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A History of Left-Wing Activism<\/strong><\/p>\n Hiram Soto<\/span><\/a> has a long history of left-wing activism, going back to his time as a <\/span>reporter<\/span><\/a>. He has written <\/span>articles<\/span><\/a> titled \u201cWhy District Elections Are Needed in Poway,\u201d and worked for an L.A. newspaper named <\/span>Hoy Los \u00c1ngeles.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/a>He infamously wrote a commentary in June 2019 titled \u201c<\/span>Why San Diego needs a new border vision<\/span><\/a>,\u201d in which he said \u201cWhen people ask me where I am from, I often say proudly that I\u2019m from Tijuana, San Diego\u2019s liveliest neighborhood<\/span>. <\/b>I then explain that <\/span>I live in San Diego, Tijuana\u2019s finest neighborhood<\/b>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ballot Harvesting<\/strong><\/p>\n Soto\u2019s activism reached a new level when he was hired as Communications Director for a shadowy dark-money political organization named <\/span>Alliance San Diego<\/span><\/i><\/a> in 2016, where he remained until shortly after the 2020 Presidential election. The group, founded as <\/span>Equity Alliance<\/span><\/i> in 2007, is a political organization that exists to \u201cbuild collective power\u201d in order to \u201cmake systemic change and shape a future that belongs to all of us,\u201d according to their <\/span>website<\/span><\/a>. They\u2019re best known for ballot harvesting operations across San Diego County; an activity that is a <\/span>felony<\/span><\/a> in many other states.<\/span><\/p>\n According to their website, <\/span>Alliance San Diego<\/span><\/i> \u201cbuilds power\u201d by \u201cengaging communities, advocating for policies, protecting civil and human rights, and communicating strategically.\u201d They have influenced the outcome of numerous elections in the region, even boasting that they reached \u201cover 1 million people across San Diego County\u201d during the 2021 Gubernatorial recall and \u201cover 5 million social media ad impressions\u201d as part of their ballot harvesting operations. <\/span>Because they are registered as a nonprofit, their donors are not publicly disclosed, though they reported <\/span>$4.6 million in revenue<\/span><\/a> in 2020 with 118 organizers on staff.<\/span><\/p>\n Opposition to Law Enforcement<\/strong><\/p>\n Hiram Soto\u2019s <\/span>Alliance San Diego<\/span><\/i> is loudly opposed to law enforcement and our existing criminal justice system. They\u2019ve said that \u201cpolice departments and officers alike must be held accountable,\u201d they refer to the Border Patrol as \u201cthe MOST corrupt law enforcement agency in the United States,\u201d and, <\/span>in a call to defund the police<\/b><\/a>, said last year that <\/span>the city must \u201cdivest from policing\u201d<\/b> and that the city\u2019s budget \u201cmust <\/span>support funding alternatives<\/b>\u201d to policing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n They\u2019ve supported the Black Lives Matter movement and <\/span>posted<\/span><\/a> on their Facebook page that \u201c<\/span>Policing has always been a part of the system of oppression which disproportionately targets Black people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n What is Hiram Soto\u2019s \u201cNew Border Vision?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Hiram Soto refers to San Diego as \u201c<\/span>Tijuana\u2019s finest neighborhood<\/span><\/a>\u201d and served as Communications Director for the <\/span>Southern Border Communities Coalition<\/span><\/a>, a subsidiary of Alliance San Diego, where he advocated for a \u201c<\/span>New Border Vision<\/span><\/a>\u201d plan \u2013 a call for open borders.<\/span><\/p>\n Soto Stood on the Steps of Berkeley City Hall in 2020 to Call for Open Borders<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2020, Hiram <\/span>stood at a press conference<\/span><\/a> with Jesse Arregu\u00edn, the Mayor of Berkeley, California, as well as Judy Appel, President of the Berkeley Unified School District, who said “We are proud that we are the first school district to endorse the New Border Vision. We don\u2019t ask. We don\u2019t care.” You can watch the press conference here.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n A Supporter of Mexico\u2019s Zapatista Revolutionaries<\/strong><\/p>\n Hiram Soto publicly aligns with Mexico\u2019s <\/span>Zapatista Front of National Liberation<\/span><\/i><\/a>, posting <\/span>#YoConElEZLN<\/span><\/a> in his <\/span>profile header<\/span><\/a> on MuckRack, a social media site where those in the media share their work. The Zapatistas are a violent armed revolutionary movement in the Chiapas region of Southern Mexico and have been referred to as \u201c<\/span>Mexico\u2019s Masked Marxists<\/span><\/a>.\u201d The group\u2019s <\/span>communist roots are well-documented<\/span><\/a> and they are best known for <\/span>kidnapping<\/span><\/a> elected officials, <\/span>armed conflicts<\/span><\/a> with the government of Mexico, and <\/span>breaking violent criminals out of jail<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Is Hiram Soto Too Extreme for Poway?<\/strong><\/p>\n Hiram Soto would be a radical departure from the long history of good governance that Poway has experienced under decades of thoughtful, independent, and moderate public servants. Hiram Soto on the City Council would change the community of Poway forever.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As San Diego County approaches the November 8th midterm election, many local seats will be on the ballot. Poway will see a significant transition after this year’s election, as half of the community’s council members are expected to retire. Additionally, voters will have a Mayoral race on the ballot as well. One of the first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Screen-Shot-2022-06-06-at-9.56.43-PM-597x340.png\")
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