The Republican billionaire behind the recall effort:

Here’s what you need to know about the recall effort: Two-thirds of their money (more than $1.8 million!) comes from a single PAC. And that PAC has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from one single Republican billionaire donor. They want you to think that this recall effort has a broad base of support from folks all across San Francisco. But we know that’s not true: It’s funded by a select group of wealthy conservatives who don’t like the reforms we’re making to improve the criminal justice system in San Francisco. Our campaign, on the other hand, has the support of more than 1,500 grassroots donors because we are building a people-powered movement. So if you’re ready to join us, chip in any amount to my campaign today. Together, we’ll be strong enough to stand up to any billionaire Republican: Chesa Boudin Thanks for helping me fight for criminal justice reform,  Chesa Boudin was elected District Attorney of San Francisco in 2019 to reform our criminal justice system. Now, right-wingers  want to reverse our progress and return our city to a time when innocent people were locked away and police acted with impunity. Please chip in today to keep up the fight to reform San Francisco's criminal justice system. 20 Galli Drive Ste A Novato, CA 94949

 

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Ad paid for by Friends of Chesa Boudin Opposing the Recall, FPPC #1437058, Financial Disclosures available at SFethics.org Committee major funding from: 1. Christian Larsen ($100,000) 2. Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC ($65,000) 3. Jessica McKellar ($50,000)

 

Fox News in attack mode against Chesa in upcoming recall

 

Yesterday, failed right-wing mayoral candidate and recall advocate, Richie Greenberg, appeared on Fox News to attack Chesa and lie about San Francisco.  It’s clear that the recall campaign has become the key front in a national right-wing effort to reverse the criminal justice reform movement and send our city -- and country -- back to the stone ages. We knew out-of-state billionaires and the Police Officers Association in San Francisco would lock arms with the recall effort. But now that Fox News has thrown their hat into the ring, we need to respond.  Our team is already fighting back from a six-figure ad campaign placed by the recall effort falsely attacking Chesa’s record. Now that Fox News is getting involved, it’s only going to get harder. So we need resources to fight back.   The criminal justice reform movement is at stake. Thanks for standing with us, Team Chesa Boudin Chesa Boudin was elected District Attorney of San Francisco in 2019 to reform our criminal justice system. Now, right-wingers  want to reverse our progress and return our city to a time when innocent people were locked away and police acted with impunity. 20 Galli Drive Ste A Novato, CA 94949 Friend of Chesa Boudin Opposing the Recall United States   Ad paid for by Friends of Chesa Boudin Opposing the Recall, FPPC #1437058, Financial Disclosures available at SFethics.org Committee major funding from: 1. Christian Larsen ($100,000) 2. Jessica McKellar ($50,000) 3. Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC ($48,300)

The dangerous joke of the Chesa Boudin recall

 

Progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin is being subjected to a RECALL.

Progressives are charting new territory in their attempts to restore JUSTICE by eliminating CASH BAIL, refusing to prosecute petty crimes and much else. Mistakes will be made, but there will be exonerations of INNOCENTS as well.

It's important to pay attention to the $$$ sources.

This case bears watching.

The attempt to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin exemplifies how loud, angry political minorities are deepening divisions and obstructing elected officials. (Kevin N. Hume/The Examiner)

Among the problems with the attempt to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin is that the election makes San Francisco look like a joke.

The point is not that Boudin has been flawless in his job. Rather, he has done some good things, made some mistakes, pleased some constituents, displeased others and been subject to events in San Francisco that have been out of his control. In that regard, Boudin is more or less like every elected official ever.

The recall effort, on the other hand, is not spurred by some egregious mistake or crime that Boudin has committed. Rather, it is happening because many of the people who did not support him when he ran in 2019 see an easy and relatively cost-free way to have a political tantrum.

Nonetheless, the recall will go forward and will be a major political story here for months, even though we know how this will play out. Between now and the recall election, local, and more importantly, conservative national media, will rant about how the recall effort demonstrates that progressive forces are too strong in San Francisco, crime is out of control and the left has turned The City into some kind of radical dystopia. These reactionary talking points will be sanitized by self-proclaimed serious and moderate voices who will kibitz earnestly about how even San Francisco recognizes the need to rein in the far left.

And then when Boudin defeats the recall, the national media will agree that the recall never had a chance anyway in left-wing San Francisco.

None of this is good for San Francisco, not for any particularly ideological reason, but because having an election and then seeking to recall the winner before less than half of his term is over is absurd. It makes The City look unserious, directionless and unwilling to follow through on its progressive rhetoric. That perception will endure because the recall effort will get a lot more attention than its eventual defeat.

Boudin’s election in 2019 was part of a wave, which is still growing, of progressive district attorneys who include Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner, elected in 2018, and Chicago DA Kim Foxx, elected in 2016. These district attorneys have brought a new approach to the job, advocating for progressive policies like eliminating cash bail, reducing jail sentences for some crimes and overturning wrongful convictions. The effort to recall Boudin makes San Francisco seem like the majority of its residents never really meant to support these approaches and is thus more dilettante than progressive. Despite the recall being supported by a loud minority, liberal wishy-washiness is how the rest of the country will see The City.

This turn of events is possible because supporters of the recall can pursue the referendum easily and have nothing to lose. Although there is expense associated with qualifying a recall for the ballot, nobody is going broke making that happen. There are plenty of powerful and well-heeled interests happy to foot the bill.

Similarly, there is no political downside for supporters of the recall. The most likely outcome is that it will fail, but if that happens the conservative forces behind the effort will have lost nothing and will attribute the defeat to San Francisco’s progressive electorate. In the extremely unlikely event that the recall succeeds, the losers of the last campaign will have found a way to get a DA they like after failing to elect one.

We should also keep in mind that if Boudin is recalled, his replacement would be appointed by Mayor London Breed. Ironically, when Boudin was elected, he did it by defeating Suzy Loftus, a district attorney appointed by the mayor after ​​George Gascón resigned to take the DA job in Los Angeles. Recalling Boudin would give Breed an opportunity to further consolidate political control over The City — and over the DA’s office.

It is also important to look a bit closer at who is behind the recall. It is true supporters of the recall include major donors to GOP causes such as William Duhamel, Dede Wilsey and William Oberndorf — the latter is one of Mitch McConnell’s most generous benefactors — as well as benign sounding organizations such as Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, which enjoy strong financial support from right-wing donors. In short, there are several political organizations, individuals and forces providing the energy and resources behind the recall. However, it is impossible to ignore the role of the Police Officers Association as one of the prime movers in the recall attempt.

The same POA loudly calling for Boudin’s recall has been a singularly destructive and reactionary force in San Francisco politics for decades. From fighting efforts to racially integrate the police in the 1960s and 1970s, to its cozy relationship with Dan White after he killed George Moscone and Harvey Milk, through its longtime opposition to police reform and their opposition to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, the POA has been a pillar of reactionary politics and opinion in San Francisco. While San Francisco liberals and progressives may disagree about the job Boudin is doing as DA, there should be little disagreement about the impact of the POA in this city. If the POA is for it, forces of progress, tolerance and justice should be against it. That should be axiomatic for all but the most reactionary San Franciscans.

Following the expensive debacle that was the failed attempt to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom from office, there has been increased attention to reforming the recall process. Reform is indeed needed, but a better and cleaner approach might be to abolish recall elections altogether. Most recalls fail, but they do enduring damage to the civic fabric by villainizing the recall target in a way that is much more direct than a campaign between two politicians. In our current polarized, and increasingly violent, political environment, this is particularly harmful.

Recalls are not a tool that is necessary for a functioning democracy. Many states and cities do not have them and no such voting option exists at a federal level. In our current system and political climate, recalls are little more than an opportunity for loud and angry political minorities to deepen divisions, hamstring elected officials and drive media attention. The attempt to recall Chesa Boudin is just one example of this damage.

https://www.sfexaminer.com/.../the-dangerous-joke-of-the.../

SFEXAMINER.COM

The dangerous joke of the Chesa Boudin recall - The San Francisco Examiner

 

LINK

 

 

major victories last night in Wisconsin

 

While last night’s headline-grabbing election results weren’t what we wanted to see, I want to make sure you heard about our major victories in Wisconsin.

In response to school boards following my example by listening to medical experts and implementing safety measures, Republicans launched four recall campaigns to try to replace school board members. Even Rebecca Kleefisch and her allies went all in for these candidates — knocking doors and directing money to fund these divisive campaigns.

I’m thrilled to be able to tell you that all four of these Republican-backed recall campaigns were defeated! These results are a clear rejection of Republicans using our children’s safety as a political pawn, and I couldn’t be more proud. Here in Wisconsin, the Republican playbook failed.

What we are doing in Wisconsin is working because we continue to focus on the issues that matter. However, last night also showed that Republicans are willing to do anything to take back power, and we need to be ready in 2022.

Onward,

Tony

Paid for by Tony for Wisconsin.

NHTSA: Important Recall Info That MAY Affect Your Vehicle TOYOTA RECALL

 

Your vehicle MAY be involved in a safety recall and MAY create a safety risk for you or your passengers. If left unrepaired, a potential safety defect could lead to injury or even death. Safety defects must be repaired by a dealer at no cost to you.

The following may apply to one or more of your vehicles if your vehicle is listed below. Click on the NHTSA Recall ID Number below to read more about the safety issue and the reason for the recall.

To find out if your specific passenger vehicle is included in the recall, use our VIN Look-up Tool.

NHTSA Recall ID Number :	21V617
Manufacturer :	Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing
Subject :	Fuel Pump May Fail and Cause Engine Stall
	Make Model Model Years TOYOTA YARIS 2019-2020

What is a recall?
When a manufacturer or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determines that a vehicle creates an unreasonable risk to safety or fails to meet minimum safety standards, the manufacturer is required to fix that vehicle at no cost to the owner. That can be done by repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund (for equipment) or, in rare cases, repurchasing the car.

What should I do if my vehicle is included in this recall?
If your vehicle is included in this recall, it is very important that you get it fixed as soon as possible given the potential danger to you and your passengers if it is not addressed. You should receive a separate letter in the mail from the vehicle manufacturer, notifying you of the recall and explaining when the remedy will be available, whom to contact to repair your vehicle, and to remind you that the repair will be done at no charge to you. If you believe your vehicle is included in the recall, but you do not receive a letter in the mail from the vehicle manufacturer, please call NHTSA's Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236, or contact your vehicle manufacturer or dealership.

Thank you for your attention to this important safety matter and for your commitment to helping save lives on America's roadways.

Additional Resources
Understanding Vehicle Recalls
Recalls FAQ

Thank you,

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
United States Department of Transportation

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To file a Vehicle safety-related complaint, please go online to our File a Complaint web page, or call us toll-free at 1-888-327-4236.

To find out more about NHTSA, visit nhtsa.gov, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

If you have questions regarding these e-mails, please go to the NHTSA Contact web page.

NHTSA: Important Recall Info That MAY Affect Your Vehicle

 

Your vehicle MAY be involved in a safety recall and MAY create a safety risk for you or your passengers. If left unrepaired, a potential safety defect could lead to injury or even death. Safety defects must be repaired by a dealer at no cost to you.

The following may apply to one or more of your vehicles if your vehicle is listed below. Click on the NHTSA Recall ID Number below to read more about the safety issue and the reason for the recall.

To find out if your specific passenger vehicle is included in the recall, use our VIN Look-up Tool.

NHTSA Recall ID Number :	21V598
Manufacturer :	BMW of North America, LLC
Subject :	Loss of Braking Assist
	Make Model Model Years BMW 540I 2020 BMW 745LE 2020-2021 BMW M340I 2020 BMW X3 2020 BMW X4 2020-2021 BMW Z4 2019-2021 TOYOTA SUPRA 2020-2021

What is a recall?
When a manufacturer or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determines that a vehicle creates an unreasonable risk to safety or fails to meet minimum safety standards, the manufacturer is required to fix that vehicle at no cost to the owner. That can be done by repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund (for equipment) or, in rare cases, repurchasing the car.

What should I do if my vehicle is included in this recall?
If your vehicle is included in this recall, it is very important that you get it fixed as soon as possible given the potential danger to you and your passengers if it is not addressed. You should receive a separate letter in the mail from the vehicle manufacturer, notifying you of the recall and explaining when the remedy will be available, whom to contact to repair your vehicle, and to remind you that the repair will be done at no charge to you. If you believe your vehicle is included in the recall, but you do not receive a letter in the mail from the vehicle manufacturer, please call NHTSA's Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236, or contact your vehicle manufacturer or dealership.

Thank you for your attention to this important safety matter and for your commitment to helping save lives on America's roadways.

Additional Resources
Understanding Vehicle Recalls
Recalls FAQ

Thank you,

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
United States Department of Transportation

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To file a Vehicle safety-related complaint, please go online to our File a Complaint web page, or call us toll-free at 1-888-327-4236.

To find out more about NHTSA, visit nhtsa.gov, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

RSN: FOCUS: Kshama Sawant | Why I Signed the Petition for My Own Recall

 

 

04 August 21

Live on the homepage now!
Reader Supported News

 

FOCUS: Kshama Sawant | Why I Signed the Petition for My Own Recall
Kshama Sawant, Jacobin
Sawant writes: "The Recall campaign is using massive voter suppression via a low-turnout winter special election, and the unelected state supreme court's stamp of approval on the ballot itself, in an attempt to construct the most undemocratic election possible."

Since the moment that socialist Kshama Sawant was elected to the Seattle City Council, the rich, the Right, and the Democratic establishment have tried to destroy her. Having failed to defeat her at the ballot box, Sawant explains in Jacobin, they’re now resorting to voter suppression.

n response to last year’s historic Black Lives Matter uprising, with 20 million taking to the streets, the ruling class and right wing responded with 81 bills criminalizing peaceful protest in front of 34 state legislatures and over 250 voter suppression laws in 43 states, both offensives initiated by the Republicans but with no effective resistance from the Democrats. Now, both voter suppression and the attack on the right to protest have arrived squarely in liberal Seattle in the form of the right-wing Recall campaign against my socialist council office.

The Recall campaign is using massive voter suppression via a low-turnout winter special election, and the unelected state supreme court’s stamp of approval on the ballot itself, in an attempt to construct the most undemocratic election possible.

If the Recall succeeds, it will set a new and deeply dangerous precedent: when the ruling class fails to unseat left elected representatives through “normal” means like flooding races with corporate cash, or neutralize them through cooptation, they can resort to extraordinary measures like this recall. We see the same phenomenon at play in Buffalo, New York, where the City Council equivalent is threatening to abolish the position of mayor just one month after democratic socialist India Walton won the Democratic mayoral primary.

We have to fight back against both of these related attacks with the full strength of our movement.

Why Big Business and the Right Want Me Out

Since I was first elected to city council as an open socialist and Marxist in 2013, we have used our seat as a tool for Seattle’s working class in its fight against big business, racism, and the political establishment. In just eight years, our office has helped lead movements that won the first $15 minimum wage in a major US city, the $250 million/year Amazon Tax to fund affordable housing and a Green New Deal, many crucial and first-in-the-country renters’ rights victories, the nation’s first ban on chemical weapons by the police (before the Democrats rolled back many of the strongest provisions), and more.

It is precisely because our socialist council office has been so effective at winning victories for ordinary people, and because the ruling class simply cannot beat us in normal democratic elections, that we are now facing a right-wing recall effort based around trumped-up charges against my role in the Black Lives Matter and Tax Amazon movements.

Over 130 Trump donors have donated to the Recall campaign, alongside over 500 Republican donors, more than 100 CEOs and corporate executives (locally and nationally), and three out of five billionaire dynasties in the state of Washington. Who is the Recall’s top lawyer? John McKay, former US Attorney appointed by George W. Bush.

This anti–Black Lives Matter, anti-socialist campaign represents a teaming up of big business, the right wing, and the Democratic establishment against our movement. While local progressive Democrats like US representative Pramila Jayapal and others on the city council have not come out explicitly in favor of the Recall, their nearly year-long silence since the Recall effort began unfortunately speaks volumes. It’s time for them to pick a side.

Voter Suppression in Liberal Seattle

I won election in 2013, reelection in 2015, and yet again in 2019. Besides the socialist movement beating big business and the political establishment against all odds, what did all of these elections have in common? They were all in November, and had extremely high turnouts in neighborhoods with the highest concentration of people of color, young people, and renters.

The same forces we’ve defeated three times in general elections have finally learned that lying about my record and attacking my character as “too aggressive” and unable to “well with others” (other establishment politicians, that is) just isn’t enough. The Recall campaign has done the calculations and figured out that their only path to victory lies through suppressing voter turnout among these exact demographics.

Both historically and today, voter suppression laws are never called “The Voter Suppression Act.” None of them say “black people can’t vote” or “poor people can’t vote.” But they suppress the vote nonetheless, and disenfranchise the most oppressed voters in a variety of indirect ways while attempting to seem innocuous.

To get the Recall on the ballot, they need to collect just 10,700 signatures. With a month left to go before the August 3 deadline to turn in their signatures for a November general election, the Recall announced they had over 9,000 officially pre-verified signatures, and that they were aiming for November but just weren’t sure if they could get there.

Despite their pace up to that point being just under 1,000 per week (given their expensive mail operation to the wealthy parts of the district), we predicted they were planning to intentionally slow down signature collection and, come August 3, cynically pretend they just didn’t have enough to submit.

Why? Because in King County, where Seattle is located, as recently as 2016 and 2018, special elections have had up to 40 percent and 50 percent lower turnout than general elections.

So our movement went on the offensive, exposing the Recall’s primary strategy for what it is: voter suppression.

The only reason the Recall campaign was even in a position to bypass the general election was because the Washington State Supreme Court inexplicably delayed ruling on our case for nearly three months after their own ruling date, which was set for early January. Had they ruled even ten days earlier, a special election may have been off the table altogether.

Signing the Petition for My Own Recall

At a press conference on July 9, I became perhaps the first politician to ever sign a petition for their own recall, and the Kshama Solidarity Campaign announced it would begin collecting thousands of signatures for the Recall with the message of “put up or shut up.” We said at the press conference, “You say you want to turn in your signatures and get on the ballot in November? Then do it. The Solidarity Campaign will collect the rest.” Of course, we only collected signatures from our supporters who opposed the Recall Campaign and wanted to sign as a way to fight its voter suppression.

Our campaign caught fire. Our volunteer turnout to canvassing increased eight-fold, with 764 two-hour canvassing shifts in the three weeks between July 9 and August 1. We held a Solidarity Campaign labor rally with over 100 union members in attendance followed by a canvassing shift, and Seattle DSA organized a rally and fundraiser with Jacobin writer Meagan Day and former Bernie 2020 press secretary Briahna Joy Gray.

We knew this approach would be a win-win for us. Either we would force the Recall to turn in the signatures by August 3, which would mean a high-turnout November election, or we would make it clear for all to see what our opponents’ aim was the whole time: avoid a general election and intentionally suppress the vote.

We delivered our rapidly growing stack of signatures to the Recall campaign every two days via a legal courier, just as they requested in the furious emails we received from their lawyer. At 2,000 signatures, we held a press conference outside the lawyer’s office, and at 3,000, the day before the August 3 deadline, held a rally outside his office that we called “Put Up or Shut Up.”

Despite clearly having enough signatures to submit for a November election, the Recall held on to their signatures and refused to turn them in. Now, our plan is to build the strongest Get Out the Vote effort Seattle has ever seen. The only way to stop right-wing attacks like voter suppression is to build a movement to fight back — so that’s exactly what we plan to do.

Elections and the Socialist Movement

We have used our Marxist city council seat to win historic victories for working people, which is why the Right, big business, and the Democratic establishment are coming after us. Because the ruling class doesn’t care how many times we have won democratic elections (despite Amazon spending $1.5 million in the 2019 city elections), they want us out, and are now using voter suppression to try to make it happen.

As Marxists, we use the capitalist electoral system to win concrete victories for the working class, popularize and build the socialist movement, and expose in real time the limits of the fundamentally undemocratic electoral system we are using. Ultimately, we know we can’t win a socialist transformation of society through the capitalist electoral system because it’s not our system; in fact, it’s designed specifically to prevent systemic change.

When our movement becomes too much of a threat to the status quo, the ruling class has no qualms about taking extraordinary measures, as we see with this undemocratic Recall and many more severe examples throughout history. This was what gave rise to McCarthyism and the “red scare” after World War II. Today, as the socialist movement grows more powerful and becomes better organized, the danger of a twenty-first century McCarthyism will increasingly be posed. This Recall campaign should be a warning to our entire movement.

Big business and the right wing want to make an example out of us, to show that Marxist politics will not be tolerated. But we cannot let them. Throughout the month of August, we are doing a donations drive to cancel out the Recall’s Trump and CEO dark money. Our movement must defend itself with everything we’ve got. We hope progressives and socialists across the country will join us.

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