Steve Argue has for years put himself on the line for the rights of homeless people, working people, and people in poverty in Santa Cruz.

He served seven months in jail defending a woman against a police assault in 1999 at a peace demonstration, where the officer he was convicted of punching (David LaFever) was later found guilty of excessive force by the Citizens Police Review Board and left the SCPD.

He was assaulted by police and went to jail in 1998 for selling Street Spirit, the homeless newspaper, near New Leaf Market in a case that helped establish the right of poor people to sell newspapers downtown.

In 2003 he spent many hours in a court case that effectively challenged the infamous Rotkin-Mathews "Move Along" law (forbidding political tablers from spending more than one hour at a political table in any one location along Pacific Avenue).
Warning: CSO Pam Bachtel and other police officers still enforce the law, which needs more challenging.

Steve and I have had our disagreements. I dont' agree with his characterization of Becky as an agent. I hope he hasn't withdrawn from local politics.

And again I encourage people to remember that local struggles and real actions to further those struggles are as important as abstract pronouncements about the wrongs and rights of situations 7000 miles away.

Mayor Rotkin and his fellow Council members, for instance, are great at making glowing statements about the rights of Nicaraguans and other oppressed nationalities. But they can't seem to address police abuse, the Sleeping Ban, and harassment of medical marijuana users and sellers in Santa Cruz.