Smith: Candidate both sides like
The primary season has witnessed frequent absurdity, but this past week slid from ridiculous to sublime. The good news is that come Tuesday, California will put this nonsense on ice for a few months.
Social media is rife with attacks by folks found far from the center on both sides over such hot topics as whether Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders is being honest when he claims he can still win the Democratic Party’s nomination despite the math (answer: No), or if Republican Donald J. Trump is truly a stark-raving-mad lunatic (Yes), or if it’s all an act.
The Democratic Party’s frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, went the Full Monty on Teflon Don two days ago in San Diego, roasting him one issue at a time and looking quite comfortable and commander in chief-like in contrast to Trump’s freewheeling — or is it freefalling? — style.
Of course, within mere moments Trump was on Twitter mocking Clinton’s use of a teleprompter and taking a shot at her outfit, claiming she didn’t look presidential.
However, by using Trump’s own words against him, Clinton’s blistering reality check put him on the defensive for an entire news cycle, the first time that’s happened since he entered the fray over a year ago.
Her facts-based argument labeled Trump an undisciplined, non-strategic candidate with a big mouth, and she laid out for Americans why allowing Trump anywhere near the nuclear codes would be dangerous for us and the world.
No shock that Trump later called Clinton “pretty pathetic” at his next campaign stop in San Jose.
Here locally, as the primary to determine the top two in the 25th Congressional District grinds to a close, Democrat Bryan Caforio has focused on differentiating himself from vulnerable incumbent Rep. Steve Knight, R, Palmdale, all but ignoring Lou Vince as Clinton has ignored Sanders.
But Congress isn’t the only race with potential for local Democrats to turn a red seat blue. The battle to replace Republican Scott Wilk in the state Assembly also provides a great opportunity to link this community to the majority party in Sacramento for the first time ever.
Like the 25th Congressional District, the 38th Assembly District stretches from Santa Clarita to major swaths of the San Fernando and Simi valleys, and with three Republicans splitting votes and Democratic turn-out expected to be high given the Clinton v. Sanders dynamic, it is probable that Newhall School District Governing Board member Christy Smith will advance to the general election.
Democrat Smith is a hometown girl, a onetime Hart High School cheerleader and ASB president who has served with distinction as a Newhall trustee for the past six years.
With moderate views framed by her 34 years in Santa Clarita, Smith was re-elected with overwhelming support of both Democrats and Republicans.
She’s been lauded for working across the aisle, always putting people before politics. Her reputation as a bit of a policy wonk stems from several years of working in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Deptment of Education, and from an intimate knowledge of state policy gained during her service on the California School Board Association.
Smith also mastered the art of advocacy while serving as the Legislative chairwoman for the SCV Trustees Association and from her role as co-chairwoman of Newhall’s recent $60 million bond campaign, which voters approved in 2014.
Prior to her election to the Newhall board, Smith served on the PTA and site council for Valencia Valley Elementary School. She later represented Hart High on the William S. Hart Union High School District’s prestigious advisory committee and was founding chairwoman of the Valencia Valley Education Foundation.
She currently is co-chairwoman of the “Raising The Curtain” capital campaign to restore the Newhall Auditorium.
These are just some of the reasons people love her, regardless of their party affiliation. Assuming Dems go to the polls, local Republicans will be left to
determine which of their three candidates will face Smith in the “top two” general election in November.
The most likely victor appears to be seldom-employed-actor-turned-Santa Clarita city councilman-turned-district field director for Congressman Knight, Dante Acosta.
Acosta, who seems to have trouble picking a job and sticking with it, has blissfully tried to position himself as the candidate most Trump-like in
the race, using coded buzz words intended to co-opt the brash businessman’s image.
Acosta’s mailers proudly claim that he’s “Not Politically Correct,” so in many ways he’s still an actor playing a part.
Voters will struggle to find anything that he’s demonstrated leadership on, and personally I wonder how he justifies accepting his salary as a federal employee while campaigning and fundraising as a politician.
Surely there’s more than a few conflicts of interest given his dual roles of working for Congressman Knight and for residents of the city of Santa Clarita
With registration having reached equilibrium between Rs and Ds this year, the candidates who advance on Tuesday will come down to which party has the best turn-out. Democrats have a real shot at retiring a few Republicans this cycle, but only if they vote.