PDB Meeting – Tuesday, May 8th, 7:00 pm

Senior Center, 187 East L Street, Benicia, CA

Proposed Candidate Endorsements

Speaker: Amy Hartman, Greenbelt Alliance

The May 8th^th meeting focused on the Club’s proposed candidate endorsements in the 2018 Primary election on June 5, which were sent to membership and presented to PDB members for discussion and a vote.  [See results here.]

Here’s the Agenda.  For endorsement recommendations, see our Endorsement page.

The Progressive Democrats of Benicia is a local club of Benicians with members from Vallejo and Fairfield, which during the past several months has featured speakers who are 2018 candidates for public office. PDB’s mission includes the election and appointment of public officials who encourage and promote progressive views, and who work to secure, maintain, and protect these rights and opportunities for all in our communities. For more information on PDB please go to https://progressivedemocratsofbenicia.org/.

Tuesday, April 10th, 7:00 pm
Benicia Public Library, Dona Benicia Room
150 East L Street, Benicia, CA

U.S. Senate candidate Kevin de León, 2018 candidate for Senator Dianne Feinstein’s U.S. Senate seat, will be the featured speaker at the Progressive Democrats of Benicia (PBD) next public meeting at the Benicia Public Library on April 10^th in the Dona Benicia room at 7:00 p.m. All Democrats and the general public are invited to attend the meeting.

Mr. de León was elected to lead the Senate as President pro tem in 2014, making him the first Latino to hold that position in over a century. He was recently replaced with Toni Atkins.  He served four years in the Assembly before his election to the Senate in 2010. He is the first person in California history to serve as the Chair of the Appropriations committees in both the Assembly and Senate.

According to his Senate President biography, de León is the son of an immigrant mother who supported her family in the San Diego barrio of Logan Heights with housekeeping and other pick-up jobs. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school. He attended U.C. Santa Barbara and graduated from Pitzer College at the Claremont Colleges with honors. He is a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California.

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times suggests de León’s legislative agenda has been broad. As far back as 2007, soon after taking office, after a child who was playing near where de León lived was hit by a gang member’s stray bullet and died, he made gun control one of his primary issues, including background checks for ammunition buyers.

Mr. de León has also focused on climate change legislation, pushing hard for less fossil fuel use and more alternative energy. In 2017, he helped negotiate a gas tax increase to raise $5.2 billion annually for road repairs. Also during the 2017 Legislative session, he sponsored a bill to create a state-run single-payer health insurance system. It passed the Senate but failed to get out of committee in the Assembly. But, it earned him the endorsement of the California Nurses Association. He told the LA Times, “You can criticize some of my stuff, but you can’t say it wasn’t big and wasn’t bold. I’ve always been of the strong belief that the time period you have, you use it to the fullest.” Continue reading PDM Meeting: April 10 →

Tuesday, March 13, 2018, 7:00 pm
Benicia Public Library, Dona Benicia Room
150 East L Street, Benicia, CA

Our March public meeting was held at the Benicia Library, 150 East L St., in the Dona Benicia Room, on March 13th, at 7:00 p.m. Our featured speaker was Delaine Eastin, 2018 candidate for Governor in California.

Delaine is a former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, following eight years in the State Assembly and six years on the Union City (Alameda County) City Council. In the June 6 Gubernatorial Primary, Delaine’s principal opposition is expected to be: Democrats Gavin Newsom, current Lt. Governor, Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor of Los Angeles, and John Chiang, current CA State Treasurer; and, Republican candidates Travis Allen, Assemblyman and John Cox, a businessman.

Delaine is the only woman to have held the office of California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. According to her bio sheet, she was responsible for initiatives which focused on wiring schools for technology and stronger technical/vocational training for students. She also successfully sued the governor for withholding funds from K-12 schools, and joined the successful lawsuit against Proposition 187, which among other things would have used teachers as immigration agents.

For more information on Delaine, her campaign website is http://www.delaineforgovernor.com. 

Continue reading PDM Meeting: March 13 →