Hours ahead of a pair of local fundraisers by Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, her rival Bernie Sanders rallied thousands of supporters in Lincoln Heights Monday, hammering his campaign themes of higher wages and an overhaul of campaign financing.
The Vermont senator told the crowd his grassroots campaign was going to carry him to victor in the June 7 California primary election.
“There are more delegates at stake in California, 475, than any other state in the country, and let me tell you something that many of you also know: We are going to win the state of California,” Sanders said. “And we are going to win the state of California because by the end of this campaign here we are going to have rallies all over this state and speak personally in a grassroots way to over 200,000 people in California.
“That’s what our campaign is about. It is a grassroots campaign, not a fancy campaign, and we are going to talk to the people of California about the issues of concern to the people of this state and the people of the United States of America.”
Sanders hit heavily on issues of immigration reform, an end to deportations, protecting voting rights and boosting wages.
“In this country, if you work 40 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty,” he said. “That is why I was so proud to work with the workers in the fast food industry who went out on strike from McDonalds and Burger King who stood up and told this nation they cannot make it on the starvation minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. They demanded, and I support a $15 an hour minimum wage – – $15 an hour and the right to form a union.”
Sanders will hold another rally at Santa Monica High School, with doors opening at 4 p.m.
The rallies come 15 days before the California primary and coincide with the deadline to register to vote in the primary.
Clinton, meanwhile, began her day speaking at the Service Employees International Union International Convention in Detroit, discussing “her plans to raise incomes for working families and break down all the barriers holding Americans back,” according to the campaign. Clinton was endorsed in November by the union, which represents more than 2 million health care workers, local and state government workers and janitors, security guards and other property services workers.
The former secretary of state will begin her visit to Los Angeles with a $2,700 per person early evening fundraiser at the home of Bryan Lourd and Bruce Bozzi, according to an invitation obtained by City News Service. Individuals raising $10,000 will be co-hosts of the event and will have a photo taken with Clinton.
The maximum individual contribution under federal law for a candidate seeking his or her party’s presidential nomination is $2,700.
Lourd is the managing partner of the Creative Artists Agency talent agency. Bozzi is a co-owner of The Palm restaurants chain. The event is also hosted by Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Vogue.
An evening fundraiser in Hancock Park will follow, with tickets priced at $1,000. Individuals raising $20,000 will have a photo taken with Clinton.
“Another day, another posh Hollywood fundraiser for Hillary Clinton,” said Natalie Strom of the Republican National Committee.
“As her bitter and divisive primary campaign drags on into June against a socialist from Vermont, she turns to her Hollywood friends to finance her scandal-plagued effort to secure the nomination. Unfortunately for Clinton, not even the pages of Vogue could portray her disaster of a campaign in a good light.”
There was no response from the Clinton campaign.
A coalition comprising the Human Rights Alliance for Child Refugees and Families and seven other organizations announced that it would stage a demonstration at Wilshire Boulevard and Rossmore Avenue at 4 p.m. to protest Clinton’s visit and and demand that she, the Democratic Party and the Obama administration “halt the newly announced plans for deportations and raids that will further terrorize Central American refugees.”
Clinton earlier this month said she opposes large-scale deportation raids, saying “we should not be taking kids and families from their homes in the middle of the night.” She also said the nation’s asylum and refugee systems need to be overhauled.
“We need a comprehensive plan to stop the root causes of the violence in Central America and expand orderly resettlement programs,” she said. “Large-scale raids are not productive and do not reflect who we are as a country.”
The trip will be the 68-year-old Clinton’s 12th to the Los Angeles area since she declared her candidacy on April 12, 2015, and second this month.
Clinton held 26 fundraisers during her previous visits, including two during her most recent visit on May 5.
Both of Clinton’s last two visits have drawn protests.
When she spoke at East Los Angeles College on May 5, members of Union del Barrio, MEXA of East Los Angeles College, LA Brown Berets and several other student and community-based organizations marched through Monterey Park to the college to protest what organizers called Clinton’s attacks on working-class communities of color and her 2002 vote as a senator in favor of the resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.
Sanders supporters threw dollar bills at Clinton’s motorcade on April 16 when she was en route to Oscar-winning actor George Clooney’s Studio City home for a $33,400 per person fundraiser.
Clinton and Sanders are scheduled to remain in Southern California on Tuesday. The 74-year-old Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who would be the nation’s first Jewish president, is set to hold a rally at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Clinton, who would be the nation’s first woman president, is scheduled to join Rep. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, in a discussion on Foster Care in South Los Angeles and speak at what the campaign has dubbed as a “working families event” at a union headquarters in Commerce.
— City News Service