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Beyond AB5: Tackling Wider Issues Around Unstable Work

Terelle Jerricks
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Lyft driver Dino Mendoza and his son Mason. “Beyond AB5: Tackling Wider Issues Around Unstable Work”

By Sam Hall

Last year, the State of California passed AB5, contentious legislation regarding employee classification, in an effort to address rising labor market issues associated with the “gig economy”. The legislation, largely seen as a benefit to workers and unions, sparked a large debate and will see legal challenges from a group of tech companies like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash. While AB5 seeks to address a particular problem, it addresses a relatively small number of underemployed workers. 

A much larger number of people work involuntarily part-time for economic and care-giving reasons. There’s a shortage of data about this trend but, if you count the shadow economy, irregular scheduled W-2 employees and those working through platforms like Uber, DoorDash or Postmates, it’s somewhere around 35 percent of adults. Many of their employers leverage new technology to adopt human resources strategies that focus on hiring a large number of part-time employees whose schedules are modified on short notice to reflect momentary customer demand. Often these individuals have trouble advancing their careers or obtaining enough hours and the daily timing of their shift can be unpredictable.

The Economic Policy Institute analyzed this trend and identified several consequences of irregular work, including constraints on consumer spending and considerable work-life stress. The adverse impacts of irregular work have prompted “Fair Scheduling ” legislation to address worst practices, including a “right to request” flexible work schedules in Vermont and San Francisco, where a Retail Workers’ Bill of Rights law requires employers to provide more advance notice in scheduling. Still, these efforts merely address the peripheral impacts and fail to address the central issue.

There is another approach that is worth trying, one that seeks to benefit all parties involved. Pacific Gateway, the public workforce board for Long Beach, has taken a national lead in developing a technology solution that addresses the inherent challenges of the irregular workforce.

 Pacific Gateway is developing a virtual marketplace for buying and selling flexible labor. Recognized by the US Conference of Mayors as the nation’s best economic development initiative, our online platform is built around protections, progression, control and stability plus alignment and quality for local businesses. It’s a public resource that is flexible enough to fit any organizational structure and is designed to benefit both employers and workers.

We’re developing closed systems for large public and private sector employers, as well as a Flexi-Pool of labor that will be open to the public. Using a phone app, individuals will be able to “sell” their available hours to any number of participating companies that are seeking workers with their skill set, whether it be in hospitality, health care, event staffing, or other service-based industries. It will truly revolutionize the way people obtain flexible work.

I am proud to have been a member of two different unions during two significant chapters of my career, with AFSCME in the State Senate, and later with the Machinists in the City of Long Beach Harbor Department. The stability I enjoyed in these positions is unparalleled to any other position. Now as the

Director of this exciting program at Pacific Gateway, I’m working to help countless others find stability in their work-life and attain full employment. A more equitable market for hourly labor under local control doesn’t solve all the problems for these hard-pressed individuals, but it addresses the central issues of our rapidly growing irregular workforce and gives them a public resource for gaining autonomy of their schedule, progressing in their careers, and reaching full employment. 

Our team is engaging a wide range of stakeholders to manifest our market, including businesses, labor unions and the public. Don’t make the assumption that AB5 will solve the problems of people currently working unpredictable hours. There is a bigger vision taking shape, and Long Beach is leading the way for our nation. Visit our website at www.CalFlexi.org and contact me about your interest in supporting workers in the 21st century.

Sam Hall is the Director of economic innovation at Pacific Gateway Workforce Innovation Network, a non-profit serving the city Long Beach, Signal Hill, and the Los Angeles Harbor communities.

San Pedro Fatal Shooting

Reporters Desk
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San Pedro Fatal Shooting

By Chris Villanueva
A man was shot and killed early Wednesday morning in San Pedro.

The shooting occurred around 1:30 am on the corner of Sepulveda street and Cabrillo Ave. where police officers found the unidentified victim with multiple gunshot wounds.

The victim is reportedly a 25 to 30 year old male who was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

LAPD currently has no suspect info and do not know if this was gang related at this time.

The investigation is ongoing.

“The Andrews Brothers” More Than the Sum of Its Middling WWII-era Songs

Greggory Moore
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“The Andrews Brothers” More Than the Sum of Its Middling WWII-era Songs

By Greggory Moore, Curtain Call Columnist

The Andrews brothers are 4F, meaning they can’t directly join the fight against the Axis powers. But they’ve signed up with the U.S.O. to help entertain the troops at Fort Kittylock. They’re only stagehands, but they’ve got a hankering to perform ― a chance that arises when a snafu means that pinup girl Miss Peggy Jones is short three backup singers/dancers. But can they answer the call of duty when headliners the Andrews Sisters call out sick?

That’s all the plot there is to The Andrews Brothers, Roger Bean’s jukebox musical composed of World War II-era pop hits. But you don’t come to this sort of thing for plot: it’s all about the music and the fun. So long as you’re not looking for depth on either count, International City Theatre delivers well enough ― especially if you hang in there ’til after intermission.

With his flat feet, eldest Max (Grant Hodges) is the most graceless of this trio of theatre nerds. Lawrence (Michael D’Elia) is near-sighted and has trouble memorizing lyrics. Baby of the bunch Patrick (Max DeLoach) is asthmatic and gets über nervous around women. These failings evince themselves exactly as you expect, particularly once Miss Peggy (Kelley Dorney) shows up and they start rehearsing for the big show.

Sometimes cute, sometimes cloying, you’re best off if you think of Act One as little more than the set-up for Act Two. It doesn’t help several early songs are clunkers. I’m not saying Bean doesn’t find a logic for including “Mairzy Doats” (“Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy / A kid’ll eat ivy, too ― wouldn’t you?”), but all the logic in the world doesn’t elevate this from being a terrible song. And while none of the rest are quite THAT bad, plenty ain’t good.

It’s not the fault of the performers. They sing solidly throughout, with both DeLoach and Dorney enjoying a few standout moments. The going gets challenging for Hodges here and there, but nothing tragic. The harmonies ― many of which are far from simple ― are excellent throughout. Although the backing music would be better served by a larger band with a real piano than by the four-piece with an electronic keyboard handling the duties here, at least we get it live rather than prerecorded and piped in.

Most impressive performance-wise is the acting during the songs, which each performer handles with absolute effortlessness. Director/choreographer Jamie Torcellini has thought long and hard about how to engage the audience, and he’s really put the cast through their paces.

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It’s in Act Two ― which takes the form of the show the quartet prepped for in Act One ― that Torcellini’s choreography truly impresses. Opening with Miss Peggy’s solo number “Doin’ It for Defense”, Torcellini gives Dorney are sorts of little steps and gestures to fully sell the song story and double-entendre. And although some of the more obvious bits of choreography are strong (such as a very nice music-free tap duet between Dorney and Hodges), it’s the subtle stuff that tickles, such as the gestures given to the boys during “Three Little Sisters” to indicate the difference between Army, Navy, and Marines.

In addition to the fact that the songs of Act Two tend to be better (e.g., “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön”, “Rum & Coca Cola”, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”), the proceedings are just a lot more fun now that we’re in the show-within-a-show. Dorney emcees it just right, and Torcellini’s gamble on sections of extensive crowd participation pays off huge, particularly during “Six Jerks in a Jeep.” It could easily go somewhat wrong on any given night, but it’s worth the risk.

As much as I’m not charmed by drag shows and such, it would be criminal not to mention how well it works here. Torcellini and company have decided to play it straight (no pun intended), with costume designer Kim DeShazo and hair/wig designer Anthony Gagliardi (and presumably the makeup person, uncredited in the program) doing their damnedest to make the boys look like girls. The result is far more amusing than if they’d gone for the low-hanging fruit of intentionally making them poor imitations of the fairer sex.

To be sure, The Andrews Brothers is lite fare, little more than a revue of not exactly the best music the first half of the 20th century has to offer. But because of how International City Theatre executes Act Two, by the time the curtain drops you might have enjoyed yourself despite that fact.

The Andrews Brothers at International City Theatre
Times: Thurs-Sat 8:00 p.m. and Sun 2:00 p.m., The show runs through March 8
Cost: $49-$52
Details: (562) 436-4610, ICTLongBeach.org
Venue: Beverly O’Neill Theatre, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach

SoCal Does Cash for Clunkers

RL Intern
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SoCal Does Cash for Clunkers

By Nick Vu, Editorial Intern

If you live in Los Angeles, you can retire your old car for $9,500 towards a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Many have already done so through Replace Your Ride, a program funded and operated by South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The Replace Your Ride program offers a financial incentive to Californians living in metropolitan areas to retire their old vehicles and buy newer, lower-emitting vehicles.

“I have an older car that I’ve been thinking about upgrading,” said Rick Jimenez, a musician from San Pedro who had not heard of Replace Your Ride. “It sucks that they’re not advertising the program as they should.”

The SCAQMD founded the program in 2015 and hosted promotional events for a few years, but none for the past two. Despite the lack of exposure, interest in the program has remained high. On average, eligible applicants wait four months to receive their vehicles. More than 5,500 California residents have replaced their old vehicles with the assistance of Replace Your Ride and Clean Cars 4 All, a similar program in San Joaquin Valley.

So far, the state has handed out $41 million in vouchers to residents in Los Angeles and other major urban cities.

“For the 2018-19 fiscal year, SCAQMD received a total of $13.4 million in grants from the California Air Resources Board for the Replace Your Ride Program,” said SCAQMD representative Bradley Wittaker. “South Coast AQMD expects to receive an additional $13 million by the end of 2020.”

The Replace Your Ride program serves Los Angeles County and its neighboring counties. There are similar programs in operation throughout California under different names.

The objective is to reduce air pollution in urban areas, where air quality is persistently poor. It is part of an overarching strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, as outlined in the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or Senate Bill 32.

“The principle behind the program makes a lot of sense,” said Troy Hardy, sales director at Toyota of Norwalk. “These are people who would normally purchase a used car, but with the government providing additional incentive they can get into a more fuel-efficient vehicle so their month-to-month cost is going to be lower and it will help the environment in the long run.”

As of September 2019, Replace Your Ride has scrapped 4,669 vehicles in Greater Los Angeles and a total of 6,868 throughout California. The average model year of the scrapped vehicles is 1999.

To be eligible, the trade-in car must be model year 2007 or older and participants must be residents of Greater Los Angeles, which includes San Pedro and Long Beach. The amount of the award depends upon family income and the type of vehicle purchased.

For example, a low-income household of four making less than $57,938 can receive $5,000 towards a fuel-efficient gas engine vehicle, or the full $9,500 towards a zero-emissions producing electric vehicle, such as a Toyota Prius Prime or any Tesla vehicle. Moderate and high-income families can participate too, but the voucher is less at $7,500 for the gas burner and $5,500 for the electric.

Toyota of Norwalk sells about 15 cars per month in participation with the program and appreciates the extra business. However, many dealerships won’t accept Replace Your Ride customers because the program takes so long to process each purchase. The excitement of picking out a vehicle and striking a deal starts the clock—actually, the calendar—on a wait of four to six weeks until the customer gets the car and the dealership gets the money. Hardy said there is a Honda dealership that is currently sitting on a million dollars in stock, waiting for the SCAQMD to release the funds.

For Jimenez, the wait is not a concern.

“I’m going to do my little research on it,” he said. “I have a couple friends that have switched over to electric vehicles, Teslas. It’s a lot cheaper to maintain than a regular car and it helps out the environment. Thumbs up for that.”

To find a participating car dealership, check eligibility, or learn how to apply for the Replace Your Ride program, visit replaceyourride.com.

CeSPNC President Defends Herself Against Possible Censure

Hunter Chase
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CeSPNC President Defends Herself Against Possible Censure

Neighborhood Council Round Up
By Hunter Chase, Reporter

At the Feb. 11 meeting of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, the board voted 6-0 with three abstentions to authorize treasurer Linda Nutile to speak to the Los Angeles city attorney about potentially censuring board president Maria Couch. This means the board would formally say that Couch had done something wrong and following that, they could remove her from her position as president.
The reason the board is attempting to censure Couch is because she authorized outreach services from Moore Business Results, which were not authorized by the board. Moore Business Results was only authorized to redesign the website and it locked out The Mailroom, the council’s vendor, preventing The Mailroom from posting agendas.
Couch said that the outreach services she is accused of authorizing were the posting of the council’s agendas by Moore Business Results during the time The Mailroom was locked out. Board member Jeff McBurney also emailed The Mailroom requesting that Moore Business Results post an agenda and Couch asked why he was not being censured as well.
“The ultimate goal, which was already set at the agenda-setting meeting, is to get rid of me,” Couch said. “It’s not even about what’s happened, what didn’t happen, whether to pay the woman or not.”
Shortly before this, the board voted 5-1 with three abstentions to pay Moore Business Results $828.12 for said outreach services. Paying Moore Business Results for these services was on the council’s agenda twice before, at their November and October meetings, but did not pass until their February meeting. The council had previously approved paying Moore Business Results for the website redesign.
The board also voted 6-0 with three abstentions to authorize Nutile and board vice president Carrie Scoville to speak to the city attorney about potentially censuring Khixaan Obioma-Sakhu, the outreach and communications officer. The reason the board is considering censuring him is because he failed to produce $1,540 worth of items that were purchased from Mina’s Printer. These include 10 aluminum signs and 10 large format plastic signs, Nutile said.
The council does not know who ordered the items or where they were delivered, Nutile said. The responsibility of the items falls on Obioma-Sakhu because he was the designated cardholder. Mina’s Printer delivered them more than six months ago, but was told not to divulge details by Couch, Nutile said.
Couch says she never spoke to Mina’s Printer and that the signs were not supposed to have been ordered.
Board member Linda Alexander suggested that Couch should speak to Mina’s Printer, as it may be willing to speak to her.

Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council

At the Feb. 10 meeting of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council, the board passed a motion requesting that trees on the sidewalks of Los Angeles be protected from unnecessary removal. On some major streets, the city has removed trees for sidewalk construction, even though the sidewalks need the shade, said board member Gwen Henry.
The Sidewalk Repair Program draft environmental impact report proposes the removal of 12,869 trees, decreasing the amount of trees in the city by 1.5 percent over 30 years, the motion says. These trees are necessary because they provide a defense against extreme heat days. The removal of trees also lowers air quality, reduces the habitat of wildlife that lives in trees and lowers property values.
The Defense Logistics Agency is storing tanks of diesel and aviation fuel underground in San Pedro, but said tanks are leaking and the Navy is in the process of cleaning them up, said Gregg Smith, public affairs officer of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. The agency was storing the tanks in San Pedro but stopped using the tanks in 2014 and put them underground. In 2018, the Navy began an environmental assessment to lease the property where the tanks are stored for commercial and military use. There is soil contamination from the tanks, but not water contamination. The agency is using a process called soil vapor extraction, which involves blowing air onto the soil, vaporizing the fuel and sucking it back up. The process will bring only minimum further contamination, as it is expected to have less environmental impact than spilling a gallon of gasoline.

Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council

At the Jan. 21 meeting of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, the board voted 11-1-0 to oppose the use of digital billboards, with board member Bob Gelfand opposing the decision. In 2002, the Los Angeles City Council banned the installation of new billboards in 90% of the city, said board member Robin Rudisill. However, the city is now asking that digital billboards be allowed almost anywhere in the city without the requirement of an environmental impact report, content restrictions or neighborhood approvals. The use of digital billboards contributes to congestion and disrupts wildlife and human sleep patterns.
There was a 5 % increase in overall crime in Coastal San Pedro in December 2019 compared to December 2018, said Dan Brown, senior lead officer of the Los Angeles Police Department. However, crime went down overall in 2019 compared to 2018, with 200 fewer part one crimes. Except for aggravated assault, every category of crime went down substantially. Unfortunately, crime at the beginning of 2020 has been problematic, including a couple shootings.
There were five reported rapes in Coastal San Pedro during December 2019, which is unusually high, Brown said. In a couple of the cases, there was not a specific allegation of rape, as the female victims were using narcotics, fell unconscious and were taken to the hospital where they felt pain in their genitals. Both cases are pending DNA tests and may later be reclassified. There were no homicides in the Coastal San Pedro area during December 2019. There were four robberies, which was unusual since there were none in December 2018. Aggravated assault was up 37 percent and Brown did not have any insight as to why it has increased. Burglaries went down by 77 percent, as there were 4 in December 2019 as opposed to 18 in December 2018.

Janitors Take Fight to the Streets of Downtown LA

Mark Friedman
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Janitors Take Fight to the Streets of Downtown LA

Labor Notes
By Mark Friedman, Reporter

On Feb. 6, thousands of janitors took to the streets of Downtown Los Angeles demanding a New Deal for immigrant workers. The event marked the start of a contract campaign for 25,000 janitors across California represented by Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West. Janitors are calling on building owners and property management companies to do their part to clean up the industry by signing on to the Immigrant New Deal to end the exploitation of workers.
Marchers who gathered next to Los Angeles City Hall carried signs reading, “End Rape on the Night Shift” and “Stop Exploiting Immigrant Workers.” The effort to put protections against harassment into contract language comes more than three years after Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law protections for janitors against sexual harassment.

LA Teamsters Picket French Consulate in Solidarity with Striking French Workers

Massive demonstrations by the General Confederation of Workers and other unions in France continued against the assault on pensions by the government of President Emmanuel Macron. Hundreds of thousands have protested nationally over the past months.
Attempting to end the strikes and protests, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe sent a letter to the unions Jan. 11 saying the government was prepared to withdraw its plan to raise the retirement age for full pension benefits, “if certain conditions are met.” But workers don’t trust the government and Philippe’s pledge hasn’t stopped the protests. For rail workers — threatened by Macron to end their early retirement — it’s their longest strike in French history. Many passenger trains are not running, including most of the Paris Metro lines.
Public service workers in transportation, schools and public hospitals have organized mass rallies. More than a third of teachers in France didn’t report to work Jan. 9. The confederation also called for a blockade and strike at oil refineries.
The French working class has achieved a high standard of living with significant pension and retirement benefits due to the strength of the labor movement coming out of World War II. Their militant actions over the years have defended their standard of living in the face of ongoing government and corporate assaults, much the same way U.S. rulers have driven down wages and worsened working conditions and safety on the job.
Apple workers win ruling against exit search by management
The California Supreme Court decided that Apple Inc. must pay its workers for being searched before they leave retail stores.
In a class action suit filed against the tech giant, workers reported that they were required to submit to searches before leaving the stores and not compensated for that time which could be from 5 to 45 minutes. Apple has 52 retail stores in California and has required workers to submit to exit searches of their bags, packages, purses, backpacks, briefcases and personal Apple devices such as iPhones. Failure to comply can lead to termination.
Apple said that it could prohibit employees from bringing in any personal items. The California court said a rule of that type would be draconian and untenable. The ruling does not prohibit company searches, it just says that Apple must pay the workers for that time.

Coronavirus: Don’t Panic

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Coronavirus: Don’t Panic

By Jessica Olvera, Editorial Intern

The City of Carson was falsely alarmed about a coronavirus outbreak in the city on Jan. 29 after the circulation of a letter that appeared to come from public health organizations listed more than 30 businesses as places the virus was spreading.

Local authorities moved immediately to calm the community and emphasize the letter was a hoax, although it displayed logos from major health organizations and replicated the signature of a LA County health official.

“There is no current threat to public health from the coronavirus in Los Angeles County,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn in a Facebook post on Thursday, Jan. 30.

However, on Feb. 3, the City of Carson’s first responders, local schools and businesses called the city council and asked whether they should close.
The only damage was to the sales figures of the businesses listed in the letter, which included some of Carson’s busiest stores — like Seafood City, which said business was down 30 to 40 percent over the weekend.

“They shop here almost three times a week,” said Jules Torres, Carson city manager.

Dr. Irina Gaal. Courtesy of Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Local health officials say there is no reason to panic. Protocols are already in place in many communities.

The coronavirus was first reported from Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, on Dec. 31, but cases have been identified in other locations around the world, including the United States. Within a month of the outbreak, an estimated 71,429 people have contracted the virus globally and the death toll in China has hit 1772 people, while the United States has 15 confirmed cases with no deaths, according to a Feb. 17 report from the World Health Organization.

The virus presents itself as flu-like symptoms: fever, cough and shortness of breath. Bacteria from the virus can also cause respiratory infections to individuals with underlying health concerns.

Another potential symptom is xenophobia, which has led to an anti-Chinese sentiment towards the Asian American community. The fact that the outbreak originated in China has caused some Americans to avoid Asians in fear of contracting the virus. There have been reports of Asian travelers being detained at airports because of the virus.

“Being xenophobic isn’t going to help you avoid the illness,” said Jasmine Nguyen, a student at California State University Dominguez Hills. “Instead of wringing your hands in panic and fear and posting anti-Asian memes, maybe try washing them.”

Dr. Irina Gaal, chief of medical services for the Cal State Dominguez Hills Student Health Center in Carson, noted that there is a protocol set in place for patients of suspicion. They are potentially put in quarantine and an immediate meeting for the medical crisis team on campus will be called. This team will determine what notifications and case management need to be done to follow up with any contact that the patients have had with others beforehand.

“It is not something to panic about right now,” Gaal said. “I’m more worried about medical conditions that people can get such as the common flu. We just don’t know how this whole epidemic is going to pan out and what’s encouraging right now is that it seems to affect people who have health conditions rather than just healthy young people.”

The health center at CSUDH sent a campus-wide email on Jan. 30 informing students and staff that there is no immediate danger of contracting the coronavirus on campus and in the City of Carson. The letter also laid out a description of the symptoms and preventative measures that people can take such as disposing of used tissues, washing your hands and keeping a minimum of a 6-foot distance from someone who is coughing.

In a report from the California Department of Public Health on Feb. 1, there has been a jump in the number of flu-related deaths since Sept. 29, reaching a total of 266.

Although Gaal is more concerned about the flu, she believes it is important for people to get the diagnosis if they suspect they have the coronavirus.

“We want people to call and say that they have concerns that they might have been exposed and then the medical facility will make accommodations to have them come into an isolation room,” said Gaal. “At this point, we don’t have the test for the coronavirus, but that is something that the public health department would be called for to walk us through on how to have this person tested.”

As a Corporate Tool, Buttigieg Is Now a Hammer to Bash Sanders

Norman Solomon
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As a Corporate Tool, Buttigieg Is Now a Hammer to Bash Sanders

By Norman Solomon

Soon after his distant third-place finish in the Nevada caucuses, Pete Buttigieg sent out a mass email saying that “Senator Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans.” The blast depicted “the choice before us” in stark terms: “We can prioritize either ideological purity or inclusive victory. We can either call people names online or we can call them into our movement. We can either tighten a narrow and hardcore base or open the tent to a new, broad, big-hearted American coalition.”

The bizarre accusations of being “narrow” and not “inclusive” were aimed at a candidate who’d just won a historic victory with one of the broadest coalitions in recent Democratic Party history.

Buttigieg has gone from pseudo-progressive to anti-progressive in the last year, and much of his current mission involves denouncing Bernie Sanders with attack lines that are corporate-media favorites (“ideological purity. . . call people names online. . . a narrow and hardcore base”). Buttigieg’s chances of winning the 2020 presidential nomination are now tiny, but he might have a bright future as a rising leader of corporate Democrats.

Weirdly, Buttigieg’s claim that Sanders has “a narrow and hardcore base” came from someone who appears to be almost incapable of getting votes from black people. In Nevada, columnist E.J. Dionne noted, Buttigieg “received virtually no African American votes.” And Buttigieg made his claim in the midst of a Nevada vote count showing that Sanders received more than three times as many votes as he did. The Washington Post reported that Sanders “even narrowly prevailed among those who identified as moderate or conservative.”

As chances that Buttigieg could win the nomination slip away — the latest polling in South Carolina indicates his vote total there on Saturday is unlikely to be any higher than it was in Nevada — his mission is being steadily repurposed. After increasingly aligning himself with the dominant corporate sectors of the party — vacuuming up millions of dollars in bundled checks along the way — Buttigieg is hurling an array of bogus accusations at Sanders.

Four months ago, while Buttigieg’s poll numbers were spiking in Iowa and big donations from wealthy donors poured in, I wrote an article with a headline dubbing him a “Sharp Corporate Tool.” The piece cited an influx of contributions to Buttigieg from the health insurance, pharmaceutical and hospital industries — while he executed a U-turn from proclaiming support for Medicare for All to touting a deceptive rhetorical concoction called “Medicare for all who want it.” I concluded that Buttigieg is “a glib ally of corporate America posing as an advocate for working people and their families.”

Since then, continuing his rightward swerve, Buttigieg has become even more glib, refining his campaign’s creation myth and fine-tuning his capacity to combine corporate policy positions with wispy intimations of technocratic populism. Buttigieg is highly articulate, very shrewd — and now, in attack mode, more valuable than ever to corporate patrons who are feverishly trying to figure out how to prevent Sanders from winning the nomination. During last week’s Nevada debate, Buttigieg warned that Sanders “wants to burn this party down.”

Over the weekend, the Buttigieg campaign sent out email that tried to obscure its major support from extremely wealthy backers. “At the last debate,” Buttigieg’s deputy campaign manager Hari Sevugan wrote indignantly, “Senator Bernie Sanders condemned us for taking contributions from billionaires. That’s interesting. Because what that tells us is in the eyes of Bernie Sanders, the donations of 45 folks (that’s .0054% of our total donor base) are more important than the donations of nearly 1,000,000 grassroots supporters.”

But Sevugan left out the pivotal roles that very rich contributors have played in launching and sustaining the Buttigieg campaign, with lobbyists and corporate executives serving as high-dollar collectors of bundled donations that add up to untold millions. Buttigieg’s corresponding shifts in policy prescriptions make some sense if we follow the money.
In a detailed article that appeared last week, “Buttigieg Is a Wall Street Democrat Beholden to Corporate Interests,” former Communications Workers of America chief economist Kenneth Peres summed up: “Buttigieg and his supporters like to portray him as a ‘change agent.’ However, he has proven to be a change agent that will not in any significant way challenge the current distribution of power, wealth and income in this country. Given his history, it is no surprise that Wall Street, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Health Insurers, Real Estate Developers and Private Equity have decided to invest millions of dollars into Buttigieg’s campaign.”

In the aftermath of the Nevada caucuses, Buttigieg is escalating his attacks on Sanders (who I actively support), in sync with “news” coverage that is especially virulent from some major corporate outlets. Consider, for example, the de facto smear article that the New York Times printed on Sunday. Or the venomous hostility toward Sanders that’s routine on Comcast-owned MSNBC, which has stepped up its routine trashing of Sanders by journalists and invited guests.

More than ever, corporate Democrats and their media allies are freaking out about the grassroots momentum of the Bernie 2020 campaign. No one has figured out how to stop him. But Buttigieg is determined to do as much damage as he can.

Norman Solomon is cofounder and national coordinator of RootsAction.org. He was a Bernie Sanders delegate from California to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Solomon is the author of a dozen books including War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.

Long Beach Man With Shotgun Dead After Shootout

RL Intern
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Long Beach Man With Shotgun Dead After Shootout

LONG BEACH — On Feb. 20, A 22-year-old man armed with a shotgun was killed after a shootout with the Long Beach Police. An investigation is underway to determine if the man died from a fatal wound by an officer’s bullet or from injuries he sustained from being hit with a police vehicle.

Police responded to a call at 9:20 p.m. that the suspect had opened fire in front of a restaurant in the Atlantic Avenue and Market Street area.

The first officer who arrived at the scene encountered and fired at the armed man. A second officer in a police vehicle intentionally rammed the suspect after the suspect fired at the vehicle twice.

There is no known motive for the shooting and the names of the shooter and the victims were not disclosed.

The shooting marked the second officer-involved shooting this year in Long Beach, days after a similar incident occurred in a Central Long Beach neighborhood.

Anyone who witnessed the shootings is asked to call LBPD Homicide Detectives Michael Hubbard or Leticia Gamboa at 562-570-7244. Anonymous tips can be called in to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or submitted online at lacrimestoppers.org.

SPHS Alumni, Miguel, Speaks About Mental Health

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SPHS Alumni, Miguel, Speaks About Mental Health

By Angelica Mozol, Editorial Intern

On Feb. 21, award-winning artist, Miguel, spoke first hand about the stigma surrounding mental health at San Pedro High School.

Miguel, an SPHS alumn, spoke about his struggle with depression, noting that his first time dealing with it was in 2009, when he got caught in a legal battle. He emphasized two key things that helped him throughout his battle with depression: purpose and routine.

“Sometimes all the weight of the world comes and you get distracted and you forget exactly where you’re trying to go,” Miguel advised. “You can always re-align and don’t have to sleep on yourself.”

He spoke about his time at the high school and how he never lost sight of his dream while being there. While others were focused on their dream colleges, he explained how he was set on becoming a musician and making his break in the music world.

Conversations about mental health awareness along with videos were shown throughout the presentation that talked about what mental illness is and how younger adults can be there for each other despite their mental illnesses and disorders.

Shocking statistics and facts were presented to emphasize the importance of mental health awareness. Those statistics included how suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 15 to 24, with only 30 percent who had sought treatment or help.

Tangible Movement founder Torri Shack, who helped organize the event, stated how about 30 percent of young adults battling mental health turn to substance abuse and 50 percent begin at age 15. Tangible Movement is a non-profit organization that helps educate, bring awareness and provide support to young adults struggling with mental illness.

The presentation ended with a Q&A with Miguel as he answered questions about how his family reacted to the news about his depression, They gave advice on what they could do to help one another and provided information on how to reduce the stigma that surrounds the conversation of mental health.

To learn more about the Tangible Movement visit www.tangiblemovement.org

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