Autumn Browne for Assembly District 69! (Santa Ana, Anaheim, Garden Grove)

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Who would really want to vote for career politician Tom Daly, for yet another term in the Assembly?

Maybe, you suggest, an executive – of Disney or Chevron, two of his largest contributors.  Or perhaps an official in a police or prison guard’s union, in appreciation of Daly’s opposition to reform and accountability, and steadfast support of the prison-industrial complex and high pay and pensions for “public safety.”

But, a regular working-class Democrat in Santa Ana or Anaheim?  I’d think they’d only vote for Tom if they didn’t know much about him, saw he was a Democrat, and didn’t realize they had a choice. 

And we ALMOST had no choice, if not for the successful last-minute write-in primary campaign of my friend, Libertarian Autumn Browne, daughter of celebrated Libertarian author and two-time Presidential candidate Harry Browne.  (Pictured together to right.)

Following are three groups of voters, and some reasons they should not only feel good to vote for Autumn over Tom, but should be pleased and proud in the event Autumn actually beats him!

1. Democrats and other people who consider themselves progressive or liberal.

While it’s true that you may disagree with some of Autumn’s positions, you should know that Tom Daly has long been known as the LEAST progressive Democrat in the legislature.  And even though his apologists claim he HAS to be that conservative in order to stay in power in “conservative OC,” this has NEVER been true in his deep blue district (as progressive Joe Dunn proved last decade), and it is certainly LESS TRUE THAN EVER in this new post-Trump blue-wave OC.  In short, Tom has no excuse to be voting like a Republican half the time.

What are we talking about, least progressive?  Since 2015 the Courage Campaign has released a “People’s Report Card of California,” grading our legislators on “their political courage, revealing how well they stand up for their constituents over corporations or interest groups that exploit Californians, particularly the poor, disadvantaged, or communities of color.”  Every year so far he has earned an “F,” putting him in the “Hall of Shame,” as one of the legislators “most closely aligned with corporations and interest groups that exploit Californians.”

Specifics?  Tom REALLY pissed off local Democrats in early 2016 when – not for the first time! – he was one of only two Democrats to vote against a minimum wage increase, giving bogus and shifting justifications for his vote.  The Courage Campaign scorecard goes on and on with Tom’s anti-people votes – for example just last year voting against AB 378 (setting new pollution limits for cap and trade recipients) and AB423 (which helps protect low-income Californians from eviction.)  That last one – do you really think the low-income district he represents wanted him to vote that way?  NO – he is not representing THEM, but his corporate funders.

Anyway, in the event Daly lost to Autumn, we Democrats would NOT be losing our precious Supermajority, if you’re worried about that.  And replacing him with an honest Libertarian would make it easy for a much better Democrat to take this seat back in Presidential Year 2020.  Santa Ana and Anaheim deserve no less.

Autumn says: “Daly’s track record as the former Mayor of Anaheim and as the OC Clerk Recorder showed that he was a servant to corporate interests and did not care about the poor and minorities. This track record has followed him into the State Assembly.  He is a career politician who needs to get retired on Nov. 6.”

2. Republicans, libertarians, and independent conservatives.

That’s a no-brainer, you guys should vote for Autumn because she agrees with you that there should be smaller government and lower taxes and regulations.  We progressives have a lot of complaints about him as listed above and below, but when it comes to raising regressive taxes, growing government, limiting liberty, and taking away your guns, Tom votes as a lockstep Democrat.

To you Autumn says, correctly:  “Tom Daly voted for SB 1 to increase gas and vehicle taxes, rather than fixing the real problem – which is the diversion of those funds by politicians into non-transportation budgets.  Also, he voted in favor of AB 1889 which authorized $1.1 billion for the high speed rail fiasco…”

3. PEOPLE OF ANY PARTY who care about civil liberties, police reform, and curtailing California’s prison-industrial complex, as well as opposing corporate welfare / crony capitalism.

These are values I wish I could say were Democratic Party values.  They are the values of SOME Democrats, as well as some Republicans and independents.  They are good AMERICAN values, in fact I think we could say they are ORANGE JUICE BLOG values.  And they are ones in which Autumn shines, and Daly sucks.

In the wake of so many tragic police killings, several good police reform bills passed our legislature this year – ALL OF THEM WITH NO HELP FROM TOM DALY.  The records of bad cops are slowly getting opened up, and body cam footage of incidents will be made available to the public much sooner.  It is going to become easier for well-behaving youths to remove themselves from gang registers.  It is going to become easier for folks with an irrelevant criminal background to get employment.  All of this with no help from Tom Daly, a BFF to prison guards and bad cops, and an enemy to the minorities he pretends to represent in the Assembly. 

Even in this election he endorses the utterly corrupt and draconian Don Barnes for Sheriff over fine Democrat candidate Duke Nguyen, as well as – once again – Tony Rackauckas for DA – the DA who kindly overlooked every brush with the law that Tom has had.

Autumn says:  “I support public safety; however, we should hold our police officers to the highest standard. Use of force must be warranted, and all other options considered. When there is a shooting, the resulting body cam footage should be made available for public review, as well as police records. Often we find that suspect police officers have a long record of abusing their power. But the truth can not come out if it is squelched.”

Long before the Mayorship (and then Shadow-Mayorship) of Curt Pringle, Mayor Tom Daly was the Master of Anaheim Crony Capitalism, obedient in all things to Disney.  We Anaheimers are still paying for his deals and decisions.  His elevation into the assembly was funded by Disney and Chevron, and one of his first (thankfully unsuccessful) missions was to save Disney’s beloved “Enterprise Zones,” which Brown and the Democrats had finally begun to see as a total scam that did NOT help the workers it was supposed to, but enriched the corporations that learned to game it. [*UPDATE – see comments below, for the letter to the LA Times that Tom wrote in defense of Disney, after their bombshell expose “Is Disney paying its fair share in Anaheim?”]

Autumn says:  “Tom Daly was elected to serve the people of the 69th Assembly District. However his record does show a distinct inclination to bend knee to the corporate interests. As a Libertarian I do not support corporate welfare. I believe in reigning in government power and streamlining our government.”

Oh.  Autumn’s not done.  She continues, in conclusion:  “I offer the best solutions to the issues facing our country, based on the concepts of freedom and individual rights. When I win, voters are telling politicians that they have had enough! 

“I am a public school teacher with over 22 years experience teaching kids in Anaheim. My only goals as a candidate for the State Assembly are to serve the public and to provide a different viewpoint in Sacramento – one that opposes the wasting of our tax money. I will hold our state government accountable and work hard to stop the unethical and wanton behaviors of the majority of our state legislators. My website is http://www.autumnbrowne.com/.”

The Orange Juice Blog – well, Vern anyway –
endorses Autumn Browne for Assembly!


About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.