(Editor’s Note: In this column, San Diego Jewish World will follow the doings of Jewish candidates and officeholders, boldfacing the names of known members of the Jewish community. We encourage readers to alert us to items that we might otherwise miss via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com)
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO– At least four Jewish candidates may run for local San Diego offices in the 2016 and 2018 elections, it can be extrapolated from news accounts in the Tuesday, Jan. 6, edition of U-T San Diego.
City Councilwoman Marti Emerald and San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis are expected to run for reelection respectively in 2016 and 2018. Emerald represents the 9th City Council District.
While the U-T stories did not mention the potential candidates’ religions, Emerald and Dumanis are active in the Jewish community, as are 2016 election possibilities Barbara Bry, considered a potential candidate in the 1st Council District now represented by Sherri Lightner, and Mat Kostrinsky, likewise a potential candidate in the 7th Council District, now represented by Scott Sherman.
Lightner, a Democrat who currently serves as president of the City Council with the support of four Republicans, will be termed out in 2016, meaning she cannot run for reelection. Sherman, on the other hand, is eligible for another term.
Dumanis, during swearing-in ceremonies on Monday, Jan. 5, beginning her fourth term, indicated her hopes to take the oath again in 2020 and 2024. According to a story by U-T reporter Gary Warth, Dumanis commented: “Like Supervisor Roberts and Horn, I expect to make 24 years too.”
Supervisors Bill Horn and Ron Roberts were first elected to the county Board of Supervisors in 1996.
Officially non-partisan, local offices are nevertheless closely watched by the political parties because locally-elected officials often go on to run in partisan races. Dumanis, Sherman, Roberts and Horn are registered Republicans. Emerald, Lightner, Bry and Kostrinsky are registered Democrats.
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Dumanis’s office on Tuesday announced that 99 Cents Only Stores LLC has agreed to pay $2.36 million in settlement of a civil claim brought by her office and 27 other district attorneys for failure to dispose properly of hazardous waste in its chain of 251 California stores. “Instead of being sent to authorized disposal sites, hazardous waste as well as other contaminated materials, were being unlawfully transported to area landfills,” Dumanis said.
She added that “upon being notified by prosecutors of the widespread issues, 99 Cents Only Stores worked cooperatively to remedy the issue and train its employees to properly handle hazardous wastes being generated through damage, spills and returns. The hazardous waste is now being collected by state-registered haulers, taken to proper disposal facilities and properly documented and accounted for.”
The announcement came one day after Safeway agreed to a $9.87 million settlement in a similar civil suit instituted by 42 district attorneys including Dumanis.
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In noting the death of former U.S. Senator Edward Brooke on January 3, numerous commentators have recalled that the 95-year-old Brooke has been the first African-American to be elected to the United States Senate.
Brooke was a Republican, but was willing to cross party lines, as for example during the debate over the Watergate affair, eventually leading to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, former chair of the House Democratic Caucus, gave a cross-aisle salute to Brooke, who had served in the Senate from 1967 to 1979.
“Senator Brooke was a trailblazer who earned the respect of those who served beside him,” she said. “He was a statesman in the truest sense, possessing a commitment to public service which is all too rare to find in this day and age. His constituents were fortunate to have been served by him and our legislative branch of government was better for his service.”
In its article about Brooke, Wikipedia notes that newscaster Barbara Walters, in her memoir Auditions, said that she and Brooke had an affair that lasted several years before they mutually broke it off.
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For California State Senator Marty Block (D-San Diego), Tuesday, January 20, will be a day of particular significance when the California Community College Board of Governors assembles for its first meeting of the year. Board members will select which 15 community colleges from throughout the state will be permitted to offer four-year degrees in a pilot program authorized under legislation (SB 850) that he sponsored.
Currently the University of California and the California State College and University System are authorized to offer four-year degrees, but they do not have the physical capacity to fill all the state’s workforce needs, according to Block.
Under the pilot program, proposed four-year courses at current two-year community colleges must meet a work force need and not be duplicative of current offerings at other public universities in the state.
Possibilities, according to Block, “range from airframe manufacturing technology to other vocational programs such as dental hygiene, engineering technology, biomanufacturing, and public safety administration. The career and vocational thrust of the pilot schools stays true to the community college mission of helping prepare California students for the work force.”
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U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) is pressing Secretary of State John Kerry to “make every possible effort” to secure the release from an Iranian prison of former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, as well as that of other Americans held prisoner by that regime including Saeed Abedini, Jason Rezaian and Robert Levinson.
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U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York), ranking member on the House Foreign Relations Committee, said he was pleased that President Barack Obama’s first meeting in 2015 will be with Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto. “Today,” said Engel, “our economies are tied together more closely than ever before. Mexico is the second-largest destination for U.S. exports and the third-largest source of imports. In 2013, Mexico was the eighth-largest market for exports from my home state of New York with $2.2 billion of goods exported from New York to Mexico. We must continue to strengthen the economic ties between our two countries.”
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Senators Diane Feinstein (D-California) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) are the principal sponsors of the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2015 to limit the use of ordnance which have sub-units that can dig themselves into the ground and become de facto land mines. They were joined in introducing the bill on Tuesday, Jan. 6, by Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer, Ben Cardin, Dick Durbin, Al Franken, Amy Klobochar, Patty Murray, Tom Udall, Sheldon Whitehouse and Ron Wyden. A similar measure was to be introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.)
“Cluster munitions are highly dangerous and pose a far greater risk to civilians than military targets,” Feinstein said. “Unexploded ordnance left behind by cluster bombs become de facto landmines, often maiming or killing unsuspecting civilians. The use of cluster munitions with high rates of failure poses an unacceptable risk to innocent civilians.”
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U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) said on Tuesday, Jan. 6, after being sworn into his second term by Vice President Joe Biden: “I’m ready to keep fighting for middle-class families, and for families aspiring to be in the middle class. Just as I looked for opportunities to work across the aisle during my first term, I’m hopeful that we can continue to find areas of agreement. But I also know that there will be times when I need to stand my ground. We have a lot that needs to get done this year. And while the political landscape in Washington may have changed, my values haven’t, and neither has my commitment to working hard for Minnesotans. I can’t wait to get started.”
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Former California Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) has been appointed by Senate President pro tempore as chairman of the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance, and as a member of four additional Senate committees: Elections and Constitutional Amendments; Energy, Utilities and Communications; Judiciary; and Natural Resources and Water. After a period in the private sector, Hertzberg returned to the Legislature by winning a state Senate seat last November.
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U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) has issued a statement denouncing the decision by the Palestinian Authority to seek membership in the International Criminal Court. ““I am extremely disappointed that the Palestinian Authority initiated the process to join the International Criminal Court,” he said. “Instead of actively pursuing peace, the Palestinian leadership continues to distract from what should be their real focus – direct and robust negotiations with Israel. I strongly oppose this counterproductive effort and will work with my colleagues in Congress to ensure the Palestinian Authority understands there will be consequences for their actions.”
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California State Senator Hannah Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) has noted that her bill has now gone into effect requiring police agencies to encourage officers to “conduct a search of the Department of Justice’s Automated Firearms System, California’s database of gun purchases, prior to conducting a ‘welfare check’ on a person who is potentially a danger to themselves or others.”
On April 30, 2014, roughly three weeks prior to a rampage that took the lives of six innocent people in Isla Vista, law enforcement visited Elliott Rodger to check on his well-being. “Although law enforcement may not have had the legal authority to seize Elliott Rodger’s three guns had they known about them, a gun database search could have provided additional information that might have helped them better assess the danger that Rodger posed to himself and others,” said Jackson.
“Law enforcement could potentially have asked Rodger what he intended to do with the guns, asked to see the guns, or asked him to voluntarily surrender the guns.
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State Senator Marc Levine (D-Marin and Sonoma Counties) praised the 4th inaugural address of Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. delivered on Monday, Jan. 5. “California is fortunate to have a leader of Governor Brown’s commitment to public service,” said Levine. “Governor Brown’s address was on point in recognizing that while we have achieved much in his first term, we have an abundance of issues yet to resolve. This includes making sure that institutions of higher learning are affordable, providing a quality K-12 public education to our children, protecting California’s beautiful natural resources, and maintaining and rebuilding our infrastructure. I am confident that together we will be successful.”
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Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (D-Florida) on Tuesday, Jan. 6, introduced legislation to repeal the “Defense of Marriage Act” and to ensure that “all legally-married, same-sex couples are treated equally under federal law. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) introduced a companion measure in the Senate. “The bill provides a uniform rule for recognizing couples under federal law, ensuring that lawfully married couples will be recognized under federal law no matter where they live and guaranteeing that all families can plan for a future of mutual obligation and support with confidence,” Nadler said.
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U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent-Vermont, has been stumping in Iowa. Observers believe that his campaign is not so much because he believes he, as a Socialist candidate, can win the presidency, but to influence the political conversation. Back in Washington, D.C., he issued a statement criticizing what some Republicans call “dynamic scoring.” The process requires the congressional budget office to “count hypothetical growth as additional revenue,” Sanders says. “That means counting the chickens before they hatch.” He contended in a news release that the GOP wants to “cook the books and paint a rosy picture of the benefits of trickle-down economics.”
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U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) said the first day of the new congressional session indicated how partisan Republicans are likely to be now that they control both houses. She was critical of new House rules that she said “prohibit Congress from using a Social Security rebalancing mechanism that has been used 11 times—by Republicans and Democrats alike.. “Taking that step would result in a possible 20 percent cut in monthly disability benefits that average an extremely modest $1,146.”
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U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) after being sworn in for his eighth term, said: ““We need to modernize our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, bring manufacturing back to America, reform our complex tax code, and provide economic certainty by avoiding fiscal cliffs or government shutdowns. It’s my hope that we can put the destructive partisan battles of the past behind us and really get to work this session.”
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Freshman State Senator Jeff Stone, R-Riverside County, has been given the following committee assignments: Vice Chair, Natural Resources Committee; Vice Chair, Labor and Industrial Relations Committee; Member, Budget and Fiscal Review Committee; Member, Public Safety Committee; and Member, Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. He is a former Riverside County Supervisor.
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Sworn in for her sixth term, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Florida) announced she would soon reintroduce two of her legislative priorities: efforts to stiffen penalties for criminals who steal identities through tax returns and ensure that employees in the recreational marine repair industry have adequate workers’ compensation coverage. “Both measures passed the House in 2014 but failed to pass the Senate. Following the successful reauthorization of her EARLY Act legislation in the 113th Congress, Wasserman Schultz will also introduce legislation to assist young breast cancer survivors with the unique challenges they face, building off her strong commitment to supporting survivors after her own breast cancer diagnosis seven years ago,” her office said.
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California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon announced on Tuesday, Jan. 6, that he selected Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) to serve as the Majority Whip and appointed her to chair the Senate Budget Subcommittee #2 on Resources, Environmental Protection, Energy and Transportation. Wolk was also re-appointed to the Senate Standing Committees on Agriculture; Energy, Utilities and Communications; Health; and Natural Resources and Water. Wolk will also serve on the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
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Items concerning Jewish women in the Congress are sponsored by Laura Galinson in memory of her father, Murray Galinson. …. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. Your comment may be posted in the box below or sent directly to the author at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com