Daily Archives: August 6, 2007

California, Central Valley, Orange County

Just How Much Do Local Blogs Matter?

12 Comments

After seeing Gila’s latest story on The Liberal OC, I’ve been thinking. I know, I know. That’s a REALLY scary thought. But trust me, it’s not scary.

All too often when we think of the netroots, we think of those big, glitzy, glamorous national blogs with all those hundreds of thousands of User IDs. We think of that huge convention in Chicago that just ended. We think big, and we think national. But when you really look at the big picture, the national scene is only a small part of it.

The SF Chronicle just caught onto this, and I’m glad to see them noticing. There’s a giant segment of the netroots that hasn’t been noticed much, but is nonetheless making a huge difference throughout California, and throughout the nation. Follow me after the flip for more…

Some people who blog think the blogosphere has a tremendous impact on elections. I am not one of them. In general, I believe the impact of blogs today on who gets elected is miniscule. Their influence will likely increase as time goes on, but at the moment I think their effect on elections amounts to little more than an asterisk.

That’s part of what Gila has to say today at The Liberal OC. And you know what? She’s right. Whether we like it or not, the national blogosphere only has so much of an impact on elections and campaigns right now. Perhaps that will change some time in the future, but I don’t see it happening now.

Yes, the netroots is a big asset in terms of raising money and exciting the base. However, it can NOT be substituted for institutional donors on fundraising matters. And no, the netroots isn’t a proven vehicle to win votes. So on this matter, Gila is correct.

However, I make a conditional exception for local blogs.

And once again, Gila is spot on in her observation. While everyone is focusing on the big national blogs, they are all missing the one area of the blogosphere that’s having the most impact on politics, which is THE LOCAL BLOGOSPHERE.

The SF Chronicle takes a look at what happened with Say No to Pombo in CA-11 last year, and at what happened in a recent special election for State Senate in New York. In both cases, the local blogs brought to attention stories that the mainstream media ignored, and they ignited local readers to become local activists. I guess The Albany Project makes a huge difference in New York State, and all of us know in California just how instrumental the local netroots was in taking down Richard Pombo.

But of course, these aren’t the only examples of the local netroots making the real difference. After all, everyone here in Orange County knows that without the stellar coverage of local blogs like The Liberal OC, the Tan Nguyen psychodrama would have never become such a huge story. And of course, stories like Claudio’s “Ignorance to Enlightenment” series at Orange Juice have jump started countywide discussions on the intersection of faith and politics. Oh, and if you need another good example of what happens to a politician who ignites the fury of the blogosphere, see what’s been happening to Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen.

So what does this all say? It says that local blogs can be quite instrumental in influencing the political dialogue online AND offline. It says that local blogs can be key in making or breaking a local politician’s career. It says that just as all politics is local, all local politics can be strongly affected by what’s happening on the local blogosphere.

So what does this mean for us? This means that we should not be afraid to tackle local issues, and discuss local politics. Local affairs may not be “sexy” enough for the big national sites, but it’s the local politics where the local netroots can have the biggest impact.

Don’t believe me? Ask the New York State Democratic Party, or ask Richard Pombo, or ask Janet Nguyen (or Tan Nguyen for that matter!). They can tell you all about it. : )

California

And what if it doesn’t pass? Looking at new leadership

4 Comments

So, I know the Senate President Pro Tem, Don Perata, and the Speaker of the Assembly, Fabian Nunez, are operating on a principle of confidence in their upcoming victory on term limits. But, given the budget debacle, that doesn’t seem a lock at this point.

In the most recent issue of Capitol Weekly, the best gosh-darned weekly on California politics, Anthony York takes a look at fundraising totals for clues as to who might make a run at the leadership positions in each chamber:

A  look at the fundraising totals provides a pretty good clue as to who is in the top tier of contenders to replace Núñez and Perata. Leading the way is Freshman Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, a close ally of Núñez and organized labor. The caucus’ second-leading fundraiser, Culver City Democrat Karen Bass, also has close labor ties. And, like De Leon, Bass is frequently mentioned as a possible successor to Núñez.
***
That’s true in the Senate, as well, where Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, showed $484,323 on hand. Steinberg’s most frequently mentioned challenger for the job, Los Angeles Sen. Alex Padilla, has $332,523. But both were eclipsed by San Francisco Sen. Leland Yee, who has $529,826 and Chino Sen. Gloria Negrete- Mcleod, who has $525,176. (CapWeekly 8/2/07)

But, that can’t be the only measure, or else, well, we are confined to being governed by and for AT&T and Chevron.  So, who provides the right combination of progressivism and fundraising ability? Follow me over the flip

Well, let’s start in the Senate, Darrell Steinberg would certainly be a good start. Obviously he’s not bad at raising the dough, but he’s also been a pretty solid progressive vote, scoring a 95 on Capitol Weekly’s scorecard. Sen Padilla has at least 7 years left in office, so would be able to “reign” for quite a while.  Of course, one more name should be thrown into the mix, that of the winner of SD-03. The winner in the bloody primary will likely emerge as the one of the most prolific fundraisers in state legislative history and will be able to gain some attention for that alone.  And, oh, by the way, 3 of the four announced candidates in the race are progressive.  Other candidates may be in the works, and some of them are unfamiliar to me. So, Mr. Kronenbourg, you want to give me a call and we can talk about whether you are a progressive or not?

Now, as for the Assembly, the obvious candidates would be the Majority Whip, Fiona Ma, and the big fundraiser Kevin De Leon. Karen Bass, the majority leader, and only non-freshman in the group that gets mentioned, made a damaging vote on the tribal compacts which might create riffs with the labor community. De Leon has a perfect progressive CW-score, and Ma is only slightly behind. As to who would actually make a progressive Speaker and work for the people, well, there are few of the people-powered variety in our legislature. And for that, we have many reasons to blame, ourselves included. You can blame our expensive media, and our campaign finance rules too. How sweet would some clean campaigning be right now?

Anyway, what do you think? Who would make a great legislative leader?

Uncategorized

Things I am Thinking About: Yearly Kos Edition

5 Comments

This needs to get out of my system before I can move on to other topics, like the still missing budget.  It’s going to be pretty linky, but hey I am a blogger not an op-ed columnist.

Topics covered below the jump: diversity, Paul Hogarth and Clinton, the media and local blogging.

  • Diversity.  kid oakland did an amazing job with limited resources to bring 17 bloggers, including our own Matt Ortega to the convention.  This column in the WaPo does a good job at getting at some issues that we are struggling with coming out of the convention.  See also Jen’s post on Open Left and Chris Bower’s insightful piece today.  Bottom line, we need more action to increase the diversity in the blogosphere, with specific steps for outreach than has happened in the past.

    Here is an excerpt from the WaPo article, featuring our very own Jenifer Ferandez Ancona

    Jenifer Fernandez Ancona, who is part Latina, attended a panel on Friday called “The Changing Dynamics of Diversity in Progressive Politics,” organized by Cheryl Contee, an African American woman. Ancona works for Vote Hope, a California-based activist group, and said one reason she came to Yearly Kos was to get an answer to this question: “Why is the blogosphere, which is supposed to be more democratic, reinforcing the same white male power structure that exists?”

    Everyone agrees it’s a problem, yet no one is sure how to address it. Historically, the progressive movement has included a myriad of special-interest and single-issue groups, and the challenge has always been to find common ground. The same is true on the Internet, but with an added twist. The Internet, after all, is not a “push” medium like television, where information flows out, but a “pull” medium, where people are drawn in.

  • Paul Hogarth’s question for Clinton.  Paul has a recommended diary at Daily Kos right now on the question he asked of Clinton during the breakout session.  He was the only one to get an aggressive question and it was a good one.  It has sparked a great deal of controversy over what Clinton was trying to do with her time at the convention.  Ari Melber has an excellent overview of the convention at the Nation.

    Yet Clinton strained to mold her meeting back into a controlled event. She was the only candidate to use her staff as a buffer, tapping her Internet director, Peter Daou, to pick questions and bringing three other senior aides onstage, though none of them spoke. She filibustered most of the time, taking more than eleven minutes to answer the first question alone–a simple query about fixing the unpopular No Child Left Behind Act. That softball came from an official with the National Education Association, who either didn’t know or didn’t care that this scarce time was carved out for bloggers and activists without insider access, not for interest-group sponsors.

    Then Clinton only took five more questions. Iraq never came up. Instead, the issues were the Military Commissions Act, domestic spying, gays in the military, mass transit and, in the most revealing exchange, how a second Clinton Administration might break with the centrist legacy of the first. Paul Hogarth, a 29-year-old California blogger for BeyondChron, asked if Hillary would repeal NAFTA, welfare reform, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) or the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Clinton strongly defended DOMA–saying only that the provision hindering federal benefits should be axed. She conceded that NAFTA did not achieve all its aims but offered only “labor and environmental standards” and more “ongoing monitoring” of the effect on working people. She depicted welfare reform as a net gain and then ducked the Telecommunications Act altogether, telling attendees she was no expert and “you’ll have to ask Al Gore” about it, since he oversaw the issue for the White House. Trying to pin one of her husband’s controversial policies on Al Gore–the antiwar, green, tech-savvy hero of the blogosphere–at a netroots convention is probably the single most tone-deaf thing Clinton has done this year, but few attendees appeared to dwell on it.

    Hogarth was not impressed, saying her answers deserved a D grade. “People are really nostalgic about the Clinton years based upon who is President now,” he said, yet “Bill Clinton got re-elected by completely betraying Democrats on everything they stand for.”

  • Journalists and bloggers.  Best headline of the day has to go to my uncle “Why Do We Suck? and Other Questions Political Journalists Asked Themselves at YearlyKos”.  The Chronicle article on Hillary aside, the media coverage of the convention was rather good.  I know of a number of people that had conversations with very knowledgeable and interested journalists.  While we were a curiosity and they discovered we were not rabid sheep last year, they were much more engaged in figuring out how and why we were effective this year.

  • Local blogging.  There were a number of great sessions on the unique struggles of state blogging.  It was an excellent opportunity to do a broader sharing of best practices that kid oakland has started with Blogs United.  Calitics is on the cutting edge in a number of regards, but we have a lot to learn from other folks.  We are behind in terms of regional diversity, engagement with politicians and frankly traffic.  There is a lot of work to be done, but I learned a lot at Yearly Kos and feel confident we will grow exponentially between now and the next convention.
Uncategorized

California Democrats and the FISA bill

2 Comments

A tiny little ray of sunshine in the dark cloud that is the FISA bill is that the California house contingent all voted against the bill’s passage. Have you thanked your congresscritter for voting against the bill, to reinforce their courage to do the right thing next time?  Ok, good.

Now for the bitter  — let the California legislators who let us down let them know we’re watching…

(If you haven’t been following the story closely, this is the best explanation of how the FISA bill eviscerates the fourth amendment.) Read it, breathe, take a walk around the block, and then read on after the flip.

Have you written Nancy Pelosi to express your outrage and disappointment that the Democratic majority we elected to the house is failing to uphold the constitution? Pelosi herself voted against the bill — but as majority leader, she wields control over which bills get voted on. She was complicit in getting the bill passed. 

Now, after the bill has passed, and the administration has been given six months of unchecked power to spy on Americans without warrants — she is encouraging the house to revise it. Remind her that voters are watching and demand that she live up to this commitment.
http://www.speaker.g…

Also, some more obscure California-facilitated skullduggery and villainy on the Rules committee. Before the House passed the nasty Senate bill, they actually voted on a less noxious house version of the bill. This bill allowed for the surveillance of foreign-to-foreign calls that routed through the US, but it didn’t bypass the courts. 

The bill failed 218-207. What??!! That bill was set up to require a 2/3 majority to pass.  By contrast, the toxic bill went through on a simple majority.  The rules favoring the bad bill were rigged by the Rules committee. 

There are two California reps on the Rules committee: Doris Matsui and Dennis Cardoza. Are either of them your rep? If so, call them and ask them what happened, and how it came to be that the bad bill was greased.

Superb detective work from Pow Wow over at FireDogLake uncovered the procedural work that got the bad bill through.

http://www.firedogla…

Finally, Senator Feinstein needs to hear once again that she is not representing her state when she votes in favor of warrantless wiretapping.  I don’t know who or what she’s not representing but it’s not us.

Thanks for letting the legislators know we’re watching.

There are a few plausible explanations why the Democratic contingent is acting so spineless.  One, that they are still mesmerized by the Bush adminstration’s rhetoric of fear.  Hearing from voters will help them be more brave.  Two, they have their eye on 2008, and don’t want to take risks in 2007. Well, we’re the netroots, we help democrats get elected, and we’ll be much more motivated to help when we see the folks we support act like Democrats and Americans.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Budget

Getting That Next Vote On the Budget

36 Comments

( – promoted by Robert in Monterey)

A couple of days back, Robert posted Budget Update: One Vote Closer, One Vote Away.  It was an interesting discussion, and I'd like to follow up a bit on it, since we're in a position to start acting on some of the ideas that came up.  The biggest news was also from Robert — there's an effort to recall Jeff Denham, one of the 14 GOP Senate  hold-outs and probably the most politically vulnerable of the bunch.  Go to the flip for how best to Dump Denham.

A short summary of where we're at with the bill. Abel Moldonado, who's up for reelection this year, has flipped to our (and ironically enough, Arnold's) side on this.  This leaves 14 GOP Senators who are on the Other Side on this issue.

The San Francisco Chronicle, very helpfully, lists them all for us, including their phone numbers:

Fourteen of the 15 Republican state senators voted against the budget. Abel Maldonado Jr., R-Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), voted for it along with the Senate’s 25 Democrats. Here are the 14 holdouts:

Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine, Senate Republican leader
Age: 64
Birthplace: Long Beach
Education: UC Berkeley, Hastings College of the Law
Elected to Assembly in 1995, Senate in 2000
Previous occupation: attorney
Contact: (916) 651-4033, [email protected]

Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto
Senate Republican whip
Age: 56
Birthplace: Long Beach
Education: MAI-RM professional designation, Appraisal Institute
Elected to Assembly in 2000, Senate in 2006
Previous occupation: real estate appraiser
Contact: (916) 651-4014, [email protected]

Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley (Nevada County)
Age: 61
Birthplace: Bismarck, N.D.
Education: UCLA, Golden Gate University
Elected to the Assembly in 1998, Senate in 2002
Previous occupation: oral surgeon
Contact: (916) 651-4004, [email protected]

Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield
Age: 53
Birthplace: Long Beach
Education: College of the Sequoias, Cal State Bakersfield
Elected to Assembly in 1996, Senate in 2002
Previous occupation: county supervisor
Contact: (916) 651-4018, [email protected]

James Battin, R-La Quinta (Riverside County)
Age: 45
Birthplace: Billings, Mont.
Education: University of Oregon
Elected to Assembly in 1994, Senate in 2000
Previous occupation: advertising executive
Contact: (916) 651-4037, [email protected]

Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks (Sacramento County)
Age: 69
Birthplace: Holdenville, Okla.
Education: University of San Diego, Golden Gate University
Elected to Assembly in 1998, Senate in 2004
Previous occupation: businessman
Contact: (916) 651-4001, [email protected]

Jeff Denham, R-Salinas
Age: 40
Birthplace: Hawthorne (Los Angeles County)
Education: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Elected to Senate in 2002
Previous occupation: agricultural businessman
Contact: (916) 651-4012, [email protected]

Robert Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga (San Bernardino County)
Age: 56
Birthplace: Lincoln, Neb.
Education: Los Angeles Valley College
Elected to Assembly in 2002, Senate in 2004
Previous occupation: real estate investment/management
Contact: (916) 651-4031, [email protected]

Tom Harman, R-Huntington Beach ( Orange County)
Age: 66
Birthplace: Pasadena
Education: Loyola University School of Law, Kansas State University
Elected to Assembly in 2000, Senate in 2006 (special election)
Previous occupation: attorney
Contact: (916) 651-4035, [email protected]

Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta (Riverside County)
Age: 40
Birthplace: Hemet (Riverside County)
Education: Cornell University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Elected to Assembly in 2000, Senate in 2002
Previous occupation: farmers’ representative
Contact: (916) 651-4036, [email protected]

Bob Margett, R-Arcadia (Los Angeles County)
Age: 78
Birthplace: Los Angeles
Education: UC Berkeley
Elected to Assembly in 1995 (special election), Senate in 2000
Previous occupation: retired contractor
Contact: (916) 651-4029, [email protected]

Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks (Ventura County)
Age: 51
Birthplace: White Plains, N.Y.
Education: UCLA
Elected to Assembly in 1982 and 1996, Senate in 2000
Previous Occupation: taxpayer advocate
Contact: (916) 651-4019, [email protected]

George C. Runner Jr., R-Lancaster (Los Angeles County)
Age: 55
Birthplace: Scotia, N.Y.
Education: University of Redlands, Azusa Pacifica University
Elected to Assembly in 1996, Senate in 2004
Previous occupation: educator, businessman, mayor of Lancaster
Contact: (916) 651-4017, [email protected]

Mark Wyland R-Solana Beach (San Diego County)
Age: 60
Birthplace: Escondido (San Diego County)
Education: Columbia University, Pomona College
Elected to Assembly in 2000, Senate in 2006
Previous occupation: small business owner; Escondido Union School District Board trustee
Contact: (916) 651-4038, [email protected]

In the previous thread, modem points out that Ackerman, Battin, Margett and McClintock are term’ed out, and can’t be pressured by running someone against them. And the districts are fairly well gerrymandered, so the remaining districts are not really competitive.

Still, two points of pressure remain.  Many of these districts are in the Central Valley, and as sylvestrie points out in our Spanish language edition, not only are the cuts the Cavemen are seeking bad for the sick, the old and poor, it is also gratuitously anti-Mexican.

In addition, Jeff Denham, who ran as a relative moderate in a district that includes Salinas and Modesto, is an ambitious guy and appears to be preparing a run for Lt. Governor.  Herein lies an opportunity.  Denham is trying to throw some good solid chum out to GOP activists by tacking right.  So a campaign’s been started to recall Denham.

I’ve been told that some of the local labor people are concerned about diverting resources to this, which is not a foolish objection.  But I think it’s our best chance to make a difference, for the following reasons:

  • It creates a simple rallying cry on the issue, and lets us put a face on GOP obstructionism.

  • People from outside the district can help publicize this, and people within can handle the recall petitions.

  • As this picks up steam, it gives a press hook for covering the story.

  • It will make an example out of Republican politicians who run right in the primaries, center on the general, and right when elected.

A relatively simple site is up at http://www.dumpdenha….  The site’s a bit lame (apologies to the webmaster if you’re reading this, but if you are: help is available!), and needs content, but that can be fixed.

In addition, I understand that getting Maldonado to switch required a fair bit of community organization: people calling churches, local groups, and so on.  That needs to happen here, as well.

Putting enough pressure on Denham may or may not get him to switch, but I do think that if we cause enough trouble, it will encourage the Republican leadership in the Senate to cut their losses and settle much quicker than otherwise.

Uncategorized

Stop NCLB!!!

NCLB is destroying public education and doing irreparable harm to children.  California children are hit particularly hard because California has set very high passing rates and implemented about a kazillion curriculum standards per grade level.  I encourage everyone to talk to classroom teachers and students to see how it is affecting classrooms across our state.  I also encourage everyone to visit http://www.educatorr… and sign their petition and to watch this video http://www.youtube.c….  Both will give you an idea of how teachers feel about this heinous piece of legislation.

I am a public school teacher in Southern California and will be writing more about education in this space.  Your first homework assignment is to learn about the education/testing related corporations that have donated to Representative George Miller’s campaigns.  That should help you understand a little better why he is pushing to renew NCLB with minor changes.

Bay Area

Update on Ellen Tauscher on Impeaching Gonzales

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Photo Source Representative Ellen Tauscher (CA-10th) in blue.

Many of you responded to my diary last week My Democratic Congresswoman Claims Alberto Gonzales Cannot Be Impeached! .

Recap (Again this is cross-posted at DailyKos):

A) I sent Representative Ellen Tauscher an email asking her to initiate impeachment proceedings against Gonzales. She (or her staff) responded via email (and again when I phoned them) that

The Attorney General serves at the pleasure of the president in a non-impeachable office. Unless convicted of an illegal act, the Attorney General cannot be removed from office without the president asking for or accepting his resignation.

B) After re-reading the U.S. Constitution, and posting here for feedback from others I concluded that Tauscher was quite wrong on this urgent point. I sent her local office the following:

1) A copy of the American Bar Association‘s “Impeachment: A Look at the Process. (Hat tip to MLDB)

2) A copy of Professor Frank Bowman’s NYT Op-Ed piece “He’s Impeachable, You Know”. (Hat tip to 8ackgr0und N015e)

3) A copy of the Constitution (because she obviously needs it).

4) A copy of my original letter requesting she start impeachment proceedings against Gonzales.

5) Her office’s response that Gonzales is not impeachable.

And as advised by mmacdDE, all pertinent excerpts are HIGHLIGHTED IN YELLOW!

Here’s the text of my 2nd letter to her:

Dear Representative Tauscher,

I received the enclosed email from you (or one of your staffers) in response to my message about impeaching Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (also enclosed). I was quite startled to read your claim that Gonzales is “not impeachable”. According to the U.S. Constitution he is (please read enclosed documentation). I’m hoping that your staff simply got confused about this very serious situation and sent the wrong information to me, your constituent. A good read-through of the materials I’ve been studying myself will correct that error for my neighbors and others who write to you about this.

If you yourself responded to my letter then I respectfully request that you immediately study the enclosed documents regarding Congressional impeachment of “civil officers”. It seems very clear to me (and to the American Bar Association, and to Professor Frank Bowman, all enclosed) that Mr. Gonzales is indeed impeachable.

I therefore again request that you begin impeachment proceedings against this man. He’s either lying to Congress (a triple felony) or he’s incompetent. Either way Mr. Gonzales is endangering our democracy every day he stays in office.

Please act as my reprepresentative in this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Emily Duffy

I just received Tauscher’s response to my packet. There was a lot of repetition from the first form letter (why Gonzales is so bad, how she’s watching him carefully etc.) but this part was new, and probably as close to humble pie as she can swallow on this huge error:

I apologize for inaccuracies contained in any earlier correspondence. I want to set the record straight on my actions. I am a co-sponsor of two bills to remove Gonzales from office. On May 22, I co-sponsored H. Res. 417, which declares that the House of Representatives and the American people have lost confidence in Attorney General Gonzales. It calls on the President to nominate a new candidate capable of serving as the head of the Department of Justice. Additionally, I am a co-sponsor of H. Res. 589, introduced yesterday by Rep. Jay Inslee of Washington, which directs the House Judiciary Committee to initiate an impeachment investigation of the Attorney General. The resolution requests a formal investigation of the facts surrounding the Attorney General’s actions in order to allow Congress to determine whether articles of impeachment are appropriate.

My friends, don’t let ANYONE ever tell you that you have no political power. Here is your proof that something as simple as a letter to your Congressperson could change their position on a crucial issue (from impeachability-denier to impeachment-bill-co-sponsor in two easy steps).

I’m sure plenty of you will be angry at reading Tauscher’s lame inexplicable apology, and in a perfect world I would be as well (at least she didn’t try to lay it at some hapless staffer’s feet). I’m thrilled she changed her official position on this issue. Many of Tauscher’s votes piss me off but if she’s able to adapt to the rising power of the true political center (which is way left of her former position) then I’m willing to let her keep her job. But, the moment she slips back into DLC behavior, she’s an election target (and I think she is beginning to understand that). The key to this entire episode is that I’ve come to realize it’s MY DUTY to keep her on track.

No doubt the clout of my fellow Kossacks forced Tauscher to immediately examine her claims about Gonzales’ un-impeachabilty and for that I greatly thank you. Tauscher seems willing to mend her Blue Dog ways (time will tell) and no doubt we (collectively) can pressure the rest of this misguided pack to join her in moving towards the base. Or they can start packing their bags.

Meteor Blades provided the list earlier today. If your Representative is on this list, you need to get up in their face!

Be sure to sign John Edwards’ petition. They plan to

…send one copy of the Constitution to Gonzales’ office for every person who signs our petition. If we reach our goal of 40,000 signatures, we will add all the names to the biggest copy of the Constitution you have ever seen – and send that to his office too!

Uncategorized

Prop. 13 for Community Colleges?

Don Perata has called the following proposal “Prop 13 for Community Colleges.” It will be appearing on the February ballot

* Guarantees minimum funding for growth
* Guarantees $15 per unit fees that can only rise with the cost of living
* Guarantees a system of independent community college districts

Attorney General Summary:

Establishes in state constitution a system of independent public community college districts and Board of Governors. Generally, requires minimum levels of state funding for school districts and community college districts to be calculated separately, using different criteria and separately appropriated. Allocates 10.46 percent of current Proposition 98 school funding maintenance factor to community colleges. Sets community college fees at $15/unit per semester; limits future fee increases. Provides formula for allocation by Legislature to community college districts that would not otherwise receive general fund revenues through community college apportionment. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Potential increases in state spending on K-14 education of about $135 million in 2007-08, $275 million in 2008-09, and $470 million in 2009-2010, with unknown impact annually thereafter. Annual loss of fee revenues to community colleges of about $71 million in 2007-08, with unknown impacts annually thereafter.

What do you think? I am undecided

Uncategorized

Yearly Kos: Exhaustion and Potential

15 Comments

It’s probably too early to fully process all that went on this weekend at Yearly Kos.  Plus, I have to admit that I am exhausted, having stayed up to the wee hours of the morning talking with some amazing individuals, including a number of the tight knit California blogosphere.  It is incredible to me that it was only at last year’s Yearly Kos that I met Todd Beeton and David Dayen.  We have come so far since then, both in terms of friendships, accomplishments and the deployment of many innovative things here at Calitics.  The whole ActBlue staff individually told Brian that they use his Calitics ActBlue page YouTube video in trainings.  I lost track of the number of people that were thrilled to hear that Calitics is now available in Spanish.

I keep trying to start a coherent and hopefully insightful post, but I am just so fried.  However, you really do need to see this SF Chron article from yesterday titled “Local blogs are key to future of politics“:

Tom Mattzie, Washington director of MoveOn.org, the 3.3 million-member online activism hub, said smaller bloggers “are going to gain a lot more importance in the upcoming elections.”

Here’s how: A blogger writes about something going on in his community, say plans for a local development to be built on toxic ground – the kind of story many large newspapers rarely break nowadays. Residents start complaining about the issue at local meetings. Soon, the buzz generated causes the local press and perhaps other larger bloggers to pick up on the issue, and the government is forced to respond to their inquiries.

Something similar happened in the Bay Area. In October 2005, Paul Delehanty, an Oakland resident better known in the liberal blogosphere as Kid Oakland, rallied local progressives to head east through the Caldecott Tunnel to unseat then-Rep. Richard Pombo. Environmentalists had railed against the Tracy Republican for years for his anti-environmental views but had not been able to unseat him.

But many were initially inspired when Delehanty wrote on his blog, “We all live in Richard Pombo’s district” – as in the Earth.

“That line got me really motivated,” said Eden James, who lives in Alameda and is a fan of Kid Oakland.

So motivated that James volunteered for Jerry McNerney, the Democrat who upset Pombo. Now, James is McNerney’s online communications director.

The media is starting to get it no?

We have a strong local blogosphere here in California and we are going to continue to grow.  I may be frustrated at the pace of change, but I have to keep reminding myself that we are a nascent movement.  Where we are now compared to a year ago is incredible.  I expect to feel the same way after next years Netroots Nation Convention (yes they changed the name).  So safe travels home everybody.  I look forward to having the brainpower to write a more detailed post and hear everybody else’s perspective on what they learned and how we are going to move forward.

Blog Roundup, Budget

August 5, 2007 Blog Roundup

Today’s Blog Roundup is on the flip. Let me know what I missed.

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here and do what comes naturally.

Feinstein’s Betrayal

[I generally
refrain from editorializing in the blog roundups, and there are a
couple less outraged posts in this list, but I want to answer a
question that CANNONFIRE asks.  The reason that Nancy Pelosi
takes the blame right along with Feinstein, even though Pelosi voted
against the legalization of Bushco’s warrantless wiretapping, is
because Pelosi is the Speaker
of the House.  Did any bill, any bill at all, get
to the House floor while DeLay and Hastert ran the show if they didn’t
want a vote on it? I think not. One might think that a majority of the
majority rule for floor votes might actually be appropriately applied
to, oh I don’t know… not legitimizing lawbreaking by the unitary
executive.]

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