Musician, social satirist to entertain local Dems

By Linda Armacost and Jeff Benesch

They say that laughter is the best medicine, and so the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club welcomes back singer/songwriter Roy Zimmerman to highlight our Dec. 7 Holiday Fest. Members remember Zimmerman’s hilarious and biting satire from last year’s party, and we should all be entertained anew given the last 12 months of political shenanigans.

And as tradition holds, we will welcome all members and guests to enjoy our holiday feast, with turkey, ham, and all the trimmings supplied by the club. Members are encouraged to bring appetizers, side dishes, salads, and desserts to augment the club’s meat carvings, veggie lasagna and beverages.

As usual, we’ll start our festivities at 6 p.m., and Zimmerman will take the stage about 7 p.m. Zimmerman will be selling CDs of his best and most memorable concerts, so be prepared to buy some great holiday gifts for friends and family. We ask each members and guests to donate $15 at the door, or whatever one can afford to offset the costs of the evening’s food and entertainment. We’ll be meeting at the usual place, the spacious La Mesa Community Center, 4975 Memorial Drive, just North of University Avenue in La Mesa.

Because of the overflow crowds for this annual event, we ask willing and able members to park by the Little League field and take the short walk up the stairs to the Community Center. Let’s leave the adjacent parking lot for those that most need to be close to the meeting room.

We also ask each member and guest to contribute to our annual holiday charity. This year we are supporting the efforts of Santa Sophia Church to feed needy families in the Casa de Oro area. Please bring canned and nonperishable foods that can assist those in dire straits during the holiday season. They also like to give out “street-ready” foods such as high protein bars, fruit and nut snacks and pop tarts.

We also support the efforts of La Mesa Methodist Church who offer the city’s homeless citizens showers and other necessities during the fall and winter months. We ask you bring new, unused toiletries, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shaving supplies, shampoo, soaps, lotions, and other similar items for those who don’t take these items for granted.

While the results of the national election on Nov. 8 don’t leave us much room for optimism, our local candidates and issues had a banner night. We helped elect board member Colin Parent to La Mesa City Council; Senator Kamala Harris; Congress members Susan Davis and Scott Peters; State Senator Toni Atkins, Assemblypersons Shirley Weber, Lorena Gonzalez and Todd Gloria; Supervisor Dave Roberts; San Diego City Council winners Barbara Bry and Georgette Gomez; and San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliot.

We passed measures K and L which will require November elections for all San Diego City offices and measures; we legalized cannabis; upheld the statewide plastic bag ban; and defeated the Chargers stadium measure. SANDAG’s freeway-centric tax proposal, and the Lilac Hills overdevelopment in Valley Center went down to defeat.

Our collective Get Out The Vote efforts in total passed nearly 75 percent of the San Diego County Democratic Party’s recommendations. Our supported candidates on local water boards won the day; as did George Gastil in the Lemon Grove mayoral contest. A Democratic even won a seat on the El Cajon City Council — a real first.

In the presidential contest, San Diego County went for Clinton/Kaine by 17 points over the Republican ticket, a wider margin than Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012. And we helped propel Hillary to a popular vote victory even if the Electoral College vote didn’t go our way. Our growing Democratic edge in voter registration countywide — now well over 100,000 — bodes well for 2018, 2020 and beyond.

La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club draws members from the communities of Allied Gardens, San Carlos, Del Cerro, the College Area, La Mesa, Mt. Helix, Casa de Oro, Santee and other nearby East County Communities. All residents are welcome to attend our monthly meetings which take place on the first Wednesday of each month. Please visit our website for coming events at lamesafoothillsdemocraticclub.com and like us on Facebook.

—Linda Armacost is president and Jeff Benesch is vice president for programming of the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club. Reach them at [email protected].