<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article62011792.html" class="">http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article62011792.html</a><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><span style="font-size: 52px; line-height: 1.3; font-family: 'McClatchy Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Bera broke promise on trade, is now paying the price</span></div><div class=""><div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><div class="byline element-spacing-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; font-family: 'McClatchy Serif', Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); display: inline-block; padding-bottom: 3px; font-size: 14px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; text-transform: uppercase;" class=""><span class="ng_byline_name" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block;">BY ROBERT LONGER</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; font-style: italic;" class=""><span class="ng_byline_credit" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block;">Special to The Bee</span></div></div><span style="font-family: 'McClatchy Sans', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""></span><div class="share-tools-wrapper" id="sharebar-story-top_gig_containerParent" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; width: 33px; float: left; top: 50px; z-index: 1; margin-left: -80px; font-family: 'McClatchy Sans', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><div id="sharebar-story-top" class="sb-ui-sharebar-square sb-ui-sharebar-styled sb-ui-sharebar" gigid="showShareBarUI" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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font-size: 14px;"><div id="story-target" class="clearfix" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="content-body-16194260-62011792" style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">The news that Rep. Ami Bera has<a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article57645193.html" target="_blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" class=""> failed to receive the Democratic Party’s automatic endorsement </a>is a rebuke of his approach to trade policy and a reflection of the fact that he broke an important campaign promise.</p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 1px; height: 1px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: sans-serif; overflow: hidden;" class=""><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article62011792.html#storylink=cpy</div><div class=""><span style="font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">To secure the official Democratic endorsement, Bera will have to go to the statewide party convention starting Friday. Regardless of the outcome, many of his past supporters, myself included, will not be supporting him.</span><div style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 1px; height: 1px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: sans-serif; overflow: hidden;" class=""><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article62011792.html#storylink=cpy</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 1px; height: 1px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: sans-serif; overflow: hidden;" class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></div>
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<br class=""><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">In a 2014 candidate questionnaire from the United Steelworkers, Bera stated his opposition to giving “fast track” authority to the president to negotiate trade deals, which allows Congress only a yes-or-no vote on the final agreement. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">In no small part because of that pledge, many of us worked hard to re-elect him in 2014 through donations, phone calls and door-knocking. And in no small part due to support from progressives, Bera narrowly won.</p><div class=""><div id="content-body-16194260-62011792" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'McClatchy Sans', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">But last year, <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article20036433.html" target="_blank" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" class="">Bera became a leading congressional supporter of “fast track”</a> on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It passed last June by just five votes and with his support.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">Despite Bera’s broken promise, his failure to receive the party endorsement last month isn’t score-settling. Instead, it’s a reflection of his constituents’ core belief that we need to elect lawmakers who have our back on essential issues. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">In addition to his vote for fast track, Bera has been on the wrong side of other progressive priorities, such as voting against Syrian refugees, banning GMO labeling, weakening Dodd-Frank protections and even joining Republicans to condemn President Barack Obama for the prisoner exchange involving Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">Most notably, we remain wary that Bera will support the massive Pacific trade deal. Covering 12 nations representing 40 percent of the global economy, it is based on the same failed model of past trade deals such as NAFTA. We are hearing many of the same rosy promises about economic growth and job creation. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">Yet the TPP fails to crack down on unfair trade practices such as currency manipulation, which help make our products more expensive. Also, the deal would make it easier for companies to send American jobs to low-wage countries. And the TPP would cut access to affordable medicines – one reason that many HIV/AIDS organizations are opposed.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">Additionally, the TPP includes several countries with abhorrent human rights records, including Vietnam and its record of child labor; Malaysia and its documented human trafficking; and Brunei and its state-sponsored anti-LGBT crusade. Instead of rewarding these nations with our most favorable trade benefits, we should have demanded real change as a precondition before their entry to the TPP.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">Perhaps most troubling is a controversial dispute-settlement provision that gives companies the right to challenge in international tribunals our domestic laws and regulations. The deal’s supporters claim that such fears are overblown. Yet the Canadian company behind the rejected Keystone XL pipeline is now seeking $15 billion from the U.S. government under a similar provision in NAFTA. The TPP provision is more expansive, offering a new way to challenge U.S. policy decisions, potentially including California’s landmark steps on public health and the environment.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 17px; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">Bera states that he hasn’t yet decided whether to support TPP. While we hope he joins the vast majority of Democrats in opposing it, we also hope Bera understands why we no longer take his public pronouncements as the gospel truth. Elections have consequences, and so should election promises and voting records.</p><div class="ng_endnote_contact" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; margin: 35px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: Lyon, Georgia, serif;" class="">Robert Longer is legislative-political director for the Communications Workers of America Local 9421, which represents workers in the Sacramento region. He can be contacted at robert@cwa9421.org. </p><span class="ng-command" data-value="252" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span></div></div><div class="sb-ui-escenic-reprint" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; float: right; font-family: 'McClatchy Sans', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://www.mcclatchyreprints.com/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(13, 118, 186); text-decoration: none;" class="">reprints</a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 1px; height: 1px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: sans-serif; overflow: hidden;" class=""><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article62011792.html#storylink=cpy</div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 1px; height: 1px; font-size: 10pt; font-family: sans-serif; overflow: hidden;" class=""><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article62011792.html#storylink=cpy</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></body></html>