I’m voting for Donald Trump knowing full well that he has offended many by way of insults, rhetoric, and bombast. However, he has also been willing to talk about important things no one else wants to discuss! I believe the Donald’s verve will do our country well in a time when we desperately need strong leadership and fiscal acumen. Trump will do well for America by surrounding himself with America’s best and brightest in order to address our nation’s chronic problems having to do with illegal immigration, terrorism, debt, our failing military readiness, and generational poverty among the working poor and the welfare class.
The hardest thing I plan to do on Election Day is vote for Loretta Sanchez for Senate. Admittedly, Sanchez is a left-leaning progressive who will support all sorts of policies that I find abhorrent. However, the fact of the matter is that her opponent, Kamala Harris, makes Sanchez appear moderate by comparison! Harris embodies the worst of the Bay Area tradition of activist legislators who represent a threat to our very lives and what is left of our rights. Harris, while serving as the San Francisco District Attorney, helped foment the sanctuary mentality that resulted in people being gunned down by undocumented immigrants! She also is one of the attorneys general who wants to prosecute think tanks because they don’t agree with her on climate change while giving Planned Parenthood a pass on selling aborted fetus parts on the black market! I believe Kamala Harris is an evil woman, and accordingly I am voting for Sanchez.
I am voting for Justin Fareed for Congress. I recognize Justin as a bright hope for the future, a marked departure from the politics and policies of his opponent, Salud Carbajal, who happens to be an Obama appointee. Mr. Carbajal has repeatedly failed us despite having ample opportunity to fight for a sustainable water supply, better jobs for the working poor, and limiting the size and cost of government services. Fareed, on the other hand, offers a fresh start and a much needed break from career politicians.
With respect to the State Assembly races, I am supporting Ed Fuller in the 37th Assembly District and Jordan Cunningham in the 35th. Both Fuller, an Independent, and Cunningham, a Republican, are common-sense candidates who will serve to return the Legislature’s focus to solving problems instead of the absurd activist agenda that has become business as usual in Sacramento! We need representatives who will roll up their sleeves and address the very real problems associated with our $1 trillion debt, our failing infrastructure, our dwindling and squandered water supplies, and the tax and regulatory burdens that are stifling opportunities for the working poor and killing our farmers.
I hope 3rd District voters will elect Bruce Porter to serve as their next supervisor. We desperately need Bruce’s expertise in managing our failing infrastructure and our acute water supply shortage. He also knows a thing or two about preventing the catastrophic threat of fire, and how to handle big budgets. He is highly educated, having earned multiple degrees from West Point and Stanford. He is a very good man who truly wants to serve our community. We need his sense of balance and fairness that comes from decades of experience as a public servant in the Army Corps of Engineers. If you want to end the acrimony and drama on the Board of Supervisors, then please elect Bruce Porter!
Finally, in Santa Maria, I am encouraging voters to re-elect Alice Patino as Mayor, and elect Michael Moats and Mike Cordero to the City Council, and Tim Bennet as Hancock College Trustee.
Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB and the host of The Andy Caldwell Show weekdays from 3-5 pm on AM1440 and AM1290. Send comments to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2016.