by Dan Cornford
“I think there are some values that are very different,” insisted Mariko Yamada at a recent forum featuring her and her opponent Bill Dodd in the California 3rd District Senatorial race. Indeed in this election voters are faced with a very clear choice between two Democrats: One a corporate Democrat with a minimal legislative record, and a woman who has served very ably as the assemblywoman for District 4. Before being termed out in 2014, Mariko Yamada was a tireless and effective supporter of many social and economic reforms.
Bill Dodd was a registered Republican until a few months before he announced his candidacy for the Assembly seat being vacated by Yamada in 2014. In explaining his sudden shift of partisan loyalties Dodd has been less than convincing in denying that this was an act of sheer political opportunism in a strongly Democratic district.
In July 2015, having served in the state assembly for less than a year, Dodd announced his candidacy for the 3rd Senate District. With nearly $3 million of corporate support, Dodd beat out his Democratic party primary rivals and pushed Yamada, determined to continue her record of public service, into second place.
Dodd is among a new breed of Democrats that have been labelled variously by the state’s major newspapers as “corporate,” “business,” or “moderate” Democrats.
Passage of the Open Primary initiative in 2010, and the increasing electoral irrelevancy of the California Republican party in most of the state aided and abetted the genesis of this new species of Democrat. In a seminal 2014 article in the Huffington Post entitled “In Plain Sight: The Rise of Corporate Democrats in California,” the author drew attention to this phenomenon and referred to Bill Dodd as “part of a new breed of Democrat, one exceedingly attractive to big business while tone-deaf towards the Democratic Party’s traditional base, which includes union workers, environmentalists and public school advocates.”
In his campaigns Dodd has received hefty contributions from a wide spectrum of corporations not usually associated with supporting the agenda of the California Democratic party. These donations have come from Big Oil (Chevron and the California Independent Oil Marketers); Big Pharma (Pfizer, Glaxosmithkline et al.); Big Banking and Insurance (Wells Fargo, American Bankers Insurance Company et al.) , as well as contributions from Comcast, and Monsanto.
Most strikingly, between April 2016 and early October 2016, Dodd received over $2 million in contributions from EdVoice, an Independent Expenditure Committee dedicated to supporting charter schools and attacking strong advocates of California’s public school system. EdVoice receives substantial funding from Walmart and various wealthy luminaries wishing to privatize California public education.
It is hardly surprising to find that Dodd abstained from voting on California’s landmark SB 32 bill which will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Dodd voted against SB 260 which would have provided 1.9 million consumers in County Organized Health Systems with the same level of protection as consumers in other Medi-Cal managed health plans.
Dodd also voted against SB 443; legislation (backed strongly by the ACLU) which prevents unreasonable police seizure of someone’s assets who has not been convicted of a crime helping him to earn a B- grade on civil liberties from the California Civil Liberties Advocacy organization. Even more significantly, Dodd strongly opposed recent legislation that gives farm workers overtime and wage protection; a piece of legislation that Yamada had supported since 2010.
Mariko Yamada, a social worker for over 40 years, has a record of public service dating back to the mid-1970s Prior to being elected to the State Assembly in 2008, she was elected to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors in 2003. In the Assembly Yamada compiled a stellar record of accomplishments consistent with her lifelong commitment to the causes of social justice and civil rights. During her six years in the Assembly she saw 31 of her bills signed into law including legislation that strengthens Workers Compensation; increased protections for the elderly in nursing homes; consumer protections for people buying or holding long term care insurance; conducted hearings that continued the dialogue that led to California’s End of Life Option Law; and sponsoring a bill providing for all mail ballot elections.
Among her most important assignment in the Assembly was her service as Chair of the Assembly Aging and Long Term Care committee. She was a senior member of the committees on Agriculture, Water, Parks & Wildlife and Veterans Affairs as well as being a member of the Assembly Rules, Labor and Employment, and Housing & Community Development committees.
Mariko Yamada’s record and accomplishments may be gauged by a selection of the organizations and people who have endorsed her in the Senate race. They include: The California League of Conservation Voters, the California Federation of Teachers; The California Nurses Association; Consumer Attorneys of California; the Davis Democratic Club, Davis Firefighters Local 3494, the United Farm Workers, Dolores Huerta, and many public employee unions. Indeed most of her campaign donation have come from these sources.
There will surely be many who agree with Yamada’s recent statement to the Sacraments Bee that : “the reality [is] that Dodd continues to side with corporate special interests instead of the people of this district.” Voters “need leaders who will fight for working families, not wealthy corporations.”
Dan Cornford is a Davis resident and History Professor Emeritus at San Jose State University. He is the editor of Working People of California (University of California Press).
Thanks for the author bio!
And the byline.
The Democratic party became the corporate Democratic party under Bill Clinton when he created ” the third way” as an alternative new and improved Democratic party. His NAFTA, & banking deregulation were a few examples of the results of that shift. It has continued to this day through Obama’s TTP, DARK act (GMO labeling legislation) and Affordable Care Act provisions to protect big Pharma and insurance interests. Hillary’s pandering to Wall Street is another example. The Democrats are to the left of Republicans, but it has been the corporate Democrat party for quite some time.
mariko was a worthless legislator. dodd sold us out to big money.
“The Democrats are to the left of Republicans, but it has been the corporate Democrat party for quite some time” (WesC). I think that’s more true at the national level than in California. However, with term limits and, now, top-two primaries, the California Legislature is certainly trending in that direction.
“mariko was a worthless legislator. dodd sold us out to big money” (Davis Progressive). Both are overstated. I do, however, believe that Yamada was and would be one of a dwindling number of state legislators for whom social justice issues–related to, e.g., seniors, long-term care, people with disabilities, and economic inequality–are the highest priority. That’s a primary reason I believe this contest between two Democrats provides a real and meaningul choice.
Given the list of donors “The California League of Conservation Voters, the California Federation of Teachers; The California Nurses Association; Consumer Attorneys of California; the Davis Democratic Club, Davis Firefighters Local 3494, the United Farm Workers, Dolores Huerta, and many public employee unions. Indeed most of her campaign donation have come from these sources.”
It seems like pandering to public employee unions is her highest priority.
how do you defined and based on what evidence would you call it “pandering?
“what evidence” they give her money, according to the article more than other groups.
how do you defined “pandering”
If she did not carry water for them they would not give her money.
Following the money makes politics a fairly straightforward sport.
my problem is that you’re implying or accusing without evidence that she has tailored her message in order to maximize money (although if you look at the amount of money she has raised compared to him it’s minuscule, so you’re argument is already in trouble) rather than she has sincere beliefs that line up with this group of interest groups as opposed to the interest groups who have supplied a lot more money to dodd.
“tailored her message in order to maximize money” I did not say anything about message, the people who are giving her money are all pros at this and they want actions, not words. I did not mention Dodd as the article outlines his donors and strongly implies he is an opportunist without principles. This may be, as I have never met him I do not know. The article continues to state that the Yamada is more aligned with principles and her donors reflect that. My observation was that these donors are not interested in principles, they have vested financial interests just as much as Dodds donors do.
you may not have said those words, but what do you think pander means?
you’re also missing the point with respect to dodd – yamada hasn’t taken the path to maximized contributions, dodd has. so you’re putting down her affiliations to some lefty groups as pandering is absurd.
“Pandering is the act of expressing one’s views in accordance with the likes of a group to which one is attempting to appeal. The term is most notably associated with politics.” From wikipedia.
They are not giving money for nothing.
I think the word “pandering” fits well with respect to Yamada’s track record supporting and opposing things that benefit this overwhelming public employee union support. She never met a new union-designated dollar she did no like. But with this is more the standard-issue state Democrat politician… the ones that bankrupt governments to pay off their union benefactors with fat pay and benefits… especially the great unfunded pension boondoggle.
“[Yamada]conducted hearings that continued the dialogue that led to California’s End of Life Option Law”
Boy, that’s quite a stretch. Yamada is well known for her unwillingness to work with Lois Wolk, and she had next to nothing to do with this bill. Guess it’s hard to run on her record of getting “Dining with Dogs” passed…