As San Diego survivors of the pandemic head back to the beach this June, their elected representatives in Sacramento rush to hit up political donors for campaign cash, some of it controversial.
Take Assembly Democrat Lorena Gonzalez, outmaneuvered for a run for the state secretary of state's office by Governor Gavin Newsom. He named ex-Assemblywoman Shirley Weber to the empty spot instead, setting Weber up as the dominant Democrat in next year's race.
Consigned to run yet again for the Assembly, Gonzalez picked up a total of $9800 for her reelection drive from the Deputy Sheriffs' Association of San Diego County PAC on June 11.
The legislator got the same from the California Construction & Industrial Materials Association PAC on June 23, along with $9400 from the California Association of Electrical Workers on June 25.
A separate Gonzalez-run political committee, Our Voice, Our Vote, got $10,000 from beer making giant Anheuser-Busch on June 7 and $20,000 from the Deputy Sheriffs Association of San Diego County PAC on June 11.
The Belgian brewer has of late been targeted by gay activists, who held a June 23 protest against the company outside the Stonewall Tavern in Greenwich Village in Manhattan for contributing to allegedly anti-gay candidates.
"You can't say that you support the LGBT community in one breath and then donate to people who are against us in the other breath," Stonewall co-owner Stacy Lentz told WABC News.
"It's not right, and we at the Stonewall Inn had to take a stand on behalf of our community." The firm released a statement saying in part, 'We support candidates that support the beer industry and the millions of jobs that it creates."
In addition to Anheuser-Busch, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a powerful pro-cop labor group, gave $8800 to Our Voice, Our Vote on June 25.
In February, the L.A. Times reported that Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles had launched an effort to decertify the police officers’ union, a longtime Gonzalez backer.
"Every Wednesday, we're going to send a message to the people across the street ... that we are going to end these associations," a Black Lives Matter organizer Akili told a news conference near league offices, the paper said. "We will not be bullied anymore. We will not give up our budgets anymore."
"Last fall," the paper noted, "despite massive summer protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the league and other law enforcement unions derailed several bills aimed at requiring more accountability, oversight, and transparency from law enforcement agencies."
Police Protective League president Craig Lally responded that the Black Lives Matter effort was "an anti-democratic tactic usually promoted by authoritarian regimes, not organizations that purport to be rooted in respecting workers' rights and democracy."
As San Diego survivors of the pandemic head back to the beach this June, their elected representatives in Sacramento rush to hit up political donors for campaign cash, some of it controversial.
Take Assembly Democrat Lorena Gonzalez, outmaneuvered for a run for the state secretary of state's office by Governor Gavin Newsom. He named ex-Assemblywoman Shirley Weber to the empty spot instead, setting Weber up as the dominant Democrat in next year's race.
Consigned to run yet again for the Assembly, Gonzalez picked up a total of $9800 for her reelection drive from the Deputy Sheriffs' Association of San Diego County PAC on June 11.
The legislator got the same from the California Construction & Industrial Materials Association PAC on June 23, along with $9400 from the California Association of Electrical Workers on June 25.
A separate Gonzalez-run political committee, Our Voice, Our Vote, got $10,000 from beer making giant Anheuser-Busch on June 7 and $20,000 from the Deputy Sheriffs Association of San Diego County PAC on June 11.
The Belgian brewer has of late been targeted by gay activists, who held a June 23 protest against the company outside the Stonewall Tavern in Greenwich Village in Manhattan for contributing to allegedly anti-gay candidates.
"You can't say that you support the LGBT community in one breath and then donate to people who are against us in the other breath," Stonewall co-owner Stacy Lentz told WABC News.
"It's not right, and we at the Stonewall Inn had to take a stand on behalf of our community." The firm released a statement saying in part, 'We support candidates that support the beer industry and the millions of jobs that it creates."
In addition to Anheuser-Busch, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a powerful pro-cop labor group, gave $8800 to Our Voice, Our Vote on June 25.
In February, the L.A. Times reported that Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles had launched an effort to decertify the police officers’ union, a longtime Gonzalez backer.
"Every Wednesday, we're going to send a message to the people across the street ... that we are going to end these associations," a Black Lives Matter organizer Akili told a news conference near league offices, the paper said. "We will not be bullied anymore. We will not give up our budgets anymore."
"Last fall," the paper noted, "despite massive summer protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the league and other law enforcement unions derailed several bills aimed at requiring more accountability, oversight, and transparency from law enforcement agencies."
Police Protective League president Craig Lally responded that the Black Lives Matter effort was "an anti-democratic tactic usually promoted by authoritarian regimes, not organizations that purport to be rooted in respecting workers' rights and democracy."
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