Shane Goldmacher writes in the SacBee’s Capitol Alert (free-subscription only):

The 30-second TV spot is positive in nature, featuring the San Francisco assemblyman speaking directly into the camera about lobbying money, ethics reform and universal healthcare.

Here is the ad and email from Assemblyman Mark Leno:

I want to be certain you saw our first TV ad that is now airing. We are receiving a very positive response from those who have seen it, and I think you will like it too.

I need your help now more than ever, to make sure we can keep this ad up and place others on the air. Your $1000, $500, $250, or $100 contribution will go directly to buying air time for these ads. Your generous contribution will go directly to communicating our winning message to voters and leading us to victory.

We can and will win this race that has entered the final stretch. Our recent polling shows this is now a tight race between a moderate candidate who recently entered the race and myself.

We are doing what we need to do to win. I recently received San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s endorsement. We have opened a campaign headquarters in Marin County. We are precinct walking and phone banking.

Please consider contributing $1000, $500, $250, $100, or the most generous contribution you can before Monday’s financial filing deadline:

http://www.actblue.com/page/march17

Let your voice be one of many giving us the tools to reach even more people.

-Mark

(Thanks CDP. – promoted by Bob Brigham)

With nine regions of the California Democratic Party having held pre-endorsement meetings last night and the other twelve regions scheduled to hold theirs on Saturday, I thought it might be helpful to offer my best/simplest explanation as to how the CDP endorsement process works. Frankly, it’s not all that simple, so hold onto your hat.

Before I get started, just to be very clear, when I talk about DSCC (Democratic State Central Committee) members, here’s what I’m talking about. There are approximately 2800 DSCC members statewide, and they come from each of the following groups in about 1/3 proportions:

• Each central committee elects DSCC members from its membership (four per central committee as a base, and then an additional one for every 10,000 Democrats in the county)
• There are twelve AD delegates from each and every one of 80 Assembly Districts, elected in January of every odd-numbered year, who become DSCC members
• Finally, all Democratic electeds and nominees are members and additionally appoint 2-6 DSCC members apiece.

Taken together, these are the people who vote and conduct CDP business at the State Convention.

Now for the endorsement process.

Endorsements for partisan offices will take place at the State Convention in San Jose, March 28-30.  This year, that will be all ADs, ½ of the SDs (odd-numbered districts), and all CDs.  Before that, though, on either March 13 or March 15, depending on where you live, there are pre-endorsement conferences.

Here’s how it works. Voters in the pre-endorsement conference are comprised of any DSCC members, central committee members who are not DSCC members, and designated representatives of chartered clubs and organizations who live within the district being considered. The number of designated representatives allotted to each club is determined by applying a formula to the number of members of each club.  

All of these folks will meet at their pre-endorsement conference (they can Vote By Mail, though not by proxy, especially as there may be time conflicts between the AD, SD or CD conferences). Candidates who are seeking a CDP endorsement must have registered with the CDP and have paid a $50 registration fee which may be paid at any time up to the conference for their race.

At the pre-endorsement conference, each candidate will be allowed to make a two-minute speech. Then a roll-call vote will take place, with the convener reading out VBM ballots.  Only one vote will take place. At the end of voting, the votes for each candidate and for “no endorsement” will be tallied.

If a candidate receives 70% of the total votes cast, s/he will be recommended for endorsement and his or her name will be put onto the consent calendar to be ratified at the General Session of the State Convention on Sunday, March 30.

If no candidate reaches the 70% benchmark, the conference will have taken the position of “no recommendation” for endorsement.

If one candidate receives over 50% but less than 70%, that race will be considered at an endorsing caucus to be held at the State Convention from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 29.

If no candidate reaches the 50% level at the pre-endorsement conference, then there will be no caucus at the State Convention, and there will be NO ENDORSEMENT in that race.

Now, if a candidate receives 70% of the votes at the pre-endorsement conference and is placed onto the consent calendar, that candidate’s name CAN BE REMOVED from the consent calendar and an endorsing caucus required IF 20% of the DSCC members from the district or 300 DSCC members at large challenge the candidate’s placement on the consent calendar by filing a letter of objection with the State Chair no later than ten days before the start of the State Convention (this year that date is March 18).

Once the process gets to the endorsement caucuses at the State Convention, the number of participating voters shrinks, with ONLY DSCC delegates from within the district (or their qualified proxies) allowed to vote in the caucuses.

So on Saturday, March 29, from 4:30-6:00 p.m., endorsement caucuses will be held for the following races:

• Races where no candidate received 70% of the pre-endorsement conference vote but one candidate received over 50%
• Races in which no quorum was present at the pre-endorsement conference
• Races in which a candidate received 70% of the pre-endorsement conference vote but a proper challenge was filed.

Because no VBM is allowed at the convention, caucuses will be held simultaneously in like districts, e.g., all ADs, then all SDs, then all CDs. A tentative agenda will be posted at the Convention and DSCC members will receive instructions in their registration packet indicating the location of their endorsing caucuses (if any).

At the endorsing caucus, the numbers required for endorsement change: Non-incumbent candidates will need 60% of the vote and incumbents will need a simple majority to secure the caucus recommendation for endorsement. Only one vote per district will be taken. A candidate who reaches the required threshold will receive the caucus recommendation for CDP endorsement.

At this point, there is a mechanism for challenging the endorsing caucus’s recommendation. After the endorsing caucus makes its recommendation, a formal objection may be filed.  It must be signed by at least 300 credentialed members of the DSCC on a form which will be available at the end of the endorsing caucuses and must be filed with the State Chair no later than 11:00 p.m. on Saturday evening. If a formal objection is filed, each candidate is entitled to designate one observer who may be present during the verification process.

Finally, those candidates who have been recommended for endorsement at either the pre-endorsement conferences before the convention or by the endorsing caucuses at the convention will go onto the consent calendar to be ratified by the convention body in the General Session on Sunday, March 30. Even candidates that received 70% at the pre-endorsement conference and did not have their race challenged are not endorsed until the vote on the consent calendar takes place on March 30.

As a disclaimer, the information I’m providing is my best understanding of the process.  The CDP Bylaws, of course, supersede any representation that I’ve made here.

If you have any questions about how the whole process works, I’ll be happy to try to answer them.

Penny

Online Organizing Director

California Democratic Party

(strong stuff from our netroots candidate, Ron Shepston.  His candidate website is here. – promoted by David Dayen)

I haven’t been around much in the past few months. In fact, I’ve been busy getting ready for our bust-out campaign. Call time and endorsement pushes are very time consuming especially when you have to still work to put food on the table. With this post I am back.

Today, I called on Rep. Gary Miller (pg2) to reimburse the taxpayers $1.28 million for an earmark that he placed in the 2005 Highway bill.

I am sick and tired of letting career politicians who care more about their personal business than the peoples’ business run our country.  

For those of you that don’t know the Gary Miller story, in 2005, Rep. Miller inserted an earmark into the Highway bill.  This earmark paid for street improvements near Diamond Bar Village.  This is a local commercial and residential development.

The catch? The development is co-owned by Mr. Miller and his largest campaign contributor, ,Lewis Operating Corporation.

I don’t think our tax dollars should be used to personally enrich Gary Miller or his biggest campaign contributor. According to law, Members of the House are prohibited from, “taking any official actions for the prospect of personal gain for themselves or anyone else.”

This is not the first and only time Rep. Gary Miller has blurred the lines.  In a 2006 LA Times story, members of his Congressional staff say there was “never a clear line between what was Congressional business and what was just business.  The expectation was that you would do both.” (The Times link is dead. If you have it please let me know.)

The problem for Gary Miller is, there is a clear line between right and wrong and he’s crossed it.

Here is what we want to do.  Our goal is to raise $16,384 to help defeat Rep. Gary Miller.  That’s 128 contributors at $128 dollars per donor.  But I realize $128 is too much for many people so here’s how you can let everyone know that you want to highlight Gary Miller actions – add $1.28 to each contribution. If you want to help hold Gary Miller accountable then contribute now.

When we launched this campaign we did it because we believed it was time to hold Gary Miller accountable.  We believe that it is time for the first candidate for a federal office from the netroots to run for Congress.  

We need your help right now.  Sign up and Contribute. Link to this diary and tell our friends. I promise that I will work hard each and every day and build a local grassroots campaign for Congress that has not been seen in Orange County in a long time but I need your help. I can’t do it without you.

This is actually a pretty important weekend for Congressional and legislative Democratic candidates across California.  State party delegates will get together tonight and Saturday in pre-endorsement conferences to vote whether or not to endorse particular candidates for the June primary elections.  There’s been a lot of organizing to woo delegates into endorsing one candidate or another, even in races where there is no opponent.  Every delegate gets one vote in Congressional districts, Senate districts and Assembly districts, based on where they live.  These endorsements become the official Democratic Party endorsement if a candidate receives 70% of the vote (If a candidate gets between 50 and 70 percent, it goes to caucuses at the state party convention in two weeks). UPDATE: That’s the short version; the long version is below.  

And then their names get sent out on all Democratic mailers, and that’s not a little thing.  Endorsed party candidates are in a very strong position.  It doesn’t mean the voters won’t have their say, but it’s a big help.  In fact, there’s a credible argument to be made that the party shouldn’t endorse one Democrat over another in a primary.  But that’s the system we have now.

Throughout the weekend, it’d be good to hear from those party officials and delegates with reports on who, if anyone, received endorsements in the various districts.  I’m particularly interested in AD-80, AD-78, SD-03, and some of the Congressional seats with multiple candidates like CA-24 and CA-42, among others.