Deep Pockets of the Dark Side Aim to Undermine Democrats in Race to Replace Lorena Gonzalez
Police Union, Republicans Back Republicrat David Alvarez for D80
The headline tells you all you need to know.
The political party that supports repeal of Roe v Wade has joined forces with the Blue Lives Matter (Black lives, not-so-much) types.
The Republican Party of San Diego and the San Diego Police Officers Association have made serious financial commitments toward getting David Alvarez elected to represent the 80th Assembly district over Georgette Gomez.
The fact that they’re backing a Democrat in a Dem vs Dem contest in itself is shocking, made even more so by the historically liberal electorate in AD80.
From CalMatters:
Marty Wilson, who directs the campaign operation of the California Chamber of Commerce, called the Assembly race in San Diego an “attractive opportunity” for business interests who would love to see Gonzalez replaced with a friendlier kind of Democrat. But he also sees the race as a kind of warm-up scrimmage.
“This is a signal of things to come,” he said.
The anti-vaxxers, the Uber apologists, the billionaire bosses, and the obstructionists in SANDAG all wanted Lorena Gonzalez gone when she represented the 80th. If I had a nickel for every time I saw or heard a boast about how some privileged group was gonna primary Gonzalez, I’d have a can chock full o’ half dimes. Now the dark money types hope to make it so.
The Assembly member from the 80th won five elections by huge margins and came back to Sacramento each year with a do list guaranteed to make reactionaries quake.
Then she got a job offer too good to pass up: the top job at the California Labor Federation, and resigned in January. There were other reasons besides a plum job; her hopes to become Secretary of State were dashed via Gov. Newsom’s appointment of Shirley Weber. and she was bouncing back from what I assume was a tough battle with breast cancer.
Two former City Council members, David Alvarez and Georgette Gomez, declared their intention to run for the 80th District Assembly seat. Both had been reliable votes for progressive causes while on the City Council.
Gomez got busy lining up local community and Democratic party support. Alvarez apparently spent his time in Sacramento making the rounds of lobbyists, looking to build a campaign fund big enough to win the day.
And his campaign no longer identifies him as a Democrat. I have to wonder what that move cost some donor.
The real action in this race is with Independent Expenditure committees, which are allowed to receive huge donations and spend large sums without the usual oversight, as long as they (wink,wink) don’t directly engage with candidate’s campaign committees..
Mostly these groups spend money in two ways: signaling support from special groups to boost turnout and trash talking the opposition.
For Gomez, that money is coming from organized labor, consumer, and environmental groups.
From CalMatters:
Gonzalez, the former incumbent, asserted that it’s telling that while the pro-Gómez spending is easy to identify as coming from organized labor, the funding and the political organizing behind San Diego Families Opposing Georgette Gomez are much more opaque.
“If I were oil and landlords and big corporations and insurance companies, I’d probably hide, too, because my district doesn’t buy that,“ she said.
In the case of Alvarez’s candidacy, it should surprise nobody that two groups who sustain their existence by demonizing others are running trash talking ads about Gomez.
I started hearing rumors last fall about David Alvarez supplicating before assorted big business interests in Sacramento and dismissed them. I should have listened.. And it’s set to pay off big time if voters don’t see through the investment by the deep pockets of the dark side.
I’m sure Alvarez and his supporters will dispute my characterization. I say in response: when you make a deal with the devil, they will come to collect their due.
What will it be? (A sampling, by no means complete)
Overtime for farm workers? (Western Growers–$25,000, Agricultural Council of CA– $25,000)
A key vote on climate change? (Edison Electric– $285,000, Sempra $25,000),
Legislation seeking to put a cap on drug prices? (Pharma– $250,000)
Keeping tobacco out of the hands of teenagers? (Phillip Morris–$40,000)
Limits on insurance costs? (Farmers Insurance– $250,000, Personal Insurance Federal $125,000, Insurance agents $5,000)
Limits on recycling? ( Dart Container $25,000, American Beverage Assn PAC $35,000)
And I wonder what Uber ($250,000) and Amazon ($35,000) are expecting?
I’ll be the first to say that the commonly held assumptions about the power of campaign contributions are overrated.
But…money buys access, and access buys influence. And there is a big difference between a snowball fight and an avalanche. What we’re looking at here is an oddball donation or two; there’s a ton of cash involved.
I doubt David Alvarez will be introducing legislation written by the Koch Brothers ALEC staff, but it’s amazing what a delayed committee vote or a simple change in definitions can do to a bill. Think sand in the gears, not speeches denouncing Roe v Wade.
For now, Republicans and their allies are seeking to work on the margins of the Democrats’ supermajority in the legislature. A vote here, an abstention there, are all they need to slow the wheels of progress.
David Alvarez
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Georgette Gomez - Democrat
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Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com