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2020 election, Endorsements, Progressive Democrats of Benicia, Solano County Supervisor Monica Brown, U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson

Progressive Democrats endorse Mike Thompson and Monica Brown

Congratulations to Mike and Monica!!!
Endorsed by PDB for Reelection!!!

At our General Membership meeting on Nov. 12 2019, members met to consider endorsements for two races in the March 2020 Primaries. And the winners are …

Congressman Mike Thompson received the endorsement of PDB members for reelection to the U. S. Congressional District 5 seat, and incumbent Solano County Supervisor Monica Brown was endorsed for reelection as District 2 Supervisor.

Both Mike and Monica received 67.6% of the votes cast at the meeting.

During the meeting, we also heard from Jason Kishineff, who is running against Mike Thompson, and from two challengers for the District 2 spot – Rochelle Sherlock and K. Patrice Williams.

Air monitoring, Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Benicia CA, Benicia City Council

VIDEO: Benicia City Council workshop on air monitoring

From the Benicia Independent, by Roger Straw, October 23, 2019

Here is filmmaker Constance Beutel’s video of the City of Benicia’s Air Monitoring Workshop with representatives from Benicia Fire Department, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Valero and the newly forming non profit, Benicia Community Air Monitoring Program.

For more background and the staff report, see Mayor Patterson’s invitation, Benicia City Council workshop on Air Monitoring.

Past meetings, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Meeting of October 8, 2019 – Dodd & Grayson / Solano Fair Elections

Senator Bill Dodd and
Assemblymember Tim Grayson guest speakers

Our October 8 General Membership meeting featured Benicia’s two elected officials representing us in the state Legislature – Senator Bill Dodd and Assemblymember Tim Grayson.  The session was recorded on video by Benicia Filmmaker Constance Beutel.

Speaking: Bill Dodd, California Senate District 3. Seated: Tim Grayson, California Assembly District 14. October 8 2019 meeting of Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Grayson and Dodd discussed their views on the recently completed 2019 Legislative Session, including bills related to the Northern California wild fires and PG&E’s bankruptcy and restructuring.

PDB also asked each to respond to the following question:

What are the three most important things that should be done to address the climate change crises and what are you doing to make those actions happen?

Following Sen. Dodd and Asm. Grayson, we discussed election security issues in the 2020 primary and general elections.

Is the vote we cast truly secure? Can an outside party manipulate the voting results in our elections?

John Michael Schwab, Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Alex Padilla, and John Gardner, Solano Co. Asst. Registrar of Voters, shared what steps the state of California and Solano County, respectively, have taken to address cybersecurity and hacking concerns in local and state election processes.

Should a paper trail for all votes be mandated as an anti-hacking protection? Should there be a prohibition on the inclusion of any connectivity-enabling devices in election-related equipment? Has California already adopted these provisions? Or, are they necessary?

These issues are extremely important to the viability and integrity of voting in the U.S.