A frequent critic of everything Encinitas posted in a local Facebook group, “It may be time to let go of Mike Levin. Mix it up and vote for Gunderson.”
This person provides no explanation for why we should vote to change a representative who has done much for our community, and especially why he should be replaced with a millionaire car dealer from Orange County.
Mike Levin has represented the 49th District faithfully for three terms. He has had 30 bills signed into law and has been involved in initiatives to help support his constituents at all levels.
Locally, Levin has touched lives and solved problems that seemed unsolvable, doing much of this work without fanfare. Here are just a couple of examples:
In 2018, Cardiff School District warned that its plan for expansion into the adjacent park would violate a federal grant and chose to gamble.
The district developed its plans and asked the National Park Service to approve the project but could not fulfill the requirements for approval.
In early 2019, the district was advised to change its plans, but they were unlikely to be approved. The district persisted. In late 2020, after multiple court losses and a firm denial from the park service, a partially constructed auditorium sat on the parkland.
For more than a year, the district refused to compromise, with the building covered in shrink wrap. In January 2022, Mike Levin’s office stepped in to resolve the impasse.
Levin met with the head of the National Park Service, arranging a settlement under which the district would pay the market value of the land it had taken without permission. The payment would be used to fund replacement parkland. The building was completed in early 2023.
But for Levin’s intervention, that building would still be unfinished or torn down.
In early 2024, Rep. Mike Levin introduced a bill to cap health insurance premiums for households enrolled in Medicare and Affordable Care Act health coverage plans.
The inspiration behind the Health Insurance Premium Fairness Act came from Encinitas resident Ted DeBont, who found that under the Affordable Care Act, when one spouse goes onto Medicare, that spouse’s Medicare premium is not considered under the ACA’s calculations, causing the couple’s premiums to double.
DeBont reached out to Mike Levin’s office for help. Levin’s subsequent investigation revealed a problem, leading to the development of new legislation aimed at protecting people like the DeBonts from similar challenges.
The aforementioned Facebook post urges change for the sake of change without saying why. There are plenty of reasons not to change.
Will the interests of homeowners and environmentalists be better served by a representative whose financial clout persuaded a city to exercise eminent domain against homeowner protests, bulldozing homes and a church to expand a car dealership? Will corporate malfeasance be held in check by a representative who has repeatedly violated basic California corporation laws with his own businesses? Will a candidate who, if elected, will not commit to certifying the results of the presidential election advance the country’s interests?
Gunderson’s campaign is two-thirds self-funded, suggesting he hopes to buy people’s votes with his millions— it’s all transactional to him.
Mike Levin has served our community, earned our support, and deserves our votes on November 5th.
Eleanor Musick
Encinitas
