Kriss Worthington, Democrat for Assembly's Interests
General
KRISS ON THE ISSUES
EDUCATION: Investing in our Future, Investing in our Kids
As your Assemblymember, education funding will be Kriss’s number one priority. In spite of legislative gridlock and paralyzing budget cuts, education must be protected – not only is it the morally right thing to do, it’s in our state’s best interests. California schools rank almost last in the nation in per-pupil spending – but we can do better. We can have some of the best schools in the country once again, and Kriss will bring progressive leadership to Sacramento to fight for better public schools – both K-12 and higher education. For over a decade, Kriss has succeeded in moving millions of dollars around within a small city budget – he’ll take these skills to Sacramento and fight to make sure we’re investing in a solid future for California’s kids.
ECONOMY & JOBS: Creating an Economy that Works for Working Families
During perilous economic times, we must make sure our priorities our straight: our economy must work for California’s working families. As your Assemblymember, Kriss will work to attract business and create good jobs, he’ll stand with labor to protect workers on the job, he’ll fight to close corporate tax loopholes and ensure a progressive tax code. For over a decade, he used his role as City Councilmember to find millions of dollars for his constituents – while many read only the summaries of the budget documents, he scoured thousands of pages to find where bureaucrats keep the money hidden. You can count on Kriss to do the same in Sacramento – he’ll continue to work hard to keep our economy strong for those who work so hard for our economy.
ENVIRONMENT: Saving Our Planet from Climate Change
Climate change is finally reaching the forefront of the political debate – and it’s about time. Global warming may easily be the most critical issue of our lifetimes. As your Assemblymember, Kriss will bring progressive leadership to fight for legislation limiting greenhouse gases – but more importantly, to address real causes of the problem. For over a decade, he worked vigorously as a Councilmember to target traffic congestion and air pollution – he is the only candidate who has fought for an ‘EcoPass,’ which has been wildly successful in getting cars off the roads. And he’s worked to shift public funding from highways to public transportation. We need progressive leadership that is willing to do more than talk about the problem – Kriss has a record of proven results on addressing the real causes of the problem, and this is what you can expect from him as your Assemblymember.
HEALTH CARE: Quality Health Coverage for Every Family in California
Universal health care in our country is long overdue – this is why Kriss fully supports Senator Kuehl’s single-payer universal health care plan. As your Assemblymember, he will fight to get this legislation into law – but more importantly, to be a progressive leader who will rally colleagues to provide an actual funding source for such an important proposal. To Kriss, it is critically important that SB 840 doesn’t end up as just a ceremonial measure – he’ll stand up to the insurance companies. On the City Council, Kriss helped expand access of health care to children in Berkeley. With his progressive leadership and proven results, you can count on Kriss to make universal health care real.
PUBLIC SAFETY: Making our Streets Safer for Everyone
Growing up in the foster care system and spending time as a homeless youth, Kriss understands all too well how crippling violence can be to our communities. As your state Assemblymember, Kriss will make public safety a major priority – safer streets and reducing violence in our communities shouldn’t be just empty rhetoric. On the City Council, Kriss authored a violence response plan. But most of all, he understands that the best way to address violence is to prevent it – if people have housing, jobs and education, they are less likely to turn to crime and street violence. In the Assembly, Kriss will fight proactively to make our streets safer by expanding opportunities that provide an alternative to crime.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING: Protecting Tenants and Homeowners Alike from a Tough Market
One of the most critical issues facing the Bay Area economy is our troubled housing market – Kriss understands that keeping housing affordable for working families is the lifeblood of ensuring that we continue to live in such a diverse community. As your Assemblymember, he will fight both for laws to protect tenants, and for legislation to stop the influx of unfair home foreclosures. On the City Council, Kriss fought hard to protect the stock of existing affordable housing, and to obtain funding for new housing – and he worked to make sure that as many of these new units as possible were designated for working families and low-income people. You can count on Kriss to bring progressive leadership to the Assembly to defend tenants and homeowners alike in this tough market – his proven record on affordable housing means we know he’ll continue to be a champion not because he says so, but because he’s been there before.
Kriss Worthington, Democrat for Assembly's Details
About me: Kriss Worthington-- Progressive Leadership, Proven Results
We live in one of the most progressive Assembly Districts
in California. We pride ourselves on being a sort of capital for progressive activism here, which is why we need an Assemblymember who is a proud, fighting progressive, who will do much more than just vote the right way, a leader who will actually take charge in Sacramento, who can transform our progressive values into real, concrete action.
Democrat Kriss Worthington, an 11 year veteran of the Berkeley City Council, believes that a legislator can also be an activist, and that if we ever want to see our progressive values fully realized, we can’t just stand for progress, we have to make progress.
For over a decade, Kriss has made real progress
on the issues that matter to the people of the East Bay, like education, environmental protection, health care, workers' rights, affordable housing, civil rights and diversity, and peace and social justice.
These days, with our cherished progressive values under constant attack, it's more crucial than ever for the Democratic Party to elect legislators with courage and backbone, legislators who aren’t afraid to start acting more like activists when the time comes to actually make the changes we know we need, legislators like Kriss Worthington.
-- ENDORSEMENTS --
Organizations:
Cal Berkeley Democrats
Sierra Club
Equality California
California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
East Bay Small Business Council
SEIU State Council (Service Employees International Union)
AFSCME California
AFSCME Local 3299
International Association of Machinists, Local 1546
Berkeley Firefighters Association, Local 1227
Engineers and Scientists of California, Local 20
Teamsters Joint Council 7
UNITE-HERE, Local 2850
John George Democratic Club
East Bay LGBT Democratic Club
Progressive Democrats of the East Bay
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund
GLOBE
Berkeley Daily Planet
Student Leaders*:
Roxanne Winston, ASUC President-elect
Krystle Pasco, ASUC Executive Vice President-elect
Carlo De la Cruz, ASUC Academic Affairs Vice President-elect
Dionne Jirachaikitti, ASUC External Affairs Vice President-elect
Van Nguyen, ASUC President
Taylor Allbright, ASUC Executive Vice President
Danny Montes, ASUC External Affairs Vice President
Rustin Zomorodi, External Affairs VP, Cal Berkeley
Democrats
Caro Jauregui, Executive Director, bridges Multicultural Resource Center
Danica Farringten, President, Berkeley NOW
Kathryn Leary, Vice President, Berkeley NOW
Gregory Stevens, Vice President, Queer Alliance and Resource Center
Grace McCullough, Resident Assistant
Taymyr Bryant, Black Recruitment and Retention Center
Anurathi Mathur, Association of South Asian Political Activists
Danielle Duong, ASUC Senator
Lisa Tran, ASUC Senator-elect
Mary June Flores, ASUC Senator-elect
Lyell Sakaue, ASUC Senator-elect
Claudia Rodriguez, ASUC Senator-elect
*Titles for identification purposes only.
Who I'd like to meet: Friends from the 14th Assembly District who are ready for our Democratic leaders to start leading again, with backbone, passion, and the courage of conviction.
For more on the campaign visit our website: www.krissworthington.com
Check out Kriss on KPFA:
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