Campaign finance disclosures were due earlier in the week and its always a good idea to find out who owns our elected officials. I just took a look at Assemblymember Rob Bontas backers and while unions are by far his biggest contributors, he has also taken a fair amount of money from Insurance companies. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to get Bonta elected in 2012, police unions continue supporting him. Its not a surprise. Bonta has a been an advocate for the militarization of the police, while in the Alameda City Council he voted in favor of acquiring an armored personnel carrier and while in the Assembly he has refused to carry any legislation that would put any type of limits to police power. Other contributors include gambling interests, lawyers, AT&T and, of course, California Waste Solutions. In all, Rob Bonta took in almost $200K in the last 3 months and over $550K this year alone - this even though he is running for re-election against San Leandros own Republican David Erlich who has raised less than $5K. So what has Bonta done with this money? Hes given the Democratic party about $85K, as its expected and, hes supported other candidates. In San Leandro, his largess went to two candidates: Benny Lee and Deborah Cox for San Leandro City Council District 1. They both got $1K. Not surprisingly, they are both heavily backed by the police department and are expected to rubber stamp whatever the police puts before them (Lee has so far). One person Bonta has neither endorsed nor contributed to is Councilmember Pauline Cutter for Mayor of San Leandro . Now, everyone in the Alameda County Democratic Party and the Alameda Labor council, in addition to the political establishment in San Leandro, has rallied behind Pauline. While she is not the most progressive candidate, she is a solid Democrat, a hard worker and the most independent member of the City Council. She is not a rubber stamp for the City Manager/Police Chief, which is why the Police Union endorsed Diana Souza. If Bonta wasnt in the pocket of the police union, he would have likely endorsed Cutter by now. He probably hasnt endorsed Souza because he knows thats a losing proposition - but his support of Chinese Flag Waving/anti-San Leandro Benny Lee speaks volumes.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 00:25:33 +0000
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