Daily Archives: May 23, 2008

California, Coachella Valley

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 440 Endorses Greg Pettis in CA 80th Assembly

XPosted 5/23/2008 1:14 AM PDT on MyDesert.com in Blog by BluePalmSpringsBoyz

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 440 has endorsed Pettis in his race to replace Bonnie Garcia.  IBEW Local 440 has long been active in Coachella Valley politics and Progressive Democratic circles.

Chuck McDaniel, an IBEW Local 440 leader and activist, had previously endorsed Pettis for the 80th AD.  McDaniel is also Vice-President of the newly formed Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club and is a member of the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee.

Garcia is termed out and cannot run for re-election.

More below the flip…

The good news for Proud Progressive Democrats is that the Coachella Valley is trending blue with last year’s wins by Steve Pougnet for Mayor of Palm Springs, by Rick Hutcheson in the Palm Springs City Council, by Karl Baker in the Desert Hot Springs City Council, by Greg Pettis in the Cathedral City City Council, by Craig Ewing in the Desert Water Agency, and No on C.  Garcia barely won re-election in the last race against a little-known candidate and poorly-funded, Steve Clute, who did not have the backing of all of the Democratic clubs because of his opposition to Marriage Equality.

In addition, Democrats now out-register Republicans by more than 15,000 voters!  The voter registration figures are also trending Democratic across the district from Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, and Cathedral City in the West Valley to Indio, Coachella, and even Rancho Mirage, La Quinta, and Palm Desert in Down Valley.  Add to this the fact that Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, Coachella, and Indio all went for Kerry/Edwards in 2004 makes the 80th AD ripe for the pickings of an experienced Progressive Democratic candidate with the credentials of Pettis.

Pettis has a well-funded, well-oiled candidacy and has already outraised and outspent all of his competitors combined in FundRace 2008!  in the last reporting period, Pettis also outraised his presumptive Republican opponent, Gary Jeandron.  In addition, Pettis already has endorsements from all of the local Democratic clubs who have endorsed, including the Pass Democratic Club, the Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club, the Desert Stonewall Democrats, Inland Stonewall Democrats, the Palm Springs Democratic Club, the San Diego Democratic Club, and the San Diego Democratic Women’s Club.

Other labor organizations already endorsing Pettis include the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Building Trades of California, California AFL-CIO, Cathedral City Professional Firefighters, San Bernardino/Riverside Counties Central Labor Council, San Diego/Imperial Counties Central Labor Council, and Teamsters Joint Council 42.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Marriage Equality

Marriage, Arnold, McCain and Ellen

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Lest you think there was a chance that the initiative to take away my and my fellow GLBTers right to get married here in California wouldn’t have enough valid signatures, the signatures are being approved at a higher rate than normal and looks like it will easily make it on the ballot.

The verification data on the initiaitve that would ban gay marriage is instructive. It shows that the initiative turned in more than 1.1 million signatures for random sampling. So far the verification rate is very good — over 83 percent on more than 20,000 signatures that have been checked. If that rate holds, the measure should qualify easily for the November ballot. (In the signature biz, 70 percent).

Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger had an interesting exchange with a gay man who proudly told the governor he had already made an appointment to marry his partner of 22 years at SF City Hall.  He asked Arnold about his position on the initiative.  It is along the same lines as what he has been saying and illustrates how complicated and twisted his rhetoric has been. (flip it)

Well, first of all, I respect the court’s opinion, which I think was very important, to not just look at it from a point, do I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman or not, but that it looks at the constitutionality of the whole issue. And constitutionally they said it was not right to tell people you can’t do that. Everyone should be treated equally. I think this is a very good way of approaching it, and it’s the fairest way of approaching it, and that’s why I said I respect their opinion. And, you know, I’m wishing everyone good luck with their marriages, and I hope that California’s economy is booming because everyone is going to come here and get married. (Applause) I think all of this is great.

Parsing here, we see that Arnold does not support marriage equality personally, but respects a court ruling that was about the constitutionality of barring same sex marriages.  Though he is anti-gay marriage, he is still wishing those getting married good luck.  It is strange and makes you wonder what he is really saying behind closed doors.  The line about increasing the economy has already made some waves.  Indeed this should been a boon, even if on scale it is small, but there will be more tourist dollars spend here and it will encourage more gay couples to move or stay here in California.

And I think — and I’m against changing the Constitution. I’m against the ballot initiative that some are trying to put on the ballot. (Applause) Because it’s unnecessary. I think that we have rules in place and after the decision was made to then change the rules because you’re not happy with the outcome, I don’t believe that’s the right way to go. So I think that — and may I remind you, I have said in the past — you know, I see a marriage between a man and a woman. But that’s my opinion. I don’t want to force that opinion on anyone. So I respect that opinion, and I think we should live with that and everyone should move forward in the right way.

Yeah, I know, he isn’t being that clear here.  However, the general message is don’t be a sore loser.  I doubt that will convince many people, but the language about moving forward is productive.

Marriage equality came up as an issue on the campaign trail today.  Instead of being in the Senate to vote for increased benefits for our veterans John McCain was on Ellen’s couch telling her that he doesn’t think she should get married.  Once again he is flip-flopping on the issue.  HuffPo has a good piece up with a bunch of good links giving the background on McCain twisting himself in even more knots than Schwarzenegger.  In it is this video from Brave New Films.

Ellen will be a wonderful person to really humanize this issue.  She has a huge reach through her show and makes waves any time she talks about her relationship with Portia.  Their wedding this summer will be a great opportunity to message about the need to protect their right to be married.  I think Ellen recognizes this and we will hear more from her about her private life.

Uncategorized

A note on Speaker Pelosi (CA-08)

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Yesterday, we chose to issue a “no endorsement” to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While not speaking for the entirety of the Editorial Board, I wanted to share my take on this. I was quite torn on whether to endorse the Speaker. As a San Franciscan, I am proud of all the incredible things she has done for San Francisco, California, and the nation.  She is simply an incredibly historic figure in American politics.  She destroyed the glass ceiling in Congress, and for that alone, we, and all future generations, owe her a tremendous debt.

I have followed Speaker Pelosi’s career for as long as I can remember, though I only moved to California relatively recently. From healing a fractured activist base after first being elected in 1987, to being active in the Progressive Caucus, to becoming the first female Minority Whip, then Minority Leader, and then finally Speaker. She has had an incredible career, and has been an incredible leader for San Francisco. I’m proud to have been able to vote for Nancy Pelosi several times now, including the June 2008 election.

Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic, but her incredible record in the past led me to believe that she would, in fact, bring “San Francisco values” to the Speakership. Maybe it was simple naïveté to believe that we would be able to completely claim victory over the Republicans with a mish-mosh of 233 Democrats, some of whom would gladly break ranks to show off for the cameras. The fact that we have a Lieberman-fueled majority in the Senate doesn’t help either.

But, still, she is Nancy Pelosi, from whom we expect so much. I wanted to see more pushback on the President’s Iraq Occupation “strategy” or lack thereof.  I wanted to see a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act brought to the floor of the Congress. I wanted to see Nancy Pelosi running the House like I know Nancy Pelosi can.

Thus, I pushed “no endorsement” to make a very specific point: I know Nancy Pelosi can do better.  That is what this is about. Not that I don’t want her to win. Not that I don’t want her to be Speaker of the House come 2009. The point is that I think she can do better. The Speakership brings a higher profile, more responsibility, and therefore deserves more scrutiny and being held to a higher standard.

I want to make this point only precisely because I know she can do better.  I know that she will, given a Democratic President, and greater majorities, bring an end to the senseless Occupation of Iraq. I know that she will work for equality of rights for all Americans.  I know that she will work to ensure that telecommunications companies are not given a free pass, and that the Administration, Democratic or Republican, is not simply given a free pass and a blank check to spy upon Americans, kidnap foreign citizens, or torture.  

I know she can do that.  Now I want to see that.