New funding hopes to support moderate candidates
by Brian Leubitz
In June, I mentioned that SEIU was looking at getting some moderates into office, but now it seems they aren’t the only ones. A new coalition has formed to put $600K towards electing some moderates into the legislature:
The group, Californians for Fiscal Accountability and Responsibility, received six contributions of $100,000 each from major Sacramento interest groups in June. Those include the California Dental Association, California Medical Association, California Association of Realtors, California School Employees Association, SEIU-UHW and State Building and Construction Trades Council.
California Medical Association CEO Dustin Corcoran said the coalition is interested in helping Republicans and Democrats who are willing to work on compromise deals in the Legislature. He said contributors have grown frustrated by gridlock in the Capitol, most recently during the budget process. (CapAlert)
I was more into this idea when we were talking about electing moderate Republicans over extreme tea party types. Seeing as how they are now looking at playing in races where there are likely to be two Democrats in the general election, well, that isn’t nearly as exciting. Then again, $600,000 isn’t really all that much in the grand scheme of things. They’ll need to come up with a lot more if they really want to have a statewide impact.
As far as I can see we already have more damn “moderate” Dems than we know what to do with. All the ones that take a powder and disappear everytime an important consumer issue comes up for committee vote, etc. On the other hand, I don’t think anyone could identify a genuine moderate on the Republican side – they’ve all been purged.
Finally, this is totally the norm for SEIU to involve themselves in something like this. They’ve been a major player in fighting against single payer healthcare reform both at the state and national level, all while convincing a lot of people that they are “progressive”.
There is a radio show on KFI in Los Angeles called the John and Ken Show that reaches over 1 million listeners. If you are a member of this blog, it’s a fair bet that you have never heard of the radio show. Feel proud of that.
These two guys care almost nothing about what Democrats do. All they worry about is the purity of the Republican Party. They attack, with a viciousness you would never find in the natural world, any Republican who might consider increasing taxes.
They don’t seem to care what Democrats do–just Republicans. These two guys have essentially destroyed any semblence of moderation in the Republican Party. I think the efforts by some of the power players in Sacramento are aimed at helping those who are attacked by John and Ken. A worthy cause.
on the one hand, the seiu is investing $600,000 to elect as many legislators as they can…and at the same time, amazon is investing $3 million to qualify a single ballot measure.
you note in this story that the seiu needs to step it up, and when you read the two stories together it suggests your conclusion could not be more correct.
The rise of the Tea Party movement gives us a golden opportunity. By aiming to win over moderates from both political parties to our side, we can marginalize the Republican Party and build a majority coalition of reasonable people that will last for years.
Or, we can take a page out of the GOP playbook and purge our party of “impure” moderates. It’s our choice.
Why is it that when the Republicans try to throw moderates out of their party it’s right-wing zealotry but when Democrats do it,it’s “progressive”?
I don’t think that John & Ken are in California. I heard the news that they have left the California.Buy kitchen cabinets