bryce has been campaign for both and raising money for both, Ann Groves Lloyd and Caleb Frostman.

How Red Is Wyoming?

Hopelessly red. The last Democrat elected to the Senate was Gale McGee. That was in 1958, although he was reelected in 1964 and 1970, only to lose to Republican Malcolm Wallop in 1976. The only other Democrat from Wyoming in the U.S. Senate in recent times was John Hickey. And that was an interesting case. Republican Keith Thomson, a congressman, was elected to an open Senate seat in November, 1960 but died in December, before he could be seated. Wyoming had a Democratic governor, John Hickey, and he appointed himself to the seat but then lost the special election to finish Thomson's term a year later.

As for presidential elections, Wyoming has been as red as they come-- Dewey over FDR in 1944 and two other Democrats since then-- Truman in 1948 and LBJ over Goldwater in 1964. McCain and Romney wiped out Obama who took 33% of the vote the first time he ran and just 28% the second time. Hillary did even worse. Trump won the state 174,419 (68.2%) to 55,973 (21.9%). She won just one of Wyoming's 23 counties, Teton, which contains Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park and much of Yellowstone National Park, making the county less insular than most of the state.

Of the 30 members of the state Senate, there are just 3 Democrats. The state House has 60 members and 9 are Democrats. The governor, Matt Mead, is also a Republican, although conservative Democrat Dave Freudenthal was elected governor in 2002 and was reelected in 2006. All of Wyoming's statewide elected official are Republicans.

The state's population is 563,626, the lowest of any state. Wyoming has 2 U.S. Senators, just like California, which has 37,253,956 people, and 2 more than Washington, DC with a population of 601,723.

U.S. Senator John Barrasso is running for reelection and the Democrat challenging him is Gary Trauner. Barrasso has raised $5,999,832 to Trauner's $351,331. The at-large congressional seat is held by Liz Cheney. There are two Democrats running, Mark Harvey and Travis Helm, but neither has raised the $5,000 it takes to trigger an FEC report. There's a wide open gubernatorial open seat election that has drawn half a dozen Republicans for the August 21 primary, including right-wing crackpot billionaire Foster Friess. There are also 2 Democrats competing in the primary, Ken Casner and Mary Throne.

Wyoming's PVI is R+25, the worst in the whole country. Oklahoma and Utah are tied for second worst, each at R+20. West Virginia was the only state that embraced Trump more enthusiastically than Wyoming. The bottom of the barrel-- the percentage vote for dumb white people who couldn't see through Trump:

• West Virginia- 68.50%
• Wyoming- 67.40%
• Oklahoma- 65.32%
• North Dakota- 62.96%
• Kentucky- 62.52%

So how is the blue wave going to impact Wyoming, the nation's biggest coal-producing state? Not much at all. Wyoming Democrats put up only 18 state House candidates and 4 state Senate candidates out of the 75 seats up this year. Republican are favored to win all the statewide offices and Trump's job approval is over 60%. According to Gallup, only 11 other states show Trump with over 50% job approval West Virginia, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and both Dakotas.

I don't have many friends in Wyoming but I asked one of them, Roy Zimmerman, who was the leader of a band I used to work with, The Foremen, to help me understand what's going on up there. (If you click that link just above, you'll understand exactly why I contacted him.) Anyway, writing from the entertainment mecca of Rock Springs, Wyoming...

Looking at a map of the US the day after an election, it's hard not to be daunted by the sea of RED in the center of our country. But that snapshot of election results doesn't tell us what's going on in each state:  What forces are moving a state redder or bluer? What opportunities are there in each state to organize for change? How does the demographic makeup of Democrats and of Republicans vary from state to state? I tour the country constantly with my wife and co-writer Melanie Harby, performing satirical songs for the nation's "Blue Dots"-- the most progressive people in the least progressive parts of the country. I've played Wyoming many times and I've had countless conversations with Wyoming's mighty Blue Dots. Here's what I've learned...

Wyoming is "the Equality State," so named because it was the first territory to adopt women's suffrage. Wyoming embraced the vote for women as a power play so the territory could instantly double it's voting population and qualify for statehood. But Wyomingites are proud of their state moniker. Wyoming Republicans are libertarians and more progressive on most social issues than the Evangelical Republicans of the South and the Mormon Republicans of Utah and Idaho. Dick Cheney's support of marriage equality is not an anomaly among Wyoming Republicans.

Wyoming Democrats are concentrated in the population centers of Cheyenne, Casper and Laramie and on the Indian Reservations. As in the other three sparsely populated states (Montana and North and South Dakota) Native Americans make up a seizable percentage of the state's Democratic voting bloc. How effectively is the national party reaching out to the Indian nations? The riveting gubernatorial candidacy of Paulette Jordan in neighboring Idaho provides a great opportunity for Native Americans to ascend within the Democratic party. How might a massive Get Out The Vote campaign among Native Americans tip the balance of power in Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas? How might a small increase in urbanization in these states swing the states toward Democratic control?

I'm taking this month off of touring to make my tenth solo album to be called RiZe Up-- an album full of laughter and encouragement for progressive-minded people who need a lot of both. I feel like all the songs I've written over my many-decade career-- the funny songs, the strident songs, the heartfelt songs-- have led me to this moment in history and this response to Trump and Company.

We've got three days left in the crowdfunding campaign. Will you help me bring laughter and encouragement to the Resistance? Here's the link. To laugh is to resist. To hope is to resist.

Here's a song that will be on RiZe Up: “Religious Freedom (To Burn Our Own Witches)”

New Anti-Berner Model Test In California’s 15th Assembly District Election

The Democratic establishment’s “failures” against Republicans, and great success at marginalizing Progressives, both result from the same rich incentives. To help you laugh through your tears at this corrupt game of top-down class warfare, watch the video above and enjoy the music video, which we encourage you to share (and to adapt freely, per its Creative Commons statement).

One local California race could create a new template-- very good or very bad-- for elections nationwide, featuring:

• a new and depressing type of establishment candidate (Buffy Wicks),
• a new and exciting type of local Progressive candidate (Jovanka Beckles),
• a sadly familiar example of turf wars between local moderate-progressives, and
• a glaring example of how the Democratic establishment’s version of ‘identity politics’ excludes minority candidates who refuse to be bought.

1- Establishment Donors’ Counter-Attack into Heartland of Grassroots Progressivism

The California State Assembly recently tried to bury state #Medicare4all without a vote, in a typical result of the excessive influence of Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big Carbon, Big Security and other killers of policies, people and planets. As Bernie-inspired candidates challenge local establishments nationwide, the state and national Democratic establishment is counter-attacking in the Bluest big state’s Bluest Assembly District-- California’s 15th centered in Berkeley.

This district’s June 6 primary election has everything:

• national/state money vs local grassroots;
• Hillary’s vs Bernie’s supporters;
• neo-liberals dropping their mask of identity politics; and
• turf wars between different communities’ Moderate-Progressive local establishments.

The national and state Democratic establishments have richly funded the candidacy of a veteran national fundraiser, who has zero track record of office-holding or local residence, and who is the least Progressive candidate in a large field.

Clicking the image directly below will allow you to listen to a music video mocking this candidate’s professional money trails and fails.



Buffy Wicks is the only candidate in the AD15 race who opposed Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Presidential primary. While largely tailoring her platform to the district, she remains visibly the furthest ‘Right’ on charter schools (whose promoters are among her donors) and tenants’ rights. Buffy, who describes herself as a “community organizer,” headed Hillary’s California 2016 primary campaign, after heading a pro-Hillary Super PAC, after playing significant roles in Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns’ fundraising, and heading the Obama Administration’s Office of Public Engagement-- during the notorious post-election demobilization of grassroots participation in Obama For America.

Buffy’s many prominent endorsers include California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who (in between campaigning alongside Hillary) presided over the 2016 Presidential primary, including incorrect instructions to voters and poll workers, and alleged ballot-tampering, which suppressed votes for Bernie.

How Buffy raises and spends big bucks:

Massive fundraising by Buffy includes donations from mega-donor and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker (whose brother spent $70 million to secure this year’s Democratic nomination for Governor of Illinois), and from senior personnel in the offices of Rahm Emanuel and Cory Booker. It was leaked, and then acknowledged, that Buffy poll-tested the resonance not only of her own potential positions, but also attack lines against four other candidates. Buffy has access to virtually unlimited funds in order to carpet-bomb the district with expensively tailored positive and negative messaging.

Damage Control by Progressives?

An important goal for Progressives should be keeping Buffy out of November’s second round (general) election, by driving her down to third place or lower in the June 5 first round (‘jungle’) primary. The larger turnout of general elections will enable Buffy’s high spending, buzzwords and celebrity endorsements to reach more people than is possible by other candidates’ face-to-face contacts. Relegating Buffy to third place would be a nationally influential rebuff of the national money machine’s over-reaching. But a strong turnout of well-informed Progressives in this district can accomplish even more.

2- Nation’s Most Successful Grassroots Progressivism Alongside Local Turf Battles

Jovanka Beckles is the AD15 candidate whose election would bring to state government, and to national visibility, a uniquely successful local Progressive political model. Jovanka is a working-class veteran of the nation’s most Progressive city council, which has built the nation’s best record of winning elections and implementing successful Progressive policies, in the face of massive oppo-spending by global villain Chevron Corporation, in Chevron’s long-dominated ‘company town’ of Richmond California. This under-reported story is recounted in the 2017 book Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City, and the 2018 book Winning Richmond: How a Progressive Alliance Won City Hall. During an eight-year track record as a city councilor advancing a broad Progressive agenda against Chevron’s environmental, safety and tax abuses, Jovanka has stood up gracefully but firmly to very crude gay-bashing, as culturally conservative Richmond’s first out gay politician. Jovanka is endorsed by Our Revolution (local and national), by the Working Families Party, by Blue America and by numerous local unions (and statewide SEIU-CA), Greens, Democratic Socialists, and other Progressive organizations. More details are at her campaign website here.

How Blue (& Green) is California’s AD 15?

Assembly District 15 is uniquely fertile territory for an ‘immoderate’ and unapologetic Progressive like Jovanka. Most of the district is in the U.S. Congressional District of Barbara Lee, who cast the sole vote against the post-9/11 over-broad Authorization for Use of Military Force, and who has been re-elected many times with more than 80% of votes. The district stretches from the North of Oakland (birthplace of the Black Panther Party), and its wealthy enclave Piedmont, through the ‘People’s Republic of Berkeley’, to several smaller and poorer towns.

Turf Wars Weaken Local Progressive Establishments:

Jovanka’s (and Buffy’s) first round prospects are improved by the likely division of first round votes between the candidates of three different local communities’ Moderate-Progressive local establishments.

• North Oakland: The Oakland establishment is mainly supporting Oakland City councilmember Dan Kalb.
• Berkeley: The Berkeley establishment, which held this seat for 38 years, is mainly supporting Berkeley School Board director Judy Appel.
• West Contra Costa County: In 2014 the Berkeley establishment’s long winning streak was finally ended by Tony Thurmond of Contra Costa County. Tony, who is giving up the seat to run for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has endorsed Rochelle Pardue-Okimoto, a first-term El Cerrito City Councilmember, and a nurse who also obtained the endorsement of the California Nurses Association. Tony apparently recruited Rochelle into the contest, and certainly shepherded her endorsement by the California Legislative Black Caucus (and maxxed-out donations by some of its members). Presumably Tony would like to keep the seat from being regained by the Berkeley establishment, and was also happy to prevent the boat-rocking Jovanka from being the first round’s only candidate from West Contra Costa County-- and only Black Woman.

3- Jovanka’s Four-fer Rips Off Establishment’s Mask of Identity Politics

Policy commitments and credibility are the most important thing about all candidates, but there is education and entertainment value in this contest’s testing – and revealing the hollowness-- of the national Democratic establishment’s lectures on the need to support minority candidates. Jovanka’s identity is a ‘four-fer’-- count’em: Black, Woman, Gay-married (and a mother and grandmother), and immigrant (as a child from Panama). The following table compares identities of the top 7 out of 12 declared candidates, in this field of (self-described) Progressives.

Could it be any clearer? The establishment vets candidates for fit with the corrupt money system-- a vetting which can achieve new extremes of predictability by retooling, into candidates, that system’s operatives, like Buffy. Contrary to its dishonest rhetoric, for every level and faction in the establishment, the highest priority is to exclude grassroots-mobilizing minority candidates, like Jovanka.

Establishment rhetoric about the importance of candidates’ “experience” is also dishonest. Every other candidate in the above table has more experience in public office, more local dues paid, and more knowledge of the district, than the establishment’s pick Buffy, who has zero. In contrast, the longest legislative experience in the field is Jovanka’s eight years on the Richmond City Council.

This race is testing a new local election model: retooling a fundraising operative into a fake Progressive candidate (aided by a track record free of previous positions on policy), to carpet bomb a Progressive and highly educated district with a carpetbag full of money and celebrity endorsements. If this succeeds, it will be repeated everywhere because, if they can fake it here, they can fake it anywhere.