The IEs are here at last, like Santa in the summer. Running a grassroots campaign with a base of working people, some of whom live in the poorest parts of California, means the campaign’s funds are always tight. The majority of the staff work for little or nothing. But oh, how sweet it is when the unions start to do their thing. Our website has an excellent photo gallery. Behold, I receive in the mail my candidate teaching my kids.
The latest endorsements are United Auto Workers Region 5, the California Faculty Association, the San Diego/Imperial County Labor Council, and the Border Patrol. Education, healthcare, labor, UAW, and now law enforcement. Nice.
Crossposted at dKos
I’ve received four positive Perez mailers from Opportunity PAC, “a coalition of Educators, Health Care Givers, Faculty Members and Other School Employees,” and two negative ones on Pettis. It can’t be any fun for a Democrat to find Opportunity PAC mailing oppo lit on him, but it’s odd to have a Democrat denounce unions as “Sacramento special interest groups” as the Pettis campaign’s latest email blast did. Things do heat up in the final stretch.
Manuel’s schedule is insane, as this district stretches from east of Palm Springs to Arizona, from Desert Hot Springs to the border of Mexico. Last Thursday he was in a candidate’s forum hosted by the Palm Springs Hospitality Association, and had the opportunity to address gay marriage (he’s for it), our education crisis, and his initiatives with vocational training – a boon both for local business and students. He’s been walking precincts in every corner, including his main rival’s:
From (California’s) Capitol Morning Report, May 15th:
Manuel Perez for AD 80 campaign — About 20% of our walkers last Saturday canvassed Cathedral City, a presumed stronghold of Greg Pettis’, and it was simply amazing the amount of support out there for Manuel Perez. Dale Wissman was one of the volunteers and he walked a middle-class, mixed neighborhood of Latino, Anglo, and gay households. All the households were either openly in support of Perez before Dale knocked on their door, or were leaning Perez’s direction before they answered the door. ….
Today at the Democrats of the Desert meeting, our speaker was Carissa Carrera of the Coachella Valley Teachers Association. She noted the CVTA’s endorsement of Manuel Perez, “a good person” as well as a strong leader in education. Here’s something we all found shocking: Sacramento looks at the test scores of third graders when sizing up the prison budget needs for the future. California would be the 8th largest country, were we a country, and we rank near the bottom of the nation in school funding. We spend 7K per pupil, and 25-30K per prisoner.
I am looking forward to a 2/3 majority with Manuel Perez in our Assembly. Manuel, with others, secured $250 million for new school construction in Coachella. This is what we need now.
