Local Elections in Fresno, CA

[annm4peace]

For change to happen in the Central Valley, more people need to get active in campaigns and getting out the vote. Make sure your friends, family, and neighbors get to the pols.
Thanks to Mike for letting me post your wisdom


Incredible active Progressive, Mike Rhodes, gives his analysis.


Date: Sunday, June 1, 2008, 10:03 PM


Local Elections for Fresno



Henry Perea and Ashley Swearengin, in all probability, are going to receive the most votes in the race for mayor. Neither will get a majority (over 50%) and there will be a run off in November. I predict Henry will get about 25% and Ashley about 20% of the vote. The second tier of candidates, which Tom Boyajian falls into, will get somewhere around 10% of the votes and the 3rd tier candidates (Hunt, Garabay, etc) will get 1% or so each.

Most progressives like Tom Boyajian. I like Tom. I agree with him on most issues, but he is not going to win the race for mayor. Because so many progressives like Tom, the CVPPAC gave a dual endorsement - we supported Tom and Henry T. Perea. The reason many people in the CVPPAC like Henry is because he is a whole lot better than what we have now, he is an effective leader, we agree with him on most issues, and it is possible to get him elected.

Henryʼs position on the Independent Police Auditor was discussed, and while we all disagree with him on this issue, there is more to who you elect to office than any one issue. Henry will bring to the mayorʼs office a completely different approach to how the city deals with homelessness, he is totally against building a nuclear power plant in West Fresno, he is against privatizing city services, he supports smart growth (more in-fill, better public transportation, etc), he will bring back the Human Relations Commission, and he is very supportive of alternative and renewable energy.

Once the June 3 primary is over, Iʼm hopeful that progressives will join together in a broad coalition to support Henry T Perea for mayor. In doing so, we will be joining with our brothers and sisters in organized labor that are out walking precincts and phone banking for him right now. The alternative is Ashley Swearengin I think Ashley will be an extremely formidable opponent in the November election. She is very business oriented, she has the backing of a large part of the business sector in Fresno. Ashley is a Republican, she is a member of the Peoples Church, supported by the business elite in Fresno. Ashley represents a continuation of the Jim Patterson & Alan Autry style of government. Henry T Perea, a Democrat, will represent a change of direction - he will support workers rights, smart growth, and renewable/alternative energy.

In a couple of days, the race for mayor will no longer be about whether progressives support Tom or Henry. It will become a race between maintaining the current political direction (right wing, Republican, fundamentalist Christian) or whether we can unite to vote for a change. You might not get Henry to support every issue you feel passionately about, but he will move this city in a much more progressive direction. I can almost guarantee you that he will not take over City Hall and hold a "Celebration of Traditional Marriage," blocking protestors with a line of police (like Alan Autry did).

With all of that said, I donʼt even think that the mayorʼs race is the one to watch on Tuesday, because that race is all but over. All of the polls and the pundits know that there will be a runoff and that runoff will be between Perea and Swearengin. What is up for grabs on Tuesday is the Board of Supervisors race in district 2. That race is between Susan Anderson, Brian Calhoun, and Paul Dictos. The question is, can Anderson get 50% of the vote in that race? Nobody knows the answer to that. The reason this race is so important is because if Susan does not win with over 50% of the vote, she will be in a runoff with Calhoun in November. If that happens, a lot of organized laborʼs resources, that would have gone into Pereaʼs mayoral race will be thrown into the district 2 race. And why is the district 2 race so important? It is important because Susan Anderson is often the swing vote on the board and without her, the conservative faction would have complete control of County politics.

Some people have criticized the CVPPAC for endorsing Nathan Magsig for the district 5 Board of Supervisors seat. Let me say first that I can understand why people would object to the CVPPAC endorsing someone who can only be described as a conservative Republican. There were three reasons the CVPPAC endorsed Magsig over Poochigian. Reason 1: Magsig is not as conservative as his opponent. Reason 2: We have a dialog with Magsig and feel we can move him in the correct direction on some issues. Reason 3: We believe that Magsig will, at least some of the time, vote with the more progressive block on the BOS. Our feeling was that Poochigian is a far right conservative ideologue that would not listen to progressive voices and would vote consistently against working and poor peoples interests. This was clearly a case of a group choosing someone because they are the lesser of two evils. If there had been another choice in the race. . .

Iʼm pretty fatalistic about 2 our of 3 of the Fresno City Council races. I think Lee Brand, Jerry Duncanʼs hand picked replacement will win in District 6. I really like Michelle Jorgensen, but I donʼt think she has a snow balls chance in hell of winning on Tuesday. Same thing in District 4. I wish Susan Good was going to win, but it doesnʼt look like that is going to happen either. Larry Westerlund, even though he has been deployed to Iraq, will probably keep his seat. The other city council race - the one Brian Calhoun was termed out of, is the one Iʼm least sure about. The CVPPAC endorsed Michael Karbassi over Andreas Borgeas. Karbassi certainly seemed to share more progressive values than Borgeas, but this is a Northwest Fresno race that involves two Republican candidates.

What the left really needs to do in this community is to unite around a political strategy to achieve political power. We need to chose candidates to run or support those that share our values. Most progressive political activists in Fresno focus most of their time on single issues and we donʼt come together to hammer out a political strategy aimed at achieving political power. The unification of progressive groups around a political strategy to achieve power, at the local level, would benefit us all. I hope to see that happen in my lifetime.

[XemaSab]

1. Who's running in CD19?

I'm still bummed TJ didn't win against Radanovich, but I can't say I was surprised. There's a lot of fundies, Nazis, and other wackos up in the hills. :shrug: