SAN DIEGO — Six Democrats operating for governor subsequent yr targeted on housing affordability, the price of dwelling and healthcare cuts as probably the most daunting points dealing with Californians at a labor discussion board on Saturday in San Diego.
Largely in lockstep about these issues, the candidates highlighted their political resumes and life tales to attempt to create contrasts and curry favor with attendees.
Former state Meeting Majority Chief Ian Calderon, in his first gubernatorial discussion board since coming into the race in late September, leaned into his expertise as the primary millennial elected to the state Legislature.
“I really feel like my expertise and my ardour uniquely positioned me on this race to experience a lane that no person else can experience, being a millennial and being younger and having a distinct perspective,” mentioned Calderon, 39.
Considerations about his 4 youngsters’s future in addition to the state’s reliance on Washington, D.C., drove his determination to run for governor after selecting to not search reelection to the Legislature in 2020.
“I would like [my children] to have alternative. I would like them to have a future. I would like life to be higher. I would like it to be simpler,” mentioned Calderon, whose household has deep roots in politics. State leaders should focus “on D.C.-proofing California. We can’t proceed to depend upon D.C. and count on that they’re going to provide a s— about us and what our wants are, as a result of they don’t.”
Former U.S. Well being and Human Companies Secretary Xavier Becerra, who additionally served because the state’s legal professional normal after a 24-year stint in Congress, argued that it’s important to elect a governor who has expertise.
“Would you let somebody who’s by no means flown a aircraft inform you, ‘I can fly that aircraft again to land’ in the event that they’ve by no means achieved it earlier than?” Becerra requested. “Do you give the keys to the governor’s workplace to somebody who hasn’t achieved this earlier than?”
He contrasted himself with different candidates within the race by invoking a barking chihuahua behind a chain-link fence.
“The place’s the chunk?” he mentioned, after citing his historical past, akin to suing President Trump 122 instances, and main the sprawling federal well being forms throughout the pandemic. “You don’t simply develop enamel in a single day.”
Calderon and Becerra had been amongst six Democratic candidates who spoke at size to about 150 California leaders of a number of chapters of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Staff.
The union has greater than 200,000 members in California and is being battered by the federal authorities shutdown, the state’s price range deficit and impending healthcare strikes. AFSCME is a strong drive in California politics, offering troops to knock on voters’ doorways and man cellphone banks.
The discussion board got here because the gubernatorial area to exchange termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom is in flux.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris introduced earlier this summer season that she has opted in opposition to operating for the seat. Former state Senate chief Toni Atkins suspended her gubernatorial marketing campaign in late September.
Rumors proceed to swirl about whether or not billionaire businessman Rick Caruso or Sen. Alex Padilla will be a part of the sector.
“I’m weighing it. However my focus is in the beginning on encouraging folks to vote for Proposition 50,” the congressional redistricting matter on the November poll, Padilla informed the New York Occasions in an interview printed Saturday. “The opposite determination? That race is just not till subsequent yr. So that call will come.”
Rich Democratic businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck and Republican Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco declined an invite to take part within the discussion board, citing prior commitments.
The union will think about an endorsement at a future convention, mentioned Matthew Maldonado, govt director for District Council 36, which represents 25,000 employees in Southern California.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa leaned into his longtime roots in labor earlier than he ran for workplace. However he additionally alluded to tensions with unions after being elected mayor in 2005.
Labeled a “scab” when he crossed picket strains the next yr throughout a significant metropolis employees’ strike, Villaraigosa additionally clashed with unions over furloughs and layoffs throughout the recession. His relationship with labor hit a low in 2010 when Villaraigosa known as town’s lecturers union, the place he as soon as labored, “the biggest impediment to creating high quality faculties.”
“I would like you to know one thing about me. I’m not going to say sure to each darn factor that everyone comes as much as me with, together with typically the unions,” Villaraigosa mentioned. “Once I was mayor, they’ll inform you typically I needed to say no. Why? I wasn’t going to go bankrupt, and I knew I needed to defend pensions and the remainder of it.”
He pledged to work with labor if elected governor.
Labor leaders requested a lot of the questions on the discussion board, with the entire candidates being requested about the identical subjects, akin to in the event that they supported and would marketing campaign for a proposed state constitutional modification to assist UC employees with down-payment loans for homes.
“Hell sure,” mentioned former Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine, who teaches at UC Irvine’s regulation college and benefited from a program created by state college leaders to permit college to purchase homes priced under the market fee in expensive Orange County as a result of the excessive value of housing within the area was an impediment in recruiting professors.
“I get to learn from UC Irvine’s funding of their professionals and professors {and professional} employees housing, however they don’t seem to be doing it for everybody,” she mentioned, noting employees akin to clerks, janitors and patient-care employees don’t have entry to comparable advantages.
State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who entered the gathering dancing to Dr. Dre and Tupac’s “California Love,” agreed to help the housing loans in addition to to stroll picket strains with tens of 1000’s of Kaiser well being workers anticipated to go on strike later this month.
AFSCME native leaders listening to former U.S. Well being and Human Companies Secretary Xavier Becerra converse at a gubernatorial discussion board Saturday in San Diego.
(Seema Mehta / Los Angeles Occasions)
“I might be there,” Thurmond responded, including that he had simply spoken on the cellphone with Kaiser’s chief govt, and urged him to satisfy labor calls for about staffing, pay, retirement and advantages, particularly within the aftermath of their work throughout the pandemic. “Simply get it achieved, rattling it, and provides them what they’re asking for.”
Former state Controller Betty Yee agreed to each requests as nicely, arguing that the healthcare employers are targeted on revenue on the expense of affected person care.
“Sure, completely,” she mentioned when requested about becoming a member of the Kaiser picket line. “Disgrace on them. You can’t be anticipated to handle others in the event you can’t handle yourselves.”
