Daily Archives: May 18, 2008

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Dennis Morris and the Renewed Opportunity for 2/3

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With the announcement yesterday of Dennis Morris’ write-in candidacy for the Democratic nomination in SD-15, alongside four other candidacies which I’ll discuss in a moment, we now have a renewed opportunity to win a 2/3 majority in the State Senate this fall.

Democrats in California have been slow to recognize this opportunity and to take full advantage of it. Don Perata is partly to blame for this, as he blew two priceless chances to help accomplish 2/3 by not finding a challenger to Abel Maldonado here in SD-15, and by prematurely abandoning his backing of the Denham recall a few weeks ago. But despite the lack of support from Sacramento, grassroots activists across the state have mobilized and even put forth candidates to challenge Republicans, in districts both purple and red.

The 2/3 goal is one of the most important tasks facing California Democrats this year. As the state budget requires a 2/3 majority to pass, Republicans are able to leverage their greater-than-a-third minority to hold the budget and therefore the entire state hostage to their ridiculous and reckless demands for spending cuts that hurt the economy and most Californians.

Eventually voters will have to change that rule, but until then, our only option is to do something about it – seek 2/3 majorities in both houses. A 2/3 majority, even if it just lasts two years, would be transformative for California. Democrats could govern without Republican obstruction, and could even govern without Arnold (since 2/3 is also the figure needed to override a veto). Dems could push through structural budget reforms and go to voters in 2010 with a record of accomplishment, instead of having to explain to voters why it’s not their fault nothing gets done in Sacramento.

We are closer to 2/3 in the Senate than we are in the Assembly, as just TWO seats will produce the 2/3 majority that we need. The best chances at this are SD-12 (currently represented by Republican Jeff Denham), SD-15 We have a +3 registration advantage in SD-15, +5 in SD-12, and are only – 2 in SD-19, where we are closing the gap fast (Ventura County gained a Democratic registration majority in the most recent numbers).

The numbers and the budget fight are two compelling arguments for a serious 2/3 strategy by California Democrats. So is the incoming leadership in the Legislature. Karen Bass and Darrell Steinberg are two good progressives, but for their terms in office to have maximum effect, they need bigger majorities. Steinberg in particular can benefit from a push for 2/3, as it will strengthen his hand in budget negotiations for Republican Senators to know that Dems are gunning hard for their seats.

For those reasons we need to give the Democratic Senate challengers as much support as possible over the coming months. We need to start here on the Central Coast – Simón Salinas in SD-12 and Dennis Morris in SD-15 need votes for June 3, which is do-or-die for them both. If the Denham recall fails, Salinas will not have the chance to replace him. And if Dennis Morris does not get the 3,698 write-in votes he needs on June 3, he won’t be the Democratic nominee on the November ballot.

But there are other challengers who deserve our support. Hannah-Beth Jackson is running in SD-19, currently represented by the odious Tom McClintock. This is a seat we can win and Jackson is one of the state’s leading progressives, as seen through her Speak Out CA site. Jackson will be the Democratic nominee for November, and has an excellent chance of winning – but without either SD-12 or SD-15 as well, we won’t have a 2/3 majority.

Finally there are two Southern California Democrats making a bold yet difficult challenge to some of California’s most far-right legislators. Gary Pritchard is running in SD-33 in Orange County, likely against Howard Jarvis acolyte Mimi Walters. In SD-17 Bruce McFarland is taking on Sharon Runner. Although these seats are going to be harder to win, these candidacies show that the California Democratic grassroots is stepping up to fight Republicans and win the 2/3 majority needed to fix California.

Will Sacramento Democrats step up to the plate and help these challengers?

California, Coachella Valley, education

(CA80AD) Manuel Perez in the final stretch

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The IEs are here at last, like Santa in the summer.  Running a grassroots campaign with a base of working people, some of whom live in the poorest parts of California, means the campaign’s funds are always tight.  The majority of the staff work for little or nothing.  But oh, how sweet it is when the unions start to do their thing.  Our website has an excellent photo gallery.  Behold, I receive in the mail my candidate teaching my kids.

The latest endorsements are United Auto Workers Region 5, the California Faculty Association, the San Diego/Imperial County Labor Council, and the Border Patrol.  Education, healthcare, labor, UAW, and now law enforcement. Nice.  

Crossposted at dKos

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I’ve received four positive Perez mailers from Opportunity PAC, “a coalition of Educators, Health Care Givers, Faculty Members and Other School Employees,” and two negative ones on Pettis.  It can’t be any fun for a Democrat to find Opportunity PAC mailing oppo lit on him, but it’s odd to have a Democrat denounce unions as “Sacramento special interest groups” as the Pettis campaign’s latest email blast did.  Things do heat up in the final stretch.

Manuel’s schedule is insane, as this district stretches from east of Palm Springs to Arizona, from Desert Hot Springs to the border of Mexico.  Last Thursday he was in a candidate’s forum hosted by the Palm Springs Hospitality Association, and had the opportunity to address gay marriage (he’s for it), our education crisis, and his initiatives with vocational training – a boon both for local business and students.  He’s been walking precincts in every corner, including his main rival’s:

From (California’s) Capitol Morning Report, May 15th:

Manuel Perez for AD 80 campaign — About 20% of our walkers last Saturday canvassed Cathedral City, a presumed stronghold of Greg Pettis’, and it was simply amazing the amount of support out there for Manuel Perez. Dale Wissman was one of the volunteers and he walked a middle-class, mixed neighborhood of Latino, Anglo, and gay households. All the households were either openly in support of Perez before Dale knocked on their door, or were leaning Perez’s direction before they answered the door.  ….

Today at the Democrats of the Desert meeting, our speaker was Carissa Carrera of the Coachella Valley Teachers Association.  She noted the CVTA’s endorsement of Manuel Perez, “a good person” as well as a strong leader in education.  Here’s something we all found shocking:  Sacramento looks at the test scores of third graders when sizing up the prison budget needs for the future.  California would be the 8th largest country, were we a country, and we rank near the bottom of the nation in school funding.  We spend 7K per pupil, and 25-30K per prisoner.  

I am looking forward to a 2/3 majority with Manuel Perez in our Assembly.   Manuel, with others, secured $250 million for new school construction in Coachella.  This is what we need now.

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