I work for the Courage Campaign

As Brian explained yesterday the movement to convince Bill Clinton to honor the Manchester Hyatt boycott this Sunday is growing rapidly. Today the Courage Campaign joined with Cleve Jones, who knows a thing or two about the relationship of boycotts to labor organizing and LGBT rights, to ask our hundreds of thousands of members to call upon Clinton to cancel his talk.

Bill Clinton has stated his intentions to give the talk in spite of the growing backlash. As Cleve Jones explained:

Cleve Jones, a longtime gay-rights activist who founded the NAMES Project/AIDS Memorial Quilt, said Clinton should have known he’d create controversy.

“The boycott has been in effect and very well-publicized since July,” said Jones, who also signed the letter. “He’s had ample foreknowledge of the situation.”

Supporters of the boycott plan to gather outside the hotel at 11 a.m. Sunday and remain throughout Clinton’s scheduled 12:30 p.m. speech.

The Courage Campaign has also joined with other key leaders such as Jess Durfee, chair of the San Diego County Democrats, Brigette Browning of UNITE HERE Local 30, and SD councilman Todd Gloria in signing the moveclintonspeech.info letter.

Clinton’s advisers argue that his opposition to Prop 8 last fall demonstrates his commitment to the marriage equality movement. But as we in California know, that movement has only grown since November 4, and we need our friends and allies to stand alongside us now more than ever.

Over the flip is the letter we and Cleve Jones sent to our members:

Dear Robert,

President Bill Clinton will be making a big mistake on Sunday. Unless we act now to stop him. Let me tell you why.

If you’ve seen the film “MILK”, you may know that I worked with Harvey Milk in the 1970s, including on a campaign to boycott Coors Beer for the company’s anti-gay hiring policies and belligerent stance in contract negotiations towards their workers.

The Coors Beer Boycott taught me an unforgettable lesson about the power of coalitions in the struggle for equality. That lesson is being replicated today in the successful Manchester Hyatt Boycott in San Diego.

To the the surprise of many, President Clinton is scheduled to give a paid speech this Sunday at the Manchester Hyatt to the annual convention of the International Franchise Association. To give this speech, President Clinton will have to violate a union boycott and labor dispute — the workers at the hotel lack job security and the housekeepers face onerous workloads.

But that’s not all. President Clinton will also be offending supporters of marriage equality, including myself. Doug Manchester, the owner of the hotel, contributed $125,000 in early seed money to the Proposition 8 campaign.

We can’t let this happen. President Clinton has the power to move his speech away from the Manchester Hyatt. And you have the power to convince him to do the right thing. Please sign the Courage Campaign’s petition to President Clinton immediately and we will do everything in our power to get your signatures to him ASAP:

http://www.couragecampaign.org…

It is ironic that, by showing up at the Manchester Hyatt on Sunday, President Clinton will provide comfort to Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund, who are now trying to defend the constitutionality of Prop 8 before the state Supreme Court. Doug Manchester’s significant $125,000 contribution to the “Yes on 8” campaign helped pass Prop 8 — money that made Starr’s case possible.

I think President Clinton should move his speech to another hotel in the area that treats its workers — and the LGBT community — with respect. If he doesn’t, he will see me, and likely many others, this Sunday on the sidewalk in front of the Manchester Hyatt.

That is exactly where Harvey Milk would want me — and you — to be. While you may not be able join us there, I hope you’ll add your signature right now and ask President Clinton to do the right thing before Sunday:

http://www.couragecampaign.org…

Thank you for helping the Courage Campaign and UNITE HERE build a broad-based coalition for equal rights and economic justice in California and across the country.

Cleve Jones

UNITE HERE

Despite the numerous statements from President Obama, the media hasn’t yet really grasped the concept that spending is stimulus.  As the President said, “that’s the whole point.”

Yet, today we get the Washington Post passing off some press releases from a few anti-tax groups as original research and “news.”

The compromise stimulus bill adopted by House and Senate negotiators this week is not free of spending that benefits specific communities, industries or groups, despite vows by President Obama that the legislation would be kept clear of pet projects, according to lawmakers, legislative aides and anti-tax groups.

The deal provides $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, for example, including money that could benefit a controversial proposal for a magnetic-levitation rail line between Disneyland, in California, and Las Vegas, a project favored by  Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). The 311-mph train could make the trip from Sin City to Tomorrowland in less than two hours, according to backers. (WaPo 2/13/09

I don’t know if any of these anti-tax zealots have been on I-15 between Las Vegas and the LA area, but it’s a mess. An absolute cluster&*$%.  Trips that should take four hours, at most, take six or seven hours.  People end up just sitting on the freeway for hours at a time.  And it happens every. single. weekend. Every Friday, going from LA to Vegas is impossible.  And every Sunday the trip back is just as bad.  I just did a search on Google Images and I got a slew of images of people stuck in traffic. I liked this one best because people were just kind of hanging out in the middle of the highway. Here’s a flickr search for the same topic with similar copious results.

When I spent a summer in Orange County a few years back, I made the trek up to Vegas.  It’s not a bad ride. I mean, it’s pretty if you like desert and dusty mountains.  Gets kind of repetitive after a while, but the asthetics are quite striking.  You really are driving through the middle of the desert, with nothing really around. When an accident occurs, you get massive delays. Anybody who has ever done the trip understands why relaxing on a train would be a boon to the travel industry.

While there are other projects as worthy of support as this one, this one certainly will be a good investment.  It will save and create jobs now, and it will create jobs for the long-term.  The amount of time wasted on the 15 is an incredible inefficiency. It discourages people from traveling between the two tourist regions and spending money.  Building this project will be an enormous job boon.

After all this is what this is about right? Jobs? Or can you not see past your ideological blindspot. Infrastructure = jobs = economic stimulus.  And this project is a perfect example of that.  It’s just too bad that the Washington Post didn’t bother to actually, you know, think about why the project is necessary rather than transcribing anti-tax talking points.

Cross posted at SEIU UHW-W

As the Governor and legislators announced a budget deal that includes temporary revenues in exchange for deep cuts and a budget cap that makes them permanent, SEIU members and community allies from around the state plan to rally in front of the Capitol Building in Sacramento and the Governor’s offices in Los Angeles, Riverside, and Fresno today. Members rallied at the Governor’s office in San Diego yesterday.

The rallies are an effort to stop the bad budget deal.  Cooked up in secret, the proposed budget includes massive cuts that will be felt by virtually every Californian, from school children and their teachers, to the elderly, disabled, and the people who care for them.

At the same time, at the federal level, the Senate and House are negotiating a final deal on the economic recovery that could strip important funding from the House version and reduce the amount of aid coming to struggling California families.

Workers and community allies plan on sending a clear message to the legislature, the Governor, and California’s Congressional delegation that these are extraordinary times and that leaders in Washington, DC and Sacramento must stop the bad budget deal in California and restore full aid to states in the economic stimulus package.  Workers and community members will address the effects of the proposed cuts and the proposed budget cap.

Go below the fold for event details.

Friday, February 13th  

Los Angeles (Details/Map)

Where: 300 South Spring Street

When: Noon

Riverside (Details/Map)

Where: 3737 Main Street

When: Noon

Sacramento (Details/Map)

Where: Capitol Building, South Steps

When: Noon

Fresno (Details/Map)

Where: 2550 Mariposa Mall

When: Noon

San Francisco (Details/Map)

Where: 455 Golden Gate Avenue

When: Noon

Disclosure: I’m proud to work for the Service Employees International Union.

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem.  I’m happy to do that, California clearly has problmes, and lots of them.  But I don’t recall the step to recovery where your relatives try to steal your stuff.  Why then are our fellow Western states trying to steal our businesses and talent. From the Wall St. Journal:

Several Western states are launching aggressive efforts to poach jobs, talent and industry from California, sensing an opportunity to capitalize on the Golden State’s current political and financial woes.

Colorado is the first out of the box with a Valentine-themed banner that will trail behind an airplane circling rush-hour traffic in Los Angeles on Friday morning, urging Californians to give Colorado a try. Ads in newspapers from San Diego to San Jose will feature a Cupid in ski boots over a bold-faced tease: “California, can you feel Colorado’s love?”WSJ 2/13/04)

And they, even have a website, colovesca.com that really “shows their love.” I feel like this isn’t one of those love stories you hear about on the Today Show on Valentine’s Day, it actually seems more likely that you would hear about it on Unsolved Mysteries.  You know, where the suave con-man romances the victim, all the while emptying every bank account they can find.

But, hey, I suppose this is what we get when our house is clearly out of order.  Perhaps if we could get back to the whole majority government system where things actually get done, we wouldn’t have other states raiding our cupboards.

Thank you Republicans, we’re one step closer to the brink!

The Los Angeles Times is reporting (I know, that phrase sounds inherently contradictory these days) that California stands to receive $26 billion from the jobs bill being shepherded through the Congress.

In other news, Rep. Jerry Lewis is insane.  And by that, I mean certifiably guano-crazy.  Delusional.  Unstable, even.

But first, the money.  Yes, our state should be getting $26 billion very soon:

Reporting from Sacramento and Washington — The $789-billion economic stimulus bill headed toward congressional approval is expected to pour $26 billion into California — building roads, upgrading schools and launching other projects intended to create or save jobs.

The expectation is that the federal government will funnel at least $9.2 billion directly to the state treasury, mostly for education and healthcare, in the next 18 months. Millions of Californians will get a tax cut aimed at promoting consumer spending.

That all sounds really good.  But keep in mind that the budget “compromise” that’s being worked out in Sacramento already takes these funds into account.  And if, for some reason, California doesn’t see the federal help that the budget is taking for granted, god help us all:

The austere budget package in the works in Sacramento already assumes that the federal assistance will wipe out nearly a quarter of California’s deficit. If it falls short of that, Californians are in for even more financial carnage; about $1 billion in extra program cuts and tax hikes would be triggered under the budget plan.

The extra cuts would apply to welfare grants, aid to the elderly and disabled, and Medi-Cal. State colleges and universities would also lose money, as would the court system.

It’ll come out of you one way or another, don’t worry.  For all the Republicans like to chirp on about not raising taxes, it just means that if you try to send your kids to a good state school or community college, it’ll be even more expensive for you.  But don’t worry, you got to keep your marginal rate low. Or something.

I would have you keep in mind, though, just how far $26 billion really goes in the State of California.  I was just on a conference call with Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti a couple of days ago wherein he mentioned that the City of Los Angeles alone has $13 billion worth of shovel-ready public works projects–especially school construction and renovation, as well as transportation projects–and that the city only expects to see $500 million in federal stimulus–or, less than 4% of what they could use.  Bottom line: this is a mere down payment.  Maybe not even that.

But back to the deranged affliction of Jerry Lewis.  See, this is what Jerry Lewis had to say about the possibility of California being dropped a federal lifeline:

The measure has its critics. Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands), who is expected to be joined by most if not all of his fellow California Republicans in Congress in opposing the measure, said it would “spur permanent growth in government programs and spending that will hamstring future budgets and plunge our nation further into debt every year.”

Apparently, the hamstringing of future budgets and the sewer-pipe-deep plunge our nation has already taken into debt aren’t enough to want Representative Lewis to want to just possibly try out something different.  No, his main concern, ladies and gentlemen?  Limiting the growth of government programs!  It doesn’t matter that people are jobless.  It doesn’t matter that private employers don’t have the wherewithal to pick up the slack, nor does it matter that we’re in desperate need of infrastructure improvement.  No, what matters, simply put, is that government not grow any bigger.

And this is the key element here: Jerry Lewis and his fellow Republicans in both Washington and Sacramento are like little children walking on the sidewalk trying to make sure that they don’t step on any cracks.  They’re paying such good attention to making sure they don’t step on any of the “government growth” cracks that they’ve forgotten where they’re going or why.  All they know is that they don’t want to step on a crack, because if they do, they’ll lose the imaginary game they came up with in their own heads within the last 5 minutes.

Welcome to today’s Republican Party: where actual results come a distant second to commitment to principle.

• CalSTRS, along with CalPERS, has been a leading voice in the good corporate governance movement. Their next mission: get more women on corporate boards. They did a study, and apparently companies with higher female representation on the board fared better.

• Apparently some folks are mad that the Los Angeles plan, Measure B on the March ballot, to create 400 MW of solar power is using city workers instead of private contractors that do solar installations across the region. Taking a different tack, City controller Laura Chick has come out strongly against the plan, which was backed by Mayor Villaraigosa and Council President Eric Garcetti because cost estimates are very squishy.

• We keep trying to break out from under the thumb of the prison receiver.  This time it is AG Jerry Brown trying to argue it is unnecessary. Apparently, and somewhat laughably, he thinks the state should take control of the situation. The trouble is that we haven’t actually done anything to correct the problems that lead to the receiver’s appointment in the first place.

Our leaders have nobody to blame but themselves on this one. Their lack of courage, with only a few notable exceptions like Gloria Romero, has been exceptional in its cowardice.

• Asm. Pedro Nava loves animals.

• Another one: Apparently the primary fights are set to begin. Asm. Anthony Adams is already getting primary threats from none other than Dick Mountjoy. Yes, the same Dick Mountjoy that lost to DiFi by like 40 points or something. Apparently he has a term left, but hasn’t said anything official. He’ll just wait and see who will devour  Mr. Adams first.  Let the feeding frenzy begin.

• Check the video of Sen. Steinberg talking at the Sacramento Press Club (posted here). Regular readers might be interested in his explanation of the Big 5 meetings at about the 9:30 mark. (h/t CapAlert)

As budget “deal” rumors continue to fly, members of the Stop the Cuts! Coalition and California Partnership took to the streets and asked community members to “Grade the Governor” on his proposals to slash vital and much needed services and programs, including health care, education, and social services for the elderly, disabled and the poor.

Members of the group — including people from Health Access, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, 9 to 5 Working Women, Hunger Action LA, Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles, Children’s Defense Fund, ACLU of Southern California and other concerned community organizations — gathered at lunchtime at the intersection of Vermont and Wilshire on Thursday. Participants crossed the streets carrying oversized report cards showing the governor’s failing marks, and asked passersby to fill out the cards and grade the governor. 

Many passersby agreed that especially at this most uncertain time in the country’s financial state, it’s  unacceptable to make deep cuts that target the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Here are a few of the comments that community members made on the report cards. Overall, they indicate the governor’s grades on the budget need to improve:

“I would like to see him work harder to help the workers of Calif., as well as the corporations.  With special attention to Californians with special needs – disabled, seniors – and create good paying jobs.”

“[The Governor] needs to listen to our people.”

“He needs to prioritize what is important to the people of California before he starts laying people off. That won’t fix the situation; it’ll only make it worse.”

“The Governor is not in touch with the people, only with his pockets.”

“I think that he should not cut school programs and help the community to get more education.”

“Governor: You really need to help your people.”

“This Governor is a very uncompassionate person and seems to be very out of touch with the people of California.”

“I voted for him and have regretted it ever since.  He should take some of his millions from movies and give back to the state.”

“I’m without work and need those services. He needs to stop cutting jobs and education!”

“He’s making life hard for all America’s folks.”

Join the dialogue. Negotiations are moving fast in Sacramento. Call the Governor and California legislators now! Tell them they cannot fail California’s most vulnerable by balancing the budget with program cuts alone.

Call the Governor now at 916-445-2841 (Sacramento office) or 213-897-0322 (Los Angeles office).

Meg Whitman says she is “uniquely qualified” to be governor.  Perhaps she’s right, just think of all the state jobs she could outsource. Heck why even outsource when you can just get some slave labor to do it for pennies on the dollar.

Oh, and you can mark her down as a No on the budget deal.  Just for the record, this marks Meg Whitman to be, at the very least, far to the right of Arnold Schwarzenegger. She has no “business plan”, only tired Republican talking points.  From an AP interview:

“I was stunned by the magnitude and the nature of the tax increases,” Whitman said. “What is wrong about it in my view is that the state has done virtually nothing to cut costs in the bureaucracy.” (AP 2/12/09)

I suppose with all her pandering to the business crowd for McCain, Whitman might not have been paying attention to California politics during the election cycle.  Yet, had she have been bothering to read the newspapers of the state which she wants to govern, she might have noticed that California cut billions from our budget. Heck, we now have the lowest Medicaid reimbursement rates in the country

If she is uniquely qualified for anything it is the Republican nomination.  She is as wingnutty as any grassroots Republican.  No, this is a candidate entirely unprepared for the job.

And for a closing insult, she gets slammed by Arnold’s staff.  Turns out the Governor thinks she’s catering to special interests:

Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, characterized Whitman’s comments as just politics.

“We fully anticipate that every candidate for governor will say what they think will appeal to their special interests,” he said.(AP 2/12/09)

UPDATE by Robert: She’s also a liar:

She said that under current leadership, the state “has done virtually nothing to reduce its own costs,” while services to taxpayers are being cut. “Before you put it back on the taxpayers, you’ve got to get your own house in order,” she said.

Actually, California has cut $15 billion from the budget since the summer of 2007. So either Whitman is lying or doesn’t have a clue about state finances. But hey, she has business skills:

Whitman insisted that in her experience, any “normal” business that has seen the kind of revenue decline experienced in California would “go after head count,” meaning she would have supported looking at “doubling the worker furloughs, take a 10 percent reduction in force or salary reductions for constitutional officers,” of which there are seven in California.

But asked to detail cuts – as governor she would have a line item veto – the former eBay executive said, “I can’t be that specific on it.”

I really, really hate the notion that government should be run like a business, and this is probably one of the worst examples of such thinking. “Head count” are teachers, police, firefighters. Core services that everyone needs to survive and prosper.