Democrat Janet Reilly Kicks Off Her Campaign In West Portal!

Last weekend I decided to check out Janet Reilly’s 2006 kickoff for her campaign for the California Assembly. Loyal readers will recall that Janet had her campaign start in May of 2005, complete with an appearance by 2004 Presidential Candidate John Kerry.
While last year’s event was held downtown and was a gathering of both political insiders and grassroots supporters, the event held last Saturday was one dominated by local district residents who were solidly behind Janet’s campaign at West Portal Elementary, conveniently located just above the West Portal Muni tunnel.
Current Assemblyman Leland Yee (who is now running for the State Senate) introduced Janet and endorsed her to succeed him in the Legislature. Former Lt. Governor and Speaker Leo McCarthy also addressed the crowd. Here you can see a photo of Janet and Assemblyman Yee as Janet began to give her speech.
You can read her remarks here as well.
All in all she gave a good speech – clear, to the point, not too long, and not afraid to speak up on some issues that are sure to create some debate during this campaign.
What I liked best though was that it was clear to me that despite what some nadering nabobs of negativism might say in the press, she was running because she really wants to do the job of representing the district – which is rare these days when you see so many people run just to see their name in the paper and their picture on TV, or just find a gig to make plans for the next campaign – a nasty side effect of term limits. Besides, if she wasn’t serious, there’s no way she could have attracted a crowd like
this on a foggy Saturday morning.
It will be an interesting season for San Francisco/San Mateo County voters in both the 12th Assembly District and the 8th State Senate district, since they will have two very open races with many hard working candidates. But after seeing just how well organized Janet’s campaign has been to date, and how tech-savvy and people-savvy it has operated so far, I’d have to give the edge to Janet in this race.
Special Note to Los Angeles Readers: During a recent trip to Los Angeles to enlist support for her campaign, both the LA Independent and Joe Scott’s The Body Politic blog, among other places.
Part of being a legislator is of course to represent your home area, but part of it is also to be able to work with people around the state, and Janet’s got the edge in this race on that issue for sure.
Pictures graciously provided by Carolyn Weiss.