Campaign finance reform has been bubbling as an issue for a number of years.  And any time someone manages even a small step forward, you know you’re going to have the big money corporations, the Club for Growth, and all other manner of rich righties lining up to defend their right to freely spend their money on as much questionable propaganda as they can muster.  Normally the battle lines are pretty clear on this, ideologically speaking.  That is, of course, unless you subscribe to Sen. Carole Migden’s particular brand of “progressivism”.

After the Fair Political Practices Commission barred her from accessing more than $640,000 from an old campaign account because, well…she didn’t transfer it out of her Assembly campaign account before she left the Assembly (whoops), she sued to get it back.  Free political speech, her argument goes, trumps playing by the rules.

And today, a District Court judge agreed.  U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Brennan granted a temporary injunction against the FPPC’s locking of the account:

“I think serious questions have been demonstrated here as to the constitutionality, as to the manner in which the statute is being applied” by the FPPC, Brennan said at the end of an hour-long hearing.

Migden’s attorneys claim the regulation is to prevent termed-out legislators from plundering their campaign funds for personal use, saying “Migden ‘is not here asking the court, ‘Please allow me to use campaign funds on a new car.'”  (Nevermind that you never know when she might need a new car)

The FPPC claims that she still won’t get her mitts on the money because she’s violated other regulations too (specifically, multiple bank accounts for one campaign committee).  Migden’s lawyers shot back that they’ll just keep suing until they get the money, a plan which, I’m sure, won’t add any motivation to the FPPC’s $9 million countersuit against Migden for assorted sketchy (and allegedly not allowed) finance issues.

So our saga continues.  After getting her CDP endorsement shot down convincingly (71.3% of the floor) on Sunday, Migden has a brief glimpse of a recovery thanks to throwing campaign finance regulation under the bus for her personal benefit.  One thing that struck me about her, ahem, perplexing implosion over the weekend was that it was the worst possible time for it.  2,000 delegates trapped together in San Jose for two days is not the time to give people something to talk about.  Right after being repudiated by those same people seems an odd time to throw progressive principles by the wayside in the name of political survival.

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Woodland Hills), the Sierra Club California, Environment California, Coalition for Clean Air and Clean Power Campaign today delivered the following letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stating why they oppose giving nuclear power a second chance. The Governor earlier said nuclear power has a great future because it has no greenhouse gas emissions and it’s clean.

Edit by Brian: See the flip for the letter.

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

We are very concerned you are pushing the idea of giving nuclear power a second look as an answer to global warming when California has made a commitment to supporting other alternative energy solutions like wind, solar and geothermal technologies for the past four years.

Nuclear power comes with a vicious pollution cycle. The production process of mining uranium to fuel nuclear plants requires massive diesel powered machinery that grossly pollutes the air. The mined uranium would then have to be shipped to the United States in large, diesel powered ships and reprocessed into nuclear fuel in pollution producing coke ovens.

Nuclear power is expensive. It costs $10 billion dollars or more to construct a single nuclear power plant. Construction is so expensive that no utility is willing to undertake the endeavor without massive subsidies.  Additionally, nuclear power plants are so risky that for the last 50 years the federal government has had to provide liability protection for plant operators to cover potential disasters. That does not inspire confidence in a state like California. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, California is filled with thousands of identified and unidentified earthquake faults capable of causing a 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

The California Legislature enacted nuclear power plant safety laws in 1976. These laws have served us well. Before new nuclear plants could be built in California, we would need to repeal those laws and give up the protection they provide. One of those laws prohibits construction of new nuclear plants until there is a proven means for safe dispose of the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel the plants produce. In the 28 years since those safety laws were enacted, we have come no nearer to a solution to the nuclear waste disposal problem today than we were then. And remember, that spent fuel has a lethal half life of 500,000 years.

Today there is highly radioactive waste stored at four nuclear plants in California including two that were shut down more than two decades ago. That’s because the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission still hasn’t provided a disposal facility for the toxic waste at Sacramento’s Rancho Seco plant and PG & E’s Humboldt Bay plant. On California’s pristine coast nuclear material is being stored on-site at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon nuclear plants.

If Californians give nuclear power a second chance we will be moving in the wrong direction and relying on false promises. Today, even during a housing and economic slump, homeowners and businesses are turning to affordable, safe, clean and dependable energy in huge numbers.

In fact, the renewable energy legislation you have signed into law has given California the greenest, most environmentally friendly portfolio in the country. With inflation factored in, retail electricity prices have decreased by 10.7 percent while California made an aggressive commitment toward renewable energy and other clean sources of electricity.

California’s new renewable energy market has broad economic value and it is cost effective. It allows renewable companies to compete keeping the economy robust and creating thousands of jobs just like the technology industry in the Silicon Valley. With economic indicators pointing toward a dismal year, the jobs created by clean energy can help counter the downturn in the housing and financial sectors.

As the solar industry is proving, renewable energy costs less with time and improvements as opposed to nuclear power that has only become more expensive over the years.

Nuclear power has no future in California’s new energy era. It is dirty, dangerous, too expensive and cannot exist without massive taxpayer subsidies.

We agree with the recent Los Angeles Times editorial asking you to fully employ the safer, quicker, cheaper and cleaner alternatives such as solar and wind power.

Sincerely,

Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Woodland Hills)

Chair, Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee    

Jim P. Metropulos

Senior Advocate

Sierra Club California

Bernadette Del Chiaro                                                  

Clean Energy Advocate                                                

Environment California                                      

Tim Carmichael

Senior Director of Policy

Coalition for Clean Air

V. John White

Executive Director

Clean Power Campaign

 

Saturday night at Fiona Ma’s karaoke hospitality suite, Dante dedicated The House of the Rising Sun to (still) Senator David Vitter.  That was the first reference I heard all weekend to New Orleans, after a long day and a half of speeches that did give a lot of attention to national issues like Iraq and the crashing economy.

I hadn’t been listening for it, particularly, but I was struck that New Orleans wasn’t a bigger topic – that this particular national disgrace had somehow gotten buried under all the others.  It seemed like something we “just don’t talk about” – like a problem for which nobody has any answers and which we all just wish would go away.  And it’s going away; for a lot of the city’s former residents, of course, it’s gone.  But we must remember, so that it doesn’t happen again (and by “it,” of course, I mean not a hurricane, but criminal lack of preparedness and failure to react, respond and recover); we must remember, to finally make whole the lives of our fellow Americans whose homes were taken from them, flattened, and turned over to wealthy developers for more profitable enterprises.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen, speaking Sunday morning, was (to the best of my knowledge) the first speaker to bring up New Orleans; when I thanked her for doing so as she made her way through the convention floor she said she had been to New Orleans recently for a convention and gone out to see the Ninth Ward.  Kudos to Debra Bowen, whose job has nothing to do with disaster relief, nothing to do with the Gulf Coast, for caring enough about the right issues to bring that issue forward in her speech.

Art Torres briefly mentioned New Orleans a little later, and finally former President Bill Clinton served up some good words on the topic; I was happy to hear this as well.

In a political environment filled with critical issues – Iraq, global warming, administration assaults on the Constitution, torture, media consolidation, election integrity, a ruinous economy, just to name a few – we must somehow make room to give some attention to New Orleans, and I’m happy to report that the CDP did so last weekend.  It’s not enough, of course – New Orleans needs more than just attention – but I’m glad to know that we haven’t completely forgotten it.

(Congrats to Mr. Hedrick for endorsing the Responsible Plan. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

When I began my campaign last year to represent California’s 44th Congressional District, I was motivated by the many policy failures of the Bush Administration embraced by the incumbent congressman. These included the President’s failure to provide a universal health care proposal, an education program designed to undermine our public schools, and trade agreements that have killed good jobs for working families. But personally, for me and my family, the most egregious disappointment has been this Administration’s failed policy in Iraq.

Edit by Brian: See the flip.

Like hundreds of thousands of other families with loved ones in the military, we have been keenly interested in this President’s course of action. Today my son is serving a second deployment with the Army’s 3rd ID east of Baghdad. Another son and daughter-in-law have served in Iraq as well. As a military family, we support our troops 100%; however it is past time to bring all of our sons and daughters home. This mission must be brought to a close.

Our fighting men and women have performed admirably in a tremendously challenging

environment and the U.S. military has already achieved its stated goal-defeating Saddam’s Army. Our troops verified long ago there were no weapons of mass destruction. There has been no need to stay in Iraq. However, our occupation has come at an enormous cost to our military, our economy and our national prestige. This ruinous war must end so that our military may be restored before they are needed to respond to real threats that may be thrust upon us.

This unilateral and preemptory war has damaged long-term American interests. The situation in Iraq will only improve when the Iraqis take responsibility, and that will not happen as long as our military remains there.

One year of the cost of this war could have funded health care, affordable housing, port security, university scholarships, and so many other services. Instead, we have purchased ill-will, less security for our citizens, and a weakened economy.

I endorse and support “A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq” as a blueprint for a safe and orderly end to our military occupation. I look forward to working with congressional colleagues to implement the Plan and bring our troops home!

First off, video from Friday and Saturday at the convention has been posted by the California Democratic Party.  Check it out!

Meanwhile, we’re updating our First blog round-up with more links. Let us know if we’ve missed yours.

From California Progress Report

Award to Gavin Newsom at Convention: Mentor of the Year to the California Young Democrats

The California Democratic Party Convention Video on Demand is our site of the day

Jerry Brown’s Speech, the 2010 Governor’s Race, and Reflections on the California Democratic Convention

California Democratic Party Convention for 2008 Ends with No Endorsement in Migden-Leno Race–And a lot more

And here’s a great quote from Frank’s post:

The convention had an unusually high attendance of 2118 registered delegates, surpassed only by last year’s convention in San Diego where the major Democratic Presidential candidates, Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Dodd, and Richardson appeared.  […]

We’ll have more wrap up articles on the convention, which saw more bloggers and journalists writing on line credentialed as media than the traditional print, television, and radio journalists.

Bottom line: The party adopted a new platform, grassroots Democrats were pumped up for the year’s elections with enthusiasm to turn blue seats in red territory, have over $6 million in the bank and have had a very good first quarter in raising money (in contradistinction to the bankrupt California Republican Party) and are in a great position for the November Presidential Election.  (Emphasis added)

Migden-Leno Endorsement Fight May Overshadow Bill Clinton Speech at California Democratic Party Convention Today

John Garamendi’s Address to the California Democratic Convention

From Daily Kos:

leekfink: California Democratic Convention

hekebolos: This is what happens when bloggers write the Platform!

kid oakland: a report from the convention

dsharma23: Clinton’s Attempt to Strong-Arm CA Superdels

dday: Bill Clinton about to speak at the California Democratic Party convention

Ron Shepston for Congress: CA 42: Me, Bill Clinton & Obama

From MyDD:

Todd Beeton: CDP Convention: Bill Clinton

kid oakland: California Democratic Party Convention: San Jose

Todd Beeton: CDP Convention: Kamala Harris

From the Courage Campaign

“More and Better Democrats”: From the 2008 California Democratic Party Convention

From The Liberal OC:

From the Floor of the CA Dem Convention

CA Dem Convention Webcast

From Calitics:

Meet The Candidates: Charlie Brown and Russ Warner

Post-Convention Thoughts

Devine Musings on Senate District 3

Endorsements are now being considered

Bill Clinton speech

“Just Chill Out”

What a difference a DAY makes

Thoughts about last night, with pictures

Day 3 thoughts

2008 CDP Platform Final Report

SD-03: Going to the floor

Busby for CDP Chair?

Liveblogging SD-3 Regional Endorsement Meeting

McNerney an initial no-show/Newsom’s speech

Day 2 quick thoughts

Some more CDP photos

Migden’s meltdown

From Kid Oakland:

Sunday Morning at the California Democratic Party Convention

California Democratic Party Convention: San Jose

From d-day:

Debra Bowen Floor Speech

Liveblogging Convention Sunday

From Sweet Melissa:

Live from The Donkey Show: Nerd Wars

Live from The Donkey Show: Presidential Bitchfight

Live from The Donkey Show: Kamala and me

From The People’s Vanguard of Davis:

Photos from the Democratic Convention

Live From San Jose Democrats: A Party United

Who are the People in Orange Shirts?

Cabaldon wins Next Stage with 69% of Vote

Cabaldon’s Campaign Breakfast

Live From San Jose… The Vanguard Follows the 8th AD and More

From MOMocrats:

California Democratic Convention: Who Wants to Be Governor of California?

Go Read It: California Democratic Convention Thoughts and Photos

and it feels like hope

Future Governor of California San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom?

MOMocrats arrive at the California Democratic Convention

Where are the MOMocrats this Weekend?

And there are more photos at Flickr from Glennia of MOMocrats.

From Xiaolin Mama:

Phil Donohue and the “Body of War”

CA Democratic Convention Day 2

CA Democratic Convention: Asian Pacific Americans impacting the politcal landscape

Nancy Pelosi up close

Momocrats in da house

From SoCal Mom:

Conventional Wisdom

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

From CityMama:

I’m at the California Democratic Convention this weekend

California Democratic Convention: some photos

From The Politics of Kethryvis:

Adjournment

Floor fights are rad

FLOOR FIGHT! FLOOR FIGHT!

The best unity statement of the whole convention

Bill speaks

Bowen learns from others

Obama supporter takes the stage

Support out in force

The fight is on

Less Security than the Airport

plugging

Proud to be a Democrat, pt. 2

Unity

The next generation

Interesting sights

And this may be my favorite quote from the convention…

I’ve also noticed you can really tell the Internet Media types from the rest of the media. We’re the ones with jeans, tshirts, and a much more casual air about us. We don’t need that little white “Internet Media” sticker on our credentials. We stand out anyways. But that’s not necessarily bad. It’s been interesting though. Sitting in the press area today, people kept asking me who I wrote for, what my blog was. I felt a bit uneasy telling them I write on my own blog on LiveJournal. Nothing wrong with it of course, but it did make me feel a bit like I don’t belong. But I do, and the CDP thinks I do. So that’s all that matters.

It takes a lot of voices to get a story out. I’m proud to be among them.  (Emphasis added)

From the California Majority Report:

BREAKING DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: 289-742 Against Endorsing Migden

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: SF District Attorney Harris Urges Convention-goers to Unite Behind Obama

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: Leno Signature Gatherers Pushed Out of Convention Center Hotel

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: Leno, Migden, and Nation Supporters Duel at Convention

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: Let the Gubernatorial Pre-Primary Begin — Westly, Brown, and Newsom Rumblings

From Steve Sloan, SJSU Tech on a Mission:

End of the CA Demo Convention Day Two

Sunday morning at the CA demo convention

Reflections of a tech geek on the convention

End of the CA Demo Convention Day Two

From the California Democratic Convention Floor

Going to the Democratic convention

More photos at Flickr from Steve Sloan  along with coverage from his Twitter feed

From ImTedGreen:

I’m of two minds on President Clinton’s speech

State Senator Carole Migden and Assemblymember Mark Leno

A shout out to Bloggers Row at the CDP convention

The Write Wing

From The Watchtower:

Hospitality Suites at the CDP Convention-Why Bother?

From Mike’s Daily Lockup:

Live from San Jose

From Bang the Drum:

County Conventions Liveblogged on Twitter

From A Progressive Alamedan:

My Report on the California Democratic Convention

From Greg Dewar:

Blogger Coverage of the California Democratic Convention This Weekend

From Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:

Blog: California State Democratic Convention in San Jose – Day 2

Blog: California State Democratic Convention in San Jose – Day 3

From California High Speed Rail:

HSR at the Democratic Convention

From California Notes:

AD-08: Cabaldon’s endorsement being challenged.

Yamada remains confident as party endorsement goes to Cabaldon

Flickr pix from Randy Bayne

From Miss Wild Thing:

Democratic convention Calif style

Penny

Online Organizing Director

California Democratic Party

( – promoted by David Dayen)

As far as an overall take on the convention I would pretty much associate myself with Robert’s remarks.  Ultimately these events are more important for the time-honored political practice of networking, of meeting and gathering impressions on colleagues and candidates for the future, not in a formal speech setting but one-on-one.  While these endorsement fights and resolutions and platforms get the attention of the activists and insiders, and as well you can pretty fairly judge the activist/establishment gaps in the party in this fashion (the activists got virtually everything they wanted in this convention, particularly with respect to the platform), ultimately it’s about people.  And at Calitics we were determined to bring that experience right to you by collecting audio and/or video of some of our most promising Congressional candidates.

First up are Charlie Brown and Russ Warner, but before that I wanted to sketch out some of the other candidates I met over the weekend:

1) Bill Durston (CA-03): We have an audio interview with Dr. Durston, an emergency room physician and a Vietnam combat vet.  Unfortunately the audio might be a little heavy on the background noise, so let me offer this.  While I’ve heard from some that Durston may be preaching too much to the choir and not going after Dan Lungren supporters, I feel he certainly would be credible if he chose to do that.  Durston is pretty progressive, and his views on health care (he supports single payer and does so from experience) and Iraq (he opposed it from the beginning and speaks powerfully on the morality of war) are compelling.  As I’ve been noting, CA-03 is a changing district, with more Democrats than any Republican-held seat in the state, and hopefully more to come before November, so this is an opportunity to offer a real contrast to Dan Lungren and roll the dice.  Durston is running on Iraq, health care and the environment (Lungren has a worse environmental record than even Richard Pombo by some measures) and we’ll see if he can gather support.

2) Debbie Cook (CA-46): Audio and video of our interview to come.  Cook, running against certified loon Dana Rohrabacher in a district mostly in Orange County and part of Long Beach, is running on the environment, but not as an advocate against global warming necessarily.  She is on the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO-USA), and really is passionate about moving to a post-carbon future and radically reinventing our energy infrastructure.  When I asked about carbon taxes or cap and trade systems, she really looked beyond that debate about greenhouse gas emissions and toward a debate about sustainable living.  This is about land use, about smart growth, about living closer together, adopting mass transit, eating locally grown foods, reorganizing society to deal with the prospects of a world without as much oil.  It’s an interesting message for a Congressional campaign, especially when going up against someone who speculates that global warming may have been caused by dinosaur flatulence.  But Cook also supports the Repsonsible Plan to End the War in Iraq and understands the post-carbon fight as a national security and an economic issue as well.

3) Russ Warner (CA-26): We have full video of this.  I’ve seen Russ speak on a number of occasions, and let me say that I’m very impressed with his maturation as a candidate.  He’s more than ready to stand on a stage with David Dreier and go toe-to-toe with him.  And there’s a new passion to his message, including his belief that the Bush Administration is waging an effort to “destroy this county from the inside out,” that is uncompromising.  Warner will make Iraq a front-and-center issue in his campaign, along with health care and the economy (his answer on the housing crisis and the financial mess was pretty good).  This is a race we’ll all be talking about soon.

4) Charlie Brown (CA-04): WE’ll have full video of this, but for the moment we have a couple bits and pieces.  Listen to this part, when I ask how he’ll deal with the expected “anti-government” message from the Republican he’ll have to face in November, and you’ll see exactly why those military veterans support Brown and rebuke those career politicians who claim to want to represent them.

There’s another four-minute clip here.

Overall I think we have an excellent crop of candidates.  I was only able to talk briefly with some of them but I’ll be following up in the weeks to come.  Ultimately the fight for progressive change must not end at a convention but be wrested away at the ballot box.  These are some of the leaders trying to do just that.