On local government:Butler is case study in politics of intimidation

Back page of brochure attacking 53rd Assembly District candidate Betsy Butler. The brochure says it is paid for by the Californians for Balance and Fairness in the Civil Justice System Committee.

 If you are a registered Democrat in the 53rd Assembly District, it would be understandable if you thought that there was only one candidate in the race to succeed termed-out Assemblymember Ted Lieu. Your mailbox has been filled with screeds indicating that Betsy Butler, one of eight candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination, is the devil incarnate.

 Having met her, I can assure you she is not. So why she has been singled out for this kind of vitriol?

 The answer is simple: the threat of political retribution.

 Since she announced her entry into the Assembly race, Butler has been considered the leader of this particular pack. Her credentials testify to the reason why, including long-term involvement with issues of interest to the core Democratic voter.

 She also has been very successful in fund raising, giving her a platform generally unavailable to her competition. However, certain special interests see her (or wish to see her) as vulnerable, especially if they spend enough money to make her seem unpalatable to those Democrats who will bother to vote in the June 8 primary.

 The 53rd Assembly District has been solidly in Democratic hands since 1992. There is no indication that there will be a change in 2010. So, what would the bringing down of one particular candidate mean, if the ultimate likely result, a Democratic Assemblymember, would occur?

 Intimidation.

 If these interests, which include insurance companies, including Anthem Blue Cross, are able to show the rest of the political infrastructure that they have the ability to defeat whomever they wish to target, many who would oppose them will cower. These special interests are only active in two out of 80 Assembly elections. (The other is in San Diego County where they are supporting a specific candidate.) They have chosen just the South Bay and San Diego to flex their muscle so that they could focus their money where everyone else will watch and treat them, if successful, deferentially in the future.

 If this intimidation works, we will see the political equivalent of “kneecapping.” It would be a warning to others who would not follow instructions.

 Democratic voters have the responsibility to find out all they can about all the candidates running for this important office. They need to make an informed and unintimidated decision.

 With all the mailbox space occupied by missives for and against Betsy Butler, that may be hard. But, it is important to remember that all this mail isn’t really about her, but about the power certain special interests wish to exercise.

 Hopefully, Democratic voters will be able to tune that out and determine for whom they wish to vote on their own terms. ER

Comments:

comments so far. Comments posted to EasyReaderNews.com may be reprinted in the Easy Reader print edition, which is published each Thursday.