Advice on 3rd District Supervisor
from Santa Cruz for Berni

We are sending you this letter because we are concerned that some SC4B members may be tempted to vote for Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson for Supervisor in Santa Cruz County's Third Supervisorial District race.

The SC4B Steering Committee is strongly opposed to Kalantari-Johnson's candidacy and hopes that all progressives in the Third District will vote for either Ami Chen Mills or Justin Cummings for Supervisor in the June Primary Election.

SC4B held a candidates forum on March 16, 2022, at which endorsement votes were almost evenly divided between Chen Mills and Cummings, with Kalantari-Johnson receiving zero votes. Since our bylaws require a 2/3 vote to endorse, SC4B did not endorse a candidate in this race.

Kalantari-Johnson received zero votes because her voting record is inconsistent with both the views of SC4B members and the voting record of Senator Sanders. Below is a sampling of issues where Kalantari-Johnson diverges sharply from the Bernie Sanders platform.

Kalantari-Johnson is closely aligned with real estate developers and has approved residential projects backed by developers with no affordable housing. She was strongly supported by Santa Cruz Together (SCT) in the 2020 City Council election. SCT is a political action committee heavily financed by real estate and property development interests.

Santa Cruz IMC, "Real Estate PAC Backs Watkins, Brunner and Kalantari-Johnson for Santa Cruz City Council."

Kalantari-Johnson claims as policy triumphs on her website the Camping Services and Standards Ordinance (CSSO) and Oversized Vehicle Ordinance (OVO), which are efforts to criminalize residents who are sleeping outside or in vehicles, while failing to offer them a place to safely park and sleep. Many of these residents are employed but cannot afford the high price of rent in Santa Cruz.

Good Times, "Letter to the Editor: Listen More Deeply."

Democratic Socialists of America, "Not to be trusted: The Care-Washing Politics of Kalantari-Johnson."

Kalantari-Johnson appears to have violated the Brown Act when she and three other members of the Santa Cruz City Council met with Santa Cruz Together at a public fundraising event on May 2, 2022, and discussed City business relating to district elections. Former county supervisor and environmental attorney Gary Patton has explained that "The Brown Act is the state law that makes it illegal for a majority of any elected body to meet other than in a publicly-noticed meeting when items of governmental business are being discussed."

Serf City Times (second article), "Santa Cruz City Council Members May Have Violated Brown Act and State and County Campaign Finance Laws."

Gary Patton, "We Live In A Political World."

At the same fundraising meeting, Kalantari-Johnson apparently colluded in breaking state campaign finance law when she gave a campaign speech for her Supervisor race while a Santa Cruz Together spokesperson was fundraising for large sums for a SCT independent expenditure to support Kalantari-Johnson's campaign. These actions appeared to be an attempt to evade campaign contribution limits.

Reimagine Santa Cruz, "Something is Rotten in The City of Santa Cruz."

Kalantari-Johnson recently participated in a behind-the-scenes effort by the conservative City Council majority to approve, without public input, gerrymandered City Council district maps, against the recommendation of City Staff and ignoring prior public comments. The new district maps, which would take effect if Measure E passes, split logical communities (Circles, UCSC) and will effectively disenfranchise marginalized communities (Beach Flats, Lower Ocean), which may ensure conservative control of the City Council for ten years.

Video of the City Council meeting where the conservative majority approved the new district maps by a 5-2 vote with Cummings and Brown voting No. Key timepoints on the video are: Kalantari-Johnson at 1:50:42, Cummings at 2:06:46 followed by Brown, Cummings at 2:16, and Kalantari-Johnson at 2:21.

In October 2019, Kalantari-Johnson, as Board Chair of the Pajaro Valley Healthcare Trust, led the Trust in the deal for an out of state real estate company that "flips" Community hospitals to buy Watsonville Community Hospital. (The hospital had already been under private ownership for 20 years.) The privatization of publicly owned hospitals nationwide has led to declining medical services and higher costs. The new private owner went bust in 2 years. Today local leaders and agencies are scrambling to return the hospital to public ownership, an effort which began in 2019 but was cut short by the hospital's sale that year.

Santa Cruz Sentinel, 8/29/19, "Health Trust opts out of purchasing Watsonville hospital." *

Wall Street Journal, 3/31/22, "Hospital Deal Gone Bust Puts Real-Estate Firm in Spotlight." *

* If you are blocked by a paywall, ask for a copy of these articles.

Santa Cruz for Bernie Steering Committee