There are two 
people vying for mayor of Long Beach, Calif., in the April 13, 2010, elections. One is a capitalist who stands for protecting corporate profits; the other is a socialist who stands for using society’s wealth to meet people’s needs.
Incumbent Mayor Bob Foster is all about big business, and no friend to working-class people. In 2002, he became president of Southern California Edison before being elected mayor. He favors putting more police on the streets, slashing desperately needed social services, and busting unions made up of the very same workers he falsely claims to represent.
Candidate Stevie Danielle Merino, 21, is Foster’s antithesis. She is a student at Cerritos College and a retail worker. She comes from a working-class family and has lived in the South Bay area all of her life. Merino’s political platform is not geared toward corporations or banks. She does not rub elbows with the city’s elite and the oil companies who run City Hall.
Merino, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, is running a campaign aimed at empowering the poor, working-class residents of Long Beach, documented and undocumented alike. She believes that a job is a right for all people. She believes that free education, affordable housing, health care, public transportation, and social services are paramount to a healthy and vital city. She strongly advocates for LBGT rights and the repeal of bigoted Prop. 8.
Since the campaign achieved ballot status, volunteers have worked hard to get the message of “Putting people before profits” out to the people of Long Beach. Merino and campaign volunteers have been engaging people on the streets and in their communities to gain support for the socialist campaign, and to address the problems facing poor communities.
In its first weeks, door-to-door campaign outreach has been greeted with an overwhelmingly positive response. Merino and campaign volunteers participated in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade and Picnic at Long Beach, where they were warmly welcomed. Community members are expressing support by volunteering and signing up for campaign updates.
Building a movement
The Stevie Merino campaign is gaining momentum. People are telling volunteers that they are amazed that there is a candidate who actually cares about their needs. Among the hallmarks of the campaign are the demands for a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, community control of the racist Long Beach Police Department, an end to all raids and checkpoints targeting immigrants and oppressed people, and the restoration of invaluable social services slashed and eliminated by incumbent Mayor Foster.
It is clear that only a people’s movement for revolutionary change can eliminate the economic and social inequities that plague society. Capitalism is a rotten system that has perpetuated racism, sexism, homophobia and bigotry to divide working and poor people.
Under capitalism, elections generally are won by candidates selected and financially backed by the ruling class of elite capitalists. Issues taken up by these candidates are carefully selected to avoid addressing the real needs of the people.
PSL candidate Stevie Merino is not a career politician looking to score a political office. Her campaign seeks to build a movement that will fight for workers’ needs and socialism, and expose the sham of capitalist democracy. Merino’s campaign for mayor of Long Beach is a genuine working-class campaign that has already involved dozens of volunteers—but many more are needed.
All people who are sick and tired of exploitation, racism and bigotry of all kinds are encouraged to join the campaign. This is a campaign that will stand up and fight for working and poor people and students. This is a campaign that will fight for your interests.
Join the campaign! Vote Stevie Danielle Merino for Long Beach mayor in 2010!
