In category Politics on  April 27, 2013 

“The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.” –Unknown

Dear Residents of Redondo Beach,

We have a problem on our hands and it’s the atmosphere surrounding our local politics. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Dianne Prado and I recently ran for District 1 city council. I work full-time as a non-profit attorney and spend most my days in court litigating housing cases. One of the reasons that I ran for city council was to experience firsthand if in fact “politics” lives up to its negative reputation. With the initial election behind me I’ve sadly concluded that much of the politics here in Redondo Beach is no different than to be expected. Over the last many weeks alone I’ve watched things transpire that I’m truly dismayed over, and if no one else is willing to talk about them than I will. For full disclosure I want to state I support Jim Light in the upcoming election, however I am not writing this to garnish votes for Light. I am sharing this because politics should be about transparency, integrity, and honesty.

During the first week of April, to my surprise, I ran into Kimberly Fine (former candidate for District 1) at the downtown Stanley Mosk courthouse. She was visibly shaken and distraught. As I asked if she was alright she informed me she had been bullied into filing a writ against Jim Light which would be forcing him to remove the statement that she had “endorsed” him from his candidate statement. She had been handed these legal documents and told to sign and file them in the courthouse. It was clear that she was being intimidated into doing this, and it was also pretty clear that she didn’t even understand what she was ultimately signing. She explained to me about how she supported Light and told him as much but somehow the word “endorse” was different from “support” and once the candidate statements became public to the other candidates she received a call from Steve Aspel. Aspel informed Fine that it was nice to live in Redondo and that it would be a shame if she would have to move from Redondo for something like this. Shortly thereafter Jeff Ginsberg called her, at the behest of Aspel, and informed her that he would cover any legal costs required to remove her name from Light’s candidate statement. Ginsberg stated this would just be a campaign write off. I was shocked by this news, shocked by the distress Fine was in, and told her that she needed to speak out and tell others about what Aspel and Ginsberg were really up to. She replied that she was told she could not say anything about this until the election was over. My heart ached for Fine and also for the state of the local politics of Redondo Beach.

This bullying by Steve Aspel is despicable and the residents of Redondo need to know that this is evidently the character of the current mayoral candidate. Aspel seems to be running around Redondo acting like he is already the mayor, pulling the puppet strings of Ginsberg and Ginsberg quickly and without question seems to comply. Ginsberg has since claimed that Fine supports him, and his supporters have taken it upon themselves to claim that Jim Light misrepresented Fine’s position from the start. This is just not true, and if Fine won’t come out and concisely state it herself then I’ll go ahead and state it for her. Kimberly Fine’s most recent public statement can be interpreted that she supports both men. And alas, this is the atmosphere that we all find ourselves a part of, even if many don’t know it.

So I ask, is this who you want representing you? Is this who you want making decisions about the well being of our city? A grown ass man who believes he can bully people and another grown ass man who rides his coat tails while he does it? That is not leadership, that is cronyism.

Lastly, I have recently been told that during the first election a baseless rumor came out that Light hired me to run for city council in order to split the female vote. Not only does this not make sense in terms of helping Light in any way, it cannot be any further from the truth. I decided to run for city council because I wholeheartedly believe the political environment needs to change at all levels. I did not have a campaign manager, I raised a whole one hundred fifty bucks, and my partner created my website and logo. And I did this because I wanted to set an example for others to have the courage to get involved in their local politics. I have nothing to gain from supporting Jim Light and didn’t even know the man until I started running for city council. It was only in the midst of my campaign that I learned of what he has done for the city, how he has stood up to the city council, and how he obviously cares about our community.

Politics shouldn’t be a popularity contest, nor should it be about who is “most likeable.” It’s about having conviction and speaking truth to power.  I think it’s important for the residents to know the events transpiring in our own backyard, the back room deals, the unethical manipulation going on and all the rest of it. Regardless of who you support, we can all agree manipulation, lies, and intimidation are not characteristics we want in our city council. Your vote on May 14^th gives you the opportunity to change the status quo and speak out against this behavior.

In category candidate forum, measure a, Politics, power plant on  January 21, 2013 

Dear Chamber of Commerce,

I am not going to apologize for stating the Chamber of Commerce had a conflict of interest with AES being a platinum sponsor. The Chamber of Commerce either does or doesn’t want a power plant. If it doesn’t want a power plant and doesn’t agree with the process Measure A takes then it should have given the typical “politician” response and sent fliers stating they neither oppose nor support measure A and are here to support the will of the people. Yet you did the exact opposite.

You distributed fliers stating you oppose Measure A but tell me to my face you do not want a power plant. Huh? Don’t politick me. This is exactly why people are tired with “politics.”

Let’s get is straight- AES is one of your big “sponsors” which provides your organization funding for the different programs that improve our community and businesses. To go against your big funder means a huge loss of money which in turn will hurt the programs you have in place—-unless you think outside the box and find a different sponsor. Perhaps a huge sponsor exists that is in favor of Measure A that wants to take the place of AES and wants to send a message to the community in support of taking down the power plant? Has anyone at the Chamber of Commerce inquired as to this? But perhaps I shouldn’t be saying this because according to you “I know very little” and “do not know the intricacies and various levels involved.” You know what? I should shut my mouth and not raise any eyebrows or ask any questions out loud. If I have a question I need to be a good little politician and ask the Chamber of Commerce first and then give their party line statement. Well take this as me taking the time to ask you these questions. And yes it is on a public forum and I would like a reply on this public forum. Transparency you see. That is what is missing in politics: transparency and the courage to speak out.

I appreciate the fact you think I am “full of spunk” yet you do not appreciate me speaking on things “I seem to know little about.” You asked me if I knew about the Hermosa Beach lawsuit, to which I replied I did not and you said it was very similar to what can potentially occur in Redondo Beach. I then proceeded to discuss a Supreme Court case to which you brought in reinforcements from a District 2 candidate. This person asked me if the Supreme court case I was referring to was “apples to apples”?  If this Supreme court case was about a city that had a power plant privately owned and the people wanted to take away the land? I politely stated no cases contain the same set of facts; the beauty of the law is that we make legal arguments that the case is similar but no, it isn’t about a city with a power plant. Funny part about this pointless argument is the chamber of commerce person wanted me to take the Hermosa Beach case into consideration as to what potentially can happen, but when I turn the tables around and point out a SUPREME COURT case, similarity is not enough. It needs to be “apples to apples.”

Before I end this rant let me break down exactly why I think a conflict of interest exists.
(1) The Chamber of Commerce promotes both business growth and visitor growth. The Chamber of Commerce receives funding from various sponsors to promote programs and ideals of business and visitor growth.
(2) AES is a platinum sponsor of the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce. The plant manager of the AES Redondo Beach sits on the board of directors of the RB Chamber of Commerce. AES is a 17.3 billion dollar corporation with its main headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. AES Southland, a subsidiary of AES, headquartered in Long Beach, is a 40 million dollar corporation.
(3) The power plant in Redondo Beach is owned by AES. This power plant is no longer functioning at full capacity and the California Energy Commission (CES) will determine by the end of this year whether a power plant is even needed at this site. Additionally, AES needs to shutdown the power plant in 2020 and rebuild a new facility in order to comply with the new limitations adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board. AES has filed an application with the CES re: rebuilding a power plant in 2020 and was required to re-file a second application because they failed to properly complete the first application.
(4) Measure A is an initiative placed on the ballot by the residents of Redondo Beach to phase out the power plant and rezone the land for a coastal preserve and also limited commercial use.
(5) December 2012, the RB Chamber of Commerce distributed a flier, funded by AES, opposing Measure A.

With the facts stated above, I used a little common sense and thought: hmm, that seems not only shady but a conflict of interest for the Chamber of Commerce to be taking a position on Measure A, while receiving donations from the opponents of Measure A, due to the fact the Chamber of Commerce is interested in promoting business and visitor growth and this current power plant does neither. Oh but I forgot, I know “nothing” do not realize the “various layers involved” and obviously didn’t know the Chamber of Commerce actually does NOT want a power plant. That is just a bit hard to believe when an initiative on the ballot would help take down the power plant but the Chamber of Commerce opposes it. It’s also a bit hard to believe AES being a platinum sponsor has nothing to do with your position. But hey, that’s what you are claiming and you are sticking by it.

Listen Chamber of Commerce folks, you can huff and puff all you want about opposing Measure A and how it’s not the “right” thing for Redondo at this time, but call a spade a spade. Y’all need to say that because your PLATINUM SPONSOR IS AES. If your platinum sponsor was a corporation favoring Measure A would your stance change? We won’t know because those aren’t the facts.

In short, we can agree to disagree but don’t get panties or boxers all in a bunch because I am actually saying what is on everyone’s mind.

Sincerely,
Dianne Prado, District One Candidate

In category candidate forum, Politics on  January 21, 2013 

In category Politics on  January 14, 2013 

I am running for City Council because I am exhausted over the current state of our politics.

After graduating law school I began attending protests, researching issues and a candidate’s position on the issues, creating dialogue with others about politics. I quickly saw that many “politicians” would promise one thing and upon getting elected seemed to forget the promise all too soon. It was though politicians would hold their finger in the air, feel which way the wind was blowing (wind being the money and future success), and vote accordingly.

In my job I see and experience daily the realities people are faced with and yet it seems very few politicians want to raise awareness to these issues. Most seem to be driven by what their next “political step” shall be- what will propel them forward versus what will propel the community forward. Many politicians fall victim to playing into the political game. They come in with good intentions but are sucked into the rabbit hole of chasing endorsements, money, the “right” political backers who will guarantee their win. In this game of politics it appears “getting elected” becomes the golden ticket, the end all be all- at whatever the cost.

I want to change the political atmosphere. I am tired of good intentioned people entering politics and being swallowed up and spit out into the cookie cutter politician the political machine constantly creates. No one wants to push the envelope, say they don’t care about endorsements or money because if they do, they will not win. But if we continue down this path we will never have any legitimate change. We will be stuck with the same old politicians this machine is creating. I don’t think the political environment will change overnight. But I do believe it can change. I do believe that if people like you and I enter our local elections we can change what is the nonsense of our current politics.

I want to create a dialogue of the process I am undergoing, of what campaigning at a local level looks like, feels like. I am not running with winning as my only goal. I am running to inspire others that they too can do this. They too can get involved and be a part of a movement creating a new vision of politics- where anyone, regardless of money or “special interests”, can become elected.