Political and Legislative Report: Political Season Starts to Heat Up, Volunteers Needed

Download the March 2008 issue in PDF format

By Evan McLaughlin, Political Director

The Labor Council has made many more endorsements in the upcoming June 3 election, and union members are being asked to pledge their time to walk precincts and phone-bank for the candidates we’ve endorsed. It’s a little unusual for us to start this early, but it’s necessary. The campaign landscape has changed significantly, as more and more voters are registered to permanently cast their ballots as absentee voters.

That means we’ve got to be out doing the hard work much earlier, so I’m hoping you can urge your union to adopt a night to phone bank for the Labor Council. Please call political field coordinator Ryan Mims at (619) 228- 8101, extension 4 to schedule a night.

The June elections will be an exciting time. Four San Diego City Council seats will be open because of term limits. In what will likely be the most significant race, Marti Emerald – television’s “Trouble Shooter” investigative reporter – will be vying for the District 7 council seat (east San Diego and College Area) against a downtown business community candidate with a lot of corporate money behind her.

It will be a tough fight, but Marti can win if we help put in the hard work.

In other City of San Diego races, the Labor Council is supporting Scott Peters for City Attorney, Sherri Lightner for Council District 1 (La Jolla and northwest San Diego), and three candidates – Todd Gloria, John Hartley and Stephen Whitburn – for Council District 3 (Uptown and North Park).

In the elections for state Legis lature, all eyes are on Assembly races in Districts 78 and 80, which are two of only a few Legislative races that will be competitive this year.

We have the chance in 2008 to replace two termed-out Assembly members with wretched voting records on labor issues with some bright new faces who will stand up for working families.

In April, the California Labor Federation will decide whether they’ll support Marti Block in the 78th (from east San Diego to east Chula Vista) and Greg Pettis in the 80th (from Imperial County to Palm Springs) like our members voted to last month.

Speaking of endorsements, stay on the lookout for more to be scheduled in the next couple of weeks, including the San Diego Mayor’s race.