Sometimes good legislators do bad things. Eg, Assembly Member Jacqui Irwin, pressured by county employees in her district and as a favor to another legislator, recently carried a gut-and-amend bill that we stopped. But we will still support her. That’s because generally she is supportive of the public interest when attending to the 29 legal codes that govern daily life in California.
Serving as a CA legislator isn’t easy. To pass a bill, a legislator must gain the consent of 61 other legislators plus the governor, each of whom usually wants something in exchange. Hence, no legislator can succeed without occasionally doing favors for other legislators and making compromises. That’s one reason we support so many legislators. During the 2019-20 cycle, our statewide PAC donated to 79 Democrats, 18 Republicans, and 1 Independent, summing to more than the 62 votes needed to pass or stop bills. We don’t need every legislator every time and Ms. Irwin isn’t the first legislator we support to have sponsored a bill we defeated.
The lack of persistent and professional participation by good-government political organizations is how public employee unions and other special interests got laws enacted that have crushed California schools, services and taxpayers. Reversing that trend takes a lot of time and hard work. We thank you for your participation.
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