While the Congressional midterms are key to blocking MAGA fascism, the process of campaigning for local offices is also of great importance. There needs to be emphasis on such issues as local development, community banks, education, food availability, and public transit before, during, and after election cycles.

---

Progressive’s Choice: Joanna Paun and Melanie for Sonoma County Supervisor

The November general election for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors could dramatically transform the board and upend the county power structure.

Two progressive candidates — both Democrats, Joanna Paun (2nd District) and Melanie Bagby (4th District) — finished first in their respective June primary races. If elected, Paun and Bagby will join incumbent Supervisor Chris Coursey to form the board’s most progressive majority since the 1970s.

Both Paun and Bagby are backed by a broad county-wide progressive coalition that includes North Bay Working Families Party, Sonoma County Democratic Party, Sonoma County Conservation Action, the North Bay Labor Council, SEIU 1021, Sonoma County Democratic Socialists of America, the Sierra Club, and the Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College Young Democratic Clubs.

There is much at stake. Paun and Bagby are the only candidates who will speak out against the attacks on immigrants by ICE, the widespread violation of civil liberties by the Trump administration, and the pervasive corruption within the federal government.

Paun and Bagby both support a robust affordability agenda including raising wages for county home-care workers, boosting the county Living Wage (currently $23.84 an hour); enhancing rental protections for mobile home park residents in the unincorporated areas of the County; ensuring competitive wages and benefits for County employees; increasing the supply of low-income city-center affordable housing near transit and essential services; and passing Proposition 40 and Proposition 3 to make billionaires and millionaires pay their fair share. 

Moreover, Paun and Bagby are the only candidates demanding that the Sonoma County Sheriff be held fully accountable to the county law enforcement oversight commission. In addition, they are the only candidates who support a comprehensive sanctuary ordinance ending all cooperation between the Sheriff and ICE. 

Finally, Paun and Bagby both support the two-basin solution and decommissioning two aging dams in the Potter Valley by PG&E; preventing the return of gravel mining to the Russian River; strengthening our urban growth boundaries, adopted by all nine cities to deter sprawl; and increasing county support for family farmers and regenerative agriculture. 

The neoliberal candidates opposing Paun and Bagby are (Democrat) Sylvia Lemus in the 2nd District, the mayor of Cotati, and Tom Schwedhelm (previously registered Republican, now an independent) in District 4, who is the former Santa Rosa Police Chief and Santa Rosa City Council member. He is also endorsed by the county Republican Party.

These establishment candidates are backed by big-money interests, including the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce, the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, major developers and real estate interests, and law enforcement unions.

Both Lemus and Schwedhelm were handpicked by longtime political consultant Rob Meulrath, who was also the political consultant for four of the five incumbent supervisors and numerous other county and city elected officials, such as Sheriff Eddie Engram and Santa Rosa Mayor Mark Stapp. Meulrath’s clients also include Keith Rogal, the developer of Sonoma Development Center; PG&E; Walmart; Republic Services; and Calpine, among many large business clients in the North Bay.

…