Prop. 50 stifles diverse voices
California’s Proposition 50, on the November ballot, shamelessly deepens voter disenfranchisement. With 52 congressional districts and voters split at 45.3% Democrat, 25.2% Republican, and 22.3% Independent, California’s representation should reflect this diversity. Yet, only 9 of 52 House seats are Republican—17% despite 25.2% Republican voters. If Proposition 50 passes, this could drop to just 4 Republican seats, further silencing voters. Democrats preach “equity” and “equality” but rig districts to favor their candidates, cementing supermajorities in Sacramento and beyond. Republican voters lack representation due to decades of gerrymandering. Governor Newsom and Sacramento lawmakers boast that Proposition 50 is a ploy to resist the current administration, consolidating redistricting power to the Democratic supermajority and dismantling our non-partisan redistricting commission. We solve complex problems as a society and could draw fair districts. California voters deserve equal representation, not a system that stifles diverse voices. Reject Proposition 50 in November.
Kristin Hurley
Aptos
•••
Was Medina’s account of phone call true?
Can we believe PVUSD trustee Gabriel Medina? A few weeks ago he accused Superintendent Contreras of hanging up on him. Something she denied. Medina was quick to post the text messages between the two of them. He backed up his comments by saying that he recorded their conversation. At a recent board meeting I told those present, including Contreras and Medina, that if Mr. Medina posted the recordings on social media, we could all tell whose version of events to believe, and if Medina was telling the truth, Dr. Contreras would owe him a public apology. The converse would also be true.
Moreover, if Medina has the recording but refuses to post them, we should assume that they do not support his version of events.
Enough time has gone by for Gabriel Medina to show us his evidence. His failure to do so means that either he lied about having a recording of the phone call, or he lied about the content of the call. Either way he seems to be lying. Is this a man that can be trusted? I think not.
Gil Stein
Aptos
•••
Letters policy
Letters to the Editor of The Pajaronian must be
signed with a real name, for publication, and the
sender must also add a phone number or email
address plus city of residence, for identification
purposes only. Letters become the property of
this newspaper, and may be edited for length
and taste. Letter writers should avoid obscenities
and personal attacks, and keep letters to under
300 words. Email: ed****@********an.com.
Mr. Stein, Please stop addressing Medina. It is exactly what he wants. He is trying to pit himself as the savior of all brown and black people against the white establishment. Your attention only feeds his tremendously oversized ego. He is a narcissistic clown, but has no power or true agenda. He is just a puppet of Christine Hong. Of course he is a liar. He has proven this time and again. This should be obvious to anyone asking how an overprivileged film major could claim to be the champion of the downtrodden. He will continue to lie for the remainder of his term on the board, and he will justify it with some trope about how the oppressors have lied for years and he is just adopting their tactics. This is similar to his argument about how the Brown Act is used to oppress minorities. Instead of giving power to this small man, we should be trying to bring to light positive actions that PVUSD could take that will legitimately protect its students, rather than let this charlatan continue to play messiah.