{"id":19136,"date":"2021-06-18T10:49:51","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T17:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=19136"},"modified":"2021-06-18T10:50:53","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T17:50:53","slug":"progressives-fed-up-with-feinstein-want-her-to-resign-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/06\/18\/progressives-fed-up-with-feinstein-want-her-to-resign-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Progressives fed up with Feinstein, want her to resign now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Sen.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 9, 2021.Stefani Reynolds\/Associated Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

June 17, 2021 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progressives aren\u2019t just boiling mad at Sen. Dianne Feinstein (again). Some want the senator, who has been in office since 1992, to resign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re frustrated that Feinstein continues to balk at killing the filibuster to pass a voting rights bill. But even more so, they\u2019re baffled that she said she doesn\u2019t think democracy is in jeopardy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf democracy were in jeopardy, I would want to protect it,\u201d Feinstein recently told Forbes.<\/a> \u201cI don\u2019t see it being in jeopardy right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is tough for some Democrats to swallow. Republicans have introduced almost 400 voter suppression bills across 48 states. Through last month, 14 states have passed 22 laws that would restrict voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those stark figures are one reason that Feinstein\u2019s San Francisco neighbor, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wrote to her House colleagues<\/a> this week to say that \u201csadly, the clock is ticking on our democracy with respect to the sanctity of the vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pelosi knows there aren\u2019t many ticks left for Democrats who want to pass federal voting rights legislation that would supersede state laws making it harder for citizens to vote \u2014 many of whom are people of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, wants a vote next week on the For the People Act, a sprawling voting rights bill that Pelosi shepherded through the House. It would create uniform voting laws for the states, including requiring them to allow ample early voting and mail balloting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even though Democrats control the Senate, they do not have 60 votes to get over a certain GOP filibuster. And Feinstein, like West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, isn\u2019t ready to ditch the filibuster, which allows a minority of members to block legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy focus is on getting things done and solving problems,\u201d Feinstein said in an emailed statement Wednesday to The Chronicle. \u201cI strongly support S. 1, the voting rights bill, but the votes simply aren\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to find a path forward on voting rights,\u201d Feinstein said. \u201cWe must respond to any new laws across the country that make it harder to register and harder to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the legislation may not have the support of Senate Republicans, many of its key provisions have bipartisan backing nationally among likely voters, according to a Data for Progress poll<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some California Democrats wish Feinstein would leverage her power as the senior senator from the nation\u2019s most populous state to translate that popular support into votes on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, she hasn\u2019t. And voters are getting fed up. Feinstein\u2019s support is its lowest ever, according to a May survey by the Berkeley IGS Poll.<\/a> Just 35% of voters statewide approved of the job she\u2019s doing; 46% disapproved. It is a long fall for a politician who was once the state\u2019s most popular Democrat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Irene Kao, executive director of the left-leaning grassroots group Courage California,<\/a> said many of the group\u2019s 500,000 members in the state have had it with Feinstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is just another example,\u201d Kao said, \u201cof how she\u2019s out of touch with her constituents and not paying attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge for critics is that Feinstein isn\u2019t up for re-election until 2024. So some, like David Campos, vice chair of the California Democratic Party, want her to step down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI personally think that she should consider resigning,\u201d Campos told The Chronicle, emphasizing that he was not speaking on behalf of the state party. \u201cI don\u2019t see how anyone who makes that statement can represent the interests of this state in the U.S. Senate, as a California Democrat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fact that she\u2019s unwilling to see what\u2019s happening and to do anything about it tells me that she\u2019s not in a position to really represent, not just me, but the interest of all Californians,\u201d Campos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few elected officials in California have dared to publicly criticize Feinstein. Many view her with respect for a pioneering career that began more than a half century ago when she joined the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She was the first woman to serve as the city\u2019s mayor and, along with former Sen. Barbara Boxer, the first women to represent California in the U.S. Senate when they were both elected in 1992\u2019s \u201cYear of the Woman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But her latest comment was enough to push some elected Democrats to speak out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry to say this because she is a Democratic Woman icon\u2026 But, enough. What world is she living in?\u201d tweeted Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sorry to say this because she is a Democratic Woman icon\u2026 But, enough. What world is she living in? https:\/\/t.co\/Y2Pu4N6dFd<\/a>\u2014 Lorena Gonzalez (@LorenaSGonzalez) June 10, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

San Jose Assemblyman Ash Kalra was similarly aghast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a California Senator,\u201d Kalra tweeted. \u201cUnbelievable but, unfortunately, not surprising from Feinstein. Incredibly wealthy and unbelievably out of touch with the state of our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a California Senator. Unbelievable but, unfortunately, not surprising from Feinstein. Incredibly wealthy and unbelievably out of touch with the state of our democracy. https:\/\/t.co\/prjgnJDq0y<\/a>\u2014 Ash Kalra (@Ash_Kalra) June 11, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But no other California elected officials publicly addressed Feinstein\u2019s remarks. That includes Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Wednesday was headlining an event in Washington as part of her new role as the White House\u2019s point person on voting rights. Her office did not respond to a request to comment on Feinstein\u2019s words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public silence among California elected officials was similar to what happened after what many considered Feinstein\u2019s weak handling<\/a> of the case against Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The end of the nomination hearings culminated with Feinstein giving a hug to then-Republican Chair Sen. Lindsey Graham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was the hug of death,\u201d Yvette Simpson, CEO of the national progressive organization Democracy for America, told me on my \u201cIt\u2019s All Political\u201d podcast this week. \u201cI lost a lot of love for her then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Said Simpson after Feinstein\u2019s latest comment: \u201cShe needs to resign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is unlikely at this point. But it won\u2019t stop California grassroots organizations from continuing to turn up the heat. Left-leaning activist group Indivisible, which counts 500,000 Californians on its mailing list, is circulating a letter among its 300 organizations in the state asking Feinstein to take a stronger stand and urging its supporters to contact her office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe think that our senior senator needs to step up to the challenge of the day and recognize it now,\u201d said Aram Fischer, a leader in the Indivisible community, \u201crather than wake up after the 2022 midterms when we\u2019ve had elections overturned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle\u2019s senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com<\/a> Twitter: @joegarofoli<\/a>It’s All Political<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer, covering national and state politics. He has worked at The Chronicle since 2000 and in Bay Area journalism since 1992, when he left the Milwaukee Journal. He is the host of “It’s All Political,” The Chronicle’s political podcast. Catch it here: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has won numerous awards and covered everything from fashion to the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings to two Olympic Games to his own vasectomy – which he discussed on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” after being told he couldn’t say the word “balls” on the air. He regularly appears on Bay Area radio and TV talking politics and is available to entertain at bar mitzvahs and First Communions. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and a proud native of Pittsburgh. Go Steelers!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"HEARST<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a92021 Hearst
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 17, 2021 (SFChronicle.com) Progressives aren\u2019t just boiling mad at Sen. Dianne Feinstein (again). Some want the senator, who has been in office since 1992, to resign. They\u2019re frustrated that Feinstein continues to balk at killing the filibuster to pass a voting rights bill. But even more so, they\u2019re baffled… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19136"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19136"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19138,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19136\/revisions\/19138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}