Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle August 7, 2024
Challenging People to Shape
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Opinion
Kamala Harris Definitely Earned It (DEI)
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ice President Kamala
Harris has a political
career that is classic
textbook. She leveraged
her legal training at the Uni-
versity of California into a
position in the District Attor-
ney’s office. Then she ran for
San Francisco District Attor-
ney, beating the incumbent
in a runoff election. She came
out on top of a crowded Demo-
cratic primary for California
Attorney General, and nar-
rowly defeated her Republi-
can opponent for the office in
2010.
She overwhelmingly beat
her Republican opponent
when she ran for re-election
in 2014. When she ran for the
United States Senate in 2016,
she garnered twice as many
votes as the next-highest vote
getter, and in the final elec-
tion earned mor than 60 per-
cent of the vote.
The Vice-President’s elec-
toral history is well-know, and
I recount it for a reason. Ka-
mala Harris earned increas-
ing responsibility by running
for office and winning. There
is no diversity, equity and in-
clusion in electoral politics.
The only way you move up is
to get more votes than your
opponent. If there is any DEI
in the Harris record, it’s Defi-
nitely Earned It.
Julianne
Malveaux
Trice Edney
News Wire
Columnist
Tennessee
Congressman
Tim Burchett made headlines
by describing our Vice-Pres-
ident as a “DEI hire”, describ-
ing her as “checking all the
boxes”. Her electoral record
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Kamala Harris is used to the lies,
the slurs, the white male disdain
refutes that fact. The Vice
President didn’t just drop
out of a coconut tree, to para-
phrase her. She has worked
for every office she has
earned. To be sure, she was
selected to serve as President
Biden’s running mate. But she
would not have been selected
had she not been elected so
many times.
If the rabid Republicans
stuck to describing our Vice
President and presumptive
Democratic
presidential
nominee as DEI, that would
be an ill-placed slur. But for-
mer President Trump and his
equally woman hating Vice
President have stooped even
tested for his comprehension.
One wonders how his verbal
vomit will survive any inter-
national negotiations.
Trump’s Vice presidential
nominee JD Vance has the
same relationship with truth
as his boss, Mr. Trump, does.
In making his case against
“childless cat ladies”, he ac-
cuses Democrats, including
Vice President Harris, of
being “anti-family”, but it is
Democrats that have advocat-
ed profamily policies, includ-
ing the child tax credit that
would lift millions of children
out of poverty. Like Trump,
Vance does not mind telling
outright lies.
Kamala Harris is used to
the lies, the slurs, the white
male disdain. She’s had to
deal with that through much
of her career, as most women
in power have. Trump is an
expert at disparaging women,
attacking their looks (Carly
Fiorina, E. Jean Carroll), their
clothing (Nicky Haley), their
mental acuity (Nancy Pelosi)
and more. All I say to these ra-
bid Republicans is, ”bring it”.
Vice President Kamala Devi
Harris is time enough for
you. Mr. Vance has described
the Harris candidacy as a “gut
punch” to the Trump-Vance
ticket.
Instead of campaigning
against a Biden they’d de-
scribed as “old” and feeble,
they’ve got an opponent who
is young, energetic and vi-
tal. Instead of debating the
Biden who failed to challenge
Trump on his incessant lies in
the late June debate, he will be
debating the prosecutor who
sliced and diced Brett Kava-
naugh during his Supreme
Court confirmation hearing.
Vice President Harris is not
a gut punch, she is a knock-
out punch. She has definitely
earned the nomination of her
party, and indeed the presi-
dency.
DEI, indeed!
Definitely
earned it!
Rent Relief: A Winning Policy Issue for the Harris Campaign
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lower, describing our Vice
President as “garbage”, ‘bum”
and “crazy.”
Throw a little “San ‘Fran-
cisco liberal” in there to com-
plete the predictable cocktail
of slurs and attacks. No one
is surprised by the Trump
slurs, as the former President
is amazingly consistent in his
approach to his opponents.
Indeed, the inarticulate na-
ture of his slurs leads one to
question his mental compe-
tency and suggest that he be
he Department of Labor
recently released new
Consumer Price Index
data. It showed that while
inflation has cooled down in
many areas of the economy,
rent prices continue their up-
ward ascent across the coun-
try, with the annual increase
now exceeding 5 percent.
Home prices have risen 47
percent since the pandemic,
and according to a report re-
leased this year from Harvard
University, over half of rent-
ers are now spending more
than a third of their income
on housing. Since 2020, the
average rental price has risen
17% to $1,713 monthly, and in
cities like New York and San
Francisco, average rents now
top over $3,000 a month.
As the former Chairman of
the House Oversight and Gov-
ernment Reform Committee,
I know all too well the need
for balanced and properly
enforced legislation and reg-
ulations to remedy this prob-
lem. But the keyword here is
balance.
The fact that rent prices are
now falling in the U.S. mar-
kets where business owners
have developed new rental
units has proven that when
the economy and building
conditions approve, so does
America’s rental affordabili-
ty.
For this reason, it is import-
ant that our nation’s regula-
tors let small business owners
who risk their capital to con-
Edolphus
Towns Jr.
Former
Member of
Congress
(D-NY)
tinue purchasing and refur-
bishing derelict properties,
which improves our commu-
nities and creates affordable
rental units. That is why it is
concerning that some regu-
lators are targeting property
management software these
business owners use to do so.
“
Since 2020,
the average
rental price
has risen 17%
Using predictive data an-
alytics, these software com-
panies help business owners
ensure they are pricing their
homes and units accurately,
preventing shortages (which
ultimately inflate rental
prices) and excessive vacan-
cies (which decreases profit
margins and disincentivizes
future building) from devel-
oping. However, some regu-
lators believe this software
— by maximizing revenue
potential — is to blame for the
high rental costs many Amer-
icans are paying today. This is
the equivalent of blaming Kel-
ley Blue Book for “raising” car
prices, and if they outlaw this
technology, it will backfire
by disincentivizing housing
development, which will ulti-
mately reduce supply and in-
crease prices. As the former
Chairman of the Congressio-
nal Black Caucus, I know that
this supply reduction and
additional inflation will hurt
minority communities more
than most.
While this policy prescrip-
tion is not a winning one,
there are fortunately no
shortage of balanced solu-
tions to make rent more com-
petitive and affordable to
working families.
Vice President Kamala
Harris, the likely Democrat
nominee, has a history of
proposing sound affordable
housing plans that resonate
with voters. Given how much
attention voters are paying to
this issue, she should quickly
make them a central part of
her campaign platform.
For example, while serv-
ing in the U.S. Senate, Harris
proposed the Rent Relief Act,
which would have issued tax
credits to all Americans who
spend more than 30% of their
incomes on rent. If passed,
this proposal would have
helped millions of Ameri-
cans afford shelter. Today,
over half a decade later, half
of renters still shell out more
than 30% of their incomes on
rent and utilities, so this idea
is without question one that
still has legislative merit.
Vice
President
Harris
should also continue pledging
to expand the Housing Choice
Voucher program.
This program, also known
as Section 8, provides rent-
al assistance to low-income
families, enabling them to
afford housing in the private
market. The Biden-Harris ad-
ministration has proposed
increasing funding for HCVs
by $5 billion, which could
help as many as 200,000 addi-
tional households that spend
over 30% of their income on
rent afford their monthly
payments.
The Housing Choice Vouch-
er plan also includes mea-
sures to incentivize local gov-
ernments to relax zoning laws
that are restricting affordable
housing while removing oth-
er counterproductive regu-
lations that have discouraged
developers from building
new units. By making it easier
to construct new properties,
these policy prescriptions
will prove crucial to quickly
getting more affordable units
on the marketplace.
All of Vice President Harris
diverse solutions to improv-
ing Americans’ rental condi-
tions will provide mammoth
leaps forward to fixing the
status quo. With voters na-
tionwide pressing their po-
litical leaders to address the
housing crisis, she should
share them on the campaign
trail without delay.
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