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Sheryl Esparza Statement

Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights Press Conference
10:00AM - January 20, 2006

Hello. My name is Sheryl Esparza, and I serve on the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee. I am honored to be here today, and am so very proud to announce that the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee has unanimously endorsed this important initiative.

It is especially gratifying to be joining so many of our long-time friends in this effort - organized labor, environmental groups, and so many other community organizations. The Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights really does represent a broad coalition of groups all committed to a common vision of a fair, just, and sustainable future for Humboldt County.

Let's be perfectly candid - large out-of-county corporations are attempting to hijack our local elections. These corporate donations are not made in the interests of our community. Indeed, corporate political donations are at best understood to be investments - and the corporations expect a healthy return on that investment. The return usually comes at the expense of the public interest. Indeed, corporate political contributions have literally become a type of legalized bribery. It is time "We the People" exercise our legal and moral authority to protect the integrity of our local elections!

Few in this community will soon forget the corporate-funded effort to recall our District Attorney Paul Gallegos a few years ago. When District Attorney Gallegos filed a fraud lawsuit against Maxxam Corporation, representatives of the company insisted that the charges were without merit.

When the Recall was launched, representatives of the Maxxam Corporation insisted that they were not involved.

We still don't know whether or not the allegations that the corporation intentionally submitted fraudulent and deceptive data in order to secure timber harvest plans are true. As a result of the ridiculous and outrageous idea that a corporation is a "person" with a constitutionally protected "right to lie" we may never know the truth.

But we do know this - Maxxam corporation lied when they said they were not involved in the Recall, because we now know that they spent over $300,000 trying to un-elect the District Attorney we had just elected.

And don't forget about the Wal-Mart Corporation. This "Big Box Bully" spent over $250,000 attempting to change Eureka's zoning laws.

Each time we had to organize our community to protect what we already had. I am proud that the Democratic Party stood with the workers and ordinary citizens in defeating these examples of corporate arrogance.

But I am even more proud to have the Democratic Party stand with this broad coalition today as we assert our right to exercise local control to protect the integrity of our local elections.

Sheryl Esparza represents the Democratic Central Committee of Humboldt County.

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Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights
Mailing Address: PO Box 610, Eureka, CA 95502-0160
(707) 269-0984 | info@VoteLocalControl.org