Green targeting of dissident CA Dem off to bad start

Cheryl Brown

Photo credit: Breitbart.com

Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, a moderate African-American Democrat from San Bernardino seeking her third term, has brushed back the first challenge to her re-election by Eloise Reyes, a Colton attorney strongly backed by environmental groups. Brown easily won her local party chapter’s “pre-endorsement,” getting 70 percent of an informal vote at a recent Democratic Party gathering in San Bernardino — undercutting greens’ claims she was out of touch with her constituents.

In comments to the Riverside Press-Enterprise after her triumph, Brown appeared to directly respond to the notion she didn’t know her district:

“I’ve always believed that the Democratic Party is the party of inclusion that seeks to represent all voices in the community,” Brown said. “I’ve listened closely to the community, voted on legislation with my conscience, and understand the awesome responsibility that has been given to me to represent the Inland Empire as an assembly member.”

The Brown-Reyes fight threatens to open up a rift between African-American lawmakers and environmental groups. Sierra Club California director Kathryn Phillips’ comments to the Sacramento Bee in a Jan. 12 story about Brown were seen as condescending in some quarters.

“There’s no doubt Ms. Brown, who’s a very nice person, has not been representing her constituents when it comes to environmental issues, particularly clean-air issues,” Phillips told the Bee. “She’s collected too much money from the oil industry and let that guide too many of her votes.”

Black icon defended against Sierra Club gripes

Phillips, who works out of Sacramento, is a white UC Berkeley graduate who used to work for the Environmental Defense Fund. Brown, who turns 72 next week, has been a fixture in the Inland Empire African-American political establishment for more than three decades. She co-founded a weekly publication that focuses on black issues in 1980 and has worked on a wide variety of African-American causes in western San Bernardino County.

Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, responded to green criticism of Brown most sharply:

“I think it’s a tone-deaf approach,” Ridley-Thomas said, accusing the groups of using “wedge politics.”

 

“The environmental community, and the broader environmental coalition, needs to figure out whether or not it’s going to be a collaborator and … work with black California on policy, and shared political goals, or if it will be an adversary.”

That’s also from reporting by the Bee.

One unexpected twist in this political rumble is the harshness of the indirect, unusually personal potshot taken at Brown by a fellow Inland Empire elected Democrat. In a statement released by the Reyes campaign, state Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, said she supported Brown’s opponent because “she was a principled human being.”

Leyva’s Senate district has considerable overlap with Brown’s Assembly district.

3 comments

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  1. Richard Rider
    Richard Rider 5 February, 2016, 08:39

    Democrats long ago established a DE FACTO black preference policy for hiring African-Americans in state and local government — resulting in about twice as high a percentage of blacks hired and promoted vs. their percentage of the population.

    But aside from that racist set-aside, blacks have suffered from the anti-business polices of the Democrats — policies that have eliminated hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs that usually offer good employment opportunities to minorities.

    Moreover, the progressive education policies (controlled by the labor unions) have DEVASTATED urban public schools — blocking or restricting parental choice and quality education at every turn. These policies are particularly effective in “keeping blacks in their place.”

    I’m confident that, again in November, 90+% of blacks will vote for more of the same. Karma.

    Reply this comment
    • Queeg
      Queeg 5 February, 2016, 10:03

      Comrade Rider is once again so perceptive….the poor always suffer ….the poor who have their betrayer’s pictures hanging in their government provided apartments.

      And you wonder why those with little wear CHE t-shirts!!!!

      Reply this comment
  2. Spurwing Plover
    Spurwing Plover 7 February, 2016, 13:09

    Too many demacrats are in the deep pockets of the eco-freaks too busy doing the bidding of the Tree Huggers/Granola Munchers and Gaia worshipers to realy care about the farmers and ranchers in the state

    Reply this comment

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Chris Reed

Chris Reed

Chris Reed is a regular contributor to Cal Watchdog. Reed is an editorial writer for U-T San Diego. Before joining the U-T in July 2005, he was the opinion-page columns editor and wrote the featured weekly Unspin column for The Orange County Register. Reed was on the national board of the Association of Opinion Page Editors from 2003-2005. From 2000 to 2005, Reed made more than 100 appearances as a featured news analyst on Los Angeles-area National Public Radio affiliate KPCC-FM. From 1990 to 1998, Reed was an editor, metro columnist and film critic at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario. Reed has a political science degree from the University of Hawaii (Hilo campus), where he edited the student newspaper, the Vulcan News, his senior year. He is on Twitter: @chrisreed99.

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