Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla announced Saturday that she has won the Democratic Party endorsement for California State Senate.
Bonilla announced that she received 73 percent of the vote and called it a stunning victory.
This race will fill a seat left vacant after Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, resigned from the 7th District after winning a Congressional Seat and replacing George Miller. His seat has two-years left and a special election has been called. The primary will be held on March 17 and the runoff between the top two finishers is scheduled for May 19th.
Candidates include:
- Susan Bonilla – Assemblymember (D – Concord)
- Joan Buchanan – former Assemblymember (D – Alamo)
- Steve Glazer – Orinda Councilman (Democrat)
- Michaela Hertle – Republican-Pleasanton
- Terry Kremin – Democrat – Concord
Bonilla sent out the following message Saturday:
I have big news and wanted you to know right away: our campaign has just been endorsed by the California Democratic Party.
This is huge. In a race with four Democrats, we received 73 percent of the vote. We just pulled off a stunning victory, and we couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you.
But we can’t stop here. Will you stand with me now to keep this momentum rolling? Tonight at midnight is the fundraising deadline for the campaign.
Please click here to contribute online right now.
This is a critical moment for our campaign. Please help me keep the momentum going with a contribution tonight before the midnight deadline.
You can also contribute in person. Whether you can afford to give $5 or $500 – or if you can give your time as a volunteer – please join us today at our campaign open house.
It’s today, from 2-4pm. I’ll give a campaign update while we enjoy margaritas, tacos, and cake. The address is 2280 Diamond Blvd Suite 500, Concord, CA 94520.
Oh – and we have yard signs in! See you there and thanks again for your support!
interestingly enough, it may have been outside the area influence that gave Bonilla the edge over Buchanan. Concord City Councilman Edi Birsan posted this recap on his Facebook page Saturday (note: Birsan did endorse Buchanan):
Politics- Just came from the Democratic Party pre-endorsement vote. The local County Central Committee voted as best as I can tell 13-6 o 8 for Joan Buchanan over Susan Bonilla.
BUT there is a rule in the Democratic Party state by laws that allows for any state legislator can have 2 votes in any such endorsement election if their ‘proxy’ lives in the district.
So as a result all the outside Democrat legislators from San Diego to the Oregon border can be pressured to have their ‘proxy’ provided by the candidate(s) cast votes. The final count was Bonilla (a current legislator) 87 vs. 29 for Buchannan (past legislator) and 3 for No Endorsement. Thus with 73.2% of the vote Bonilla got the party endorsement.
NOW, what makes this interesting even more, is that this procedure (having outside legislators cast votes using designated proxy’s has been greatly discredited and has already been removed from the Party By-Laws, but it does not take place till May June, so this may be the last endorsement done under these rules. The primary election is March 17.
Politics, the most expensive form of entertainment our tax dollars are forced to buy.
3 comments
So nice to see outside people picking a candidate for this area? I am going with Buchanan.
No good deed goes unpunished
by Ellis Goldberg
Voters in Senate District 7 are again being inundated with campaign mail, including an expensive 16 page mailer from the California Professional Firefighters Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee. The mailer praises Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla however it does not hint at the real reason the firefighters chose to spend union dues on the mailer.
The real reason: Assembly Bill 197, an “anti pension spiking” measure authored by Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan. AB197 bars the inclusion of unused vacation, sick and other types of “terminal leave” in an employee’s retirement calculation formula beyond what he or she would earn in a year. The Contra Costa County Employees Retirement Association board prohibited the use of terminal pay for all employees hired starting Jan. 1, 2013. After AB197 passed, the pension board reluctantly stripped the perk away from existing employees. Public employee unions responded with lawsuits in four counties, arguing that the promised benefits are vested rights that cannot be taken away. State attorneys say it was an illegal benefit to which they were never entitled.
The list below of endorsing labor organizations on the back of the mailer includes many unions where before AB197 spiking was a common practice used to increase pensions 10 to 16 percent. The endorsing unions are punishing Joan Buchanan for having the guts to stand up for taxpayers, those whose future pensions are threatened by under funding and all the unions that experienced negative public blowback because of spiking practiced by a few.
See SJ Mercury News articles:
California AG seeks merge four pension reform challenges
New Pension rules go before Contra Costa County
I’m going with Buchanan too. Smarten up people.
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