Luis Javier Rodriguez

On October 26, 2013, the Luis J. Rodriguez for Governor of California campaign is having a "Meet the Candidate" night from 6 to 9:30 pm in the San Fernando Valley: 716 Orange Grove Avenue, San Fernando CA 91340. Luis will speak on the key issues and hear from you all. Performing will be poets, musicians, singers, emceed by Jeffery Martin. $10 donation (no one will be turned away for lack of funds). Includes healthy food, pinatas, and more. “Here is the California story we can’t cover up or push aside: Increased job eliminations, evictions, home foreclosures as well as cuts in welfare and needed services in the face of a deepening, poverty-creating economic crisis. Which way for California?” --Luis J. Rodriguez for Governor of California Fellow Californians: Our state is rich in resources, human capacity, technological advances, and social innovation. California is the wealthiest, most populous state in the union and the eighth largest economy in the world. It is the world’s third largest agricultural center. California has world-class cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego. Yet California has some of the worst poverty rates in the United States. Estimates of poverty go from 16 to 25 percent. It is the 50th worst state when it comes to arts funding and the 48th worst in educational funding. California has the world’s second largest prison system (after the U.S. federal prison system) with up to 80 percent of prisoners consisting of Chicanos/Latinos and African Americans, and almost 100 percent poor and working class. I’m convinced we need more voices to address our growing impoverishment, our deepening injustice system, and the continual poisoning of our environment. Our present governor, Jerry Brown, has recently stood up for immigrant rights and other important issues—after years of grassroots pressure from the people. But he has also “balanced the budget” on the backs of California’s poor and working class, caved to the prison/industrial complex and vetoed bills that would have protected our state from “fracking” and other environmental risks. He’s just another bead on a long string of unresponsive pro-corporate politicians. I’m running because I know there is money, there are resources, especially among the people, that there is genius and boldness everywhere, but it’s not being drawn out or tapped into. I want to help change that. I’m running for California Governor--and seeking the nomination of the Green Party--because I know that the solutions are in our hands. Let’s realize our dreams of a better world; let’s organize to make sure our needs are met with an economy and politics that are aligned, accessible and adequate for all. The Rodriguez for Governor Program 1) End poverty in California. This is not fantasy or impossible. Despite our economic status among states and the world, the income disparity is growing and there are now 8.7 million people in poverty. I will work with all sectors to plan and implement viable policies to generate economies and livelihoods that end California’s poverty once and for all. More immediately, I will use all executive, emergency and persuasive authority available to this office to restore the unconscionable cuts that have been made to CalWorks, CalFresh, and other vital programs so that no Californian goes hungry, homeless or ill for lack of ability to pay for these necessities. 2) Clean and green energy and jobs. I will move our dependence on fossil fuels and push investors, businesses and governments to utilize wind, solar and water for power. The technology is growing in this field, also making clean energy affordable. In the early 1980s, I lived in an experimental solar-powered community in San Bernardino. This worked. Yet the state or private investors did not build on this model. 3) Make real a single payer health care system. Extend Medi-Cal to everyone. Impart nurses and health providers with livable wages and ongoing training. Also expand the idea of healthy and well communities to include arts and culture, native and other spiritual practices, organic gardening, and creative livelihoods. 4) End the California prison system as we know it. Use alternative sentencing that in general keeps people in communities, with families, and surrounded by services, treatment, transformative skills, and more. End three-strikes-and-you’re-out, trying youth as adults, the death penalty, life without the possibility of parole, gang injunctions, and long prison terms. Establish restorative justice practices as well as training and educational opportunities for the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. Incorporate everyone into the economic, political and cultural life of our communities. About Luis J. Rodriguez… Born in Texas and raised in Los Angeles, Luis was a troubled gang and drug-involved teen in the late 60s and early 70s who turned his life around. At 22, he was a candidate for the L.A. Board of Education while working in construction, heavy industry and transportation. By 1980, with the exodus of big industry, Luis became a writer/reporter/photographer for East L.A. weekly newspapers, public radio, magazines, and the daily San Bernardino Sun newspaper. He also worked for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFL-CIO). In 1985, Luis moved to Chicago and became editor of a revolutionary national newspaper; a performance poet; a writing workshop facilitator in homeless shelters, prisons, schools and juvenile facilities; and a gang prevention/intervention specialist. In addition he was a writer/reporter for WMAQ-All News Radio. In 1993, Luis published a best-selling memoir called “Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.” Luis now has 15 books in poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and nonfiction including his latest, “It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions and Healing.” His writings have appeared in magazines and newspapers around the world. In 2000, Luis returned to L.A.’s San Fernando Valley where he and his wife, Trini, founded Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore. Luis was a principal contributor to “A Guide for Understanding Effective Community-Based Gang Intervention,” officially adopted by the City of Los Angeles. He is a sought-after urban peace leader who has helped shape positive futures for youth from South L.A. to San Salvador. To learn more, contact: Committee to Elect Luis J. Rodriguez Governor of California at www.rodriguezforgovernor.org or call: 818-898-0013. Checks can be made out to "Campaign for Luis J. Rodriguez for Governor" and sent to PO Box 328, San Fernando CA 91341 (Labor Donated) c/s