When the Governor and the Legislature last reported in on the subject of the budget, they slashed Medicaid funding and other big expenses to get us down to a $8 Billion deficit. Turns out that was still using the Department of Finance‘s rosy revenue projection.  Arnold is now claiming it’s more like $10 Billion:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday the state budget deficit will be “probably more than $10 billion” in the next fiscal year as the state takes in lower than expected revenues in a flagging economy.

A $10 billion gap would be at least $1 billion more than previously predicted for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The Republican governor, addressing a district attorneys’ conference in Sacramento, blamed budget formulas that lock in spending increases and a downturn in the economy related to problems in the housing market.  (SacBee 4/25/08)

Ah, yes, those damn increases that increase aid to California’s most vulnerable at the pace of inflation. With rising global food prices and shortages, now is a great time to cut benefits.

Thing is, you can’t separate the economy and the budget problem. Our revenue system is just too cyclically dependent upon the economy. So, yup, this is another bubble burst, so another bad deficit.

One thing that I didn’t see in that article, was where Arnold mentioned how much he hated the “car tax.” Specifically, how much better off California is for not having the VLF.  Because having to deal with budget deficits is waaay better than not having to slash through state services so Republicans can get some “budget reforms.” You want budget reforms? How about this one: Let the majority rule!

Last night the Amador County Democratic Central Committee held their annual fundraiser dinner in Jackson. Even though Republicans outnumber Democrats in Amador (9,378 to 7,161 or about 11%) there was a large and enthusiastic turnout for the event. As you can see, there were probably 125 people in attendance.

EDIT by Brian: Flip it.

 

Calitician Randy Bayne, who is Chair of the Amador DCC, acted as host for the evening.

The evening’s extra special guest speaker was none other than both large and small-d Democratic heroine Debra Bowen. She spoke at length about the challenges she faces in ensuring that every vote is counted.

Bowen particularly stressed how her approach to the Secretary of State job was influenced by the events in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. As she watched the Secretaries of State in those two states, who both served in highly political roles as state co-chairs for the Bush campaign, she vowed that as SoS in California she would do her utmost to insulate herself from partisan political activity so that the integrity of the voting process would be above reproach.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Bowen doesn’t support the election of Democrats throughout the state. But she clearly feels that she can be of most service by leaving the campaigning to others and focusing on her role with as much impartiality as possible. Nevertheless, Bowen encouraged us to get busy working on behalf of candidates throughout our districts, exhorting the audience (and I’m paraphrasing), “Your job is to get the votes for Democrats; my job is to make sure those votes are counted accurately.”

Bowen also told the audience about her shock and delight at receiving the phone call from Caroline Kennedy (“I nearly fell off my chair!”) informing her that she had been selected to receive a Profile in Courage award. Personally, I can’t think of a better choice.

One other thing that stood out about the evening was how incredibly gracious Debra Bowen is. Before dinner was served, she circled the room and greeted the guests at each and every table. After her speech, she again visited every table, handing out what seems to have become her trademark – Hershey kisses.

Penny

Online Organizing Director

California Democratic Party

XPosted 4/25/2008 10:36 AM PDT on MyDesert.com in blog by BluePalmSpringsBoyz

Been away on vacation and come back to major doin’s on the 80th Assembly District campaign trail.  Nicole Brambila (staff writer for The Desert Sun) penned an interesting article today (on mydesert.com) that explains that the Fair Political Practices Commission needs more time to investigate the claim by Greg Rodriguez, candidate for the Palm Springs Unified School District, Hillary Clinton delegate to the Democratic National Convention this summer in Denver, and a supporter of the Greg Pettis for 80th AD that the Victor Manuel ‘Slick Manny’ Perez campaign violated campaign ethics.

Here are portions of Brambila’s article:

The Fair Political Practices Commission requested more time to look into whether it will investigate a formal complaint against an 80th Assembly District candidate (Perez).

Greg Rodriguez, who supports Democratic candidate and Cathedral City Councilman Greg Pettis, filed the complaint against Democratic candidate and Coachella school board trustee Manuel Perez on April 4, accusing him of failing to disclose who paid for his campaign advertising…

More below the flip…

Now, it seems that Dale Wissman, a supporter of Perez and a labor relations representative with the California School Employees Association, filed a FPPC complaint against Richard Gutierrez, another Democratic candidate for the 80th AD.  This after the Perez campaign went off the deep edge about the Rodriguez complaint.  Interesting, what apparently is good for the goose has become good for the gander.  The Perez campaign complaint against Gutierrez claims that Gutierrez had not submitted semiannual and pre-election campaign statements nor disclosed contributor information.

The FPPC was created in a ballot initiative in 1974, investigates violations of the Political Reform Act and can assess a $5,000 administrative penalty. A violation of the political reform act is a misdemeanor.

The only other Democrat in the June primary race is Rick Gonzales, a community development manager for Wells Fargo.  Apparently, the Perez campaign also has plans for Gonzales, according to my source at Palm Springs Village Fest last evening.  In my estimation, the Perez campaign has suffered greatly in the past weeks under the examination of the media regarding Perez’ failures as Vice-President of the Coachella Valley Unified School District.  Recently, the State of California placed only the CVUSD out of 97 Districts threatened under trusteeship for the CVUSD board and Superintendant’s failures to achieve academic goals under the Federal program “No Child Left Behind.”  And, recently, in a significant blow to the Perez campaign, two of his colleagues on the CVUSD endorsed Gonzales for the 80th AD race.  Seems that even his acquaintances and friends are questioning Perez’ capabilities and accomplishments!

The presumptive Republican candidate, former Palm Springs Police Chief Gary Jeandron, is running unopposed and has his own problems.  This blogger has reported extensively regarding Jeandron’s failures on the Palm Springs Unified School District as it was also threatened with trusteeship for academic failures and for his failures as Palm Springs Police Chief in his failure to develop and institute an significant department program to address the problem of crime in the neighborhoods or to deal with the methamphetamine crisis in Palm Springs.  Jeandron has consistently been an absense on the PSUSD and in the PSPD in the development of any program that would help to achieve community goals.

The campaign intensifies and fur flies.

Most Californians are sure that their election is over. All the media coverage is blaring babble from the most recent presidential debate in distant states as well as other inane minutia that denigrates the process.  

Yet, if you look closely, really closely, you may find evidence that there is yet another election coming up here in June. Yes, June 3rd to be exact.

This season, in spite of the state being billions of dollars in debt, and the cries of horror about budget cuts, our state legislators gave us the special treat of spending double on TWO elections!!!.

And the citizens who ARE paying attention to the obscure references to the June 3rd primary are again faced with figuring out who is worth voting for, if anyone.

With little information in the mainstream media, many turn to their local Democratic Clubs and special interest groups for guidance. Or, they look to their Democratic party. This guidance most often comes in the form of the last minute slate mailers, the topic of this conversation.  

But IS the endorsement of the club or party truly well thought out? And DOES it actually represent the opinion of the regular club membership? And how many members are actually involved in any of these clubs? Or, has the endorsement been manipulated by the last minute sign-ups that dump cash into the club the day before the membership cut-off date for eligibility to vote? Then, a busload of “new members” appears for this one event.

From my vantage point in the San Fernando Valley, I can assure you that the custom of stacking-new-members-just-in-time-for-the-endorsement-vote is alive and well in the 40th Assembly District race. The four Democratic candidates are Laurette Healey, Dan McCrory, Stewart Waldman and Bob Blumenfeld.

The season opened with the Young Democrats of the SFV and a ground war between two guys who both think they are entitled to the Assembly seat in the 40th AD (that’s mid-SFV from Van Nuys out to West Hills). These “Young Dems,” by the way, are heavily sprinkled with incumbent politicians’ staffers. Stewart Waldman, the former staffer for the incumbent in the 40th AD, snatched this one away, having been the founder of the group. He’s too old to be a member now, but says strong ties to many board members got him the endorsement.

Then came the bruiser at the Valley Grassroots for Democracy (yea, right…democracy). Not to be outdone here, the Bob Blumenfeld team, led by the incumbent’s dad, thought they had this one knocked. They’d spent a lot of time gathering together new members who drove in to vote, but low and behold, there was an uproar from the regular membership when they were handed the letter Blumenfeld had sent to stack the club:

“I’m writing to see if you’d be willing to help me stack the room for some upcoming Democratic Club Endorsement meetings…

    – Bob”  (openly admitted he sent this, saying that Stewart had “done it first” at Young Dems)

As it turned out, the leadership, that seemed to be totally on board with this stacking ploy, ultimately chose to cave in to the demands of core members and issued a “no endorsement” for this race.  Grassroots indeed!

Losing that one, the “Berman machine” (and it includes more than Howard, the Democratic congressman who votes with the Republicans on Iraq war issues) turned up the steam to steamroll the insiders of the Democratic party into “choosing” HIS STAFFER at the pre-endorsement caucus.

That’s the official party endorsement, not to be confused by any others that use “Democratic Party” in their name (e.g., DPSFV). The party chooses one Democrat in the field of many Democrats and puts the official seal of approval on that one…which he/she then uses in their slate mailings that arrive just before election day.

To understand this convoluted process is an exercise in near futility. It seems that elected officials anywhere in the state can send in delegates to vote for a candidate.  Huh???  Running that by again, elected politicians from OUTSIDE the district can send delegates in to vote. So, in spite of it being a Democratic primary, these elected Democrats are unwilling to allow the democratic process to take place. They step in with their pre-selected favorite based on…..what???

And send in they did. The twenty-seven “chosen” joined with a measly four from the district activist pool to vote for Bob. At the caucus, the vote was one short of sending it to the convention for the endorsement. After all ballots left and went to Sacramento, wonder of wonders, Blumenfeld was now having his name put in for endorsement. This was stopped in its tracks by the concerted efforts of Waldman and Dan McCrory (another in the race) and the 468 delegates who signed their petitions to send the carefully engineered endorsement of Bob to the floor for a vote. It lost. No Democratic Party endorsement for anyone in the 40th AD. Add one strike for “nobody” and chalk one up for grassroots democracy. The plea was to allow the voters of the district to decide. What a unique idea!

Which brings us to the latest travesty of this election, the last minute delivery of 80 (or 83, depending on source) applications of new members to the Stonewall Democratic Club hours before the closing of membership for voting purposes. The daddy mentioned before (dad of incumbent who is running the campaign for his son as well as the anointed replacement for son, the Berman staffer) has his operative from the club rush in his credit card to PAY for these new members he’s collected to stack the endorsement meeting. Yes, at $25 a pop, that’s $2000. The county chair, who’s also a Stonewall member, says “there is absolutely no prohibition whatsoever about this in any bylaws.”

So, voters who want to use a “trusted” club endorsement, what do you think? Is it okay for a political operative to gather up a busload of people to drive in and vote in the club meeting on endorsements and then disappear??? And for this particular race, the 40th Assembly District, this highly unethical (if legal) stacking of new members will result in an endorsement bought and paid for by a political campaign consultant if existing members to not step in and say, “Enough!”

D-Day to see the fireworks over this one is Monday, April 28. For those in the L.A. region who want to come observe the drama it’s at 7:00 PM at the West Hollywood Park Auditorium, 647 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood (between Santa Monica Blvd. and Melrose Ave.)

Lest you think that this is an isolated incident, we have the latest breaking story from Randy Bayne’s blog up north (http://bayneweb.com/blog/?p=1005) on an even worse example. The West Sacramento Dems had 700 (yes, seven hundred) new “members” brought to them by their local endorsement buyer. Now they cannot conduct business since they are unable to reach a quorum with the new higher membership that is in NUMBERS only. They can’t even meet to try to change their bylaws!

So we are left with this. Manipulation of the clubs by politicians or their hired hacks.  Not real residents who care about the club. Not real activists who are working within the club on issues of common concern. Not real citizens concerned about the community.  Just people who are “hired” to go to a club ONE TIME solely for the purpose of delivering the club endorsement to the ethically-challenged buyer.

And the clubs who allow this are obviously complicit. New members, even if only there once, mean more money. Of course, there MUST be some within each club who disagree with this state of affairs, but certainly not enough, or this would not continue year after year.

Our so-called democracy has taken an incredible beating these last years. Many look to the Democratic party as their only hope. And many of those many will be disappointed. While it would be nice to think that one could look to someone else to do the heavy lifting involved in maintaining the democracy, the reality is that it’s you who must step up to the plate and make time to participate and do in-depth research on these people we entrust with our future.

Time to start tossing all those last minute endorsement slates as the pieces of trash they are. Certainly not worth the paper they’re on. And certainly nothing to base a vote on.

And for those who continue to think that they are too busy in their own little worlds, or that they can’t make a difference, or that their vote doesn’t count, we are left with the words of George Bernard Shaw:

Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

###

Full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign

When nobody was paying attention, Blackwater found another way into San Diego.  After watching every friendly politician in Potrero get recalled handily in February, Blackwater West quietly started pursuing permits to open a facility in the City of San Diego just three blocks from the U.S/Mexico border.  61,600 square feet, zoned for a vocational school but which Blackwater plans to use for training Navy personnel in terrorism response.  To echo recent comments by Councilmember Ben Hueso to local news, Blackwater has no business in the City of San Diego unless and until someone can say definitively what laws they are bound by.  And certainly, setting up shop on the border raises all sorts of extra red flags.

The local response has been fast and furious this week.  And thanks to leadership from Congressman Bob Filner, there will be a rally at the proposed site of the new Blackwater facility tomorrow (Friday) morning.  Rep. Filner will be joined by Councilmember Ben Hueso, San Diego City Council President Scott Peters, Carol Jahnkow of the Peace Resource Center, Raymond Lutz of Citizens’ Oversight Projects, and Sierra Club’s Jeanette Hartman at 10:45am at 7685 Siempre Viva Road in Otay Mesa in opposition to Blackwater’s latest shady dealings.  Blackwater discovered once that San Diego isn’t friendly territory. They’re sticking around for a reason, and best guess is, it’s not just for a Navy subcontract.

Among other organizations, the Courage Campaign is encouraging all local San Diegans to attend if they’re able.  If you want to read the email from Rick Jacobs, you can check it out here.