A quick reminder about the Hightower Party tonight at 5pm-8pm. It’s at Black & Tan (405 E. 7th St @ Trinity), just a few blocks from the Hilton here in Austin at Netroots Nation. If you’re in town, come down to this party. Calitics is an official co-host.
We’ll bringing a few special guests, including SF Mayor Gavin Newsom. Come by and say hi!
Yesterday’s news that Democrats were considering borrowing to balance the budget, specifically the plan to raid transportation and local government funds, brought a vigorous response from Democratic leaders in the legislature. Don Perata, Karen Bass, and John Laird all issued statements claiming to not support budget borrowing, although the parsing of the words matters.
Today’s Los Angeles Times story about state budget negotiations is inaccurate and misleading. Democrats have never entertained massive borrowing as a solution to this year’s budget problem. In particular, Democrats have never advocated nor believed in taking money from Propositions 1A, 42 and 10.”…
“Doing another get-out-of-town-alive budget would do nothing to help this state but rather would endanger Californians’ standard of living and economic future.”
Denise Ducheny chimed in with her own statement along these lines, and later in the day Bass and Laird added their stance. Karen Bass:
“Major borrowing is not part of the Democratic budget plan, and we don’t believe it should be part of the final solution. Our proposal balances the budget with a mix of billions of dollars in difficult spending cuts and new revenues, similar to those proposed by a previous Republican governor. It’s gimmick-free and honest. It closes our budget gap in a straight-forward manner, and eliminates out-year deficits.”
John Laird:
Any proposal to borrow from voter-approved propositions is not coming from those of us who want to balance the budget without borrowing or gimmicks.
Strong words – but nowhere in them did anyone explicitly rule out borrowing from the transportation and local government funds. It’s comforting to know that Democrats did not propose these plans and that they do not wish to use budget gimmicks – but a firm rejection of the plans is what we really needed to hear.
Sure, some might say we should not be negotiating in public. But if Republicans get to say “no new taxes” then surely Democrats are able to say “no new raids.” As I argued yesterday raiding these funds would not only cause the state serious economic harm, but it would severely weaken the Democrats’ political fortunes in the process.
Californians’ opinion of the Legislature is low, and many don’t trust their politicians. That gives the right wing a major opening to push through damaging things in the guise of populism. Democrats need to stand up to Republicans and protect working Californians. Refusing to even consider raiding the Prop 1A, 10, and 42 funds is a small but necessary place to start.
Al Gore is now on stage talking about, guess…the environment. No slideshow as of yet.
UPDATE: He’s going over facts. Apparently the entire North Pole ice shelf will be gone in the summer in 5 years. Yikes! But don’t worry, you can keep driving your Hummers. Waterworld was a great movie!
UPDATE: Nice dig in on Bush. It doesn’t make any more sense to drill out of our crisis as to go into Iraq when Bin Laden was in Afghanistan.
UPDATE: Gore’s group has a website: http://wecansolveit.org
(bump – promoted by Lucas O’Connor)
An hour after the start time, Nancy Pelosi is on the verge of actually taking a question. Updates to come.
[Update] First question asks about inherent contempt. The Bush administration is “tearing up the constitution and saying we rule. This is a monarchy.” Crowd goes wild over the notion of Karl Rove held in contempt. “Justice Department has advised the US Attorney not to prosecute the case.” Interesting needle she’s threading here- the power of Congress should be more respected but Congress is powerless to do more than it already has.
Gina Cooper asks if Karl Rove will be arrested and thrown in the Congressional jail. Crowd goes nuts, Pelosi punts.
[Update] Second question wonders what the gain was that balances out telecom immunity. Again, short version is ‘it’s not my fault, the Senate did it.’ She’s not wrong but I’m not sure how it helps. Pitching the exclusivity argument which is garbage as decided by the court which covers her district. Americans are protected by domestic spying, the Inspector General will be super, etc.
[Update] Gina asks “who exactly is supporting this?” Damn good question. Still pushing a Constitution or Bush dichotomy, but I’m not sure that she’s actually coming down on either side. The Senate bils are bad the Senate votes are bad etc etc.
[Update] Jeffrey Feldman asks from the floor “Can you tell us what you think government should be?” Build majorities in House and Senate, win the White House. Jokes that wider margins will increase bipartisanship. Talking about elements of health care reform which is nice but not an answer to the question. “Science is the answer” to something. “Science, science, science, and science…We have an innovation agenda.” 3rd point is infrastructure, tracking from the Erie Canal to the Bush Administration and the focus on destroying Iraqi infrastructure over building American infrastructure. 4th (and final?) Energy security. There’s a moral responsibility to be secure in our energy? International competitiveness. “Awfully proud of Barack Obama going overseas today.” McCain would love that one.
[Update] Silent protesters are moving through the room. New question: Should the government bail out GM like it did Chrysler several decades ago? “Help them be competitive” and help them innovate. How are we going to help the workers losing their security? Distinction between helping GM and helping workers. Answer is health care as a competitiveness issue.
Jeffrey gets a question from Natasha Chart regarding abstinence-only education. Funds to effective sexual education programs? “Abstinence-only…is dangerous to the health of our young women.” Feldman asks about Abstinence-only earmarks, Pelosi wants us to give her a better Congress. Mentions the Contraception/abortion debacle at HHS. “If you don’t like abortion, you should love contraception…It’s catering to a radical right wing view and it should be stopped.”
“Just say stop if you’ve heard enough on any subject.”
[Update] “Universal broadband is part of our innovation agenda…we must have it be universal.” “The whole country has to be wired.” It’s about health care and family values and education and every other one of her preferred talking points. Two solid ones in a row. Pelosi brings up net neutrality on her own, strongly supports. Objections during FISA but her “bigger disappointment [with the telecoms] was their objection to net neutrality.” The people standing in the way are the ones who didn’t innovate in the first place.
[Update] Audience question: Why are our soldiers being forced to beg for care packages? They shouldn’t, but emblematic of broader failures. “We owe them better than the policy we have.” GI Bill and veterans health care, “when you come home we’ll send you to college.” Nearly 1/3 of Iraq/Afghanistan veterans are seeking mental health treatment. “Build a future worthy of their sacrifice.” Win in November. Feldman pushes back: there seems to be an absence of the broader discussion of how we’re going to take care of them. Pelosi: The administration doesn’t care about the troops, what more do you need to know? (How about…what are you going to do about it?)
[Update] Final stage question from Gina is on Al Gore’s energy plan and…Al Gore is here as our surprise guest.
[Update] “…hold elected officials accountable.” Thank you. absolutely essential that we have…a well informed citizenry that is involved and engaged.” We represent the edge of government reform. On to climate change in the way only Gore can.
[Update] Gore’s speech is over and he’s taking questions with Pelosi from the floor. First question, would you consider a role in an Obama administration. Gore responds that his preferred role is as one who expands the political space for elected officials and bring about a public opinion sea change to make the atmosphere more amenable to change. Second question is on the carbon footprint from meat production which he addresses without saying much. Mountaintop removal is third up. Really going to bat for coal miners and bashes the irresponsibility of mountaintop removal and coal companies- calls liquid coal insane. “We’ve got to walk and chew gum at the same time” by getting off foreign oil AND off fossil fuels.
Pelosi’s back and thanking Gore for being great. Says we have a choice between yesterday and tomorrow.
[Update] Pelosi’s pushing the Use It Or Lose It program, “looking for an excuse, not a reason” to drill in ANWR and Outer Continental Shelf. She’s been absolutely great on this issue as I mentioned in Robert’s liveblog yesterday.
Finally responding to question about improving accountability. She didn’t really have a response and folks are starting to get rowdy. More questions from the audience:
[Update] Wind turbines on high voltage towers? Gore says that expense is a concern, and power lines aren’t necessarily where the wind is blowing. Mentions T-Boone Pickens who is not exactly the best friend in this group. “When we make an all out commitment then some of the problems…subside.” Quick bash of No Child Left Behind. E-waste disposal is next- there needs to be a lot more progress.
Pelosi responds to a question about how Congress will respond to Al Gore’s ten year challenge. Last year’s Energy Bill is her example of forward Congressional progress- a tough vote- and notes that renewable electricity standards passed over the fossil fuel PACs. Will bring it up again, but again punts responsibility to the Senate and tells us to build bigger majorities. NCLB: Not enough funding, revisit with a new president, will not be renewed this year.
[Update] Fresh round of four questions from the floor. Gore: we will still have a problem with a Dem in the White House and bigger majorities.
He is passionate and compassionate about everything he does.
He is a pragmatic utopian.
He is way more smarter than I'll ever be.
He edits me when I should be edited.
He humors me when I insist that I'm going to put chickens in the backyard so we have fresh eggs in the morning.
He makes me laugh each time he breaks into song and/or dance for no particular reason.
He sings a mean “I Will Survive.”
He can get just about anything he wants with his smile.
He is a loving partner, brother, son, uncle, and pug-daddy.
He has given me four incredibly happy years.
He has been away just three days and I can't stand it.
I love him more than words can say.
And today, he is thirty.
Happy birthday, Boo.
( – promoted by shayera)
Cross posted at DailyKos
Last month Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46) made news of the silly sort when he stood on the floor of the House of Representatives and gave a speech ascribing global climate change to “dinosaur flatulence.”
In comments broadcast on C-SPAN television last week, Rohrabacher suggested that “dinosaur flatulence” may have been responsible for past swings in global temperatures, and that the enormous growth in atmospheric carbon dioxide in the past century — and increased global temperatures — are not man-caused.
Rohrabacher’s claim puts him at odds with many in his own party, including President George W. Bush, whose White House acknowledged man-made global warming this year.
Of course, after his comments turned him into a media laughingstock, Rohrabacher tried to walk back from his statement claiming it was all a big joke. But it’s hard to figure out what’s more offensive, treating the challenges presented by global climate change as a joke or being massively ill-informed about the major perils that face our planet in the coming years.
Of course, Rohrabacher’s buffoonery and willful ignorance of the issues surrounding global climate change stand in stark contrast to the obvious intelligence and sober good judgment that his Democratic opponent Debbie Cook (Mayor, Huntington Beach) brings to the table. As a recognized expert in energy and transportation policy, Cook is a passionate advocate for renewable energy. Instead of sticking her head in the sand and indulging in denial, Cook is working to find smart and creative solutions to the very real problems that we face in California and, indeed, nationwide.
Debbie’s message is on the flip…
And Debbie Cook’s message of responsible stewardship is resonating in her district. Dana Rohrabacher may be an ten-term incumbent who hasn’t had to work for re-election in a very long time, but this year, change is in the air. The Cook Political Report has changed the rating for the district from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican.” Cook has raised more campaign money than Rohrabacher for two consecutive quarters. And with a Republican PVI of +6, there are some people who see strong comparisons between the CA-46 race and the 2006 race in CA-11 between Jerry McNerney and Richard Pombo. CA-11 also had a +6 PVI, and at this time in the campaign cycle also was being upgraded from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican.”
As a matter of fact, in a conversation today at Netroots Nation with A.J. Carrillo, the campaign manager who engineered McNerney’s successful 2006 Congressional campaign, Carrillo took the comparison even further:
“I met Debbie Cook for the first time today. I’ve read a lot about her, and I was just blown away by her as a candidate. She brings a lot to the table, and I think if any seat in California is going to flip, this is the one. There are a lot of parallels to the McNerney race, plus she’s an excellent candidate.”
Today we caught up with Debbie Cook at Netroots Nation and recorded this message to the netroots:
You can find more information about Debbie Cook at DebbieCookForCongress.com.
Penny
Online Organizing Director
California Democratic Party