www.montereycountynow.com OCTOBER 8-14, 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 29 engagement with her new geography. Lofgren chairs the California delegation in the House, and serves on the judiciary and science, space and technology committees. If the Democrats were to win control of the House, she would be in line for a leadership position to reign in the worst abuses of the Trump administration and to craft guardrails and regulations for the AI industry. We think she is up to the task. DISTRICT 19 | JIMMY PANETTA In May, we endorsed Jimmy Panetta in the primary “with an asterisk.” That asterisk has gotten bigger. On Sept. 3, Panetta was one of 33 Democrats who joined Republicans to pass H.R. 4795, which would make federal student aid conditional on a college’s promise not to join a commercial boycott of Israel. Hartnell, Monterey Peninsula College and CSUMB would have to write a no-boycott promise into the agreements that keep their students’ Pell grants and loans flowing. That is a vote against free speech. Panetta broke with most of his party, including Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who voted no. Instead, he joined the hard right, voting with Lauren Boebert and Jim Jordan. His defense is that the bill targets only “nonexpressive commercial boycotts”: conduct, not speech. We know that argument, because it hit a longtime friend of ours. In 2018, a public college in Arkansas told Alan Leveritt, publisher of the Arkansas Times, to pledge not to boycott Israel or lose the college’s state-funded advertising. Leveritt refused. A newspaper, he said, doesn’t take political positions in exchange for ad money. He sued and lost. In 2022, the Eighth Circuit ruled that a boycott is commercial conduct, not speech, and in 2023 the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The committee that wrote H.R. 4795 relies on that ruling. The court was wrong, and Panetta is wrong to lean on it. Boycotts are how Americans put their money where their conscience is, from supporting farmworkers with the grape boycott to ending apartheid by divesting from South Africa. You don’t have to support BDS to see the danger of Washington, D.C. politicians deciding which boycotts are acceptable and taking away students’ financial aid over the rest. The bill draws no line between Israel and its West Bank settlements. Panetta has said annexation violates international law, yet he voted to penalize colleges that won’t do business there. Five days after his vote, France, the U.K. and Canada announced they would ban imports from Israeli settlements, which they call illegal under international law. Panetta is out of step not only with his district but with a growing share of the world. That isn’t standing with Israel. It’s underwriting Netanyahu’s violent government. Let us be clear. Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself, and the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, was an atrocity. But Netanyahu’s government has turned self-defense into something else. The UN counts more than 73,000 Palestinians killed since then. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest on war-crimes charges. Standing with Israel shouldn’t mean underwriting that. When we pressed Panetta, he told us people who haven’t been to Israel don’t understand the issue. Many of his constituents haven’t, and their conscience doesn’t depend on a passport stamp. He said Israel ranks about 10th among their concerns, and that the bill won’t pass the Senate anyway. That made us cringe. Free speech comes first in the Bill of Rights, and a symbolic vote against it is still a vote against it. Then there’s the money. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is Panetta’s biggest donor, giving more than $558,000 since 2022. He vehemently states it doesn’t affect his votes. But the appearance of a conflict is real, and in a safe seat, he doesn’t need it. Everything else we said in May still holds. He’s a workhorse for farmworkers and growers, military families, veterans and disaster recovery, and maintains a presence in the district. This year, as a member of the minority party, he got bills signed into law that extend tax relief to disaster victims, give early childhood educators the same tax deduction as K-12 teachers, and crack down on Medicare Advantage “ghost networks.” His Republican opponent is not a credible alternative, making Panetta the only reasonable choice, who will continue to be a buffer against authoritarianism. But we’re asking him to come back in two years with a new mandate: 1. Reject AIPAC’s donations; 2. Support free speech, absolutely. Students, and all of us, should be able to petition and boycott without fear of losing federal aid or contracts. If he digs in, he should expect a serious challenger in 2028. We genuinely like Panetta, but this district deserves a representative who stands up for free speech and answers to constituents, not donors. Golden Oldies Cat Rescue Adopt•Volunteer•Foster•Donate Older Cats New Beginnings www.gocatrescue.org 831•200•9232 Alfie is a Hunk! This 10-year-old gentle giant is a “people cat”— an affectionate, loyal purr machine. Are you looking for a devoted companion? Here he is. Learn more about Alfie on our website.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==