(Whoa, this is nuts! – promoted by SFBrianCL)

What is this nation coming to? What is this county coming to? Whatever happened to our First Amendment right to free speech? From today’s Register:

… [O]ne county worker is finding out that political blogging – or blogging for Democrats in Orange County – can also generate blowback.

County officials are investigating blogger Chris Prevatt, who works in the county’s health care agency and posts commentaries at the site Liberal OC, for visiting the site during work hours.

And what is their excuse for this “investigation”? More on the flip…

So what is their excuse? Try this:

Two weeks before this month’s election, Prevatt posted an article giving County Supervisor Chris Norby the nickname of “Darth Norby.” He criticized Norby for his stance against government-funded ethnic outreach programs and even posted a photo of Norby morphed into the infamous dark lord of Star Wars fame.

Two days later, Prevatt says, health care agency supervisors came to his desk, confiscated his computer and began an investigation.

A Norby aide admits he mentioned the post to a senior county official but did not call for an investigation.

What the fuck is going on with my county government? First, they sit by idly as our “Godfather” Sheriff Carona silences Bill Hunt after he had the courage to not only blow the whistle on “The Little Sheriff”, but continue running for Sheriff after Carona decided to keep his old job after all. And now, they are going after another county employee… And this time, he’s not even a political appointee…
He’s simply a county health care agency employee who was trying to keep our government honest.

Oh, and if they cared so much about county employees avoiding political blogging on county time, why don’t they investigate former county employee Jon Fleischman’s “work” on Flash Report?

County CEO Tom Mauk denies that the probe into Prevatt is politically motivated, adding that such investigations are triggered by complaints. There have not been any probes into Republican bloggers that Mauk can recall.

Yeah, right! There’s no way that Jon Fleischman was able to “post while taking breaks”… If you look at all the long posts he was writing during his period in the Sheriff’s Office, there’s no way he could have done all those posts during his break time, which by the way, is still county time! Sorry, but I call bullshit here!

So why is the County really going after Chris Prevatt? Perhaps because he posted this scathing critique of Neal Kelley’s (in)ability to conduct a proper election? Perhaps because he blew the whistle on all the federal HIV/AIDS funds that were being misused by the County Health Care Agency? Or is it just becuase he’s a Democratic blogger, as opposed to the dominant Republican culture (of corruption!!) in the county government? Well, whatever it is, I refuse to stand by and allow my county government to do such a disgusting act of political payback!

(Good piece to start a discussion with. – promoted by bolson)

The California Democratic Party is in trouble.  Whereas on the national level grassroots Democrats have done a good job of wresting the DNC out of the hands of the corrupt (and corrupting) corporate donor types, on the state level we haven’t been able to do the same yet.  The two examples I have of the problems with the state party are the money laundering for Fabian Nunez and the failure of the wealthy elites who run the party to stand behind Angelides.  See below the fold for more.

First, the money laundering.  According to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, Fabian Nunez took several million dollars from AT&T in exchange for pushing this year’s bill to deregulate cable and internet video services.  Not only did he do it, but he did it through the CDP.  The press release is here

Next, the wealthy elites.  In August we were treated to a disturbing quote from the co-chair of DiFei’s reelection campaign.  Keep in mind that Phil Angelides’ tax plan was to increase the burden on the extremely wealthy but not on anyone else.  From the San Francisco Chronicle:

“A number of my Democratic friends, who have raised lots of money for Democrats, have said they cannot support Phil,” said Angela Bradstreet, a well known San Francisco attorney and co-chair of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s re-election campaign. “This is the first time I can remember it being so pronounced.”

Bradstreet, a Democrat who said she is voting for Schwarzenegger, argued that the governor has re-established himself as a moderate who has shown strong leadership on economic issues.

“Quite frankly, I’m also sick and tired of paying taxes,” she said. “And that’s Angelides’ solution — raising taxes.”

Between these two examples, it is clear to me that the CDP is not being run in the best interests of most California Democrats.  It reminds me of the way the DNC used to be run for the national donor elite, except we were able to recapture the DNC with a fairly simple formula: the DNC chair is apparently elected by the various state parties, and running on a platform of giving more money to the state parties and less to the high-priced media consultants favored by the donor elite, Howard Dean cruised to victory.  This obviously infuriated the donor elite, but the party’s grassroots saved the day with a lot of small donations to keep the party going. 

I’m not sure how the leadership of the California state party is determined, so maybe someone could tell me: what would be the equivalent way to seize power for the people within California?  What would be the structual opportunities and limitations?  And what would be the risks?  As a native Californian, I’m embarassed that so many other states elected Democratic governors this cycle while Democratic juggernaut California couldn’t keep pace.

Cross-posted at DailyKos and MyDD.  I am affiliated with the University of Chicago Democrats.