UPDATE: If you are looking for advice on how to vote in the general election, please go here: How to Vote on Nov. 8, 2022 in CA!

Below is my list of recommendations for California’s primary election on June 7, 2022.

I would like to highlight the following races, where I happen to know the people running: my friend Mia Livas Porter is running for CA State Assembly (District 52), Rocío Rivas is running for LAUSD’s School Board (District 2), and Danielle Sandoval is running for Los Angeles City Council (District 15). All of them are amazing women, please vote for them!

For more information about where & how to vote, go here:
LAist: “How To Vote In LA For The June 7 Primary Election”

For more information about the candidates, and if you need additional endorsements (I wasn’t able to cover every single race), go here:
Cal Matters
Courage California
East Area Progressive Democrats
Knock LA
LA Forward
LAist
LA Times
Voters Edge

MY LIST OF VOTING RECOMMENDATIONS

Keep scrolling for my explanations of why I support these candidates, alternative suggestions, and sources. (The asterisks indicate races where I’ve changed my mind. You will need to scroll down to see why.)

UNITED STATES SENATOR: ALEX PADILLA
(VOTE TWICE: FOR SHORT & LONG TERM POSITIONS)

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DISTRICT 27: CHRISTY SMITH

LOS ANGELES MAYOR: KAREN RUTH BASS

LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY: HYDEE FELDSTEIN SOTO*

LOS ANGELES CITY CONTROLLER: KENNETH MEJIA

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 1: EUNISSES HERNANDEZ

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 5: KATY YOUNG YAROSLAVSKY

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 7: ELISA AVALOS

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 13: HUGO SOTO-MARTINEZ

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 15: DANIELLE SANDOVAL

LOS ANGELES SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 2: ROCIO RIVAS

LOS ANGELES SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 6: MARVIN RODRIGUEZ

CA STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT 26: MARIA ELENA DURAZO

CA STATE ASSEMBLY, DISTRICT 52: MIA LIVAS PORTER

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 34: JIMMY GOMEZ

BALLOT MEASURE BB: YES

LA COUNTY SUPERVISOR, DISTRICT 1: HILDA SOLIS

LA COUNTY SHERIFF: ERIC STRONG

LA COUNTY ASSESSOR: JEFFREY PRANG

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 003): SHERLIYN GARNETT

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 060): ANNA SLOTKY REITANO

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 67): ELIZABETH LASHLEY-HAYNES

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 70): HOLLY HANCOCK

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 90): KEVIN THOMAS MCGURK

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 116): LLOYD E. HANDLER

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 118): CAROLYN “JIYOUNG” PARK

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 151): THOMAS D. ALLISON

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 156): CAROL ELSWICK*

GOVERNOR: GAVIN NEWSOM

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: ELENI KOUNALAKIS

SECRETARY OF STATE: SHIRLEY WEBER

CONTROLLER: MALIA COHEN

TREASURER: MEGHANN ADAMS

ATTORNEY GENERAL: ROB BONTA

INSURANCE COMMISSIONER: RICARDO LARA

BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, DISTRICT 3: TONY VAZQUEZ

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: TONY THURMOND

WHY I RECOMMEND THESE CANDIDATES

To be quite honest, this list of recommendations was quite difficult to make, because many of these races are between Democrats. Whenever possible, I tried to include some of the alternative options, using multiple voting guides along the left-wing spectrum. Feel free to check my sources and draw your own conclusions!

UNITED STATES SENATOR: ALEX PADILLA
(VOTE TWICE: FOR SHORT & LONG TERM POSITIONS)

“This position is currently open to applications for both a 56-day contractual basis (to serve from when the election results are certified in November until Jan. 3, 2023) and for the standard six-year term (beginning in January). Let us explain: In 2021, the prior holder of this position, Kamala Harris [became Vice President]. This gave Gov. Gavin Newsom the opportunity to appoint current Sen. Alex Padilla. The U.S. Constitution’s 17th Amendment specifies that appointees to the Senate should serve “until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”…That’s why California voters will be asked to hire a senator to fill the remainder of Harris’ term — which ends in January …and to hire a senator to serve the next term… Padilla, who has the backing of the entire Democratic establishment, is the clear favorite [to win].”
(Source: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2022/us-senate)

“When Gov. Gavin Newsom named then-California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill Kamala Harris’ seat in the U.S. Senate after she was elected vice president, it was the right choice — and not only because it was high time that this state, where 39% of residents are Latino, had a Latino senator. As the state’s election chief, Padilla had already shown he had the mettle to take on national issues by offering a sober and factual counterpoint to President Trump’s frequent lies about election fraud. And his long political resume as secretary of state, as state senator representing the San Fernando Valley and as Los Angeles City Council president made it clear he was among the few ready to step up to the Senate seat on short notice. He did that with ease, and now, just slightly over a year since he took office, Padilla has proven that he is as capable, as honorable, as skilled a lawmaker as we expected.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-08/alex-padilla-for-u-s-senate)

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DISTRICT 27: CHRISTY SMITH

“Incumbent GOP Rep. Mike Garcia is seeking reelection after a term in office in which he proved to be a Trump enabler and a threat to democracy. He was among the Republican extremists who, outrageously, tried to throw out the votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania by voting against certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election. And even though Trump incited violent mobs who attacked the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification process, Garcia voted against impeaching Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection….

The good news is that voters in this northern Los Angeles County district have the chance this year to get rid of Garcia and replace him with a representative who will respect the sanctity of the vote… Democrat Christy Smith is a longtime resident of Santa Clarita who has represented the area in the state Assembly and served on the Newhall School District board… In the Assembly, she championed passage of important charter school regulations. Her voting record on abortion issues earned her a top rating from Planned Parenthood. In Congress, she wants to strengthen voting rights, make college and trade schools more affordable and carry legislation to put a social worker in every school that serves low-income children… When Smith ran for this office in 2020… she lost to Garcia by just 333 votes, a margin so small that the official tally calls it a 50%-50% vote…With a more active campaign this year… Smith makes a strong case that she’s prepared to defeat Garcia. Voters should have her back.”
(Source: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-16/endorsement-christy-smith-for-congress)

LOS ANGELES MAYOR: KAREN RUTH BASS

“Karen Bass for Los Angeles mayor: Karen Bass is an extraordinarily qualified, battle-tested, mission-driven leader, and should be L.A.’s next mayor.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

“Endorsed for Mayor: KAREN BASS, with 86 percent of votes.”
(Source: East Area Progressive Democrats, www.eapd.la/endorsements)

“Voters upset over crime and a seemingly limitless geyser of cash have propelled Rick Caruso to the front of the race for mayor, reshaping the contest and offering Los Angeles a stark contrast between the billionaire developer and his chief rival, Rep. Karen Bass… Caruso has frequently hyped the scale of crime in the city, saying at a recent debate, for example, that the city was experiencing some of the worst crime in its history. That is not true, but the poll clearly shows the role the crime issue has played in allowing Caruso, a former Republican who only recently switched his registration to Democrat, to compete in heavily Democratic Los Angeles. His backers in the poll are evenly distributed among Republicans, Democrats and nonpartisan voters, while Bass’s supporters are overwhelmingly Democrats.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-11/karen-bass-rick-caruso-in-dead-heat-mayoral-poll)

“1) Los Angeles folks: I believe that we all need to be a LOT more worried about Rick Caruso’s candidacy. We’re on the verge of allowing a Trumpian, anti-abortion billionaire buy our city government. And he can do it this June, in the primary, if we don’t stop him. 2) It’s not common knowledge, but if a single candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in the primary this June, they skip the general election and win the office outright. I think that Caruso is gunning to win this way, and I think he has a chance of making it happen. 3) This is the first LA mayoral election ever that’s synced with the national election cycle. It’s also the first mayoral election in which ballots are being mailed to EVERY eligible voters. Result: This election is going to have a completely new, vastly larger electorate. 4) Caruso is a billionaire developer who has so far spent an unprecedented $24 MILLION on TV ads. It’s impossible to watch the Dodgers or Jeopardy without seeing one. The other candidates are barely running ads. Result: Caruso is the only candidate many new voters have even heard of 5) The last poll a month ago showed Caruso and Bass in a dead heat, with every other candidate in single digits. In the month since, Caruso has flooded LA with ads, while most other campaigns have wilted. Result: Less candidates to take votes away from Caruso and keep him under 50%. 6) Add to that a rejuvenated right wing, which is fired up about mask and vaccine mandates, a (largely fictional) spike in crime, and hatred for Biden. They know that Caruso is their guy. Result: Masses of right wingers may turn out who never have before in a mayoral election.”
(Source: https://twitter.com/adamconover/status/1525287461848420353)

LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY: HYDEE FELDSTEIN SOTO

*UPDATED FROM MY ORIGINAL RECOMMENDATION: FAISAL GILL*

“ Hydee Feldstein Soto… would bring deep legal expertise, independence and intellectual curiosity to the job. Retired for the last decade, Feldstein Soto was a longtime partner in corporate law firms with specialties in bankruptcy and acquisitions, and she managed teams of lawyers with different disciplines. It was complex work that required collaboration and problem-solving to finalize deals that worked for clients. It was good training for managing the 500-plus lawyers in the city attorney’s office and navigating City Hall, which is full of difficult challenges and competing priorities. Her top priorities include helping departments streamline approvals for affordable housing, reviewing agreements with the county to ensure the city is receiving its fair share of public and mental health services, and scrutinizing the city’s contracting to understand why homeless housing is costing so much to build. She wants to ramp up enforcement of city ordinances by using the administrative penalty system to issue fines for offenses like illegal vacation rentals and building code violations. As for the prosecution of misdemeanors, she believes offenders should face consequences for crimes but that penalties or interventions should include diversion to treatment, community services or restorative justice programs. Feldstein Soto understands the possibilities and limitations of the office. The city attorney is not a policymaker. That’s important…Among the candidates, Feldstein Soto stands out for her experience, legal acumen and problem-solving skills, and The Times recommends her for city attorney.

Civil rights lawyer Faisal Gill has focused on holding the Los Angeles Police Department accountable for officer misconduct and has said he would not enforce the city’s ban on homeless encampments. [As a] former Republican, now Democrat, [he has] made major ideological shifts over [his] career… Gill worked in the George W. Bush administration and advocated against gay marriage.”
(Source: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-12/endorsement-hydee-feldstein-soto-for-los-angeles-city-attorney)

“Hydee Feldstein Soto [is] hardly a household name. I met her back in the day, somewhere in the 2000’s, as a neighborhood council and community advocate who kept us abreast of proposed legislation in Sacramento and city hall. She regularly showed up at the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition or LANCC, and other community events to update us on land use issues, often legislation, especially bills or proposed bills which would favor speculators and screw Angelenos. She often went to Sacramento to try and ameliorate stupid laws by people like Scott Weiner (SF). So, when she told me she is running for LA City Attorney, I was jazzed. Her rationale for doing this is that she thinks it’s important to have a LA City Attorney who understands the job, is independent of political winds, and is ready to run a huge law firm for the benefit of all Angelenos…The reason I wholeheartedly support her is simple. In running she is a neighborhood council person, small ‘d’ democrat, grassroots advocate, used to drawing LANCC’s diverse members into a consensus on land use issues (no small feat), effective in Sacramento helping us fight bad legislation, and made her bones in the big bucks world of big law, at firms like Sullivan & Cronwell LLP and Paul Hastings LLP, where problem solving and the ability to get things done on time and on budget really mattered. We would be lucky to have that kind of a lawyer working as our city attorney. She is not, however, winner of the political contributions race. For that, we’ll take a look at the top contenders there, I think in order of money raised…Faisal Gill.

I’ll admit that I never heard of Faisal Gill before this race, so I did a little digging. Mostly I think he was never on my radar because he is not from around here. Up until 2007 he was a registered Republican, and ran for the Virginia House of Delegates. In 2016 he shows up in Vermont as the Democratic Candidate for Vermont State Senate, and when he lost that race as well, he became the Interim Vermont Democratic Party Chair. He moved to LA sometime in 2019 to run for city attorney. One reason for his fundraising success is that, according to his website’s Endorsement page, he has the lion’s share of the establishment democratic party on his side: Karen Bass, Ro Khanna and Ilhan Omar, LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, Sidney Kamlager and others. Anyhow, as Gill’s own website characterizes him, “Faisal recently won a settlement with the City of Los Angeles in a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by a Black Hollywood music producer who fought in court to have LAPD body camera video footage made public to prove allegations he was racially profiled before his arrest. Faisal hopes to bring his perspective as an immigrant and civil rights attorney to the office of LA City Attorney and restore trust and transparency in local government. Faisal has 6 children and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Aimee who is also an attorney.”

He lists himself as a civil rights attorney, although he spent decades working for the Republican Party, and arguing that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual’s concealed carry of firearms into a K-12 school. You can see it here. He also spearheaded the unsuccessful push for a constitutional amendment against marriage equality in Virginia with particular venom: “During a recent public forum at the Durant Center, Ebbin and Fairfax County trial attorney Faisal Gill debated the merits of the proposed amendment. Gill, who represented Virginians for Marriage and the Family Foundation, said that the purpose of the amendment is to prevent legal recognition of gay marriages from other states. Putting his money where his mouth is, Gill offered pro bono representation to any clients who claim that the amendment has imperiled their contracts, wills, inheritance or advanced medical directives. #“I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman,” Gill said. “Thus far, the debate over this amendment has focused on the legalities. If we want to be intellectually honest, we will have a debate about the policy issues.” That was in 2006.”
(Source: https://www.randomlengthsnews.com/archives/2022/04/07/la-city-attorney-race/38950)

FAISAL GILL: “This powerful office is often overlooked, in part because it’s a confusing mix of roles and responsibilities. These include prosecuting (or not prosecuting) misdemeanors, providing corporate counsel to the City and the LAPD, interpreting the City Charter, drafting legislation at request of the City Council, and representing the public against bad actors like corporate polluters or abusive employers. Put it all together, and the city attorney could be a progressive powerhouse, if anyone thought to use it that way. The LA City Attorney Coalition’s platform offers some superb specifics as to how this can be done. But instead, the office is generally treated as a political stepping stone (current City Attorney Mike Feuer is running a doomed campaign for mayor), and the staff is infamous for their brutal and carceral approach to prosecution. Faisal Gill stands out as the one candidate who has embraced a progressive approach to the office. He has promised to cut back on misdemeanor prosecution (including sex workers and unhoused people arrested in sweeps) and to redirect those resources to the affirmative litigation division where they can focus on rooting out wage theft and suing corporate polluters. He also has vowed to hold LAPD accountable, both through prosecution and by how he structures settlements for misconduct on behalf of the city. He looks even better in comparison to the rest of the motley crew competing for the office, who are generally somewhere between right wing and incompetent, and quite often both.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

“Civil rights attorney Faisal Gill, who served as a senior Homeland Security official under President George W. Bush, is jumping into the race for Los Angeles City Attorney — and running as a progressive Democrat…A native of Pakistan who moved with his family to the United States as a child, Gill, 48, served as the policy director for the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence division from 2003 to 2005. More recently, he’s worked as an attorney in private practice, representing such clients as Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of slain Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in a lawsuit against Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who U.S. intelligence determined approved Khashoggi’s killing. Ironically, Gill is currently representing music producer Antone Austin in a federal lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department and the City of Los Angeles, alleging racial profiling, excessive force, and unlawful arrest. How a former Republican raised in Northern Virginia and with reputed ties to Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist wound up running for L.A. City Attorney — and has already snagged endorsements from Karen Bass, Ilhan Omar, and Ro Khanna — is quite a tale. In 2004, Gill was embroiled in controversy after the FBI discovered he had failed to list on security clearance documents his work in 2001 with the American Muslim Council, a now-defunct lobby whose founder, Abdurahman Alamoudi, was indicted in 2003 on terrorism-related money laundering charges. He was briefly removed from his job but was ultimately reinstated after a department investigation found no reason to deny him a top-secret security clearance. Gill stepped down the following year. The Navy veteran ran as a Republican for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2007, lost, and then changed political parties the same year.

In an interview, Gill says the experience of being targeted by prominent Republicans like Congressman Peter King over his Muslim faith, his nationality, and his liberal views on immigration soured him on the GOP. A relative newcomer to L.A., Gill says he is running for City Attorney to hold the LAPD more accountable, to stop the practice of ticketing homeless people for things like vagrancy and trespassing, and to target slumlords who ignore city ordinances set in place to protect tenants. He and his wife and the couple’s three children moved to Porter Ranch in 2018 from Burlington, Vermont, where he was the first Muslim chair of the state Democratic Party. He said they relocated in part to be closer to Gill’s three children from a previous marriage, who live in L.A. He also lived in L.A. from 2008 to 2014. “You go through a pretty big transformation when you face hatred,” he said of switching from Republican to Democrat. “I realized the Republican Party is OK with Muslims donating money, but that the minute a Muslim wants a seat at the table it’s a different story.” He said the experience of fighting with the city attorney’s office to release body cam footage from the Austin arrest motivated him to run for city attorney. For years, Gill has served as an advisor for the Council on Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties group, and for the Democracy in the Arab World Now, an advocacy group founded by Khashoggi. In July 2014, journalist Glenn Greenwald reported that Gill was one of five prominent Muslim U.S. citizens that were under National Security Agency surveillance, according to documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.”
(Source: https://www.lamag.com/citythin.../faisal-gill-city-attorney/)

“Gill, who was 8 when his family emigrated from Pakistan, went to law school in Washington, D.C., and then joined the U.S. Navy as an officer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. After his military career, he got involved with Muslim interest groups and did a stint as a senior policy advisor in the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush. Amid debate over a marriage amendment in Virginia in 2006, Gill was quoted in a local newspaper as saying, “I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman.” The next year, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates as a Republican. While campaigning, Gill said he noticed potential voters often wrote him off before he opened his mouth. “When you experience that level of hatred, it really makes you question your views,” he said. “I turned away from the Republican Party and became a very staunch Democrat.” He reflected on the ways he, too, had perpetuated discrimination — “I was wrong then, absolutely wrong,” he said of his onetime opposition to same-sex marriage — and says he has worked since then to show his dedication to the Democratic Party. Before moving to California in 2018, Gill lived in Vermont, where he made an unsuccessful bid for a state Senate seat in 2016 and served as chairman of the state’s Democratic Party for several months in 2017. His decision to run for city attorney, Gill said, was born out of his experience litigating against the office on behalf of one of his clients, Antone Austin, a Black man arrested by Los Angeles police during a search for a white suspect in 2019. A few years earlier, through information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, Gill learned he was being spied on by the U.S. government. It was surreal, he said, to hear people call him a mole when, in reality, he was simply a politically active American Muslim. “I understand government overreach and how it can ruin your life.”
(Source: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-05/la-city-attorney-race-ex-republicans-daffy-duck-factor)

LOS ANGELES CITY CONTROLLER: KENNETH MEJIA

“Kenneth Mejia for L.A. city controller: For this job, government outsider Kenneth Mejia is particularly impressive because the 31-year-old certified public accountant and auditor has used his campaign to demonstrate the kind of transparency-and-data-driven controller he would be — and that’s why The Times is endorsing him.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

“Kenneth Mejia has run a trailblazing campaign for this office, using a combination of accounting expertise, social media savvy, enthusiastic public engagement, and a community organizing mentality. His run for office is a working demonstration of how he would perform the job itself as an independent watchdog and public information resource. He’s endorsed by Ground Game LA. A longtime organizer with the LA Tenants Union, Mejia is a certified public accountant (CPA) with 11 years of accounting and auditing experience. Not only is he the only CPA in the race for city controller — an office responsible for auditing city finances — but he would, astonishingly, be the first CPA in Los Angeles history to serve in this office. Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley by his single mother, a first-generation Filipina, Mejia and his campaign have already used the race as a platform for progressive values by providing an unprecedented level of financial analysis, transparency, and resources to Angelenos, using city data. These resources include a map of affordable housing units, a heat map and analysis of LAPD traffic and pedestrian stops, and a map of the most frequently ticketed parking spots in LA. He has even broken important news stories, such as his discovery that half of LA’s American Rescue Plan funds for COVID-19 relief went to the LAPD. Mejia’s qualifications and outsider perspective has earned him endorsements from the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Melina Abdullah (co-founder of Black Lives Matter–LA), former LA Deputy Mayor Rick Cole, Sunrise Movement LA, Ground Game LA, and many other progressive organizations and community members. The Mejia campaign has the most grassroots support in the city controller race, raising more money in small-dollar donations than all of the other campaigns combined.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

DAVID VAHEDI: “Termed-out City Council District 5’s member Paul Koretz, despite having zero financial expertise, has simply worked back political channels to completely preempt endorsements from the get-go. Legions favor him seemingly reflexively, without considering his suitability for the job. It is very odd, as if the job does not matter, just the position. And reciprocally, similarly unreflective is the push-back with a young, politically, practically, and professionally inexperienced, former-Green candidate [Kenneth Mejia]. I’m always eager for viable third-party candidates, but when the interest is more for office than the job of it, I get uneasy. Professionally I have a lot of problem with the way a CPA straight out of school crowd-sources number-crunching from others and brands it as his own apparently without context or significance. This precludes conversation about the work and feels to me more akin to demagoguery than financial acumen; I don’t see it as a viable route to good public policy. David Vahedi lost to Paul Koretz in CD5 several years ago and is now matched against him in a financial context that should be Vahedi’s bailiwick. I’d like to see what a locally rooted CFO can do with our City’s budget… as a viable candidate actually familiar with life, politics and auditing massive balance sheets.”
(Source: https://redqueeninla.com/2022/05/19/a-letter-to-my-daughters-students-voting-absentee-in-californias-june-7-2022-primary/)

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 1: EUNISSES HERNANDEZ

“Eunisses Hernandez for City Council District 1: Policy advocate and community organizer Eunisses Hernandez has a record of moving forward big, complicated systemic reforms. That’s what L.A. needs.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 5: KATY YOUNG YAROSLAVSKY

“A UCLA-trained attorney and LA native, Katy Young Yaroslavsky has been the architect of environmental policies that have made real differences in the fight against climate catastrophe. Her work with the Climate Action Reserve, the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl (particularly on Measure W: The Safe, Clean Water Program), and the Clean Power Alliance has been instrumental in carrying out Green New Deal actions for a just transition away from fossil fuels. Challenging existing systems and infrastructure takes a relentless nature, a sharp eye for policy detail, and a steady focus on long-term goals. Young Yaroslavsky has proven herself to be ably suited to the work, and we have no doubt she will carry those skills to City Council.

Young Yaroslavksy has also demonstrated a genuine interest in engagement with community and activist groups, even when such engagement offers little in the way of short-term political gain. This augurs well for building co-governance relationships in office, which is good because Young Yaroslavsky is far from perfect. Knock LA disagrees with some of Young Yaroslavsky’s statements on LA municipal ordinance 41.18, which brutally criminalizes unhoused people and discourages long term solutions to homelessness. She is on the record saying both “it’s not going to solve homelessness,” and “if it’s paired with deep social work and street engagement, it could be a helpful tool.” If she is elected, community engagement and pressure will be needed to push her in a progressive direction.

Former Mid City West Neighborhood Council board chair Scott Epstein has done good work to improve transportation in the area…

Law school professor Jimmy Biblarz impressed us with his stances and policy goals, but struck us as more interested in movement work rather than connected to it. While he was raised in LA, Biblarz has only lived in LA as an adult for two years and lacks strong roots in the community that would keep him accountable while in office.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 7: ELISA AVALOS

“Incumbent Monica Rodriguez has a decent track record. She has worked with respected community groups such as Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural to solicit community input on bike path improvements and with Pacoima Beautiful on streetscape improvements, including more shade trees and sidewalks, to allow better access to transit. She called for the LAPD to draft a report on all shootings by officers in 2021 after the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Valentina Orellana Peralta. Still, Councilmember Rodriguez leaves a lot to be desired by progressives. Residents in the San Fernando Gardens public housing project have not had success in getting her to meet and engage with them. They also say that her office has not been as responsive to them as they’d wish. She co-introduced resolutions to enforce the brutal anti-homeless measure 41.18, a motion that criminalizes “sitting, lying, sleeping, and storing personal property” in certain areas. Not having the scandals of some of her City Hall colleagues, she’s all but certain to be reelected.

As the president of the Pacoima Neighborhood Council, Elisa Avalos, the only challenger, is a passionate advocate for the community. She worked with stakeholders to pass a resolution asking the Metro board to evaluate alternatives to demolishing Pacoima’s central shopping district for the East San Fernando Valley transit project. She also calls for mental health incident units to supplement police response and for community oversight of police. Knock LA disagrees with Avalos on housing: her priority is single-family zoning, ours is public and social housing. But voting for her is a way to let Rodriguez know that constituents support a holistic approach to addressing issues involving policing, unhoused people, and transit.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 13: HUGO SOTO-MARTINEZ

“Hugo Soto-Martinez is an exciting, progressive candidate for a district whose governance has, for too long, been at odds with its constituents. By presidential vote, it is one of the most progressive districts in the city. By housing type, it is one of the most renter-heavy. And yet, for almost a decade, it’s been misrepresented by Mitch O’Farrell, an alumnus of Eric Garcetti’s office who has been on the wrong side of just about every issue that’s come before him. While some of his colleagues sought to pass a true pandemic eviction protection for renters, O’Farrell cast a deciding vote to defeat it, forcing City Council to pass a weaker proposal instead. When his colleagues introduced legislation to improve LA’s homelessness response and provide more services, O’Farrell gutted the motion and turned it into a handout for the sanitation department…All told, his work to gentrify CD 13 has made it one of the few districts in the city to actually shrink in population between 2010 and 2020 censuses, as low-income and nonwhite residents were pushed out. It’s all of a piece with O’Farrell’s career as a diligent servant to his district’s major property owners and developers and small cliques of well-organized homeowners, and with his callous disregard for the rest of his district and the city…

Born and raised in Los Angeles by Mexican immigrant parents, Hugo Soto-Martinez is an experienced union organizer with UNITE HERE! Local 11 (the hotel and restaurant workers’ union), who has also organized as a member of DSA-LA and NOlympics — and even has localist chops with service on the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council. He bridges the worlds of labor and left activism, worlds which have frequently lined up on opposite sides in Los Angeles — to the detriment of both…

He’s endorsed by Dolores Huerta, two sitting progressive councilmembers, a former CD 13 councilmember, DSA, Ground Game LA, and a host of unions, including the teachers’ union. Not only will Soto-Martinez be an enormous improvement over the incumbent, we think his experience and values will make him a crucial component of the emerging progressive bloc on City Council.

Alongside Soto-Martinez, O’Farrell’s weakness has led to a robust field of candidates vying to unseat him. Kate Pynoos, a former policy advisor to departing progressive Councilmember Mike Bonin has at times outraised O’Farrell and is running on her City Hall experience as a wonkish, practical progressive…Any vote against Mitch O’Farrell is a good one. But a vote for Hugo Soto-Martinez, the labor organizer who scares the bejeezus out of the landlord lobby, is a great one. He’s endorsed by Ground Game LA. Vote for him.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

KATE PYNOOS: “We recommend Kate Pynoos, a lawyer who calls herself a progressive with practical experience. As a legislative aide to Councilman Mike Bonin, she helped craft motions, dealt with council members and their staffs, and assisted on budget issues. She knows how the sausage is made. She also served three years on the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council. On homelessness, unlike O’Farrell, she does not support the city’s anti-camping ordinance. While she would focus on creating more interim housing and shelter, she believes it’s crucial to have permanent housing to move people into. Pynoos has a detailed housing and tenant protection plan that includes reducing political influence over housing approvals, expanding existing affordable housing incentive programs and creating new ones, and preventing homelessness by increasing rental subsidies for people facing eviction or falling behind on their rent. She would not increase the police budget or reduce it at this point. She believes in developing alternatives to having police deal with mental health crises… Pynoos’ experience working in City Hall and her grasp of the structural reforms needed to make the city work better give her the edge.”
(Source: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-17/kate-pynoos-endorsement-la-city-council)

LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 15: DANIELLE SANDOVAL

“Danielle Sandoval for City Council District 15: Community organizer and entrepreneur Danielle Sandoval is a grass-roots politician who would bring a fresh perspective to City Hall.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

LOS ANGELES SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 2: ROCIO RIVAS

“Dr. Rocío Rivas is LAUSD trustee Jackie Goldberg’s policy deputy. The United Teachers Los Angeles union endorses Dr. Rivas. She calls for a Green New Deal for Public Schools — which would turn them into accessible areas of green space and convert all LAUSD schools to renewable energy, reimagine school safety, and fully staff schools with counselors, psychiatric social workers, librarians, nurses, and aides. She also supports reallocating money from school police to educational programs.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

“Endorsed for L.A. Unified School District (LAUSD) Board, District 2: DR. ROCÍO RIVAS”
(Source: East Area Progressive Democrats, www.eapd.la/endorsements)

“Rivas is a parent activist and deputy to current District 5 board member Jackie Goldberg. She has the support of the teachers union. Important to improving the district’s enrollment, Rivas tells LAist, is building a trusting and welcome environment. Not only have many parents been concerned about their children’s health, Rivas says, but “LAUSD schools have facilities issues that need to be addressed, coupled with necessity for shade, greening, and gardens. She wants to see LAUSD schools “become sanctuaries of welcoming, nurturing, and understanding … compassionate environments for students to feel understood and validated.” Rivas proposes the development of a social-emotional toolkit that combines curriculum, programs, services, and videos, capable of adapting to whatever scenario. She also wants more resources to address parent mental health. Rivas is blunt about sharing resources between district-run schools and charter schools. “Co-location is another instrument to drain resources from neighborhood public schools … The sharing of school space is not conducive for either school as it disrupts the school’s day-to-day schedule and routine.” Until the state legislature changes policy to end co-location rights, she wants the district to be active participants in co-location, helping principals ensure the least disruption possible. On law enforcement, Rivas says there is “a role for policing, but not directly inside schools,” and that all stakeholders must have an “honest and clear discussion on school safety, criminalization of students, school-to-prison pipeline, not enough after school programs and having too many accessible guns. Website: drrivasforschoolboard.com”
(Source: https://laist.com/news/politics/2022-election-california-primary-los-angeles-county-lausd-school-board)

LOS ANGELES SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 4: No endorsement

“Incumbent charter supporter Nick Melvoin began teaching through Teach for America, which funnels students into teaching positions at “in need” schools that are largely charter schools. It’s a way to replace unionized teachers with lower-paid workers at high turnover. An independent expenditure to support the Melvoin and Gonez campaigns by charter front group “Kids First” already spent half a million, funded by Bill Bloomfield, a businessman who is a major political investor and strong advocate of charter schools. Bloomfield spent over $1 million to attack LAUSD trustee Jackie Goldberg. Also running are anti-vaxxers Gentille Barkhordarian and charter school teacher Tracey Schroeder. All bad options.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

“The LAUSD Board District 4 race is a misery… Nick Melvoin has been the driving force of privatization in LAUSD, working to catalog space available for his patrons to pilfer, engineer delivery of public programs and facilities to his privatized counterparts, reduce the entire complexity of humanity and its Education into a simplistic numeric metric for commodification. He delivers the public entity he is elected to work for, to its mortal foe, a privatizational and predatory private sector, from behind closed doors. As far as I am concerned, he is a traitor to the promise of educational opportunity for one and all. So, I cannot vote for him. And both his opponents are anti-vax delusionals, one from the far Christian right, the other from who even knows; she has no website, no SM presence, and no knowledge of education politics so… no. I considered writing-in a favorite teacher who might live in LAUSD4. But unqualified write-ins won’t be counted. I have never failed to vote on a single race I am aware of since 1980. Yet never say never, because I cannot vote for any of these candidates.”
(Source: https://redqueeninla.com/2022/05/19/a-letter-to-my-daughters-students-voting-absentee-in-californias-june-7-2022-primary)

LOS ANGELES SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 6: MARVIN RODRIGUEZ

“Teacher, Iraq War veteran, and immigrant Marvin A. Rodríguez says privatizing interests can no longer be “left to weaponize charter schools to undermine our public education system by creating conditions which force our schools to compete for funding and resources.” As a teacher and parent of LAUSD kids, Rodríguez wants to increase the opportunities for parents to engage in schools. By contrast, incumbent Kelly Gonez shut down Parent Engagement and Special Education committees during the pandemic.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

“Rodriguez has been a teacher since 2005, and has been teaching Spanish at Cleveland High School since 2014… In a statement on his website, Rodriguez says “we must fight to create the conditions in public education which restore faith in our public schools’ ability to deliver equitable opportunities for all our students.”… Rodriquez says he wants to see increased funding for mental health and for curriculum that “[supports] the cultural backgrounds of our students and strengthen their cultural and racial identities.” He also wants to move the time of board meetings “to meet the needs of parents and teachers, who are unable to leave work early enough to attend meetings where decisions affecting them directly are made. Website: marvinrodriguez2022.com “
(Source: https://laist.com/news/politics/2022-election-california-primary-los-angeles-county-lausd-school-board)

CA STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT 26: MARIA ELENA DURAZO

“Maria Elena Durazo, State Senator (Democratic)
Campaign website: mariaelenadurazo.com
State Senate website: https://sd24.senate.ca.gov/
Campaign finance: See all campaign contributions via the California Secretary of State website
See Durazo’s State Senate record via CalMatters’ Legislator Tracker”
(Source: https://laist.com/news/politics/2022-election-california-primary-california-state-senate)

CA STATE ASSEMBLY, DISTRICT 52: MIA LIVAS PORTER

“Mia Livas Porter: AD 52 covers most of NELA, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Glendale and East Los Angeles. It is Los Angeles’ most progressive electoral district bar none, and is due for a candidate that is legitimately reflective of its constituents. Mia Livas Porter has been an organizer with Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety, working on gun violence prevention after losing her brother to suicide following his lengthy battle with schizophrenia. She supported UTLA during the teachers’ strike, and is campaigning on a Green New Deal for California, single-payer healthcare, and reimagining public safety by reinvesting in affordable housing, education, healthcare, and public transit. Porter has not taken any money from police associations, insurance companies, medical or pharmaceutical interests, charter schools, or energy companies.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

“Mia Livas Porter was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. The daughter of Filipino Immigrant healthcare providers, Mia’s parents instilled in her a sense of public service by routinely providing free healthcare to at-need community members. She graduated with a theater degree and spent several years acting in Chicago [then] moved to Los Angeles in 1999 as an actor… At one point, Mia held 5 jobs at once just to make ends meet. [Then she decided to get] her Masters in Interior Architecture at UCLA. During her studies, Mia became a new mom and would graduate 8 months pregnant with her second child. After earning her degree, Mia had to stay home with her two kids due to a lack of affordable childcare... She became a full-time activist in 2016, working to elect progressive champions up and down the ballot. In 2019, she would serve as a Parent-Teacher Liaison in support of the 2019 UTLA Strike.

Mia is a survivor of gun violence and has been heavily involved with Mom’s Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety. She would serve as a CA Statewide Event’s Lead and a Everytown for Gun Safety National Spokesperson. In these roles, she helped plan survivor support events across the state, designed mental health programs at the State level, and spoke before Congress and before the State Legislature in Sacramento.”
(Source: https://votersedge.org/en/ca/ballot/election/2022-06-07/california-state-assembly-district-52/mia-livas-porter)

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 34: JIMMY GOMEZ

“Jimmy Gomez, Congressmember (Democratic)
Campaign website: jimmygomezforcongress.com
Congressional website: gomez.house.gov
Campaign finance: See all campaign contributions via the Federal Elections Commission
See Gomez’s congressional voting record via ProPublica’s Represent tool”
(Source: https://laist.com/news/politics/2022-election-california-primary-us-representative-los-angeles-county)

BALLOT MEASURE BB: YES

“Charter Amendment BB: Yes: Charter Amendment BB would change the charter to let Los Angeles give businesses in the city a competitive edge when bidding for municipal contracts.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

“Measure BB (Local Preference): Yes. Right now the city allows a preference for local contractors in Los Angeles County or California, so all bidders within the state are given the same amount of consideration. This amendment would allow the city to consider local businesses based in the City of Los Angeles before outside entities. This wouldn’t guarantee local businesses would win the bid, but it would move them to the front of the line. Los Angeles is one of the 10 most expensive places to conduct business, and right now local businesses have to compete with contractors based in cities that have lower costs. This would help level the playing field.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

LA COUNTY SUPERVISOR, DISTRICT 1: HILDA SOLIS

“Hilda Solis for the 1st supervisorial district: Hilda Solis has served the county and its people well in the years leading up to and including the pandemic. Voters should give her one more term to complete her ambitious agenda for a county overhaul based on equity and service delivery.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

LA COUNTY SHERIFF: ERIC STRONG

“Eric Strong has seen how police, in several different departments, have failed to serve or protect people. He has stated that he has had negative interactions with the police, and that he has had family members killed by police. Critically, he has held deputies accountable as a member of the internal affairs division. He has committed to immediately remove all deputies involved with severe use-of-force incidents from positions where they interact with the public until all levels of the investigation have concluded. Strong is also the only candidate who has publicly stated he would support more oversight from outside groups like the Board of Supervisors and Civilian Oversight Commission as well as an impeachment process for the position of sheriff. And he is the only candidate who has stated that not only should the notorious Men’s Central Jail be torn down, it should not be replaced. Strong thinks that we should re-fund our communities, such as supporting guaranteed income projects for low-income county residents. He has repeatedly declared his support for shifting funding from the Sheriff’s Department budget to social services outside the department. (He calls it “reallocation” rather than “defunding,” but it’s the same principle.) He has stated that he will not use the Olympics as an excuse to grow the department. He will not accept weapons or surveillance equipment donations from federal programs. It would also be worth noting that Strong would be the first Black sheriff in LA County history. While Strong is not our ideal candidate, he is the best option we have, and voting him into office is the best way to move toward a future where police violence is reduced…

Robert Luna is the former chief of the Long Beach Police Department and part of several scandals, including but not limited to: a helicopter pilot experiencing severe racism on the job, the department illegally using facial recognition software illegally over 1,000 times, and he and the rest of the department using a self-deleting texting app to avoid California record laws.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/#la-county-sheriff)

LA COUNTY ASSESSOR: JEFFREY PRANG

“Jeffrey Prang, a licensed appraiser first elected to this office in 2014, is running for a third term and has generally received positive reviews for restoring integrity to the office. Knock LA applauds him for raising awareness about how Prop 19 is contributing to the displacement of low-income families in gentrifying neighborhoods. His analysis is similar to what Knock LA posted about Prop 19 in its November 2020 voter guide: while reassessing properties other than one’s primary residence increases the fairness of the tax system, the threshold at which reassessment occurs on primary residences is too low to prevent multigenerational working class families whose neighborhoods are rapidly gentrifying from being forced to sell their homes because of massive increases in their property taxes.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 003): SHERLIYN GARNETT

“Office 3: Sherilyn Peace Garnett: Sherilyn Peace Garnett is a well-regarded judge who has been appointed to federal district court. If Garnett receives more than 50% of the vote June 7, the office will be vacant and the governor would be able to appoint a new judge. The other candidates in the race are not stand outs.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

TIM REUBEN: “Tim Reuben is an experienced civil litigator and believer in the power of vaccination as a public safety tool. The current judge, Sherliyn Garnett, is an excellent, fair-minded jurist, but the Senate recently confirmed her to the federal judiciary, so even though she’s still on the ballot, if she wins the election, the governor would appoint her replacement. Rather than taking your chances with Newsom, vote for Reuben.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 060): ANNA SLOTKY REITANO

“Public Defender Anna Slotky Reitano is a dedicated felony trial attorney with significant experience in the juvenile courts and a deep commitment to ensuring that people suffering from mental illness are treated with dignity and compassion. Reitano is on the Defenders of Justice slate, a group of four progressive women running for judge seats, and endorsed by Ground Game LA.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

ABBY BARON: “Office 60: Abby Baron: Prosecutor Abby Baron has received praise not just from police and crime victims’ advocates but also from defense attorneys, who cite her fairness and desire for a just result rather than a conviction at all costs.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

SHARON RANSOM: “For Office №60 Sharon Ransom is inspiring. A popular slate attorney is in this race but compared with the formative life experiences shared by Ransom and the unswerving insistence on even-handedness she maintains, I feel more comfortable with this choice.”
(Source: https://redqueeninla.com/2022/05/19/a-letter-to-my-daughters-students-voting-absentee-in-californias-june-7-2022-primary/)

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 67): ELIZABETH LASHLEY-HAYNES

“Office №067: Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes is a highly experienced and respected public defender. Most recently, Lashley-Haynes has been chosen to lead her office’s Racial Justice Act unit, researching and litigating the application of new laws intended to prevent racial bias in prosecution and sentencing. She’s on the Defenders of Justice slate and endorsed by Ground Game LA.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

FERNANDA MARIA BARRETO: “Office 67: Fernanda Maria Barreto: Prosecutor Fernanda Maria Barreto has earned respect for her sensitive handling of dozens of violent felony cases following a brief civil practice and several years of prosecuting domestic violence.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

“Running in Office №67 is another popular slate public defender. The other two candidates were rated by LACBA more highly and I will opt for the diversity provided by Fernanda Maria Barreto; both candidates while from the DA’s office, were very compelling in interviews.”
(Source: https://redqueeninla.com/2022/05/19/a-letter-to-my-daughters-students-voting-absentee-in-californias-june-7-2022-primary/)

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 70): HOLLY HANCOCK

“Office №070: Holly L. Hancock: We recommended Holly Hancock when she first ran for judge in 2018, and we recommend her again. As a public defender, Hancock has faced some of the most difficult courtrooms in the county, and headed the office’s efforts to expunge old convictions and assist the formerly incarcerated to reenter society. She held leadership positions with the Association of Flight Attendants Local 12, a form of advocacy that led her to a legal career. She’s on the Defenders of Justice slate and endorsed by Ground Game LA.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 90): KEVIN THOMAS MCGURK

“Office №090: Kevin Thomas McGurk is the only public defender running for this seat, with experience covering misdemeanors to murders, as well as health court, drug court, and diversion courts. As he points out, “In the last decade, out of forty-three open judicial seats, prosecutors were elected to ninety percent of them. Defense lawyers? Zero.””
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

MELISSA LYONS: “Office 90: Melissa Lyons: Prosecutor Melissa Lyons is noteworthy for her trial experience in the sex crimes division and for the time and effort she devotes to community programs to help law students as well as young people living in areas with high gang activity.”
(Source: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 116): LLOYD E. HANDLER

“Office №116: Lloyd E. Handler has made the brave decision to challenge an incumbent judge, and deserves your vote for it. A public defender with more than three decades of experience, Handler has led the office’s police misconduct unit and litigated to diversify juries in South LA. His career even extends to both sides of the courtroom, as he served as a district attorney before joining the public defender’s office. His choice to run against Judge Gelfound is an excellent example of why these races matter. While reforms at the state and county levels have created new alternatives to imprisonment, Gelfound has throttled the options for diversion in his court by refusing to use service providers that are accepted everywhere else in the County. Even more concerning, Gelfound refused to discipline or transfer Judge O’Gara for participating in an anti-Gascón Facebook group and counseling prosecutors on how to get around the new DA’s reforms.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

DAVID GELFOUND: “Office 116 provides a snapshot of the odd place we are in politically. The sitting judge, David Gelfound, is according to MetNews, seemingly not an obvious transgressor of the sort who has motivated the candidacy of so many judicial candidates today. Yet the Public Defender who is challenging him is reputed by reputation and ranking to be considerably less qualified. And still his is the perspective championed as a panacea for systemic ills which need redress. I will vote to retain what is not broken as this candidate offers neither diversity, temperament nor even the righteous anger of the slate Defenders.”
(Source: https://redqueeninla.com/2022/05/19/a-letter-to-my-daughters-students-voting-absentee-in-californias-june-7-2022-primary)

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 118): CAROLYN “JIYOUNG” PARK

“Office №118: Carolyn “Jiyoung” Park is a former union staff attorney who has litigated civil rights, labor, and tenant cases, and represented union members in arbitrations and in collective bargaining, experience that is sadly lacking on the bench. It’s safe to say that only a tiny fraction of the judges ruling on eviction cases have even once represented a tenant. Park is also a committed local and environmental advocate as the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council liaison to the Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance. She would bring real diversity to a bench long dominated by former prosecutors. She’s on the Defenders of Justice slate and endorsed by Ground Game LA.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

MELISSA HAMMOND: “Office 118: Melissa Hammond: Deputy Dist. Atty. Melissa Hammond is the rare candidate whose career includes civil law, criminal defense and prosecution, giving her an unusual and valuable perspective on the legal system.”
(Source: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

GEORGIA HUERTA: “Office 118 is the most crowded race. Another of the slate’s candidates and a former compatriot of the LAC central committee is running here, but only the DAs and administrative law judge were deemed well qualified. Mindful that high-stakes, reductive screens can get the answer wrong, I’m impressed by the exhaustive professional evaluation process, and I understand it would reserve the most “judicious” for its “bench”. Clearly this is not a system of ranking comparative merit, but rather of absolute temperament and experience. “Fit” is a vital concept for everyone’s role. Objectivity is retained for the judge, presiding over partisan advocates who drive the process. In numerous forum it was Georgia Huerta’s words I found myself looking forward to. In another’s words she “expresses nuanced appreciation for how alternative courts can be effective and need to be expanded responsibly. She brings a native Angeleno’s experience, rooted in her community.” I think this sounds like the right fit for the adjudicative center and I will vote for Georgia Huerta, recognizing value added to the courtroom all around.”
(Source: https://redqueeninla.com/2022/05/19/a-letter-to-my-daughters-students-voting-absentee-in-californias-june-7-2022-primary)

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 151): THOMAS D. ALLISON

“Office №151: Thomas D. Allison: Although a public defender is running here, Thomas D. Allison is an outstanding choice for this seat. He’s a law professor and the founder of a nonprofit that holds free legal clinics that focus on domestic violence and expungements. He’s deeply rooted in his community of La Verne. He’s also not afraid to talk frankly and knowledgeably about the deep systemic biases in the legal system, drawing upon his own negative experiences with police growing up as a young Black man, and the importance of a trauma-informed approach to justice.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

PATRICK HARE: “Office 151: Patrick Hare: Patrick Hare is an experienced and widely respected deputy public defender who handled more than 100 jury trials, as well as non-criminal matters such as conservatorships and juvenile dependency cases.”
(Source: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

“Patrick Hare… is both Public Defender and [the] most qualified. He exemplifies the intersection of judicial temperament and professional perspective that is so desirable toward redressing its systemic bias.”
(Source: https://redqueeninla.com/2022/05/19/a-letter-to-my-daughters-students-voting-absentee-in-californias-june-7-2022-primary)

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT (OFFICE NO. 156): CAROL ELSWICK

*UPDATED FROM MY ORIGINAL RECOMMENDATION: ALBERT ROBLES*

“Office 156: Carol Elswick: Judge Carol Elswick crossed the line in improperly ordering defendants in her courtroom into custody. That earned her a 2018 rebuke and properly so. It has also resulted in a reelection challenge, one that voters might seriously consider except that her challenger, Carson politician Albert Robles, has also run into problems in the past.”
(Source: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

“Former Carson Mayor Albert Robles has taken out papers to challenge Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carol Elswick in the June 7 primary. That’s his prerogative. He has ballyhooed an intent to unseat the jurist based on the 2018 public admonishment she received from the Commission on Judicial Performance. That penalty was based in part on the nastiness she characteristically exhibits. But, if he does file his nominating petition, perfecting his candidacy, he could be cutting his throat, politically. To the limited extent that attention is drawn to judicial contests, he would wind up in the spotlight, with renewed attention to sexual-abuse allegations against him, indications that he did not actually reside in Carson, as legally required, while holding offices there as city councilman, then as mayor, and more.

The sexual-abuse claims — including those brought by the daughter of the late former Lieutenant Gov. Mervyn Dymally who said in her suit that Robles attempted to rape her — were not proven. However, his campaign finance-disclosure violations did result in his paying $12,000 in fines, in a settlement with the Fair Political Practices Commission. And his unlawful holding of two incompatible offices was brought to a halt after a judge issued a writ of quo warranto which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal. So far, Robles has not been battered too badly. While the quo warranto action succeeded, with Robles being yanked off the board of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (“WRD”), the politico was able to keep the WRD salary he drew and should not have; was not subjected to the $5,000 fine authorized by statute; and the $17,000 he was ordered to pay in attorney fees incurred by the county based on his judicially torpedoed cross-complaint has not been forked over by him. However, further exposure of himself to public scrutiny, in the form of a bid for a county-wide office, might prove irreparably damaging to a politico whose reputation is sagging.”
(Source: http://www.metnews.com/articles/2022/PERSPECTIVES_030322.htm)

ALBERT ROBLES: “Office №156: Albert Robles: Judge Carol Elswick is a disgrace. She was publicly admonished by the Commission on Judicial Performance in 2018, who cited discourtesy, unprofessionalism, and the use of improper practices to circumvent the rights of defendants. Attorneys who have appeared in her court describe a continuous pattern of misconduct that extended far beyond those cases. According to one attorney who spoke with Knock LA, “her courtroom is a place where the law and the rights of the defendant simply don’t exist.” Albert Robles, the former mayor of Carson, is not without his issues — he was previously fined for campaign finance violations and double-dipped with a board seat while mayor — but they pale in comparison to the incumbent’s complete lack of fitness for the bench.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

GOVERNOR: GAVIN NEWSOM

“Gavin Newsom for governor: Voters should elect Gov. Gavin Newsom to another term and hold him accountable for turning his progressive vision into reality.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022 )

“This is the third time that Californians are voting for governor in the past four years. Democrat Gavin Newsom won a decisive blowout in 2018, then beat back a recall attempt last September by a nearly identical margin. As he pursues a second and final four-year term, Newsom faces a slim field of challengers — and an even slimmer chance of losing. None of the major candidates who sought to replace Newsom in the recall election are running again. His most prominent opponent is probably Brian Dahle, a little-known Republican legislator from rural Northern California. Even with some voters souring on Newsom’s performance — his approval rating was nearly evenly split in a recent poll — it will take a miracle to unseat the governor and his $25 million campaign war chest in this overwhelmingly Democratic state.”
(Source: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2022/governor/)

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: ELENI KOUNALAKIS

“This typically quiet race is even quieter than usual this year. Democrat Eleni Kounalakis won an intraparty battle in 2018, with millions of dollars in help from her father, Sacramento real estate developer Angelo Tsakoplous. She’s made few headlines since, apart from becoming the first woman in California to sign a bill into law, while Gov. Gavin Newsom was on spring break with his family. Absent any real challengers, Kounalakis has a clear path to victory for a second and final term. But she’ll need to make more noise over the next four years if she still has her eye on the governor’s office next.”
(Source: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2022/lieutenant-governor/)

SECRETARY OF STATE: SHIRLEY WEBER

“Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom went on a promotion spree. After U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris [became] vice president, Newsom chose… then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla [to replace her]. That left Padilla’s old job open; Newsom tapped San Diego Assemblymember Shirley Weber. As with many of Newsom’s appointments, Weber made history. The daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers, she is the state’s first Black top election administrator. With voting rights, electoral integrity and racial inequality in the headlines, Weber took the job vowing to boost civic education and voter participation. “
(Source: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2022/secretary-of-state/)

CONTROLLER: MALIA COHEN

MALIA COHEN: “Incumbent Betty Yee is termed out which… breaks the field open. Democratic contenders include Malia Cohen, the party’s favorite and chairperson of the California State Board of Equalization.”
(Source: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2022/controller)

Endorsed for Controller: Malia Cohen
(Source: Courage California, https://progressivevotersguide.com/california/2022/primary/city/losangeles#statecontroller)

LAURA WELLS: “State Board of Equalization member Malia Cohen is the endorsed candidate of the California Democratic Party. She has the most endorsements and funds raised of any Democrat in the race, so she’s likely to make the runoff. Her record and positions are the least problematic of the Democratic candidates, so Knock LA’s strategy is to support the Left Unity Slate candidate, Laura Wells, to potentially shut out more conservative candidates. Wells supports public housing, public schools, and defunding the military.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

LANHEE CHEN: “We believe Lanhee Chen is the best choice for this position. Why? Because he is a sharp thinker with experience analyzing large financial systems, and because the controller should be as independent from the party in power as possible.
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-21/endorsement-lanhee-chen-for-california-controller)

TREASURER: MEGHANN ADAMS

“Incumbent Fiona Ma is the Democratic frontrunner in this race with the heaviest list of establishment endorsements. Meghann Adams is president of her bus drivers’ union in San Francisco and is a part of the statewide Left Unity Slate. She is not taking money from corporate donors, real estate developers, or oil lobbyists and is the only candidate in the race to do so.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

“Applicants will need to beat out the incumbent, Fiona Ma, who was elected treasurer in 2018. The fourth Democrat in a row in the job, she has the party’s endorsement for a second term despite some recent controversies. She’s being sued by a former employee who alleges that Ma sexually harassed her in an attempt to cover “unlawful conduct” and “improper gifts” from Sacramento-area businesspersons. Ma denies the allegations. She was also called out for supporting legislation to help Santa Ana police union president Gerry Serrano boost his retirement benefits by counting his union salary towards his pension.“
(Source: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2022/treasurer)

ATTORNEY GENERAL: ROB BONTA

“Public safety is job number one, two and three.” [Rob Bonta] emphasized programs to reduce gun violence by prosecuting street gangs, investing in violence intervention programs and enforcing the state’s strict gun laws. He also pledged to continue focusing on violent crime and putting more resources toward prosecution and victim services.”
(Source: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2022/attorney-general/)

“Rob Bonta for California attorney general: Bonta is the one candidate of the bunch prepared to uphold and defend the laws that Californians have repeatedly supported. He should be elected to a full term as attorney general.”
(Source: www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

DAN KAPELOVITZ: “Democratic incumbent Rob Bonta was appointed by Gavin Newsom in 2021… The Left Unity Slate candidate, Dan Kapelovitz, is a criminal defense attorney and teaches at the People’s College of Law — a nonprofit law school in Los Angeles for social justice advocates.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

INSURANCE COMMISSIONER: RICARDO LARA

“In 2018, Democratic state Sen. Ricardo Lara defeated Steve Poizner, who ran as an independent but was a Republican when he served as the insurance commissioner from 2007 to 2011. Lara became the California’s first openly gay statewide officeholder. In 2020, the pandemic kept many Californians off the road, reducing accident claims for auto insurers. Lara directed the companies to refund some premiums, saving customers more than $2.4 billion, according to the insurance department. Advocacy group Consumer Watchdog estimates that drivers are still owed more — $5.5 billion according to their analysis — from overcharges during 2020. Lara also temporarily blocked companies from dropping home insurance policies in fire-prone areas, backed an unsuccessful bill to force insurance companies to cover homes in those areas that are protected up to state standards, and proposed rules to require companies to offer discounts to homeowners who protect their homes. Lara has also generated some scandal. First, it was for accepting campaign donations from people in the insurance industry after pledging not to, including from an executive of a company that had a case pending before the department. Then, it was for renting a second residence in Sacramento, where his work as commissioner often takes him, and sticking taxpayers with the bill.

Democratic Assemblymember Marc Levine, Lara’s most prominent challenger, is aggressively going after Lara. Levine accuses Lara of not doing enough to protect homeowners in wildfire areas from losing their coverage. Levine’s campaign also created a video and sent out mailers attacking Lara for taking donations from the industry. Levine has a lengthy list of campaign promises, which include ordering insurance companies to return money to consumers from pandemic overcharges and barring companies from taking customers’ education and occupation into account when pricing their auto insurance coverage — a loophole that the department has also proposed regulations to close. Lara’s campaign sent out mailers criticizing Levine’s voting record on labor issues. Lara has garnered endorsements from the California Democratic Party, California Environmental Voters, Gov. Gavin Newsom, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, as well as labor groups and other state and national officials. Levine’s endorsements include Amar Shergill, chairperson of the California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus; M. Ronald Cohen, chairperson of the California Democratic Party Veterans Caucus; and the California Nurses Association.”
(Source: https://laist.com/news/politics/2022-election-california-primary-california-insurance-commissioner)

MARC LEVINE: “Marc Levine for state insurance commissioner: Californians deserve elected officials who will operate ethically regardless of whether their name is in the headlines. For this reason and others, we believe Assemblymember Marc Levine will make a better insurance commissioner than incumbent Ricardo Lara.”
(Source: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-04-27/complete-list-of-los-angeles-times-elections-endorsements-2022)

NATHALIE HRIZI: “The Left Unity Slate candidate, Nathalie Hrizi, calls for abolishing the insurance companies and replacing them with a single-payer system. She is the editor of Breaking the Chains, a feminist socialist magazine that has written extensively about the need to organize to save abortion rights, among other topics.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022)

BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, DISTRICT 3: TONY VAZQUEZ

“The Board of Equalization is an obscure state agency that handles several specialized areas of tax assessment. The incumbent from Los Angeles County, Tony Vazquez, is a former Santa Monica mayor who was one of the early endorsers of Bernie Sanders for president in the summer of 2019. Neither of his challengers appear to have a campaign presence online or raised any campaign funds. One of them, John Mendoza, ran for Pomona’s school board, and the other, Marie Manvel, made two $1 contributions to WinRed, the pro-Republican equivalent to ActBlue. Because no scandals have arisen during Vazquez’s tenure in office — in contrast to the BOE’s past — Knock LA recommends voting for him.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: TONY THURMOND

“The CFT [California Federation of Teachers] is proud to endorse Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond for his re-election campaign. Superintendent Thurmond has been a champion for public schools and our school communities and has proved to be an unwavering fighter for students, teachers, and classified professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
(Source: https://www.cft.org/endorsements)

MARCO AMARAL: “Tony Thurmond is the incumbent supported by Democrats and major teachers’ unions. He faces six other challengers with comparatively modest campaign fundraising. Marco Amaral supports public education and increasing teacher salaries. He also supports removing military recruitment from schools. He’s endorsed by two school board members, Caro Jauregui and Estefany Castañeda, recommended by the Knock LA voter guide in 2020.”
(Source: https://knock-la.com/los-angeles-progressive-voter-guide-june-primary-election-2022/)

Make sure to vote! Remember, you can vote in person, or mail your ballot, or put it in a ballot drop box by June 7th.

For the past year and a half, the media has reported faithfully on the COVID-19 pandemic as it has torn through our country, changing our lives in unimaginable ways. Yet they have remained strangely silent about the number of COVID infections in our schools.

It is not like this information is hard to find. Every single one of the ten largest school districts created online dashboards last year, where they publicly tracked their COVID cases.

LAUSD Exceeded Expectations

Yet hardly anyone knows that the Los Angeles Unified School District finished its school year with only 360 Covid infections. That is an astonishingly low number, given that the nine other largest school districts all had thousands or even tens of thousands of cases.

Why hasn’t a single article been written about LAUSD’s remarkable achievement?

I tried to call attention to its newsworthiness in the following Letter to the Editor, which The LA Times published on May 26:

“I’m the mother of two students in the Los Angeles Unified School District… I was shocked to learn there was [a] rally held by parents who blamed the school district for “not standing up to union demands.” This quote in particular jumped out at me: “What has happened this year has been a disaster and my eyes were opened up to the fact that that disaster is due to the collusion between UTLA and our LAUSD board.”

I can’t believe anyone would use the word “collusion” to describe COVID-19 safety negotiations that are responsible for the lowest number of infections among the nation’s largest school districts.

According to the online dashboard for New York City’s schools, they’ve had nearly 26,000 coronavirus cases since reopening in September (or more than 2,800 per month). According to Chicago’s dashboard, schools there have had about 1,700 cases since they opened in March. LAUSD has had fewer than 300 cases since reopening in April.

The teachers’ union has helped save lives.”

LAUSD and UTLA’s Safety Plan

Thanks to the unwavering vigilance of the teachers union — United Teachers Los Angeles — LAUSD remained committed to its strict COVID safety protocol throughout the school year, despite fierce opposition.

When the school year ended in June, the difference between the COVID numbers in our country’s ten largest school districts was even more striking than it had been when I wrote my letter in May.

For example, New York City, which reopened its schools in September, ended the school year with 26,178 cases. Miami, which reopened in October, had 10,019. Broward County, Florida, which also reopened in October, had 6,792. Clark County, Nevada, which reopened in March, had 3,028. Chicago, which also reopened in March, had 1,836. Again, LAUSD, which reopened in April, only had 360.

Yet, strangely enough, even LAUSD appears reluctant to call attention to its success.

Instead of splashing this news across their website, LAUSD chose to shut down their COVID dashboard, when the school year ended in June. Their total number of cases (360) is actually an estimate based on information provided by LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who announced on June 1: “During an average week less than 1/10 of 1%, or between 30 and 40 people, are testing positive for the virus.” In other words, 30 to 40 infections a week for 9 weeks is at most 360, but the real number might actually be lower!

LAUSD is the 2nd Largest District

It is particularly impressive that LAUSD only had 360 COVID cases, considering it is the second largest school district in the country, with 652,648 students and 75,674 educators.

By comparison, Hillsborough County, Florida has 220,611 students, yet it had 23 times as many cases. Obviously, when schools chose to reopen played a huge factor. Hillsborough County reopened theirs in August. But even Clark County, Nevada, which has 307,210 students and reopened just one month earlier than LAUSD, still had 8 times as many cases.

You would think the media would be eager to highlight this impressive accomplishment, but in fact, the opposite is true. Instead, they have focused their attention on the angry parents who have organized protests demanding that LAUSD reopen its schools.

For example, in just one of many similar articles published by the The Daily News, they reported the following:

“More than 100 parents and students rallied outside LAUSD’s headquarters before marching to the teachers union’s office about 2.5 miles away to make their demands known. Dubbed the “Total Recall Rally,” the event was a warning shot to all seven school board members that they could face a recall effort if schools do not fully reopen, one parent organizer said.

“It’s putting them on notice that we’re done,” said organizer Danna Rosenthal. “What they’ve done for the entire year-and-a-half now of giving into the demands of the teachers union is not acceptable. These kids have suffered tremendously.”

The LA Times published so many articles about these anti-union protests that a coalition of teachers and parents, called Reclaim Our Schools, felt compelled to call them out on their biased coverage.

As the The LA Times, itself, reported in an article published in March:

“Reclaim Our Schools L.A., a group aligned with the United Teachers Los Angeles union, released a report analyzing seven months of columns, editorials and news articles, saying [the LA Times] demonstrated bias in its coverage of school reopening issues. The group claims that the paper has relied too heavily on voices from wealthier communities where support for reopening quickly is stronger…

Alicia Baltazar, a Reclaim Our Schools member and parent of a fifth-grader in Wilmington, said during a news conference that she was disturbed seeing “stories about it’s parents against teachers.”

She added: “That simply is not true. Parents like myself and other members of Reclaim Our Schools Los Angeles have been working hand in hand with our teachers to keep our schools closed and to open only when it’s safe to do so.”

Reclaim Our Schools said that after receiving complaints from parents about The Times’ coverage, it examined 105 articles published between June and January and logged the identities of individuals who provided a total of 304 quotes to the newspaper. The review concluded that 58% of the voices “elevated” by The Times came from three categories: professional/higher income individuals, small-business owners or millionaires, even though more than 80% of families in the L.A. district have low enough incomes to qualify for free and reduced-price meals. The report said that fewer than 9% of those quoted were people it identified as working-class or low-income.”

I am convinced that this biased coverage had a negative impact on how everyone reacted to the school closures.

On social media, I saw people go from showering our teachers with praise at the beginning of the shutdown, to berating them with angry vitriol, as the months went by. I had a friend tell me, “I marched with teachers during the strike. Why are they refusing to open schools now? I feel betrayed.” I saw people accuse teachers of being “lazy,” “not wanting to work,” and “ignoring science.”

I think if the media had done a better job of highlighting the rising number of COVID cases in schools that reopened, like, for example, in New York City and Hillsborough County, people might have understood that the closures were actually vitally important. And if they had interviewed more teachers and given them the opportunity to explain how their workload increased during virtual learning, people might have understood that they were not being “lazy” by staying home— they just wanted to help keep everyone safe.

Occasionally, the media would observe that schools that reopened were forced to close again, either entirely or within certain classrooms, because of COVID outbreaks. But because the information provided was so limited, people were often left with the impression that this didn’t have much of an impact. I actually had one parent tell me, “So the schools open and close a few times! What’s the big deal? Even a little bit of school is better than nothing.” What they failed to realize, and the media failed to tell them, is that each closure represented not just a COVID infection, but also potentially a serious illness or even death.

Thanks to New York City’s dashboard, I know that 91 school employees died of COVID, and they had 17,896 classroom closures (including all of its high schools from November to late March). I don’t see how anyone could look at those numbers and say they aren’t a big deal.

I shudder to imagine how many COVID cases we would have had if our schools had been open in January, when Los Angeles became one of the deadliest hotspots in the world.

As NBC reported back then:

“Los Angeles became the first county in the nation to record 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. According to county public health officials, roughly 1,003,923 people in L.A. have been infected with the virus and more than 13,000 people have died.”

LAUSD is Majority BIPOC/Poor

I think it is also really important to acknowledge that COVID has disproportionately impacted our BIPOC communities, as well as the working-class and people living in poverty. According to the CDC, Black and Latinx people are three times as likely to be hospitalized and twice as likely to die from COVID. According to The LA Times, in April of 2020, Los Angeles’ “working-class neighborhoods [had death rates] four times higher than the countywide rate.”

So it is extremely relevant that nearly 90% of LAUSD’s students are BIPOC and over 70% qualify for free or reduced lunches.

As my friend Emiliana Dore astutely observed, “UTLA and LAUSD didn’t just arbitrarily choose to wait to open the schools to frustrate parents. They listened to the parent survey they sent out, as well as to the numerous national studies showing that BIPOC families were more reluctant to return to school than white families. I know the last school year was really hard for many families, but with 90% BIPOC students — including many students in the communities that were hit the hardest by COVID— I believe that LAUSD had a moral imperative to put the safety of their students, families and educators first.”

Interestingly, the media has reported extensively on the negative impact of school closures on students of color, but rarely on the elevated risk of teachers dying from COVID, considering they are also mostly BIPOC (and sometimes the parents of those very same children).

According to the California Department of Education, LAUSD’s teachers are 63% BIPOC. And if you include all of LAUSD’s school employees, I am sure that number is much higher.

Most notably, the president of UTLA is a Black Latina named Cecily Myart-Cruz. According to The LA Times, “Myart-Cruz [is] a district parent and single mother who identifies as biracial, black and Latina [and] has 25 years of teaching experience in elementary and middle schools.” I recall that, not too long ago, people were admonishing everyone to “listen to Black women.” Yet as soon as Myart-Cruz started saying things they didn’t like — they chose not to listen.

Fortunately, Superintendent Beutner and the LAUSD School Board were willing to listen and negotiate. Together with UTLA, they came up with a robust 50-page “COVID-19 Containment, Response and Control Plan” that included upgrading the district’s HVAC systems, making COVID tests mandatory prior to reopening schools, and making regular, bi-weekly COVID tests mandatory once schools reopened, among many other safety measures.

Yet criticism of how LAUSD handled reopening schools continues to dominate the news.

I’m not sure at this point which group of critics concerns me most: the ones who ignore the battles teachers confronted this past year, or the ones who continue to attack them.

In the first camp, are people like my friend, who told me, “We shouldn’t give UTLA too much credit for COVID numbers being low, since our schools didn’t open until after teachers got their vaccines.” The fact that she is unaware that UTLA had to fight for that, is a serious problem. It is not an accident that LAUSD is the only one of the ten largest school districts that was willing to wait until teachers had the chance to get vaccinated.

This was a hard won victory.

In the other camp, we have the actively hostile parents who are suing LAUSD for imposing “too many constraints” on reopening schools, threatening to recall School Board members, and staging angry protests — all of which the media has covered in painstaking detail. Even when only 60 parents (who are mostly white) show up to protest, in a district that has over 600,000 students (who are mostly BIPOC), the media continues to give them airtime.

I must admit that The LA Times has responded well to Reclaim Our Schools’ criticisms, by interviewing more BIPOC and working-class parents in their articles. It’s definitely a step in the right direction. But what about the other parent-led groups in Los Angeles, like the grassroots organization Eastside padres contra la privatizacion? Or the enormously popular Facebook groups Public Schools Families (which has 1,400 members) and Parents Supporting Teachers (which has over 25,000)? Why aren’t their voices being amplified?

If the media would actually listen to the majority opinion in this city, they would understand that we are overwhelmingly pro-teacher and pro-union.

According to Superintendent Beutner’s “State of the Schools Address” on June 15, “72% [of families] said Los Angeles Unified’s response to COVID has been good or excellent and 80% said [teachers] were doing a fantastic job communicating with students and their families.”

LAUSD and UTLA Saved Lives

It is time for the media to do its job. They need to spread the word about LAUSD’s impressively low COVID numbers, and how this was accomplished thanks in large part to UTLA’s advocacy. The lack of coverage here is outrageous, negligent, and quite frankly, dangerous.

LAUSD and UTLA helped save lives. It’s up to the media to make sure everyone knows.

We are quickly approaching the most important election of our lives, on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. So, how do we get ready?

We make a plan to vote.

This article provides a handy checklist, to help you think of everything you need to do this. Please read it and share!

MAKE SURE YOU’RE REGISTERED

Republicans are kicking people off polls, for supposedly being “inactive,” having “duplicate” names, and a myriad of other reasons. Also, many people have moved or are living with homelessness because of Covid-19. (And yes, you can still vote, even if you don’t have a home. For example, you can use a homeless shelter as your address. For more information go here.)

To make sure you’re registered, go here: www.vote.org.

These articles are also great resources and heavily cited throughout this piece: “The Best Way to Vote in Every State” (Slate) and “How to Make Sure Your Vote Counts in November” (Washington Post).

What is the deadline to register?

Rules vary by state. In some places (like Alaska) you must register as early as Oct. 3 and in others (like Colorado) you can still register up to and including Election Day (Nov. 3). For more information, go here: www.vote.org/voter-registration-deadlines.

Do you know what to vote for?

Don’t forget to research the candidates and issues. You can find a voting guide at Vote 411, and lots of useful information at Ballotpedia. If you are voting in person, we recommend that you print out your choices (make a “cheat sheet”) and bring it with you to your polling place. This way you won’t forget anything. Don’t wait until the last minute. Do this now!

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO VOTE

Find out what the rules are in your state. Most importantly, can you vote-by-mail or do you need to vote in person?

HOW TO VOTE-BY-MAIL

First of all, is this different from absentee voting? Not really. It’s just that Republicans have been sowing confusion about the different terminology. As the Washington Post explains, “Some states prefer one term over the other, but both “absentee voting” and “mail-in voting” refer to the method of using the mail to deliver ballots to voters.” In other words, they are both ways to “vote-by-mail.” And that’s all you really need to know. But for more information, you can read these articles: “What’s the difference between absentee and mail-in voting? (Washington Post) and “The Most Important Mail You’ll Ever Send: A Ballot” (NPR).

Things to consider:

Do you live in a state that requires a reason to Vote-By-Mail?

Rules vary by state. There are six states that require a reason to vote by mail (Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas). There are others that allow you to use Covid-19 as your reason, others that don’t require any reason, and 11 states where ballots are automatically mailed to all active, registered voters (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Washington D.C.). For more information, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules.

Is there a deadline to apply to Vote-By-Mail?

This varies by state. Some are as early as Oct. 13 (Rhode Island) and others as late as Nov. 2. But whatever the deadline, please apply ASAP to make sure you get your ballot in time. Don’t wait until the last minute. For more information, go here.

How do you apply to Vote-By-Mail?

Rules vary by state. Some places allow you to apply online and others ask you to do it by mail. Either way, apply ASAP. Don’t wait until the last minute. To apply for a vote-by-mail ballot, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-ballot.

When do you get your Vote-By-Mail ballot?

This varies by state. Some places send them as early as Sept. 4 (North Carolina) and others wait until Oct. 16 (Washington). For the full list of distribution dates, go here. If your ballot has not arrived within two weeks of the date it was sent, many states advise you to contact your County Election Office and request another one. For more information, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-ballot.

What is the deadline to return your Vote-By-Mail ballot?

Rules vary by state. In some places, it has to arrive by Nov. 3 and in others, it just needs to be postmarked by that date. But if you’re relying on the mail, please return it ASAP. Don’t wait until the last minute. For more information, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-ballot-deadlines.

When is the earliest you can return your Vote-By-Mail ballot?

You can return it as soon as you get it and put the envelope back in the mail. But many people are choosing to return their ballots in person, to avoid mail delays. Rules vary by state. But most places allow you to return your ballot in person to your polling place or County Election Office the same day early voting begins. (In California, for example, that is Oct. 5.) Or at the very least, they allow you to return your ballot in person on Election Day. For more information, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-ballot-deadlines.

What are the rules for sealing your Vote-By-Mail ballot?

Rules vary by state. Many require your signature on the envelope, others (like Minnesota) require your driver’s license number, and others (like Alabama, although this is being contested in court) require two witnesses to sign the envelope. Make sure to carefully follow the instructions on your ballot. For more information, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules and follow the link to your state’s website.

Does your state require you to notarize your Vote-By-Mail ballot?

A small number of states (like Missouri and North Carolina) require voters to notarize their VBM ballots. If yours is one of them, do you know where the nearest notary office is? Do you know when they’re open? Does your state allow you to notorize documents online? Do you know how much they charge? Make sure to find out now. Don’t wait until the last minute. For more information, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules.

Do you live somewhere with readily available mail boxes?

Usually, vote-by-mail means you return your ballot by mail. But in some places, they’ve been removing and/or locking public mailboxes, so make sure that yours are still available. There have also been slowdowns to USPS mail service, which could affect whether or not your ballot arrives on time. So, if you must use the mail, do it now. Don’t wait until the last minute. For more information, go here.

Do you live somewhere with readily available ballot boxes?

A ballot or dop box is a place “where voters can deposit their absentee ballots to be collected later by election officials.” (NPR) These days, many people are choosing to use ballot boxes, because they don’t want to rely on the mail. But in some states, ballot boxes are not being provided in the numbers legally mandated. So check to see if they are available in yours. Do this now. Don’t wait until the last minute. For more information, go here. To find your nearest ballot or drop box, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules and follow the link to your state’s website.

Do you live in a state where you can return your ballot in person?

If your state allows this, we strongly encourage you to choose this option, to avoid mail delays. Rules vary by state. But most places allow you to return your ballot in person to your polling place and/or County Election Office the same day early voting begins. (In California, for example, that is Oct. 5). Or at the very least, they allow you to return your ballot in person on Election Day. For more information, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-ballot-deadlines.

Do you live in a state where someone can return your ballot for you?

Rules vary by state. In some places, only the voter can turn it in, in others a close relative can do it, and in others (like California) volunteer groups and organizations are allowed to do it. For more information, go here.

Can you sign up to track your ballot?

We strongly encourage you to do this if possible. Rules vary by state. For more information, go to www.vote.org and follow the link to your state’s website.

Do you know what to vote for?

Don’t forget to research the candidates and issues. You can find voting guides at Vote 411 and lots of useful information at Ballotpedia. Don’t wait until the last minute. Do it now!

HOW TO VOTE IN PERSON

Things to consider:

Do you live in a state that requires a reason to Vote-By-Mail?

If you don’t have a valid reason to vote-by-mail in the following six states — Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee or Texas — then you must vote in person. For more information, go here: www.vote.org/absentee-voting-rules.

Is early voting an option?

Rules vary by state. Some (like Texas) recently expanded their options for early voting. For more information, go here: www.vote.org/early-voting-calendar.

Where is your polling place?

Chances are that it’s changed, either because of Covid-19 or because of Republican shenanigans, so make sure to double check where it is: www.vote.org/polling-place-locator.

How do you get to your polling place?

Look up the directions to drive, take the bus, walk, or however else you plan to get there. Don’t wait until the last minute. Make a plan now.

Can you take time off work to vote?

Look into your company policy, because it varies by state. For more information, go here.

Can you stay in line for a long time?

Hopefully, this won’t be necessary, but just in case, allow yourself plenty of time to vote. Do not schedule any non-essential doctor’s appointments, or anything else that day. Remember to arrange childcare and petcare, if necessary. Wear comfortable shoes. Bring water and snacks. Locate the nearest restrooms. And if possible, find a voting buddy, so that you can save each other’s place in line.

Does your state require voter ID?

This also varies by state. For more information, go here.

Do you have a mask to wear when you vote?

Make sure to get one beforehand. If you want to help support Field Team 6’s voter registration efforts, you can buy one of their masks here.

Do you know what to vote for?

Don’t forget to research the candidates and issues. You can find voting guides at Vote 411 and lots of useful information at Ballotpedia. We also recommend that you make a cheat sheet and bring it with you to your polling place. This way you won’t forget anything!

Can you doublecheck your ballot?

In some states, voters have reported that certain electronic voting machines sometimes record the wrong votes, which means you have to go back and change them. And sometimes voters make innocent mistakes, when their finger slips. Either way, it’s important to always doublecheck that your votes are properly recorded, before you submit your ballot.

Do you need a provisional ballot?

If you’re having problems voting at your polling place, you can ask for one of these: “A provisional ballot is used when a voter’s eligibility cannot be confirmed at the polls. Often this occurs due to out-of-precinct voting, if the voter has not updated their address on their voter registration or more often if the voter cannot provide sufficient identification. The laws governing the use of provisional ballots vary by state. Most of the time these ballots will not be counted until the voter can be verified, a process that happens after election day and usually only affects an extremely close or tied election.” (HeadCount) There are only three states that do not allow provisional voting: Idaho, Minnesota, and New Hampshire. Otherwise, it’s allowed everywhere else. But again, rules vary state by state. You can get more information here.

Do you know what to do if you’re prevented from voting?

You can report any problems and get assistance from trained volunteers at the Election Protection Hotlines. For more information, go here.

(English): 1–866-OUR-VOTE (1–866–687–8683);

Spanish/English: 1–888-VE-Y-VOTA (1–888–839–8682);

Asian Languages/English: 1–888-API-VOTE (1–888–274–8683);

Arabic/English: 1–844-YallaUS (1–844–925–5287)

HELP OTHERS VOTE

Can you volunteer to be a pollworker?

This is essential work that is dramatically understaffed this year. To volunteer go to Power The Polls or Poll Hero. For more information, go here.

Can you volunteer to register voters?

There are many amazing organizations doing this work, like SwingLeft, Field Team 6, HeadCount, League of Women Voters, and Voto Latino.

Can you volunteer to help protect voter’s rights?

There are many wonderful organizations doing this work, like Fair Fight, VoteRiders, and Spread The Vote. For more information, go here.

Can you donate money to a campaign?

There are many fantastic candidates to support this year, from your local school board all the way to the White House. But if you can only support one, please help us flip the Senate blue. To find Senate races in swing states that could use your support, go here.

Can you phonebank or textbank to help Get Out The Vote?

There are many excellent organizations doing this work, like SwingLeft, Sister District, Indivisible and Reclaim Our Vote.

Can you send postcards to help Get Out The Vote?

There are some great organizations doing this work, like Postcards to Voters, Postcards for America and Reclaim Our Vote.

Can you find someone to help vote?

Pick one person — or two, three, or more! — and help them check their voter registration, apply for a vote-by-mail ballot, get to the polls, etc.

Do you live in a state that allows you to do community ballot collection?

Rules vary by state. In some places, only the voter can turn it in, in others a close relative can do it, and in others (like California) volunteer groups and organizations are allowed to do it. For more information, go here.

Can you share this article with your friends and family?

Make sure everyone you know is informed, and ready to vote by Tuesday, November 3, 2020. We need to win this election to save our democracy.

It’s all hands on deck!

On March 3, 2020, every registered Democrat in California gets to vote for the members of this important committee. But first, WTF is it?

Mayor Jeffrey Prang has a great answer in Patch.com:

“Every two years on your Primary Election, registered Republican and Democratic party voters (other parties too) see an office on their ballot so obscure and so little understood, almost no one can remember ever having seen it on their ballot or having voted for it previously, despite the fact that it has always been there. That office is called “County Central Committee.”

Both Democrats and Republicans have a “County Central Committee,” and the Green Party has a County Council. These Committees operate as the governing body for the party in the county. They are responsible for making endorsements of candidates and ballot measures and for conducting voter education and registration. The political party committees also coordinate grassroots campaign efforts, including phone banking, precinct walking, and the operation of campaign headquarters. The position does not provide compensation, and the Central Committees generally meet monthly and discuss the important political issues of the day.”

Or as CADEM puts it, “Your County Committee is the gateway to getting involved!”

I’ve provided a list below of all the Democratic candidates, organized by Assembly or Supervisor District.

When you click on the District’s number, it takes you to VotersEdge.com, where you can see everyone’s photos and a brief bio. Also, VoxPublica has a list of “Berniecrat” candidates here.

Unlike my other article (“How to Vote in California’s March 3 Primary & Save Our Democracy!”) this one does not include any recommendations. (Ok maybe just a few, because I happen to know them personally. But otherwise, I recommend that you use their bios to help you decide how to vote.)

Pay close attention to the number of candidates you’re allowed to vote for. The number can range anywhere from 4 to 14, depending on your district.

But first, confirm that you’re registered, what district you’re in, and where/how to vote: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 15 (vote for no more than 8)

Elizabeth Echols / Julie M. Waters / Kathy Neal / Ces Rosales / George Perezvelez / Andy Kelley / Wendy Bloom / James Chang / Nick Pilch / Julie Caskey / Bonnie Wheatley / Dianne Martinez / Soli Alpert / Michael Barnett / Paola Laverde / Barbara “Bobbi” López / Igor A. Tregub / Alfred Twu

Assembly District 16 (vote for no more than 4)

Cheryl Cook-Kallio / Jeffrey Nibert / Roberta Kreitz / Brittni Kiick / Jacqueline Tarin-Rankl / Jody Tomic

Assembly District 17 (vote for no more than 14)

Steven Buss / Austin Hunter / Shanell Williams / Mick Del Rosario / Tami Bryant / Honey Mahogany / Carole Migden / Nima Rahimi / Shamann Walton / Mike Chen / Rafael Mandelman / Victor Olivieri / Tyra Fennell / David Villa-lobos / Kristen Asato-Webb / Rick Hauptman / Bevan Dufty / William “Anubis” Daugherty / Shaun Haines / Sophenia Maxwell / Nancy Tung / Vallie Brown / Gloria Berry / Bivett Brackett / Hillary Ronen / Nomvula O’Meara / Jane Kim / Frances Hsieh / John Avalos / David Campos / Peter Gallotta / Anabell Ibáñez / Kevin Ortiz / Matt Haney / Christopher Christensen

Assembly District 18 (vote for no more than 11)

Tonya D. Love / Guillermo Elenes / Victor Aguilar, Jr. / Robin Torello / L. D. Louis / Corina N. Lopez / Pamela A. Drake / Victoria Fierce / Brendalynn R. Goodall / Brandon Baranco / Diana Prola / Benny Lee / Malia Vella / Stewart G. Chen / Kenneth Maxey / Linda Perry / Abel Guillén / Ellen M. Corbett / Jim Oddie / Victor Aguilar / Andrea Luna Bocanegra / Howard Egerman / Henry Gage III / Iris Merriouns / Jose Carlos Moreno / Pamela Price / Royl Roberts / Austin Tam / Marchon Tatmon

Assembly District 20 (vote for no more than 7)

Terry Sandoval / John R. Smith / Elisa Marquez / James Paul Farley, Jr. / Lance Kwan / Deneen Ogbeide / Sybil Smith / Mark Williams / Vinnie Bacon / Austin Michael Bruckner / Frank Burton / Vanessa Sadsad / Melissa Shuen-Mallory / Barisha Spriggs / Cullen Tiernan

Assembly District 24 (vote for no more than 6)

Emily Thurber / Mariam Ghazvini / Bill James / Prameela Bartholomeusz / Joe Simitian / Peter Y. Chiu / Alyson L. Abramowitz / Gilbert Wong / Cari Templeton / Margaret Okuzumi / Johannes Muenzel / Emily Ann Ramos / Stephen Chessin

Assembly District 25 (vote for no more than 6)

Michael Vargas / David Cohen / David Donaldson / Christopher R. Stampolis / Deepka Lalwani / Anthony Phan / Dianna Zamora-Marroquin / Clarence Madrilejos / Tim Orozco / Martha Kreeger / Alex Lee / Michelle Hua

Assembly District 27 (vote for no more than 6)

Frank Ponciano Reyes / Diego Alfredo Martinez / Allie Hughes / Emilie G. Gatfield / Claudia Shope / Andres Quintero / Jean Cohen / Richard L. Wong / Maya Esparza / Roxanne / Carol Garvey / Gina Marie Gates / Peter Ortiz / Omar Torres

Assembly District 28 (vote for no more than 6)

Justin Lardinois / Michael Melillo / Pamela Schure / David Bini / Heidi Owens / Angelica Ramos / Helen Chapman / James Kim / Shay Franco-Clausen / Herb Engstrom / Pierluigi Oliverio / Patrick Ahrens / Adrienne Grey / Jessica Matthew / Jesse Hoefer / Ruben Navarro / Ava Chaio / Olivia Navarro

Assembly District 33 (vote for no more than 6)

Barbara James Dew / Valentin Godina, Sr. / Lizet Angulo / Mike Curran / Roger La Plante / Blanca A. Gomez / Doug N. Olson / Elise M. Brown / Lionel M. Dew / Denise Wells / Leslie Irving / Kareema Abdul-Khabir / Sean Swoboda

Assembly District 36 (vote for no more than 7)

Bob Forshay / Andy Giest / Suzann L. Reina / Arthur James Calloway / Isaac Lieberman, RN / Margaret Finnstron / Wade Alexander / Ruth Sanchez / Jerry Vlach / Gina Whipple

Assembly District 38 (vote for no more than 7)

Marily Grunwald / A. Lysa Simon / Jim Hilfenhaus / Stacy L. Fortner / Kyle McCormick / Michael R. Kulka / Seymour Amster / Michelle H. Elmer / Logan Smith / Veronica De Lara / Steve Boyd / Patty Sulpizio / Lynne Plambeck

Assembly District 39 (vote for no more than 7)

Chris Anderson / Rosemary Jenkins / Joana Reyes / Andres Sandoval / Sean Michael Rivas / Noel Barajas / Christine Jerian / Juan Solorio, Jr. / Robert C. Gonzales / Imelda Padilla / Amy Sue Fall / Angélica María Dueñas / Robyn Michelle Sumners / Rohana Barden / Sheri Lynn Treanor

Assembly District 41 (vote for no more than 7)

Victor Castellano / Karen M. Wingard / Kathy Patterson / Kevin Cordova-Brookey / Vickere Lee Blackwell Murphy / Karen K. Suarez / Mitchell Tsai / Velma J. Butler / Joseph Salas / Debi A. Evans / John C. Harabedian / Patrice S. Marshall McKenzie / Jonathan C. Horton / Erik Nakano / Kenneth Adam Armstrong / Mindy Pfeiffer / Jordan Vannini / Steven Gibson / Todd J. Jones / Jacinta Lincke / Sean Abajian / Suzie Abajian

Assembly District 42 (vote for no more than 6)

Judy Rice / Nancy Sappington / Patrick Weiss / Lanny Swerdlow / Doris Foreman / Nancy C. Gall / Mary Ann Andreas / Joseph Brinson / Vanessa Castro Scott / Kelly Graziano / Francisco A. Ramos

Assembly District 43 (vote for no more than 7)

Shanna Ingalsbee / Steven J. Fisher / Ana Guerrero / Juliet Minassian / Renee Nahum / Paul Neuman / Laurie Collins / Malcolm P. Johnson / Kathy Kensinger/ Luke H. Klipp / Elen Asatryan / Susan Mastrodemos / Jennifer Chang / Angel Izard / Nicholas James Billings / Summer Block Lizer / Ingrid Gunnell* / Linda Perez*

*I know Ingrid and Linda and highly recommend them both!

Assembly District 45 (vote for no more than 7)

Richard M. Mathews / Leah K. Herzberg / Cecile S. Bendavid / Jeff Daar / Elizabeth Badger / Raymond J. Bishop / Marcos De Jesus Sanchez / Scott Abrams / Noah Sachartoff / Betty Doumas-Toto / Jason C Small / Michelle R Verne / Yessica Marissa Manabe / Christine Marie Shimizu / Rebecca L Wolfersburger / Christopher R Manabe

Assembly District 46 (vote for no more than 7)

Paul Kujawsky / Dan Lopez / Jerilyn V. Stapleton / Joyce M. Rubin / Carolyn M. Hoff / Jaye “Bonnie” Shatun / Alton F. Reed / David Alan Hyman / Jose Sandoval / John Bryan Alford / Brandon (Don E. Ford) Nelson

Assembly District 48 (vote for no more than 7)

Jorge A. Marquez / Denaee Alexa Amaya / Florencio Briones / Jazmin M. Lopez / Ashley Victoria Lopez / Rosa Beatriz Hernandez / Alma Nunez / Veronica Marquez / Hector Delgado / Cesar Andres Garcia / Gene Hurd / Denis Recendez

Assembly District 49 (vote for no more than 7)

Adele Frances Andrade-Stadler / John Kraft / Jeff Schwartz / Rosemary Riedy / Thomas Wong / Marcella Cortez / Alton Wang / Melissa Michelson / Alysse Stepanian / Roshan Akula / Paul Cole Padilla / Philip Mantione / Sasha Renée Pérez

Assembly District 50 (vote for no more than 7)

Steve Bott / Mark R. Edwards / Ilissa B. Gold / Murtaza Mogri / Paul Koretz / Jeff Ebenstein / Nick Greif / Rachel Pearl Bracker / Susan D. Sheu / Deana Igelsrud / Eddie Mendoza / Mike Soloff / Alison R. Stern-Simrad / Dorothy Reik

Assembly District 51 (vote for no more than 7)

Mary Rose Ortega / Theresa Montaño / Nilza Serrano / Francisco “Franky” Carrillo / Michael Lee / Jessica Craven* / M. (Mia) Livas Porter* / Justin Bregman / Vicky A. Martinez* / Koreen A. Cea / Frances Torres / Luis Lopez / Adrian Vazquez / Karen Linares / Andie Lopez / Seamus M. Garrity / Christopher B. Arellano / Ron Birnbaum / Jeanine Rohn / Jonathan Klein / Cliff Olin / Belinda Luck / Tina-Desiree Berg / Rocío Rivas*

*I know Jessica, Mia, Vicky, and Rocío and highly recommend them all!

Assembly District 52 (vote for no more than 7)

John Mendoza / Debra M. Martin / Frank Carlos Guzman / Arturo Jimenez / Ronald Gonzales-Lawrence / Jacqueline Lissette Escobar / Denise Marquez / Robert Torres / Marisol “Sol” Guerra / Erik M. Sanchez

Assembly District 53 (vote for no more than 7)

Peter J. Rudinskas / Luis Antonio Melchor / Ben Seinfeld / Marco Flores / Samuel Sukaton / Jonathan Underland / Rafael C. Chagoya / Linda F. McShan / Lara Morrison / Jasmyne A. Cannick / Karina Macias / Godfrey Santos Plata / Veronica Casarez / Jackie Kim / Erick Jesus Martell / Leslie R. Shim / Dulce Vasquez / Barbara Steelman / Rafael F. Nadal / Connor Rohan

Assembly District 54 (vote for no more than 7)

Jimmie Woods-Gray / Robert Leahy / Rosa M. Russell / Jacquelynn “Jackie” Hawthorne / Lindsay G. Carlson / Mary Grace A. Barrios / Connye L. Thomas / Hannah Cho / Jeanna Harris / Ronnie Jayne Solomon / Khin Khin Gyi / Sara Roos*

*I know Sara and highly recommend her!

Assembly District 57 (vote for no more than 7)

Ronald Lozano / Jaime López / Oscar Valladares / Steven K. Alari / Elena Lopez Bocca / Rosaelva Lomeli / Gary Mendez / Ruben D. Hoyos / Marta Samano / Henry Huerta / Zenaida Huerta / Roberto Alvarez / Cynthia Talmich / Stephanie Terrazas

Assembly District 58 (vote for no more than 7)

Johncito Peraza-Romero / Delta Elaine Duvali / Edgar Omar Estrada Santos / Evelyn Merie Nuño / Luis E. Melliz / Maurina M. Cintron / Tammy E. Ashton / Mercedes Nieves / Arturo Chacon / Barbara Contreras Rapisarda / Juan Manuel Martinez / Frine Medrano

Assembly District 59 (vote for no more than 7)

Bobbie Jean Anderson / Sharon Ann Rogers / Miguel Martinez / Arturo Flores / Wendy Ruiz / Delia Acedo / Kennia Lizet Nava Escareno / Julio Esperias

Assembly District 62 (vote for no more than 7)

Patricia “Patt” Sanders / Jessica Vazquez / Paulette C. Francis / Aba Ngissah / Gloria D. Gray / Michele Sutter / Cara Robin / Damien Petty / Kirsten Magnuson / Carolyn Fowler

Assembly District 63 (vote for no more than 7)

Andres Ramos / Franbert Calderon / Mary Louise Zavala / Jose Luis Solache / Antonio Chapa / Maria Estrada / Linda Bassett / Elizabeth Castillo

Assembly District 64 (vote for no more than 7)

Jasper Jackson / Irene Huerta / Rashina Young / Wilma Maria Wilson / Brandi S. Willams Murdock / Barbara Jean Calhoun / James Hays / Jim Dear / Janice Schaeffer / Monette “Maria” Gavino / Jawane Hilton / Vera Robles Dewitt / Barbara Jean Evans / Charles Davis / Jesus-Alex G. Cainglet / Daniel Lomeli Valdez / Joseph Luis Piñon / Julian D. Burger

Assembly District 65 (vote for no more than 6)

Ada Briceno / Eric Barlow / Bruce W. Johnson / Patricia Tutor / John Vassiliades / Mirvette Judeh / Arnel Dino / Andy J. Lewandowski / Mike Rodriguez / Ed Lopez / Jose Paolo Magcalas / Marisol Ramirez / Jose Trinidad (“Trini”) Castaneda

Assembly District 66 (vote for no more than 7)

Connie Sullivan / Stacey Spagon Golden / Nichelle M. Henderson / Ray L. Waters / Richard Thomas Vaughn / Bobbi Buescher / Paul Seo / Margie Hoyt / Angelica Scherp / Chris Johnson

Assembly District 68 (vote for no more than 6)

Tina Arias Miller / David R. Sonneborn / Tammy Kim / Naz Hamid / Meredith Marquis / Monica Barranco-Leon / Joe McLaughlin / Ken Wyant / Florence Orea Hoffman / Bridget R. McConaughy / Melissa Fox / Bill Honigman / Beatriz “Betty” Valencia / Laura Villa / Nathaniel Fernandez Epstein / Mani Kang / Ted Perle / Eugene W. Fields

Assembly District 69 (vote for no more than 6)

Veronica Chavez / Ariana Arestegui / Janelle M. Welker / Luis Aleman / Giovanni Chavez / Thai Viet Phan / Avelino Valenica, III / Jessie Lopez / Martin Lopez / Isuri S. Ramos / Manny Escamilla / Jose F. Moreno / Juan Gabriel Alvarez

Assembly District 70 (vote for no more than 7)

Tony Reyes Uranga / Chris M. Wilson / Maria D. Norvell / Shannon Ross / Janet D. Foster / Jacob Lee Haik / Pat Stanyo / Uduak-Joe Ntuk / Joan V. Greenwood / April Marie O’Connor / David Seth Lewis Rosen / Cory Wayne Allen / Christopher P. Robson / Christopher J. Duvali / Carrie T. Scoville / Anne Sullivan / Andrew Swetland / Abigail Mejia / Naida C. Tushnet

Assembly District 72 (vote for no more than 6)

Mark Anthony Paredes / Michelle Misha Houser / Libby Frolichman / Kathia Canlas / Louise Larsen / Mary Tromp / Sergio Escobar / Karen Hinks / Victor Valladares / Oscar D. Rodriguez / Shayna Lathus / Jaci Iannello

Assembly District 73 (vote for no more than 6)

Denise Penn / Deborah Cunningham-Skurnik / Jenna Beck / Anne Cameron / Anita Narayana / Danna Lewis / Lara Horgan / Emma Jenson / Lulu Hammad / Sudi Farokhnia / Alan Fenning

Assembly District 74 (vote for no more than 6)

Jane Stoever / Bethany Webb / Janice I. Burstin / Andrew Gallagher / Jill Nelke / Lauren Johnson-Norris / Boris Gresely / Jonathan Adler / Becky Visconti / Kalvin Alvarez / Aarti Kaushal / Anne Mohr / Marleen Gillespie / Dean Inada / Samila Amanyraoufpoor / Iyad Afalqa / Mary Carter

Assembly District 75 (vote for no more than 6)

Gary Bland / Tiffany E. Boyd-Hodgson / Armando J. Telles / Vanessa Valenzuela / Robert “Bob” J. Hamilton / Pam Bland / George Van Hasselt / Wayne Lu / Antonio R. Robles / Michael F. Summers / Nicolle Leeds / Valentine Richard Macedo / Theresa Terry Corrales / Gloria R. Conejo / Heather Roberts / Georgine Tomasi / Gibhran Jimenez

Assembly District 76 (vote for no more than 6)

Valentine Macedo, Jr. / Kyle Bright / Robert “Rob” Howard / Sheri Sachs / Linda Sue Slater / Kyle Krahel / Luke Tesluk / Bill Fowler / Michael Bullock / Esther C. Sanchez / Daniel R.F. O’Donnell / Cecily “Cess” Resnick / Kevin Sabellico / Francine Busby / Marie “Maria” McEneany / Meg Ley / Sarah Spinks / Dinah Poellnitz / Marguerite (Marge) Kealey

Assembly District 77 (vote for no more than 6)

Jason M. Bercovitch / Torrey Powers / Terry Norwood / Danny Jackson / Esther “Sunny” Escovedo / Lori Saldaña / Zubair Ahmad / Lauren Bier / Ryan Trabuco / Indroneal Banerjee / Octavio Aguilar / Ria Otero / Melinda K. Vásquez

Assembly District 78 (vote for no more than 6)

Bryan Pease / Codi Vierra / Wendy Levy Batterson / Becca Taylor / Cynara Kidwell / Pratima Gupta / Parisa Ijadi-Maghsoodi / Chyann-Marie Cox / Gretchen Newsom / Rick Bates / Bernadette M. Butkiewicz / Oren Robinson / Ramón Espinal / Zach Bunshaft / Will Rodriguez-Kennedy / Jonathan “Cody” Petterson / Kevin Lourens / Huy “Jean-Huy” Tran / Loxie Gant / Sarah K Davis

Assembly District 79 (vote for no more than 6)

Taisha Brown / Eduardo Reyes / Brandon Coopersmith / Miriam Kanter Plotkin / Angela Joseph / Andrea Beth Damsky / Danny Ortiz / Samantha Jenkins / Jehoan Jovanny Espinoza / Nidia Castañeda / Steve Padilla / Donnetta E. Moore / Jesus Cardenas / Connor P. Nesseler / Kathryn Meyer / David Myers / Shane Parmely / Temika M. Cook / Evlyn Andrade / Max Cotterill / Dan Shook Castillo

Assembly District 80 (vote for no more than 6)

Delfina Gonzalez / Eddie Padilla / Sara S. Kent / Gretel Rodríguez / Victoria A. Barba / Brenda Aguirre Arnold / Andrea Cardenas / Jose G. Sanchez / Steve Castaneda / Christopher Gris / Genoveva Aguilar / Travis Knowles / Roberto C. Alcantar / Jóse F. Cerda / Todd Voorhees / Jonathan “Johnny” Swanson / Cathie Hyatt / David Alvarez / Nathan Fletcher / Vivian Moreno / Christopher A. Vallejo / Judith Nuñez / Kelvin H. Barrios / Christina Griffin-Jones / Kate Bishop / Angelica “Angel” Godinez / Rafael A. Perez / Rickie Brown

If you do not see your Assembly District listed above, it’s possible that your committee members are chosen by Supervisor District instead.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY

SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 1 (vote for no more than 5)

Gabriel Quinto / Genoveva Calloway / Maria Alegria / Mister Phillips / Champagne Brown / Michael Nye / Uche Justin Uwahemu / Y’Anad Burrell / Cesar Zepeda

SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 2 (vote for no more than 6)

Katie Ricklefs / Renée Zeimer / Diddo Ruth Clark / Brodie Hilp / Connor O’Neill / Susan H. Hildreth / Sarah G. Butler / Eric Fackrell

SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 3 (vote for no more than 4)

Raymond Dapo Odunlami / Debra Vinson / Thuy Daojensen / Warren Lutz / Nichole Gardner / Tony Tiscareno

SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 4 (vote for no more than 5)

Ed Birsan / Ena Silva / Rebecca Jeanne Yamada Auerbach / Kenji Auerbach Yamada / Sue Hamill / Victor R. Ortiz / Melanie Seton Smith / Charles F. Carpenter

SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 5 (vote for no more than 4)

Courtney Masella-O’Brien / Nadine Grace Peyrucain / Anamarie Avila Farias / John Stevens / Ryan H. Apperson / Richard “Rich” Verrilli

FRESNO COUNTY

SUPERVISOR DISTRICT 1 (vote for no more than 4)

Simone Cranston-Rhodes / Janet Miller / Espiridion “Espi” Sandoval / Dorothy “Dottie” Smith / Jose Ornelas / Emily Brandt / David Paredes / S. Adrian Rivera / Stacy Williams

Just FYI, this list of supervisor districts is incomplete. I will be updating it as soon as possible. Please bear with me.

HOW/WHEN/WHERE DO WE VOTE?

Everyone in California must vote by March 3, 2020.

People who vote-by-mail received their ballots on Feb. 3 and (if you live in Los Angeles), we have new vote centers which are open from Feb. 22 — March 3.

You can check your voter status here: https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov.

You can register to vote here: https://registertovote.ca.gov

You can find your polling place here: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/polling-place/

You can find your nearest L.A. vote center here: LAVote.net/locator.

Just to be clear, if you live in L.A., this means you‘ll probably no longer be voting at your traditional polling place. But the advantage is that you can now pick any voting center you want. It can be the one closest to your work, or your kid’s school, or wherever is most convenient.

You can find your L.A. precincts here: https://lavote.net/apps/precinctsmaps

Sources for This Article

Voter’s Edge

Patch.com

LA Vote

Vox Publica

CADEM

Just to be clear, citing the above people and publications does not mean that we are affiliated. Also, this article is not a complete list of all the candidates I support, nor do I work for any of their campaigns. I am just a particularly passionate supporter, and lifelong Democrat.

If you’re looking for recommendations on how to vote on the rest of your ballot, please read my article: “How to Vote in California’s March 3 Primary & Save Our Democracy!”

If you’d like help finding candidates in other states besides California, please read my article: “How the Hell Do We Save Our Democracy?”

I hope you find my recommendations helpful when it comes to choosing your own candidates. Because this year will literally determine whether or not our democracy survives.

So, no matter what, PLEASE VOTE BLUE!

This was originally written on Jan. 22, 2017 and posted on Facebook. I’m sharing it now on the eve of the 3rd Women’s March as a reminder of what it felt like to attend the very first one.

The Women’s March today was such a roller coaster of emotions: joy, fear, exhaustion, anger, pride. I feel like this is just a snapshot of the years to come.

My daughter and I left the house at 8am, wearing our pussy hats. (My husband, Pablo, was out of town and my son was too sick with the flu to join us, so I left him at home with a babysitter.)

First, we waited in front of our neighbors’ house, because they’d said they wanted to join us. While we waited, I wrote our phone numbers in sharpie on our arms and quizzed my daughter on all our safety guidelines. I fervently hoped that none of my worst fears would come to pass (losing her, getting teargassed or beaten, getting arrested…)

After ten minutes passed, my neighbors texted me saying they wanted to take the bus to the metro station, which was only about 12 blocks away. I started to get antsy. I was supposed to meet my friends Cristina, Kristy and a bunch of their friends at 9am downtown near Pershing Square. So I told them we were going to walk instead.

“Ok see you downtown!” they texted back.

On our way to the metro, we saw several large groups of people wearing pussy hats and carrying signs. Everyone was smiling and waving at each other. This was really encouraging to me. The mood felt festive. I started to think today might actually be fun.

When we got to the metro station, it was PACKED.

Hundreds of people, again most of them wearing pussy hats and carrying signs. I was grateful I’d bought my TARP metro card beforehand, because the line to buy them was crazy long.

We got to the platform. Watched three trains go by completely PACKED LIKE SARDINES.

Finally, we decided to cross over and take the train going the opposite direction, so we could loop back again on an empty one. As soon as we did this, a bunch of other people decided to do the same thing. We found a seat, but by the next stop our train was also PACKED LIKE SARDINES.

Everyone was laughing and talking, sharing snacks. One lady asked if she could rest her sign on my bag. Naturally, I agreed. It said “Nasty Woman” in big glittery blue letters. My daughter loved it.

Each station we passed had more and more people waiting. Finally, after going past 6 or 7 jam packed stations, our train came to a complete standstill. We waited another 10–15 minutes or so. Then suddenly our train started moving in the opposite direction!

There were so many of us trying to get downtown, they CHANGED OUR TRAIN ROUTE.

But, of course, as soon as the train started moving, my daughter announced, “I have to go poopy!”

Everyone around us laughed. “Uh oh!” said one sympathetic mom. “Can you hold it, honey?” I asked her. She nodded. “I was just joking, mommy. I don’t really have to go!” Since I know these “jokes” are usually for serious, I was still worried.

As we approached Pershing Square, the train conductor told us not to get off, because the station was so crowded that no one could get out. So we waited and got off at the next stop afterwards.

It was now 10am. It had taken us TWO HOURS to get downtown!

When we came up above ground, we were immediately surrounded by thousands of protestors. Helicopters circled the sky. We could hear sirens in the distance. The mood felt a little more ominous. I started to feel worried again.

But suddenly — now that I had internet access again — I was deluged with text messages from all my friends that I had agreed to meet. I felt reassured again. We were all here, a bunch of mamas with babies. It was going to be ok. Still, I told them it was too crowded to find them. I was just going to “go with the flow.”

Speaking of flow, it was urgent we find a bathroom. Luckily, they had a huge row of about 15 porta potties right next to the metro station. It was early in the day, so they were still pretty clean. Of course my daughter insisted she didn’t have to go, but I made her sit on one anyway.

When we emerged, the crowd was even larger. But now it felt festive again, people were smiling and cheering. Everyone was walking in the same direction, so I plunked my daughter in her stroller and followed the crowd.

A group of women started chanting, “You can’t build a wall, your hands are too small!”

When that died down, a new one started: “My body, my choice, my country, my voice!” My daughter liked that one, so she joined in. Everyone around us was delighted by this and a young woman in her 20’s asked if she could video tape her chanting. I said yes.

A few blocks later, people suddenly started telling us, “Turn around!” Apparently Pershing Square was too crowded, so they wanted us to march over to Civic Center instead. So we switched directions and marched back the way we came.

We came to a stop at the corner of 1st and Broadway. No one knew what to do next, so we just stood there. I looked up the hill and saw thousands of more people approaching. I really hoped someone had a plan. Because otherwise it looked like we were about to be stampeded.

But then somehow everyone managed to shift to accommodate the newcomers. We were PACKED LIKE SARDINES. But it was ok.

A woman near us started handing out yellow roses. I asked her if they symbolized something and she explained that the suffragettes used to carry them when they marched. I took two, but my daughter immediately asked me for both. A few minutes later the people around us started giggling and pointing at her. She’d put both of them in her hat, upside down. “She looks like Princess Leia!” someone said.

A man standing near us was carrying a sign that said, “Get your hands off my gay mussy! And my friends’ pussies!” My daughter pointed at it and asked, “Mommy, what does that mean?” Everyone around us laughed: “Good luck with that!” I told her I’d explain when we got home.

Just then we heard someone start to play the Jimi Hendrix version of the Star Spangled Banner. The crowd went wild.

There were speeches, including one by Mayor Eric Garcetti, who vowed to protect the rights of women, immigrants, LGBT, Muslims and POC. Everyone cheered.

After a while, my daughter started getting bored: “I want to go!” The crowd was packed, shoulder to shoulder. It was impossible to move. I told her we’d leave as soon as we could, but that she was going to have to be patient. I fed her some fruit roll-ups and cheese sticks, and played the Which Would You Rather game.

Me: Which would you rather be? A unicorn or a mermaid?

Her: A unicorn!

Me: Really? I thought you loved mermaids more.

Her: Yeah, but unicorns are magical. So I can change into a mermaid any time I want!

Me: Oh, that’s smart. I love it. Still, I think I’d rather be a mermaid.

Her: But Mommy, I thought you wanted to be President!

Me: Sure, but our choices are unicorn or mermaid.

Her: But if you choose the MAGIC unicorn, you can be President any time you want!

Finally, after what felt like hours, the speakers told us they wanted us to clear out, so that the protestors coming from Pershing Square could get in. So everyone started chanting, “March! March! March down Broadway!”

Slowly, gradually, we started to move. At first it felt like we were just shuffling in place. But finally we got moving, and then we were marching for real!

About four blocks later, I heard a familiar voice shout, “Erin!” I looked over and saw my friend Kristy, with her daughter and some friends. What were the odds of finding each other among thousands of people???

We stopped to hug and laugh and share stories of our day.

We stayed for a while, watching the protestors march by. My daughter especially loved the women dressed like “angels.”

By now we were exhausted, so we decided to start heading home again. We said goodbye to Kristy and friends, and started walking south.

The crowd was starting to thin out. Protestors were no longer marching shoulder to shoulder. Piles of signs were lying on the side of the road. But there were also large groups of people playing music, singing, chanting, waving signs.

Several blocks later we arrived at a row of portapotties. I insisted that my daughter and I use them, but this time we had to hold our noses, because the smell was SO FOUL.

We then walked a little further to the metro station. I packed up my daughter’s stroller, hooked it over my shoulder, along with our backpack and bag, then slowly walked down several flights of stairs, along with hundreds of other people, while holding hands with my daughter so I wouldn’t lose her.

Once again, the station was PACKED.

When we finally got to the turnstile, a metro employee told us there weren’t any trains going in our direction. “None at all?” I asked, incredulous. “Not for a while, at least.”

So we turned around and went back upstairs. I unfolded the stroller and started pushing my daughter away from the crowds. I checked to see if there were any Uber cars nearby. Surge pricing was on. I kept walking.

My babysitter texted me, “Are you OK? When are you getting home?” It was already 1:30 and we were supposed to be back by 1pm!

I told her I was looking for an Uber and I’d get home as soon as possible. After walking another 10 blocks, I checked the app again. Surge pricing was now “only” 3x the regular price. I requested a car.

While I was standing there, several other people stopped and did the same thing. Suddenly my corner had become an impromptu taxi stand. Which made it confusing when cars arrived. But finally I found ours.

As luck would have it, my Uber driver had a booster seat built into the back seat of his Volvo! I happily strapped my daughter in, suddenly feeling much less guilty about putting her in a car without a car seat.

Twenty minutes later, we were home. It was now 2:15 pm. We were exhausted and filthy. I immediately gave my daughter a bath, and scrubbed the sharpie from her arm.

As I unpacked our bags, I marveled at the fact that I’d included kerchiefs because I’d been worried about the possibility of getting tear gassed.

I remembered past protests I’d participated in, where my friends were arrested or I witnessed instigators throwing things and getting violent. I thought about every other massive event I’d ever gone to, including rock concerts and the 50th birthday celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge, and how even those (totally positive) events had been scarier, in many ways, because of the unpredictable nature of the crowd.

I realized with surprise that today had been totally peaceful. Not a single act of violence. Not a single arrest.

I logged into Facebook and saw reports that 750,000 people had marched in L.A. And millions more, all around the world.

Suddenly, for the first time in a long while, I felt hopeful.

Originally published at www.facebook.com.

First of all, anyone who tells you teachers are striking because they are “greedy,” has obviously never taught a classroom full of kids on their own. This is especially untrue in Los Angeles, where the teachers’ union and the charter lobby are facing off in a fight for the future of public education.

According to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the teachers’ union United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), is getting exactly what they asked for during contract negotiations: a 6% raise.

So why are teachers going on strike Jan. 14th?

Because it was never just about salaries. As Iza Lopez, a teacher, said on Facebook: “If [this was just about money], we’d take the 6% and call it a day. But we are striking for smaller classes, for charter control, for nurses and librarians, for bilingual ed. I don’t need [these things] in my own personal life. My students do. I’m striking for them.”

Also, it’s not true that teachers are getting the raise they asked for.

For one thing, UTLA asked for 6.5%, not 6. Plus, according to them there is no offer, just a press release with some strings attached: “[Superintendent] Beutner has yet to retract the demonstrably false claim he made… that a 6% salary agreement has been reached between LAUSD and UTLA. There is no such agreement. In September, Beutner gave the media and later UTLA an unofficial offer of a 3% raise retroactive to July 1, 2017, and an additional 3% as of July 1, 2018, but that offer comes with unacceptable strings attached, including making it harder to qualify for healthcare in retirement and requiring more work hours for already overworked educators.”

And, as another teacher pointed out on Facebook, “It is the lack of retroactivity” that is especially galling. “Allowing them not to pay [fully] retroactive to the previous contract [which expired in 2017] gives them a great incentive to always stall negotiations.”

Still, why are teachers striking over an imperfect 6% raise? And why are they insisting on other stuff too, like smaller class sizes, more nurses, more charter oversight, etc? Are these things really worth the sacrifices a strike requires?

Yes, because this is actually a battle for our children’s future.

What happens here in Los Angeles will impact the entire country. One, because LAUSD is the second largest school district in the U.S. And two, because we have “more charters than any other school system.”

Is that bad? Are all charters bad? No, they’re not. Some charters are wonderful and innovative. When a teachers union leader named Albert Shanker first started promoting the idea in 1988, he envisioned them as an “R&D lab for the regular public school,” or an “incubator for innovative ways to teach.” People quickly embraced this idea and started creating schools that experimented with new curriculum. And let’s be honest, some charters were seen as a refuge from the struggling public schools available in their neighborhoods.

Yet despite the popularity of charter schools, within five years, Shanker had already renounced them. He said, “the idea had been adopted by businesses seeking profits… and would be used… to privatize public schools and destroy teachers unions.”

“Shanker died in 1997, too soon to see his dire prediction come true. Today, there are more than 7,000 charter schools… About 90 percent of [which] are nonunion. Charters are more segregated than public schools, prompting the Civil Rights Project at UCLA in 2010 to call charter schools… “a civil rights failure.” They compete with public schools instead of collaborating. Charter proponents claim that the schools are progressive, but schools that are segregated and nonunion do not deserve that mantle.”

This segregation is not just limited to race and class, but also ability, as charter schools are notorious for cherry picking students, and rejecting the ones they do not want, which often means excluding children with special needs.

This problem is especially egregious in California where we have had a “never-ending stream of charter scandals… For example, a report released recently (by the ACLU SoCal and Public Advocates, a nonprofit law firm and advocacy group) found that more than 20 percent of all California charter schools have enrollment policies that violate state and federal law… What these [scandals] reveal is a state charter law that allows charter schools to operate loosely, with little if any accountability or transparency to the public. The charter lobby in California has successfully fought off legislative efforts to bring more accountability to the charter sector.”

In 2016, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed “Assembly Bill 709 [which] would have required that charter schools comply with the same state laws governing open meetings, open records and conflict of interest laws that traditional public schools do.”

And these problems have only gotten worse in Los Angeles, thanks to the fact that the LAUSD school board is now largely comprised of pro-charter lobby members. They have continued to reject attempts to regulate the charter system. Instead, they chose a new Superintendent with a particularly shady background: “Earlier this year, Austin Beutner was appointed Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District in a backroom deal that was closed to the public.” The deciding vote was cast by Ref Rodriguez, a pro-charter board member who at that point had already pled guilty to money laundering and other charges. Shortly after casting his vote in May of 2018, he resigned. Since then, LAUSD has refused to fill his seat, leaving his district (BD5) without representation for almost an entire year. A special election has finally been scheduled on March 5, 2019. It will be an important one, because it will determine whether the pro-charter lobby holds onto their majority on the School Board.

Yet so far the public is woefully uninformed about what is at stake. If you’re wondering why this is the first time you’re hearing about this issue, that is because they are many people invested in seeing the charter lobby win, which means hiding the truth from us.

On Dec. 15th, over 50,000 people marched in downtown Los Angeles in a March for Education. If you didn’t hear about it, that may be because instead of getting front page coverage, it was buried on page 10 of the LA Times.

It is worth noting that prior to becoming Superintendent of LAUSD, Beutner was Publisher of the LA Times, where he completely revamped their education coverage: “The Los Angeles Times announced what seemed like good news for its readers…. a new reporting initiative that would expand the paper’s coverage of local education… Except the newspaper left out a key detail: Some of the foundations funding “Education Matters” are among the most prominent advocates of public-education reform in Los Angeles. One of them is the principal backer of a proposal to convert nearly half of Los Angeles’s public schools into charter schools.

“In other words, the Times’ new education-reporting project is being funded by some of the very organizations the new education-reporting project is likely to be covering… The initiative has raised suspicions, most notably among teachers’ union representatives and others who oppose the reformers’ agenda. Can a news organization, they ask, take money from vested interests and cover the issues fairly?”

Beutner then teamed up with charter lobbyist Eli Broad, in an attempt to buy the LA Times. However, they were not successful, and Beutner was fired. Nevertheless, this attempt is part of the overarching theme to Beutner’s career, who “boasts a track record of misleading the public and trying to break apart companies, newspapers, and public infrastructure.”

Beutner has already revealed, in a secret plan that was leaked to the public earlier this year, that he wants to break up LAUSD into 32 smaller districts. Why is that bad? First of all, because “this plan was developed with no transparency and without the authentic involvement of parents and educators.” But more importantly, “‘Decentralization’ is a common refrain in so-called portfolio districts — like New Orleans, Newark and Detroit — cities that are riddled with a patchwork of privatization schemes that do not improve student outcomes. They do, however, degrade the teaching profession and create chaos for parents and students trying to navigate the system. In New Orleans, there are no public schools left. In Detroit, a sea of charters has decimated democratically-run public schools. In a competition-based portfolio model, clusters of schools compete against each other for resources and support, creating a system of haves and have nots and exacerbating segregation and equity issues.”

How does Beutner plan to accomplish this? Well, his first step has been to reject UTLA’s demands for smaller class sizes. “Why? Because if the district were to reduce class sizes by hiring 2,000 additional teachers, it would need to provide 2,000 classrooms to those new teachers — classrooms that some charter-school advocates are eyeing for themselves.” But aside from wanting to co-locate charters on public school property, there is another, more nefarious reason to resist hiring more teachers.

California is currently 45th in the nation in terms of pupil-teacher ratios. In Los Angeles, there are middle and high school classes with as many as 45 students. These unacceptably over-sized classes are one of the main reasons why families are fleeing public schools in record numbers, and sending their children to charter schools instead. Other reasons families are leaving? The lack of basic resources, like librarians and nurses. Which is why UTLA is including those positions among their demands.

LAUSD insists that they do not have enough money to fund everything UTLA is requesting, because the district is supposedly on the verge of a “fiscal cliff.” However, if this were true, then why did the School Board members just give themselves a 174% pay raise? And why aren’t they doing anything about the $600 million lost to charter schools every year?

The truth is, a neutral fact-finding team brought in by the state has confirmed that LAUSD actually has over $1.8 billion in reserve. This team released a report on Dec. 14th confirming that much of what UTLA has claimed is true.

As one of the panel members, Vern Gates, observed in the report:

“LAUSD is an investment bankers dream. A profitable entity with a dedicated stream of revenue (over $7B in state tax money), over a thousand pieces to break up and sell off, no debt, and a huge cash balanace ($1.86B). We know that Beutner plans to break the district up into 32 separate entities — like the portfolio model used in Newark, New Orleans and Indianapolis — because someone in his office leaked the plan to the media. Couple this with the pro-charter school proponents on the school board and it is easy to see why LAUSD rejects UTLA proposals that would improve local schools — they do not want improvement.

“…The District claims it is not subsidizing charter schools, yet [it] does not even collect the legally authorized 3% oversight fee from charter schools… If LAUSD were truly concerned about a pending insolvency, LAUSD would call for a moratorium on charter schools to stem declining enrollment. Rather than simply complain in the press about a lack of adequate funding and do nothing, LAUSD could partner with UTLA for a 2020 funding initiative. Unfortunately, LAUSD does none of these.

“In my seventeen years working with labor unions, I have been called on to help settle countless bargaining disputes in mediation and sat on many fact-finding panels. I have never seen an employer that was intent on its own demise. The students of LAUSD deserve better and LAUSD should agree to the UTLA proposals which promise the schools LA students deserve.”

It is important to emphasize that the 2020 funding initiative Gates mentions is absoutely imperative. Because even though LAUSD currently has the funds necessary to fund everything UTLA is requesting, it would eventually deplete its reserves, without additional funding from the state. But the truth is, this funding is long overdue.

California is currently 43rd in the country in per student spending. This is completely unacceptable, considering we are the world’s 5th largest economy. Honestly, it is shocking that a state as progressive as ours has allowed the situation to get this bad.

“We Californians can be pretty smug about holding true to our progressive values in the face of attacks from the president. We tout, among other things, our sanctuary cities, our commitment to environmental regulation and the taxation and regulation of legal cannabis — and candidates for statewide office are falling over themselves to declare the resistance they will lead to Trump’s vision for America. But there is one area in which we are well out of step with the rest of the nation — and not in a good way. By almost every measure, California ranks in the bottom fifth of states in spending for K-12 public education. We are 45th in percentage of taxable income spent on education, 41st in per-pupil funding, 45th in pupil-teacher ratios and 48th in pupil-staff ratios.”

It is time for us to stop starving our schools. We need to fund public education. And we need to support our teachers, who are taking a huge risk to fight for what is right.

This is a sampling of some of the messages teachers have shared in a private Facebook group, regarding the sacrifices they’re willing to make in order to go on strike.

“I have a family of 5 that I support with my one income. I have contacted all my billing companies to defer payment for 1 month or more…It’s a privilege to be unionized so the temporary costs are worth our collective fight.” (N. K.)

“I am a single mother with no child support. I have been saving every extra penny for months… In January with the last ‘full’ check I will stock up on ramen and mac n cheese and pasta and sauce to get me through Feb.” (A.L.)

“No cable, no A/C, no magazines… This month storing food. I told my fam Xmas presents will wait, just sacrifice. We can do this.” (L.G.)

But why do they need to sacrifice so much, if we supposedly have some of the best paid teachers in the country? Well, it is worth noting that we also have the worst housing market in the U.S. and our cost of living is one of the highest in the world. “In LAUSD’s recent report “Hard Choices,” the district alleges that its teachers are overpaid by 17%. But according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the value of money has dropped 24% since 2007. Teachers have recovered only 10% of that in raises.”

If our teachers are willing to make sacrifices to educate our children, the least we can do is stand with them.

Beutner likes to claim that he views himself “as the chief kid advocate.” He says he always asks, “Where’s the kid in that?” when he makes decisions. If that’s so, a strike should be easy to avoid because UTLA’s demands are focused on helping students by improving our schools.”

And if you think none of this affects you, because your kids don’t attend public school, think again. The truth is, improving public schools, helps improve all schools.

As Bess Fanning, a film producer, observed on Facebook, “An important point to remember as we gear up for this strike is that this will affect ALL families. Even families in Charter schools and private schools will be affected by the outcome of this strike… The conditions and pay in our schools set the standard for all other schools. If they reduce class size at LAUSD, that makes [it] more attractive to parents. If they employ a full time nurse, librarian, and counselor at every school, it makes it more attractive to parents and teachers. If they raise pay for the teachers, that makes teaching at LAUSD more attractive to top quality teachers, and on and on. Then Charter schools and private schools will have to up their offers to make their (mostly nonunion) jobs more appealing to teachers seeking work. This strike is a huge a sacrifice for our teachers, and for the parents inconvenienced by the interruption in education. But if we win… it helps everybody.”

In other words, a rising tide lifts all boats.

When we support public education, everyone wins!

How Can You Help?

1. Call the School Board: (213) 241–6389. Tell them you support public education. Remind them that half the School Board is up for election in 2020 and the other half in 2022. (And if you live in District 5, tell them you’ll be voting in the special election on March 5th.) Let them know you’ll be paying attention to how the board handles this important issue.
2. Call all your Elected Officials. Governor Gavin Newsom and CA Superintendent Tony Thurmond were both just elected on pro-public school platforms. Tell them you expect them to keep their word, or you will not be voting for them again. Mayor Garcetti, Senators Feinstein and Harris, and all of your other representatives should know you expect them to support public education too.
3. Walk the picket line. Join teachers and families who will be walking the picket lines every day during the strike, starting Jan. 14th. Take your kids with you.
4. Do not volunteer at school. Anyone who enters a school is crossing the picket line. Instead, please volunteer to help striking teachers, who will need water, snacks, and access to nearby bathrooms and parking spaces.
5. Wear red. In a sign of solidarity with the teacher strikes around the country, including the one in Arizona which coined the hashtag #Red4Ed, people are wearing red to support the UTLA strike.
6. Help spread the word. Share this Medium essay. Use the hashtags #Red4Ed, #UTLAstrong, and #StandWithTeachers. Add the frame to your Facebook profile that says “I Stand With Teachers.” Hang UTLA signs in your windows. Put bumper stickets on your car. Talk to your friends and neighbors.
7. Support the 2020 Funding Initiative. Vote for it. Tell your elected officials to support it. A progressive state like California should be leading the country when it comes to our children’s education.

After all, our children are the future.

(To read this essay in Spanish, go here.)

What More Do Teachers Want? Why are They Striking? was originally published in Spec on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.