Today, March 12th, 2018, Steve Early wrote about Gayle in LA Progressives. Discussing her background, the growth of the Richmond Progressive Alliance and the transformation of Richmond. Here are a few highlights from Early’s “A Working Class Mayor Is Something To Be”:

“Blue-collar Richmond was once notorious, in the Bay Area, for its street crime, gun violence, poverty, and pollution. During McLaughlin’s two terms as mayor, the city acquired a far different reputation—for battling Big Oil, Big Soda, Big Banks, and the landlord lobby. Today, this majority minority community of 110,000 is cleaner, greener, safer, and more equitable because it hired a top-notch city manager and police chief, boosted the minimum wage, adopted rent control, curbed police misconduct, defended immigrants, and sought increased tax revenue and environmental justice from its largest employer, a Chevron refinery.”

“Once elected, too many would-be reformers don’t want to break with business as usual or build anything other than a personal fan base for future electoral campaigns. In contrast, McLaughlin never stopped being a movement-builder. The result is a durable, city-wide political formation, with its own elected leaders, a dues-paying membership, a year-round, multi-issue organizing program, and candidates who run as a slate, committed to a common progressive agenda. Whether they are Democrats, Greens, or independents, all RPA candidates run “corporate-free.” They refuse all business contributions, relying instead on Sanders-style small donors and local public matching funds.”

“Anyone else of modest means—a tenant, a worker, a union or community organizer—who hopes to succeed in electoral politics against the usual well-funded foes (i.e., lawyers, doctors, bankers, developers, and other multi-millionaires)–will be much inspired by McLaughlin’s compelling personal story.”

Read Steve Early’s full article in LA Progressives here