Joe Edward Collins III is a 13 1/2-year Navy Veteran from South Central LA. He's the CEO of a contracting and development company and also sits on the board of a private global development company. He’s a licensed financial professional and holds a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Phoenix. He is the former host of KABC's radio show New Black Republican and a current Congressional candidate for California's 36th district.

Collins grew up on 104th and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles, Ca, and knows this district all too well; Extreme amounts of Homelessness, Crime, Lack of Quality Education, and High Gang Activity.

One Sunday, the home that Joe and his family lived in was the target of a drive-by shooting. Upon returning home from his grandfather's church, they found that bullets had made their way through the windows and into the cushions of the family sofa. At this moment Joe’s mother decided that it was time for her and her children to move from South Central Los Angeles. She moved her family to a rural town outside of Dallas Texas (Joe's mother is still a teacher in the suburbs of Dallas).

After completing high school in Texas, Joe made the most important decision of his life; He joined the U.S. Navy.

Joe Collins spent 13 years in the Navy and quickly rose to the rank of First Class Petty Officer (E-6). He worked on and trained thousands of sailors on many types of aircraft including the F-18 Super Hornet, E6 Mercury, and the MH60 Sea-hawk. With the help of the U.S. Navy, he also became a licensed financial professional, as well as a Certified Counselor for rape and sexual assault victims. Joe also was a recruiter and earned numerous honors and awards. This was a role Joe enjoyed immensely, as he had the pleasure of jump-starting the careers of many of our young American leaders of today.

Joe proudly served during the successful campaign, “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Joe left the U.S. Navy in Sept of 2017, with a desire to continue serving his country, and this time it would be in a Leadership role in politics.

Since already taking an oath to defend our country and its people, the decision to serve and defend those without a voice in his California District was one he would proudly make.

 

 

Joe E Collins III ran for Congress in the 2020 election against Maxine where he got almost 80 thousand votes, which is three times more than any other candidate both Democrat and Republican to run against her. He also organized teams that registered more than fifty thousand new Republican voters in the 43rd district.

Joe is a South Los Angeles native and says crime, drugs, inadequate schools, and poverty plaguing the community when he was a child are still issues today. But Joe is confident his Five Point Plan which calls for rebuilding communities together, improving education for children, bringing high-paying jobs to the area, promoting financial literacy, and taking steps to end homelessness can clean up and bring integrity and opportunities to California Communities.

Campaign 2022

 

In 2022 Joe Collins plans on running for Congress in California's NEW 36th congressional district. Joe is confident his Five Point Plan which calls for rebuilding communities together, improving education, bringing high-paying jobs to the area, promoting financial literacy, and taking steps to end homelessness can clean up and bring integrity and opportunities to California communities. Joe E. Collins III is looking forward to representing California's 36th Congressional district and its constituents in 2022. 

Let's Grow together.

Claire Ragge was born in Freeport, NY, and lives in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from USC School of Cinema/Television Production with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1995. Following graduation, Claire worked for entertainment-industry giant Walt Disney Studios in the Creative Development Department. In 1998, Claire became a private business owner with the purchase of The GasLite in Santa Monica, which she still owns to the present day.

Claire has a long history of community and political involvement. In addition to running a time-intensive business in a stringently regulated industry, Claire decided to give back to the community she loved so much. She started weekly town hall meetings at The GasLite where local residents could express their concerns to elected officials and community leaders. She also supported the local police by sponsoring the Santa Monica Police Department’s softball team with GasLite jerseys and other needed items for several seasons.

As a former Democrat, Claire served in multiple roles for a major presidential candidate, including as Southern California regional press coordinator and as chair of the Southern California campaign’s PR committee.

After the lengthy campaign, Claire decided to utilize her filmmaking skills and began producing and directing AMERICAN SECRETS, a historical and political documentary. The documentary’s original concept was to expose the connection between totalitarianism and top Republican politicians and businessmen. However, Claire’s analytical, objective research skills soon uncovered a connection between prominent Democrats and authoritarianism. Claire became disillusioned with the Democratic Party, and politics in general, due to the behind-the-scenes working of the government to which she was exposed.

As owner of The GasLite, Claire has witnessed first-hand the erosion of the small-business community through government over-regulation, government-caused supply chain issues, and out-of-control, government-caused inflation. Claire has also seen the harm being done to her neighbors as crime soars, gas prices rise, and the one-party, Democratic-run government remains indifferent to the concerns of its citizens. Claire has now joined the Republican Party to fight for the values we hold so dearly—a thriving economy, public safety, government accountability and free speech. In support of these values, Claire has decided to take a stand for her community against government indifference and oppression by running for U.S. Congress in CA District 36.

 

As a small business owner for the past two decades, I have provided employment opportunities to hundreds of individuals in our district, dealt with government bureaucracy on all levels, and hosted town hall meeting where neighbors could share their views with local mayors, city council members, and other community leaders.
I have also watched as our beautiful community of oceans, mountains, and wonderfully diverse cultures has been badly damaged by crime, homelessness, and political indifference. I have witnessed first-hand the erosion of the standards we hold so dear—free speech, parental involvement in schools, a thriving middle class, and the basic concept that the American dream is attainable for all. With these values in mind, I have left the Democratic Party and am now a moderate Republican. It is clear that change is needed. Together, we can make our communities safe once again by funding police and locking up violent criminals. We can control inflation by becoming energy self-sufficient once again, and we can ensure national security by manufacturing the essential items upon which we rely with our clean environmental standards. We can create an educational system that teaches children of all colors and faiths that they can achieve the American dream. We can, and must, take the reins. We alone must fix the problems our leaders have created. Together, we can get back to basics and revive the American dream. ‘The Time is NOW!’

Please elect me to Congress. I am ready to serve.  

Claire Ragge for U.S. Congress 2022

 

Upon graduating USC, Steve began his diverse, 25+ year professional career as a sales representative in the Telecommunications and Real Estate industries. He eventually became the Director of Southern California for Global Crossing’s GlobalCenter division and had the fortunate opportunity to work with high-profile Internet startups as well as various Fortune 500 companies such as ABC Television, E-Toys, Edison International, Realtor.com, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Studios. In addition, Steve supervised the build-out of a 25,000 square foot (SF) fault-tolerant, mission critical data center located in Sherman Oaks, California. As the Dot-Com era came to an end in 2002, Steve made a career change to the commercial real estate industry.

Initially, Steve went to work as a Broker Assistant (later as an Associate) for a boutique commercial real estate firm located in Downtown Los Angeles, where he received a “Glengarry Glen Ross” education in commercial real estate. He participated in several notable transactions including Huffy Corporation’s 120,000 SF West Coast distribution center. However, in 2005, Steve concluded that he needed a more formal, fundamental approach to commercial real estate and went to work for Cushman & Wakefield as a Sr. Research Associate in their Downtown Los Angeles office.

At Cushman & Wakefield, Steve managed and contributed to the coordination and production of statistical reports and research assignments for the Los Angeles Central Office, Industrial and Retail submarkets. He frequently interacted with the broker community, chambers of commerce, economic development offices, planning and zoning departments and other governmental entities to obtain valuable information on current market activity. After a year in research, Steve decided it was time to get back into brokerage.

 

At the beginning of 2007, Steve went to work as a Sr. Associate with Beitler Commercial Realty Services where he was awarded Rookie of the Year in 2007. His primary focus was on the sales and leasing of industrial and retail properties located in Downtown Los Angeles and the surrounding submarkets. From 2007 through 2009, he completed over $50MM in sales and leasing transactions which included affordable housing developments, restaurants and bars as well as medical marijuana dispensaries and grow operations.

Catching the “entrepreneurial bug” in 2009, Steve decided to venture into the medical marijuana industry and co-founded a medical marijuana collective/dispensary called South Bay Alternative. He became an expert in the California Compassionate Use Act, the subsequent legislative statute – SB420, as well as, the various interim medical marijuana ordinances passed by the City of Los Angeles. By the end of 2011 (when it was forced to shut down), the dispensary had 100+ co-op grower relationships, 4,000+ patients and generating approximately $10,000.00 per day in transactions.

After being forced out of the medical marijuana industry, Steve began providing Land Use Consulting services throughout the Southern California area, which complimented his commercial real estate brokerage activity. Specifically, he assisted businesses, organizations and individuals with navigating the process of obtaining controversial entitlements and permits from State, County and City agencies. This included alcohol licenses, wireless antenna permits and code deviations allowing for denser development projects.

With California’s passage of Proposition 64 and the establishment of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) in late 2016, Steve recognized an opportunity. In 2017, Steve earned his Real Estate Brokerage License and founded Cannabis Properties Los Angeles (CPLA) – a commercial real estate brokerage firm specializing in the sale and leasing of commercial and medical cannabis eligible properties located in the greater Los Angeles area. By leveraging his extensive industry and market knowledge, as well as, his vast network of property owners and commercial real estate brokers, Steve has positioned CPLA as a leading firm in the cannabis real estate space.

 

“The science of politics is the science of social happiness.”
 ~ John Adams, 1776

I believe in the non-ideological scientific approach to politics and governance with a focus on applying scientific methodologies to the problems of governance through the rigorous study and application of past experience and experimentation. I am “fiscally conservative” and “socially liberal” and believe in progress, utilitarianism and market economies as mostly self-regulating systems, governed by natural laws of production and exchange. I advocate for free market and laissez-faire economics as well as civil liberties under the rule of law with an emphasis on limited government, economic freedom and political freedom.