Tag Archives: Manuel Perez

Coachella Valley

Pérez in the CA 80th AD

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Even at 100 degrees Farenheit, the Coachella Valley is gorgeous.  Here’s a pic from a house party for Manuel Pérez, Democratic candidate for the 80th AD.

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As I mentioned earlier, I support Pérez because he is the strongest, best qualified candidate of a good set of Democrats.  As dday notes, this House seat leans Dem:

AD-80 (Bonnie Garcia)

Democratic: 45.59%
Republican: 37.37%

Follow me over the flip for more photos and a breakdown of why Manuel Pérez is the best Democrat to represent the 80th, and the most likely to beat the predicted Republican candidate, Palm Springs police chief, Gary Jeandron. 

Here’s another photo of Pérez speaking to supporters in Bermuda Dunes.  Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Here’s a Map of the CA 80th AD.

Now, about the primary challengers:
The other Democrats in this race are Greg Pettis, Cathedral City councilman, and Rick Gonzales, Wells Fargo investment banker.  Both are great guys.  If Manuel Pérez didn’t match their strengths and up the ante considerably, I’d probably be stumping for one of them.  (A recent addition, Gilbert Ramirez, Jr. just jumped in, but I know little about him yet.  The little I do know tells me he’s no threat to Pérez.)   But as I noted in a previous diary, we have a good farm team of liberals growing in this district now, and I feel strongly that Pérez is the best in this race.

In Greg Pettis’s case, he represents a solid vote for gay rights and labor.  However, Pérez is a lifelong advocate for all civil rights, including protection for gay students, and you don’t get more pro labor than Pérez, whose UFW parents met working in the fields right here in the 80th district.  Also, Perez is a married Latino family man who is both prochoice and pro gay rights.  That’s a powerful combo for our advocate in Sacramento.  Greg’s been a fixture of Democratic politics in the area for some time, but he’s lost this race before.  Pérez is new to politics and offers a very compelling new option. 

Rick Gonzalez has a great background in D.C., working with Bill Clinton and Al Gore years back, but he doesn’t have Pérez’s experience and track record of working for social justice here in the 80th.  Rick has roots here, but so does Pérez, deep and broad roots.  As my initial Pérez diary indicates, Manuel Pérez served Riverside and Imperial Counties his entire career.  Other than short absences to attend Harvard and to work in Sacramento, Pérez has been bringing healthcare and education to the 80th as a nonprofit manager and CVUSD trustee.  Rick has excellent businesss experience with Wells Fargo, but so does Pérez, with local government and nonprofit healthcare.  The biggest difference: Gonzalez doesn’t have Manuel Pérez’s support from labor.

Finally, Steve Clute, the previous Democratic candidate for the CA 80th AD who garnered 49.57 % of the last vote, endorsed Pérez. 

At the house party, Pérez talked about the interaction between California’s schools, our prisons, and our social services, and how they don’t work cooperatively.  He knows what it is to be the at-risk-youth, the teacher, and the policy wonk.  He knows it from experience acquired here, and he can express it equally well in the salons of Rancho Mirage y las iglesias de Coachella.  This is the candidate we’ve been waiting for.

About Gary Jeandron, I hear he’s well-liked in Palm Springs where he’s been police chief for some time.  However, this Desert Sun article about veteran volunteers getting an unceremonious boot from the Citizens on Patrol program doesn’t speak well for Jeandron’s judgement.  Nor does his willingness to have intelligent design taught in Palm Springs public schools, according to this Press Enterprise article about his school board race. 

Riverside and Imperial Counties deserve a strong, compassionate, smart progressive for a change.  And the California Assembly needs all the Democrats we can get!  Please help us get there – come pay a visit to my ActBlue page for Manuel Pérez.
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Crossposted from Daily Kos

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Goodbye, Bonnie Garcia-Hello, Manuel Perez

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(Woo-hoo! Say hello to restored sanity in the desert! : ) – promoted by atdleft)

Manuel Pérez is a hands-on, no bs, Harvard-educated community organizer from the heart of the Coachella Valley.  You want direct, unapologetic progressives with experience in building a just and healthy society?  I’ve got one right here.Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Here’s where he’s been:  Escuelas Si Pintas No, Youth in Focus, CVUSD.  Here’s what he’ll do as a legislator for California.  Manuel Pérez represents the very best of our community, and I’m honored to be volunteering for his campaign for the California State Assembly seat representing the 80th District.

Crossposted from Daily Kos

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketI knew I’d like this candidate as soon as I heard that JC Sanchez was supporting him, and Amalia DeAztlan was his campaign manager.  But as Joshua Grossman of Progressive Punch reminded me, the issues come first.  So Pérez is smart, effective, a local hero, and trusted by those I trust.  But where is he on the issues?

Pro-choice?  Yes, and so much more.  This man is bringing women’s health to the forefront of social welfare.  Environmentalist?  He was formerly in the Green Party.  Education credentials – he brought the first ethnic studies curriculum to the Coachella Valley as a teacher.  Law and order views?  Pérez fights crime at its major source:  poverty.  I have over a year to address these things in an orderly and logical way, so I won’t try to tell it all with this first posting.  Here’s what Manuel Pérez has to say for himself:

Manuel Pérez
Candidate for the California State Assembly 80th District
“Crunch-time” in America

After much deliberation and critical self-examination I have decided to seek a seat in the California State Assembly representing the 80th Assembly District. I do so with a deep sense of obligation to serve the people and best interests of my District and my beloved country.

We are a prosperous country and a prosperous District, but we have become a divided people. We have become a divided people because we have lost touch with the human ideals of equality that first shaped our republic and that bind us together. We have lost our senses of caring and sharing; of equity and common interests; of a greater good; of shared values and personal dignity; of humanity. 

In short, we have placed narrow, short-term economic interests above our longer term goals of helping others excel, unifying our diverse populations, and elevating the lives of all. Too many of our current leaders seem to believe that technology and “the market place” will solve all problems, despite rapidly- growing evidence to the contrary.

The key to problem-solving is “problem definition” and we continue to try to solve new problems with old definitions and tired beliefs. We need a new breed of leadership: someone who can bring new visions to complex matters. We need a leader who recognizes that the whole purpose of our democratic enterprise is the enrichment of the human condition. We need a thoughtful person who understands that our constitution is not only a recipe for political stability and human advancement but a tool for economic stability and progress.

In the course of my campaign I will discuss several important issues in more detail. For now I will simply mention two of our highest priorities. First, we must invest much more in the talents and well-being of our people; and we must become much more insistent upon better returns from those investments. Second, our sluggish institutions must respond more quickly and more adeptly to change — the one constant in life is change. We now live in a time where change occurs more rapidly and with farther-reaching consequences; but our institutional responses are too late and too lame.

I could go on, but my main point is this: we need new approaches for solving today’s problems in fresh but practical ways. I promise to you that I refuse to indulge in any “blame games.” We are all in this together. I welcome all those of goodwill who share my concerns for the future health, safety and well being of our communities, our District and our nation to join with me in the search for better solutions — solutions which embody our ideals and our beliefs in the noble experiment that we call the United States of America.

Please help us put Manuel Pérez in the State Assembly!  Contribute via ActBlue here.