Readers and bloggers have criticized the campaign in the 80th Assembly District as negative, nasty, and non-issues oriented.  This is the beginning of a series of blog posts on the reasons to support Greg Pettis, Cathedral City Councilman and former Mayor Pro-Tem of Cathedral City, in his race to become the Democratic nominee in the 80th AD.  Pettis has the support of every Democratic Club in the 80th AD that has thus far endorsed, including the Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club, the Desert Stonewall Democratic Club, the Inland Stonewall Democratic Club, Palm Springs Democratic Club, the Pass Democratic Club, the San Diego Democratic Club, and the San Diego Democratic Women’s Club.

In addition, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, the California League of Conservation Voters, California National Organization for Women, Equality California, HONOR PAC, Progressive Majority, amongst others, have endorsed Pettis based on his governmental experience, his achievements in the areas of healthcare, the economy, and the environment, and his plans for success in the 80th AD once elected.

According to the The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund website, The Victory Fund believes

“that true equality for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons will come when talented, committed and qualified openly LGBT individuals step up to lead their communities, to add their voices to the American political debate, and to show that what they want for their own families is the same as their straight colleagues; freedom to live their lives honestly, without fear and with hope.”

More below the flip…

More on The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund:

“The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund is the nation’s largest LGBT political action committee and the only national organization dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBT elected officials at all levels of government. Since 1991, the Victory Fund and its national donor network have helped hundreds of openly LGBT candidates win election to local, state and federal offices.

“The Victory Fund provides strategic, technical and financial support to openly LGBT candidates and their campaigns. The Victory Fund staff of political professionals helps to recruit and vet qualified candidates, train them, and assist them in raising the crucial funds required to run for office.

“In addition to providing funding from our political action committee, the Victory Fund cultivates a national network of donors whose commitment to its mission results in vital support for our endorsed candidates.”

Clearly, the Victory Fund believes that Pettis is a talented, committed, and qualified openly LGBT individual who has stepped up to lead Cathedral City and his community, who is best suited to add his voice to the American political debate, and to demonstrate that he wants freedom for the LGBT community to live their lives honestly, without fear and with hope.

Other Democratic candidates for the 80th AD, even were they members of the LGBT community, would not qualify for the endorsement of The Victory Fund, as Rick Gonzales, a housing developer for Wells Fargo, and Richard Gutierrez, a dentist, both openly state during candidates forums that they will oppose Marriage Equality on the floor of the California State Assembly.  Victor Manuel Perez equivocates, stating that he supports equal rights for all individuals, however, he refuses to publically state that he would vote in favor of marriage equality in the California State Assembly.

The Pettis campaign issued a Press Release on October 4, 2007, announcing the Victory Fund endorsement.  Here is the text of the PR:

PETTIS ENDORSED BY VICTORY FUND

Democratic candidate for the 80th Assembly District, Greg Pettis, pulled in a national endorsement today with the announcement that The Victory Fund is supporting his campaign.

The Victory Fund is the only national organization that is dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBT elected officials at all levels of government. In 2006, 67 Victory Fund endorsed candidates were elected to office.

“As someone who has stood up for the rights of all people and against discrimination in all forms, I couldn’t be happier to have this endorsement,” said Pettis.

Pettis, who is serving his 13th year on the City Council of Cathedral City, has rung up a string of impressive endorsements recently including the San Diego Democratic Club, the California Building Trades and the San Bernardino/Riverside County Labor Council.

“We’re building a strong base of support throughout California because my track record over the last 13 years is a good indicator that I’ll be able to help break the logjam in Sacramento on crucial issues like health care, economic development and protecting our environment,” Pettis said.

“With the support of groups like The Victory Fund, I’ll be able to take my message for a healthy California to all corners of this district.”

The Victory Fund joins a long list of endorsements for Pettis including AFSCME, the California Building Trades Council, Riverside/San Bernardino Counties Central Labor Council, San Diego/Imperial Counties Central Labor Council, Palm Springs City Councilmember Ginny Foat, Palm Springs City Councilmember Rick Hutcheson, Desert Hot Springs City Councilmember Karl Baker, Cathedral City Councilmember Paul Marchand, El Centro City Councilmember Sedalia Sanders, and former Coachella Mayor Juan DeLara.

Pettis is considered the Democratic frontrunner in the race to replace Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia (R), who will be stepping down due to term limits, thank God.  Pettis has raised more money and has more donors than all the other Democratic candidates combined based on the last filings with California’s Secretary of State.

(California Young Democrat leaders have begun organizing for AB 1819 on Facebook! – promoted by Bob Brigham)

While the California Republican Party is busy defending tax breaks for yacht owners, Democrats are busy working to decrease barriers to voting and increase participation in democracy. The California Democratic Party Platform even talks about increasing participation:

To promote honest leadership and open government, California Democrats will:

[…]

• Increase voter participation by advocating for extended voting hours and/or days, scheduling elections on weekends, or by declaring Election Day a holiday

While I agree that would be great, the current perspective of the CDP Platform is to seek increases in the percentage of participation among registered voters. Yet there is even greater potential to increase voter participation by reforming barriers to voter registration. This is the premise behind recent national legislation by Democrats in Congress and a bill by Assemblyman Curren Price for California.

These are two pieces of legislation that deserve to be followed closely, which means you’ll probably need to follow on the blogs as so far both reforms have been largely ignored by traditional media.

Federal Election Day Registration Legislation

If you want to increase participation in democracy and provide a crucial check on GOP efforts to disenfranchise voters, the most common sense reform available has already been proven effective:

Election Day Registration (EDR), also known as “Same Day Registration,” permits eligible citizens to register and vote on Election Day. Currently, eight states have EDR. A ninth, North Carolina, allows for Same Day Registration at early voting sites. EDR states typically boast voter turnout rates that are generally 10-12 percent higher than states without EDR, and report few problems with fraud, costs or administrative complexity. EDR significantly increases the opportunity to cast a vote and participate in American democracy.

This really is common sense. In the 2006 midterms, 40% of election news stories were aired in the final week — after the registration deadline in 42 states. Not only does EDR help new voters, but prevents disenfranchisement by allowing an easy remedy for voters who arrive at the polls only to find out there was a problem with their registration (the solution to Katherine Harris purges). Furthermore, this reform is more secure than mailed registration as the registrant is there in person and significantly reduces the volume of staff intensive provisional ballots.

Our friends at Progressive States (disclosure: I helped incubate the organization a few years ago) have been promoting EDR at the state level, but as much as I appreciate lateral redeployment of progress from state-to-state, we need to move forward nationally as all Americans deserve the benefits of such reform. That is why I was delighted to see that the day after the Bush Supreme Court ruled in favor of GOP disenfranchising voter identification laws, Democrats in Washington introduced federal Election Day Registration legislation:

U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) are introducing legislation to help more Americans register to vote by allowing Election Day registration at polling places for all federal elections. The Election Day Registration Act addresses chronic problems with the American electoral process – low voter turnout and archaic voter registration laws. Election Day registration is also seen as preferable to advance registration since voters are actually present when they register, reducing opportunities for fraud. The bill’s introduction comes days after the Supreme Court upheld an Indiana voter ID law that seriously impedes the ability of elderly and low-income Americans to vote. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Jon Tester (D-MT), who represent states that recently enacted Election Day registration, are also cosponsors of the bill.

“The right to vote is at the heart of our democracy, and we should constantly be looking for ways to make it easier for Americans to exercise that right,” Feingold said. “Election Day registration has worked well in Wisconsin for more than 30 years and is a major reason why Wisconsin is a national leader in voter turnout. By allowing people to register in person on Election Day, we can bring more people into the process, which only strengthens our democracy.”

“For over 33 years, Minnesota’s same day registration law has helped produce the highest voter turnout of any state,” said Klobuchar. “Same day registration works, it encourages people to be engaged and interested in the issues facing our country – this bill gives a voice to every American who wants to vote.”

Indeed, Senator Klobuchar is correct in the results and the comparison between states’ differing approaches to unnecessary voter registration deadlines is stark.

From Future Majority PAC’s EDR page

This is important federal legislation and is well worth spending a few minutes to contact your representative and our Senators to politely ask that they co-sponsor this legislation. Please leave a comment with any progress on this front as I’ll be keeping a list to mark progress in getting the entire California delegation to join up. This is a “no brainer” in the words of Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

California Assembly Bill 1819 to Expand Pre-Registration

In California, Assemblyman Curren Price is lowering barriers to participation at the other end of the registration window. His AB 1819 is an extremely forward thinking bill that could bring the youth organizing energy we’ve seen the last few cycles on college campuses into our high schools.

Progressive legislation, authored by Assemblymember Curren Price (D- Inglewood), that will allow young Californians to “pre-register” to vote at the age of 16 passed through the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee.

“Research shows that early involvement in politics leads to lifelong involvement,” said Assemblymember Price.  “Facilitating participation by younger voters empowers and engages our youth and ultimately strengthens our entire political process.”

According to the Secretary of State, more than 7.2 million eligible voters in California are not registered to vote – nearly one-third of California’s eligible voters.  Among young voters, participation is even lower – according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Census, more than 45 percent of eligible voters in California between 18 and 24 years of age were not registered to vote in 2004.  Furthermore, while participation by younger voters has increased in the last few elections, California ranks 36th in the nation for turnout among young voters.

As currently written, the bill would go into effect on January 1, 2010 and while I anticipate it would increase interest in that year’s midterm elections, the long-term effects of facilitating an expectation of participation in our high schools would be a boom for democracy. It is great to see AB 1819 co-sponsored by incoming Democratic Party leaders Karen Bass and Darrell Steinberg as I believe it is safe to assume California Republicans will throw a tantrum at the thought of expanding the pre-registration period from current law which allows pre-registration for those turning 18 prior to the next election. In fact, the bill was passed out of the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee on a party-line vote, with Republicans apparently having a problem with this:

Research shows that people who get involved in the political process at a young age are much more likely to become lifelong voters, so facilitating participation by younger voters can have positive long term effects on overall voter participation.

[…]

AB 1819 does not change the voting age, but by allowing 16 and 17 year olds to register to vote when they go to the DMV to get their first driver’s licenses, or when they are taking civics and government classes in high school, it will help those individuals take the first steps towards a lifetime of participation in our democracy.

I applaud Assemblyman Price’s focus on facilitating participatory democracy. With the Millennial generation the largest in our country’s history, such a focus will be felt decades down the road.

While we are lucky this cycle to have Barack Obama’s National Voter Registration Drive (beginning next Saturday with events in California from San Diego to Ukiah), it is legislation like this that will institutionalize increased participation regardless of the dynamics of a particular election.

And as long as Republican remains a slur, having more people vote will decrease the voice of yacht owners voting for tax loopholes. Which is why the GOP is fighting the idea of more people (who despise them) voting instead of reversing the actions that created the loathing. Until such an unlikely coming to terms with reality, removing barriers to voter registration will disproportionately benefit Democrats.

A near-term game changer for Democrats and a long-term game changer for democracy.

That’s the claim from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, which has a study showing how the gas tax cut will affect jobs in each state.

The assumption the AR&BTA is using is that the tax cut would blow a $9 billion hole in the federal transportation budget. Based on FY 07-08 expenditures CA’s share of that would be $664,406,924. The association then estimates that 23,107 jobs would be lost here in California – roughly equivalent to the proposed school layoffs – over the next three years.

No wonder then that local transportation agencies across the state are denouncing this foolish proposal. From Santa Cruz:

“It would deplete an already oversubscribed highway trust fund, making a bad situation worse,” commission Executive Director George Dondero said. “We’re trying to get the government to generate more money for transportation, not less.”

Dondero said he didn’t know how much the county could lose, just that “future projects would have to wait.”

Critics of the gas-tax break, including Clinton opponent Barack Obama, say it would have little impact on consumers, saving the average driver an estimated $30 over the course of the summer, and instead create a $10 billion gap in the federal highway trust fund, used for highway construction and maintenance.

Calling the proposal an “election pandering” tactic, commissioner and county Supervisor Ellen Pirie said it would benefit oil companies.

“There will be a lot of harm in terms of infrastructure projects and maintenance people want taken care of,” Pirie said. “It would be great if there were a way to reduce the price of gas. I know a lot of people are struggling with this, but I don’t think [the tax break] is an effective way to do this.”

Thanks to Daily Kos diarist Jimmy Crackcorn you can see just how much this pander will be worth to you with an online calculator. Plugging in my expected summer driving (75 mi per week) and car mileage (33 mpg) I get…$16!

Wow. A whopping $16. That’s maybe a dollar a week. And at the low, low cost of 23,107 jobs in our state during a recession and stalled transportation projects that if completed would help drivers save on gas for years to come. Of course, the lost jobs have a ripple effect on both state budgets (lost income tax revenue, lost sales tax revenue) and the state economy.

The real solution is, as I explained at my high speed rail blog last night, investment in things like trains. Thank god someone in this race is talking about that:

The irony is with the gas prices what they are, we should be expanding rail service. One of the things I have been talking bout for awhile is high speed rail connecting all of these Midwest cities — Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Louis. They are not that far away from each other. Because of how big of a hassle airlines are now. There are a lot of people if they had the choice, it takes you just about as much time if you had high speed rail to go the airport, park, take your shoes off.

This is something that we should be talking about a lot more. We are going to be having a lot of conversations this summer about gas prices. And it is a perfect time to start talk about why we don’t have better rail service. We are the only advanced country in the world that doesn’t have high speed rail. We just don’t have it. And it works on the Northeast corridor. They would rather go from New York to Washington by train than they would by plane. It is a lot more reliable and it is a good way for us to start reducing how much gas we are using. It is a good story to tell.

That was Barack Obama, giving impromptu remarks to an Indiana couple a few days ago.

A former Democratic rival endorsed Greg Pettis, Cathedral City Councilman and former Mayor Pro-Tem of Cathedral City, in his bid for the 80th Assembly District seat, according to The Desert Sun and the Pettis campaign.  Pettis already has the endorsement of every Democratic club in the 80th Assembly District that thus far has endorsed, including the Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club, the Desert Stonewall Democratic Club, the Inland Stonewall Democratic Club, the Palm Springs Democratic Club, the Pass Democratic Club, the San Diego Democratic Club, and the San Diego Democratic Women’s Club.

In addition, the former-candidate for the 80th Assembly District Mary Ann Andreas, former-President of the Sun City Democratic Club, Arnie Kaminsky, President of the Pass Democratic Club Jacqueline Atwood, Vice-President of the Pass Democratic Club Betty McMillion, the Treasurer of the Desert Stonewall Democratic Club Bob Silverman, the President of the Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club Will Pieper, Vice-President of the Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club Chuck McDaniel, Co-Chair of the Palm Springs Democratic Club Sandy Eldridge, Co-Chair of the Palm Springs Democratic Club David Pye, co-founder of the Palm Springs Democratic Club Lisa Arbalaez, former Co-Chair of the Palm Springs Democratic Club Robert Lee Thomas, Riverside County Democratic Central Committee Alternate Kira Klatchko, Paul Rasso, President of the Democratic Women of the Desert Nikki Stone, and other local Democratic activists have endorsed Pettis as the transformational candidate.

According to The Desert Sun reporter, Nicole Brambila,

Coachella City Councilman Gilbert Ramirez Jr., who was knocked out of the race for the Democratic nomination in March, threw his support behind the Cathedral City Councilman (Pettis) vying to replace outgoing Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City.

More below the flip…

The Desert Sun article continues:

Garcia cannot run again because of term limits.

“With our economy in recession and our kids facing budget cuts from Sacramento, we want leaders with a successful track record of showing up day in an day out and protecting vital services,” Ramirez said in a campaign press release.

“Greg not only has a track record of success creating jobs in Cathedral City, but also a sensible plan to cover every child with health care and to invest in our public schools. That’s the kind of tested and trusted leadership we need in Sacramento to turn our state in the right direction.”

Ramirez did not qualify for the race because he failed to get 40 Democratic nominating signatures. Only 33 of 68 of his signatures counted.

Pettis’ focuses on three major issues during the campaign, universal healthcare, the local economy, and the environment.  His ideas include:

Make health care more affordable and accessible by

Insuring every child

Expanding access to Medi-Cal and Healthy Families to cover those being priced out of the market

Protecting doctor choice

Encouraging preventative care

Working towards a universal health care system

Create good paying jobs and opportunities by:

Expanding enterprise zones

Micro-targeting loans to distressed communities

Supporting tourism and agriculture industries

Increasing investment in local higher education

Attracting green energy firms

Keep our air and water clean and protect our planet by:

Meeting the goal of 25% renewable energy by 2020

Expanding green building standards to reduce water use

Increasing recycling rates

Creating transportation options and pedestrian friendly neighborhoods to reduce sprawl

Protecting the Salton Sea from excess runoff  

Ok, so last week, I thought all this hubub about the Light Brown Apple Moth was much ado about nothing. I hadn't even seen one, and they didn't seem to be bugging me.  So, I didn't get what Arnold's big rush to spray pheremones or what not on to the Bay Area.

Things have changed. Last week a friend of ours was over at our house. It was a fine afternoon, the weather was nice, so we spent the time chatting outside.  We get to the conversation of this little moth. Turns out that our friend, a big shot lawyer at a video game company to remain nameless, is the patient zero of the Light Brown Apple Moth scourge upon her city.  She claimed they were all over her apartment, and sure enough, we went down there, and there they were. Sneaking around her place. I put the pieces together, she travels all over the world for work, and she has tons of them in her house.  How much more evidence do we need? Well, how much more was answered the next day when we saw some of the little buggers around our house.  Now the things are all over our house.  Apparently the've really taken to the Bay Area, and I'm pretty sure she's the vector.

Now, they don't seem to be really bothering me at this point here in SF, they're just annoying. But, I say, get some helicopters or bush planes, or whatever it takes, in the air, and let's get to dumping all sorts of chemicals on my fair city. What's a little caplet of inhaled pseudo-moth pheremones compared to some bugs in my house? What could possibly go wrong when we drop a chemical on to heavily populated urban areas? Really, I can't think of anything. Sure, some judge said the state can't spray, but whatever, let's do it anyway. 

Ok, I kid, but follow me over the flip..

The LBAM is an interesting parable of our increasingly globalized society. Bugs from other parts of the world are here. Some are annoying, and some are real problems. The problem with the LBAM isn't necessarily what it does or doesn't eat at this point, the damage totals are mere guesses.  But from most reports that I've read, it seems that the LBAM is a bad thing, but it is no MedFly. But what's more disturbing is the failure of the state and federal governments to have early warning systems and clear protocols that allow for public comment and discussion.

The LBAM was found by a retired UC-Berkeley entimoligist in his backyard, but nobody was actively looking. Nobody.  The next great super-pest could be reaching our shores today, and we likely wouldn't know for years. With the food supply getting tighter and tighter as the world's population grows, we need to learn how to better manage non-native pests. We need to be vigilant from a planning perspective at the front.  Because an ounce of prevention is worth a few tons of cure here:

The light brown apple moth, the ravenous crop-eating Australian pest detected in at least 11 California counties since mid-March, “was probably here a very long time prior to its discovery and it’s probably far more widespread than currently delineated.”

***

“However, once a pest has a major foothold, it’s very difficult to eradicate it,” said [UC-Davis entomologist James R. Carey]. “While state and federal agricultural officials often talk about eradicating a ‘population,’ in reality, this requires eradication of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of mini-populations/pockets. Thus, anything short of 100 percent elimination of these thousands of pockets is control, not eradication.”

From the perspective of a city-dweller, we need to be prepared to explain, and back up with hard evidence, any proposed or actual treatments for the pests. It's not that urban residents are distincty opposed to measures against these species, it's that, in the case of the LBAM, nobody bothered to explain to us what was about to be dumped on to our cities.  That's why the residents (and elected leaders) of the County of Santa Cruz and other localities fought the spray so hard. It's not that the name sounded a bit scary (which it did…Checkmate, yikes!), it's that there were no conclusive studies showing the safety and efficacy of these synthetic pheremones.  It's that nobody bothered to mention until a few days that we would soon be inhaling Checkmate into our systems. Heck, in SD-03, all three candidates, Leno, Migden, and Nation, are talking about this little moth more than you could possibly imagine.

Thus there are competing forces here, because eradication requires speed, and due process requires a deliberate, uh, process. Of course, we can gain extra time through better advance detection, but we also need to improve our preparation for future pests. So, better research, but also a streamlined system that will allow public debate over whether the ends justify the means for each insect. 

The fallout from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s demeaning comments about small-town Californians continue to reverberate.  Chairman Torres weighed in, and noted that rural Californians don’t exactly use a horse and buggy to get around, and some of them even have the teevee and the Internets!

“The Governor’s comments are insulting,” Torres told PolitickerCA.com today. “California does not have villages. This is not Austria, this is California. Voters in Central California and others from small towns have more on the ball than Arnie!”

State Senator Dean Florez, from the small Central Valley town of Shaffer, went a step further, introducing a resolution to have the Governor take the high school exit exam.

Like every other kid around the state, small town students take the same graduation tests as big city kids to show competency. Rural kids can make the grade. Given the Governor’s distasteful comments, what’s unanswered is whether he can make the grade.

That’s why, today, I’m introducing a senate resolution asking the Governor to take the high school exit exam. If the Governor fails the test, then we certainly have a capable Lt. Governor who can assume his duties until the Governor successfully passes the exam.

I hope that he accepts this challenge and that he doesn’t cower behind some excuse. This is a serious effort to bring attention to the divisiveness of placing labels on people based on who they are, how they live or where they come from — or even how well they do on a test.

If it is a good enough test for our twelfth graders, then certainly it is a good enough test for the Governor to demonstrate his competency.

And after he takes the exam, maybe he’ll think twice about the massive cuts to education funding he’s proposing — he just may have to return to school to brush up for the test.”

I would pay money to sit in while Arnold fills in the bubbles on the Scan-Tron sheet.  Can we get this on television?  It’d be the first time local news covered state politics all year!