2012 GENERAL ELECTION CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENTS

Stop Prop 32

The Napa and Solano Counties Central Labor Council has endorsed the candidates and taken position on the measues and propositions for the upcoming General Election in November.

Office:                                                                                                                      

Dixon Mayor

Jack Batchelor

Dixon City Council                                                                                                

Jerry Castanon

Dixon City Council                                                                                                

Ian Arnold

Rio Vista Mayor                                                                                                    

Janith Norman

Suisun City Council                                                                                            

Lori Wilson

Suisun City Council                                                                                            

Sam Derting

Vacaville City Council                                                                                         

Ron Rowlett

Solano Community College

Board Member, Area 3                                   

Rosemary Thurston

Solano Community College

Board Member, Area 5                                   

Monica Brown

Solano Community College

Board Member, Area 7                                   

Philip McCaffrey, Sr.

Napa Mayor                                                                                                         

Peter Mott

Napa City Council                                                                                              

Alfred Pedroza

Napa City Council                                                                                              

Scott Sedgley

American Canyon Mayor                                                                                  

Leon Garcia

American Canyon City Council                                                                       

Joan Bennett

American Canyon City Council                                                                       

Kenneth Leary

 Napa Community College

Board Member,Area 6                                     

Rosaura Segura

Napa Community College Board

Member, Area 7                                     

Rafael Rios

Assembly District 11                                                                                        

Jim Frazier

Solano County Supervisor                                                                              

Erin Hannigan

Napa County Supervisor                                                                                 

Mark Van Gorder

Proposition 30                                                                                                  

Yes

Proposition 32                                                                                                  

NO

Proposition 34                                                                                                   

Yes

Proposition 35                                                                                                   

Yes

Proposition 36                                                                                                   

Yes

Proposition 37                                                                                                   

Yes

Proposition 40                                                                                                   

Yes

City of Fairfield 

Measure P                                                                           

Yes

City of Vacaville

Measures I & M                                                                     

Yes

Solano Community College

Measure Q                                                      

Yes

About the endorsement process:

We held interviews over a four week period and our panel consisted of Police Officers, Firefighters, Teachers, School employees, Food Workers, Iron Workers, Electricians, Teamsters, Plumbers and Steamfitters, Sheet Metal Workers, Cement Masons, Operating Engineers, Bricklayers, Roofers, and our Service employees; asking the candidates tough questions on issues facing their members. We then met collectively and went over each race and discussed at length how each candidate might have impacted the men and women they represent. What makes our process so important is that all of these very different professions sent representatives with the important task of making recommendations on behalf of their members and then voting to represent them. It was tough, and not everyone agreed on every endorsement but we came away with recommendations that we felt were in the best interests for working people and their families. We struggled with whether or not to endorse people we have supported in the past, but may have voted against our members. We also looked past historical perceptions and took chances on new candidates that we may never have considered before. In other words they COMPROMISED. Does that sound familiar in today's political climate? Not lately! That's why we chose candidates that we feel can build coalitions, not divide the community - candidates willing stick to their words and continue to fight for our members once elected but more importantly will treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve!

One thing that was very troubling was the number of candidates that were advocating stripping our members of benefits that have been fought for and gained over the past 50 years. These advances were gained by a generation of working people. We called these people the "greatest generation" and they paved the way for these benefits out of a sense of community and the belief that everyone deserved to have a basic living wage, a secure retirement and health care for them and their family. But to make matters worse, some of these same candidates and elected officials currently enjoy the same benefits they are attempting to destroy. The hypocrisy was not lost on our group as we asked if these same people, who were working in the 1980s, realized that if they were forced into the same benefit plan they are now advocating for the people who work for them, they would have not only have lost their retirement in the last financial meltdown, but they would also still have to be working to make ends meet!

The other issue that concerned both leaders and members alike were the particular candidates that did not bother to even show up for interviews. While we understand that some candidates feel that they have a philosophical difference with Labor, for them to fail to even show up sends a very clear message to not only our members but all working people in the community, and that is that they do not take issues facing working men and women seriously enough to present and discuss their positions with our members. The reason that Labor organizations involve themselves in the political process is to have open dialogue with our representatives and an open door policy. These candidates send a clear message that the door is closed before we even knock.

We have to move forward. We have to advance a productive and civil dialogue and find common ground. We must also remain mindful of mistakes that have compromised our welfare so as to avoid repeating them in the future.