Proposition 98 claims to be about eminent domain and protecting the little people. But here at Calitics, we have reason to question the motives of Jon Coupal and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers’ Association. And once again, they are trying to hoodwink California voters.
Proposition 98 eliminates rent control and other renter protections, making living in California’s cities out of reach for a greater percentage of our population. Prop 98 would also make protecting California’s environment even harder than it is presently. The effects on governance, the environment, and tenants are simply disastrous. NO on 98.
Prop 99 is not ideal, but it is tolerable. It simply blocks the use of eminent domain to transfer owner-occupied homes to private developers. Nothing fancy, but it does have a nice provision that overrules Prop 98 if it gets one more vote. It also has the potential to do the state a great favor by removing the issue of eminent domain from the ballot. YES on 99.
The newspaper editorial boards have been coming out overwhelmingly opposed to the Landlords' Scheme to end rent control and environmental protections. Just today, four newspapers have come out in opposition to Prop 98:
Of course, some had speculated about the independence of the LA Times' Editorial board becuase Times owner Sam Zell is a major donor to Prop 98 and stands to make a tidy sum if 98 passes. However, they came out strongly against 98:
With the ill-considered Proposition 98, property rights advocates once again have undermined themselves and poorly served homeowners, businesspeople and real estate investors by overreaching. It would have been so easy to give Californians what they need: assurance that no city, county, other local government or the state can condemn property, evict the owner and turn the land over to a developer who donated to elected officials and then convinced them that he could make the plot prettier and more productive. … The Times urges a no vote on Proposition 98 and a yes vote on Proposition 99. LA Times
This is what leaders and organizations throughout California have been saying for months: Prop 98 is a deceptive scheme in favor of landlords. That's why groups like the AARP, the League of Conservation Voters, and the California Democratic Party all urge a NO vote on Prop 98 and a Yes vote on Prop 99.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website at NoProp98.org.
In order to rise from a relative unknown who lost to Chicago legend Bobby Rush in 2000 to the cusp of a Presidential nomination today, Barack Obama did not only have to court all elements of the varied coalitions that rule over politics in Chicago, he had to build the pie of voters large enough to be someone all those coalitions wanted to rally behind. In 1992, Obama, working as a community organizer, registered 150,000 residents throughout Chicago to vote in what ended up being a landmark election, as Carol Moseley Braun became the first female African-American ever elected to the US Senate.
This weekend I attended an Obama Vote for Change rally in South LA which ended up registering 615 new voters. It was one of over 100 events all over the country; here’s a report of another one in Birmingham, Alabama. Over 400 volunteers attended the Los Angeles event, heard from a few speakers, were trained in voter registration (most of them were doing it for the first time), and sent out into the surrounding area. Now, 600-some new voters in the LA area isn’t going to sway much politically or ensure an already-fairly-assured Democratic victory in California. But it does build the tent, not only for the general election but beyond. I’ve written at length about how Obama’s gamble is to build an electorate that’s so big that he has a serious, almost insurmountable advantage for both his election and his agenda. A nationwide effort maximizes resources, keeps that army of volunteers excited and doing work, and builds that base to be dispatched for the general election. In addition to voter registration, the volunteers were signing up registered voters to volunteer later in the campaign. We could see a million people on the ground all across the country in November. That’s special – and different.
John Kerry outsourced the field and mobilization to ACT and other outside groups and it was a stupid way to go. Obama thinks he has a better idea that will work long beyond the election, and I support that aspect of it. I worry about his shutting out the outside groups that have come out of the progressive movement since Bush’s first election, but I will note that yesterday’s event was at the campaign offices of Mark Ridley-Thomas, a progressive running for LA County Supervisor, and the event in Huntington Beach doubled as the kickoff event for Congressional candidate Debbie Cook. So there is a layering effect, where the local candidates are benefiting from Obama’s work at the national level.
(Emily beat me to it, but I will add a bit of context to her post.–Julia – promoted by Dante Atkins (hekebolos))
UPDATE: by Julia I just want to add some context here. This ad is titled “Yacht Party 2”. It would not exist without help from CNA, so major props to them. Today Arianna Huffington sent out an email to Courage Campaign members asking for their help to get this on the air, part of which is excerpted on the flip. We are going up in Sacramento to start, but the more donations, the more we can expand the buy.
This is very much a non-traditional ad and builds upon the first “Yacht Party” we produced that was inspired by Dave.
The most extreme high priests of the tax cut cult operate right here in
California. Because Democrats do not hold a two-thirds majority in our
state legislature, a small minority of Republicans is able to hold
Californians hostage to a $20 billion state budget deficit, refusing to raise taxes on the super-rich.
It gets worse. Much worse. While California’s future is being put in grave jeopardy, the tax cut cult is refusing to close a tax loophole for yacht and private jet owners.
Schools closing. Social services slashed to the bone. And right-wing Republicans are letting the uber-wealthy off tax-free on yacht and private jet purchases. It’s no wonder the California Republican Party has been re-branded as the “Yacht Party” by the netroots.
To increase the pressure on Republicans in Sacramento to close this
yacht tax loophole, we need to make this “Yacht Party” brand stick. That’s
why the Courage Campaign and California Nurses Association have just
teamed up to produce a new 60-second TV ad that strips naked the
shocking nature of the California Republican Party’s priorities.
It’s time to change the conversation inside Sacramento. Here are two actions you can take to help us make this “Yacht Party” brand stick:
1. CONTRIBUTE: please donate $25, $50, $100 or more to help us get our TV ad on the air in Sacramento on Thursday. This week is the unofficial start to budget season in Sacramento and we need to expose the “Yacht Party” as budget negotiations begin inside our state capitol. If you contribute at least $100, Arianna Huffington will sign her book (“Right is Wrong”) and send it to you ASAP!
2. FORWARD THE YOUTUBE VIDEO: Please forward “Yacht Party 2” to your friends and family. Here is the direct YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
By now, nobody should be surprised by the resiliency of Blackwater. They’ve come back from the brink so many times, it’s easy to allow yourself to think they’ll never really be gone. So this weekend’s New York Times article on Blackwater’s comeback might be both demoralizing and par for the course if it wasn’t for the strong rhetorical pushback from members of Congress that line up encouragingly with local progress.
As the New York Times chronicles all the near death experiences that Blackwater has come through:
The State Department has just renewed its contract to provide security for American diplomats in Iraq for at least another year. Threats by the Iraqi government to strip Western contractors of their immunity from Iraqi law have gone nowhere. No charges have been brought in the United States against any Blackwater guard in the September shooting, either, and the F.B.I. agents in Baghdad charged with investigating whether Blackwater guards have committed any crimes under United States law are sometimes protected as they travel through Baghdad by Blackwater guards.
Nevertheless, signs indicate that, ever so slowly, the worm is turning. The article notes that the State Department renewed its contract largely for lack of other options, to which Rep. Henry Waxman retorted “I can’t understand why Blackwater’s contract was renewed. It seems to me the administration should have looked for others who could do the job, including the U.S. military.”
And as Blackwater continues to face the grim possibility of existing in a world after Iraq and no-bid, no-accountability government contracts, they’re trying with no small measure of desperation to diversify. That means new facilities, new sorts of contracts, new public image. But this is where the top-to-bottom pushback- from Schakowsky’s bill to tomorrow’s San Diego City Council hearing discussing Blackwater (10am if you’re in town)- can be effective. Blackwater is at a public relations crossroads. Nobody- from fellow contractors to investment groups– want the headache. PR is such a problem that the New York Times notes “Mr. [Eric] Prince until recently seemed eager to tell his side of the story, and there were reports that he planned to write a book. But on Friday, Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokeswoman, said Mr. Prince’s book project had been put on hold.”
Sunlight and tenacity can win this. It’s already starting to expose the cracks in Blackwater’s facade. It’s just a matter of hanging in through all 12 rounds, because they won’t go down without a fight.
Last year as I watched Debra Bowen being sworn in as Secretary of State I couldn’t help but feel this was a momentous achievement in history. As Secretary of State, Debra Bowen would be heading the governmental body in California responsible for overseeing voter rights and the accountability of the State’s electoral process. How delightfully appropriate because women represent the largest group of disenfranchised voters in history and now a woman was going to be the chief elections officer for the state with the highest number of registered voters in the nation. Score one for the women’s movement and suffragettes everywhere.
Irony aside, Debra Bowen has proved to be the right woman for the job. Debra realizes that the electoral process is fundamental to democracy not only as a constitutional right, but as a personal privilege. Since taking office last January, Debra Bowen has worked to restore confidence and reliability in the voting process here in California. So it should come as no surprise that Debra has been selected to receive the prestigious John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award along with Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Debra will be presented the award on Monday, May 12th in Boston. The award is designed to make Americans aware of the “conscientious and courageous acts of the public servants and to encourage elected officials to choose principles over partisanship.” Debra is certainly a living tribute to the significance of this award.
Upon taking office in 2006, Debra ordered an independent review of all voting systems in California and immediately limited the use of many electronic voting machines that didn’t pass the review. During the presidential primary in February of 2008 the paper balloting for Independent voters came under fire. Debra worked to ensure that each vote that was cast was counted and tallied into the final results. Debra has also added new security and auditing features to the elections process to improve transparency and accountability of the system.
As founder of the CALIFORNIA LIST, I am proud to have endorsed Debra Bowen in her candidacy and wish her warm congratulations on this prestigious honor.
Bettina Duval is the founder of the California List, a political fundraising network that helps elect Democratic women to all branches of California state government.
Like every other dead wood and ink publication, the San Francisco Chronicle is facing hard times. What the Chronicle has going for it is credibility, which is why it makes no sense to publish every right wing hack that some “think tank” pays to distort public opinion. Today, the Chronicle embarrassed itself by publishing Elizabeth Karasmeighan. She’s now with the Cato Institute after leaving Americans for Tax Reform and you’ll be shocked to learn that she thinks the entire budget crisis is due to government spending and the solution is to cut, cut, cut. Department of Conservation? Scrap it. Environmental protection? Not needed. Mandated spending increases? Cancel them. State property? Sell it off.
Elizabeth Karasmeighan’s column is devoid of any value, she’s a right-wing tool and not a very interesting one at that. In a monopoly environment, papers can get away by unleashing such junk (i.e. San Diego Union-Tribune), but it makes zero sense now days for newspapers to litter their opinion pages with boring shills pushing a narrow agenda to screw over the vast majority of the paper’s readers.
California has a systemic revenue problem that was created by people like Americans for Tax Reform whining against government, Cato making their arguments appear academic instead of reactionary, and Republican elected officials vowing in writing that they won’t change a thing. With California’s ridiculous 2/3 budget requirements, that is all that is needed to gum up the works. The opinion page is the perfect venue for telling that story so that the analysis can have the appropriate level of vitriol that those responsible deserve, but instead the Chronicle lets Cato reprint their propaganda. When the Chronicle publishes people like Elizabeth Karasmeighan they are propping up a writer who could not make it in the open market she worships (I doubt many of her friends and family would read her blog). The relationship is such that the Chronicle lowers itself in proportion to the degree it raises Cato’s writer. Why does the editorial page continue with such an awful model instead of using a proven model (the Eve Batey model?) of utilizing voices that have proven popular online for commentary? The Chronicle would have far better content on the opinion pages and the three people who read Cato online could read on how the value of the marketplace was proven by Cato not appearing in print.
And Chronicle readers would be better informed about important issues like the California Budget.
San Francisco’s CBS affiliate, KPIX, commissioned a rather meaningless poll last week about the primary election gone by. (Full poll info (PDF)). The results now show Obama leading Clinton 49-43. I guess there’s always more room on the bandwagon. I’m not sure this poll has any real meaning at all, but perhaps it does kind of put a dent in the “Obama can’t win the big states” logic. Not that anybody could have credibly said that Obama was going to lose CA before, but this might pull one more arrow from Senator Clinton’s quiver.
What’s kind of fun here, is that the “presumptive nominees” do substantially better in the “who did you vote for” than the actual vote. In the real vote, the result was an approximate 10 point win for Clinton. In the poll, it was only a 2 point win. On the GOP side, it seems there was a 22 point victory for McCain instead of the 8 point actual margin. Funny how everybody wants to back a winner, huh?
In case you haven’t seen it, the Republicans in Congress decided, as part of their tactics to bring business to a halt in the House of Representatives, to call for reconsideration of HR 1113, a resolutions celebrating the spirit of Mothers Day.
HR 1113 passed 412-0, but Kansas Republican Todd Tiahrt decided to protest it with a motion to reconsider. Immediately thereafter, there was a motion to table (i.e., kill) the motion to reconsider (thus eliminating the challenge to the original non-controversial resolution).
This time, in a display of protest, 178 Republicans decided to vote against Mothers Day by voting against the motion to table the motion to reconsider HR 1113. The motions, tablings and resolutions are all a bit complicated, but the bottom line is this:
By a nearly unanimous vote, Republicans in Congress voted against Mothers Day to foster a climate of political obstructionism.
And on the roll call for the vote, I see three interesting things on the list:
Nay CA-24 Gallegly, Elton [R]
Nay CA-26 Dreier, David [R]
Nay CA-42 Miller, Gary [R]
Three vulnerable Republicans, each choosing to vote the Republican party line of obstructionism instead of doing the job they were hired to do.
If I were the candidates that were running against them, I’d take them to task for voting against Mothers Day to serve their party line hackery.
I spent last weekend in San Diego, and as usualwhen I travel, I couldn’t help myself from comparing the city to Oakland. It’s been a couple years since I’ve visited San Diego, and I realized that though I’ve been there at least a dozen times, I’ve never spent even 24 hours there in one visit and I’ve never really gotten to know the city.
When remembering San Diego, I often thought of the one factor that’s true in the southern California cities I know better – sprawl. And this part I remembered correctly. San Diego is incredibly spread out, and it seemed difficult to get between most neighborhoods without a car. Oakland’s not the most compact city, but I feel like it’s fairly easy here to get from almost any neighborhood to the next, as long as you’re willing to hop on the bus or BART and maybe even transfer to another bus.
And just as I had remembered, it did seem as if pretty much everyone in San Diego had a car. Parking was sometimes difficult in popular neighborhoods – not San Francisco difficult, but certainly more competitive than most parts of Oakland.
But there were a couple things about San Diego that surprised me.
Though much of the city was difficult (or at least very time consuming) to navigate by public transit, there is a trolley system that covers the downtown area and a few of the surrounding areas. So if you live in one of these areas, it does seem like you wouldn’t need to use a car very much. Considering that we’re having trouble even implementing bus rapid transit in Oakland, I’m a bit jealous that central San Diego is way ahead of us with rail.
Also, many San Diegans commute to Los Angeles, and unless they like sitting in traffic for 3 or 4 hours, many of them use the Metrolink train, much as some Oaklanders commute by Amtrak to Sacramento. So though there’s still tons of driving that’s symptomatic of southern California sprawl, I learned that there are alternatives to driving in San Diego that are fairly widely used.
Another thing that surprised me was the walkability of individual neighborhoods. Though it’s mostly inconvenient to walk between neighborhoods, there are several neighborhoods in San Diego where it’s possible to walk to just about everything (markets, shopping, parks or the beach, restaurants, bars, etc.). In fact, my friend’s apartment in Ocean Beach has the same walk score as my apartment in Oakland (88). On Sunday, we went to a friend’s house that is in between neighborhoods (near Hillcrest) and I was a bit shocked when we did not get back into the car and instead walked a few blocks to a restaurant (her house’s walk score is 89). It really seemed to me that it was just as easy to find a walkable neighborhood in San Diego as it is to find one in Oakland. This surprised me because I always had assumed that San Diego was much like LA in that respect, and though there are a few walkable neighborhoods in LA, it’s usually not so easy to find a walkable neighborhood that’s affordable to live in.
It was nice to clear up some of my misconceptions and to find out that San Diego isn’t quite as car-centric as I had assumed. But don’t worry, I’m not planning to move to San Diego anytime soon. I still think it’s a whole lot easier to be carless in Oakland than it is to be carless in San Diego.
