2y ago

California Gov. Newsom will appoint Laphonza Butler to fill Feinstein’s Senate seat

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California Gov. Newsom will appoint Laphonza Butler to fill Feinstein's Senate seat | CNN Politics

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will appoint Laphonza Butler, the president of EMILY’s List, to fill the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat, his office confirmed Sunday evening.

Butler will become the sole Black female senator serving in Congress and only the third in US history. Feinstein, the longest-serving female US senator in history, died last week at 90.

The selection of Butler, first reported by Politico, comes as Democrats hold a narrow Senate majority and uncertainty looms over New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s political future amid outcry from his Democratic colleagues over his federal indictment.

Butler has been the president of EMILY’s List, which works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, since the group’s board of directors appointed her in 2021, when she became the first woman of color to lead the organization. She previously worked at Airbnb as a director of public policy and campaigns and advised Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, but much of her background is in the labor movement, serving as a union president in California.

32 comments

the president of EMILY’s List,
It's a PAC
To join is "only" $100 to the PAC.... but then you need to donate another $500 to the PAC every year.
Their main donors are billionaire CEOs.
They were Sinema's largest donor.
It's supposed to be for women, but the most money they ever gave was to Joe Biden.
So not surprising they get a favor in return, hopefully people take two seconds to read up on the PAC
https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/emilys-list-women-vote-2/
- To be fair on 5, of course the most money a PAC gives is to the largest race at the highest level, and Kamala was on the ticket as well, and it was for defeating the guy who single handedly overturned Roe.
  
  To be fair...
  The entire point of the PAC is to donate to women who will fight for women to have access to abortion...
  But their biggest recipient is a man...
  Although he's better than Sinema, who got most of her money from this PAC and then continues to threaten to fillibuster any codifying of abortion access.
  The takeaway here is either the people running the PAC are terrible at their job, or not trying to do what they tell everyone they're trying to do when asking for donations. And for some reason that qualifies their president for an "interm" Senate seat.
  This is nothing but political back patting and payback for giving money to the party's preferred candidate even tho it made zero logical sense.
She doesn't seem too bad, she has a history of helping union workers in nursing and janitorial duties. So she had a good history for organized labor
However....
Butler joined SCRB Strategies as a partner in 2018. At SCRB, she played a central role in Kamala Harris's 2020 presidential campaign. Butler also advised Uber in its dealings with organized labor while at SCRB.
Butler left SCRB in 2020 to join Airbnb as director of public policy and campaigns in North America
SCRB Strategies seems to be a "for profit" political consultation group. Airbnb needs no introductions.
It's hard to say whether she took the money or not. While some organizations declare her net worth around $300,000, others report it around $16 million.
Laphonza Butler owns more than 7 real estate properties, valued at over $3 million in total. These properties bring in nearly $500,000 annually in rental income. She also invests in stocks and government bonds worth $2.5 million. Her investments include big names like Tesla, Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Google, Walmart, Universal Studios, and Bank of America.
TLDR: So at least from what I can see in her past.
She is going to be big oil on issues, she is going to also have a lot of personal incentive to keep rental prices high, and she has a bit of a history defending labor. What that means going forward is going to be hazy.
- Progress I guess... we got rid of the "old and white" in "old rich white" for our "representatives." I doubt we'll ever get rid of the "rich" part as that's the most important one.... :/
- You were expecting Rosa Luxemburg perhaps?
  Butler seems about as left-wing as one could expect in the current Democratic party machine; she’ll be an improvement on Feinstein. I was expecting the DCCC to push some corporate stooge from the Clintonian right of the party, and, while she’s not perfect, I’m pleasantly surprised.
Butler moved to Maryland in 2021 around the time she was chosen to lead EMILY’s List, public records show. She was registered to vote in Maryland in 2022, according to public records, but Newsom’s office said Monday, in response to questions about Butler’s residency, that she has re-registered to vote in California.
Does she currently live in California? Has she lived in California for less than a week?
I guess it doesn't matter given that she has some ties to California and is willing to... have an address in California while she temporarily serves to represent California. It does seem a bit odd though.
[I don't understand why Newsom couldn't have appointed a caretaker who wouldn't have an impact on next year's race who was also prefect to be Senator in every way] Morons
Special election when? I dont care who Newsom elects now. I just want to know when i get to vote on them rather than some Newsom pick
Chickenshit Newsom couldn't appoint the progressive. Of course it was an insider.
- Part of the problem is the progressive in question is currently running for that seat, and is trailing in the polls. If Newsom had appointed her, it would have seemed like he was putting his thumb on the scales of the election. Butler might be an insider, but she's not running for election. She will finish out this term and step aside.
  
  She advised Uber when it was fighting the law requiring app companies to grant employees normal benefits. That sort of shit flies in the face of any union work she may have done.
  She could still choose to run if she wanted. I will not be surprised in the least if she does.

32 comments