PETE? OR DIANNE? : A Range of Voices Argues that California Does Have a Choice : Feinstein: Guide for a Critical Decade

In an election where many people initially complained that, other than gender, there was no real distinction between the two candidates for governor, clear differences have become apparent in several areas, including abortion rights and AIDS. Dianne Feinstein is committed to the rights of all women, including the poor and the young, to reproductive choice, and to adequate funding for the treatment and search for a cure for AIDS. Pete Wilson isn’t.

But even without the distinctions that have emerged, there has always been one truly compelling reason to vote for Feinstein: It’s 1990, a reapportionment year.

The state’s legislative districts are being redrawn to reflect the census. Whoever is elected governor will have to approve or veto the redistricting, thus affecting the state’s, and to a great extent the country’s, course in the decade ahead. Remember, California’s congressional delegation is expected to increase by at least 15%. Whether the expanded delegation is primarily Democratic or Republican will depend to a large extent on the next governor.

I want to keep Don Edwards, the leader of the pro-choice forces in Congress, there. It’s unthinkable that Henry Waxman, who has led the battle for us in health care (for AIDS treatment and research funds, diabetes research and public health money,) should have his district redrawn in such a way as to jeopardize his seat. George Brown, long a champion of liberal causes, is certain to be one of the casualties. It’s frightening to think that we could lose Tony Beilenson, Howard Berman, Mel Levine, Julian Dixon--just to mention valuable representatives from Los Angeles alone. I don’t want them put in jeopardy because a Republican governor has vetoed the Legislature’s plan, or succeeded in bringing it before a California Supreme Court composed largely of Republican appointees.

We also must have a Democratic Legislature to help ensure that access to safe and legal abortions for all of California’s women, rich and poor alike, continues as a matter of right.

The only way to make the California of 2000 better than the California of today is to make certain that a Democratic governor is elected in 1990. I’ll sleep better election night if I know that Dianne Feinstein will be the next governor.