A number of GFC’ers have asked what traits we seek in the next governor. In short, if the next governor is a Democrat, we would like someone like Gina Raimondo when she served as governor of Rhode Island. If a Republican, we’d like someone like Mitt Romney when he served as governor of Massachusetts. Both took on special interests at great political risk. Eg, Raimondo took on public sector unions to enact pension reform and get kids back to school and Romney took on business interests to enact health care reform. There’s more but ultimately we seek highly capable candidates who know how to run, win and govern and who care about something greater than themselves.
For those looking for guidance about local ballots in Los Angeles and San Francisco, we recommend Thrive LA, GrowSF and TogetherSF, three activist political philanthropies on the front lines making serious political expenditures. As we have written countless times before, California will return to sane governance only when there is an ecosystem of activist political philanthropies that persistently protect and boost lawmakers who serve the general interest. We are very keen to support more such organizations all around California.
