Why I’m Voting for Otto Lee
by Michael Benipayo, RN, Vice-President, RNPA
Every four years, the electorate of America faces new challenges and opportunities. It’s safe to say that voting in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic is an unprecedented challenge, and opportunity. This year, in Otto Lee, we have the opportunity to vote for a Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Candidate who will have the backs of frontline, essential workers.
As a registered nurse at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, I’ve witnessed the COVID-19 crisis — and our community’s responses to the crisis — from the frontlines. We rallied together for our patients, families, and colleagues in the face of immense grief, uncertainty, and constraints. We learned the value and power of essential workers in keeping our economies running and our communities safe and healthy. We realized that public health impacts all of us — and we fought to come together to stay safe, and to protect and keep safe people we don’t know.
In the last year alone, my colleagues and worked with Santa Clara County and hospital leaders to build a healthcare system that provides a fair and dignified workplace for our workers, and quality patient care for our patients — who are among the County’s most vulnerable community members. From securing a contract to formalize that vision last year, to mobilize and uniting our membership to protect first responders, we have witnessed the power of organizing, solidarity, and community.
Protecting essential workers is essential. And even while we mobilize, come together, and stand strong to keep our communities safe, our fight for quality healthcare must include leaders who listen to us, collaborate with us, and build a safe, healthy, and vibrant County. The candidates we elect play a crucial role in determining our livelihoods, workplaces, and futures. We need County leaders who will support us, and other essential workers.
We must elect a candidate who is committed to work for those committed to working at the frontlines, a leader who truly understands our needs, our wants, and how crucial the work we do is. That is why I’m casting my vote for Otto Lee.
I first met Otto at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, where I was moved by his commitment to fighting for safe, healthy communities for our workers, and for our families. As a US Navy veteran and former Mayor of Sunnyvale, hearing Otto’s instrumental role in championing environmental policies warmed my heart. Here is a candidate who cares about the future of local communities well beyond his term and political career — who believes that changing systems requires all of us coming together.
At the time of an unprecedented pandemic, and finding my colleagues, friends and myself impacted by the grueling challenges of working at the frontlines, Otto’s commitment to public health, and to centering the experiences of those who make it work, is inspiring. Otto’s vision for a safe community is comprehensive, and seeks to unite young families, elders, veterans and workers to build united neighborhoods.
This Tuesday, I’m voting for a candidate who knows what’s wrong, and knows how to fix it. I’m voting for a candidate who cares about nurses, and cares about caring. In this “Year of the Nurse” I hope you join me and thousands of Santa Clara County nurses in voting for Otto Lee.
