Venice candidates run for Assembly and Congress
Following a time-honored tradition, two members
of the Beachhead Collective have announced their candidacies for public office.
Jim Smith is running for Assembly and Alice Stek is running for
Congress.
Smith, who is also the Venice Neighborhood
Council Treasurer, said, “Many of the problems that confront us in Venice
have to be resolved at the state level. I’ll be a voice for all the
coastal communities in the 53rd assembly district against the cutbacks by
Schwarzenegger with the complicity of the Democrats in
Sacramento.”
Stek, a physician
and canals resident, said: “We need someone who will truly represent the
working people of this district in Washington. Our interests are not served by
the millionaire warmongers who claim to represent us. We need to use our
country’s resources to serve human needs rather than war and
aggression.”
Both candidates say
they are the only progressives in their elections. The other candidates running
for the 53rd Assembly - which runs from Venice and West L.A. south along the
coast to Torrance and Lomita - are Democrat Mike Gordon, Republican Greg Hill
and Libertarian Ethan Boivie. Smith says Gordon, who is the mayor of El Segundo
and owns a telemarketing firm, urged Jane Harman to vote in Congress for a
unilateral invasion of Iraq, which she did. The current incumbent, George
Nakano, cannot run again because of term
limits.
Stek is opposed by incumbent
Democrat Jane Harman, a Libertarian Mike Binkley and three Republicans: Gloria
Davis, Lee Leslie and Paul Whitehead. Harman’s vote in favor of invading
Iraq caused protests in Venice and elsewhere. Stek cites a Torrance Daily Breeze
article which said “Harman has the most conservative voting record of any
California Democrat.”
Smith says
that if elected he will introduce legislation to create a special prosecutor to
investigate allegations of sexual harassment against Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Stek and Smith say
they are also the only progressive third-party candidates in the entire Los
Angeles basin. “We hope to attract support from everyone who is fed up
with politics-as-usual which only benefit the rich,” said Smith. Both
candidates are running unopposed in the Peace and Freedom primary, guaranteeing
that they will be on the November
ballot.
The candidates are following in
the footsteps of a number of former Beachhead Collectivists who have run for
office, including John Haag (for Lt. Governor), Rick Davidson (for city council)
and Carol Fondiller (for Assembly against Tom Hayden - Hayden
won).
For more information about their
campaigns, check their websites at www.la-peaceandfreedom.org or call
310-399-2215.
Posted: Thu - January 1, 2004 at 06:49 PM