Assemblymember Sandre Swanson being stripped of his Chairmanship by Speaker Karen Bass is a clear black and white or should i say black and blue (ouch!) example of what has been wrong for so long in politics. I challenge the mainstream and other media as well as community groups and organizations to bring the behavior of the speaker to their round tables for a candid discussion on bad behavior. Especially recent bad behavior.

Sandre Swanson made the 16th District proud when he represented the people as they had entrusted him to. Those in the assembly who didn’t have the strength to represent their districts will certainly hear from voters in their neighborhoods who will be struggling and reeling from the weak and distressed leadership who abandoned them in the name of “compromise.”

I suspect Bass has decided to move on after this term and no longer seems to care who she kicks on the way out. It’s quite sad actually. The broken leadership she displayed was shameful in the face of the new leadership illuminated by President Obama and hope and doing things in a new way.

Swanson was planning and carrying out some great things as the “Labor” Chair. I would like to know if Bass acted alone in her apparent decision to strip Chairmanships from the three assemblymembers. I would like to know the process in which the decision was made to do so and when the decision was made. I would like to see their Chairmanships restored by the end of the week, along with an apology. But I guess there are a lot of things I would like to see happen in the way things are done in politics.

Much thanks to all that Bass has done in her political career and her humanitarian works over the years. However, to somehow unravel a lovely career blanket after all of that dedication and work seems a shame. I no longer want to keep that blanket in my house; she can take it with her when she leaves. It doesn’t seem to have the warmth I’d hoped for. Especially one knitted from the hands of one I thought a humanitarian first and a politician second. To bad. Does anyone else feel a draft in the “House”?      mw/Oakland