(Camp Courage Fresno! – promoted by Julia Rosen)

In preparing this post, I can’t but help use the first-person perspective because the impact that Camp Courage in Fresno had on me personally as a facilitator is so profound that distancing myself from it would, not only be difficult, but wrong in how I should communicate what needs to be told about the amazing change that is happening in Fresno, CA.

For the sake of time in telling this story, I first need to direct you to my Op-Ed on the first Camp Courage in LA so you can know what Camp Courage is and what it’s about.  This exact same model was brought to Fresno, but effectively expanded upon over the course of two days.

On Saturday morning, we facilitators anxiously waited for our pre-assigned group to arrive through the conference room doors, excited to know who we would be working with for the whole weekend.  The expected 160 and more attendees were randomly divided into groups to help mix it up, and I was curious to see whom I and the rest of the facilitators would get.  Many of us had either been to the energized Camp Courage in LA or had worked at several Camp Obamas, whose model Camp Courage has adopted.  So we were expectant of the same amount of energy.

The attendees, many from Fresno and the large surrounding Central Valley, trickled in and quietly sat down.  Immediately, we could feel that there was energy, but it was definitively different from what we experienced before.  Trying to put my finger on it, I observed my amazingly diverse group – a lesbian in her 70s, a middle-aged gay man, a lesbian in her 20s, a straight woman (yeah, straight!) and a bisexual girl of just 16.  Though we were talking, you couldn’t miss the initial impression – “What do I have in common with these people?  What have I done by coming here?”  As the Camp kicked off, it hit me what the energy was – “Caution.”

As I grew to learn, these residents of the Central Valley had been let down so many times before.  Fresno, CA is practically the capitol of the Bible belt in California (and yes, there is a Bible belt in California), and the local LGBT population has continually and constantly experienced discrimination and hate from their own city.  But worse, they have reached out to their own LGBT community in other cities, raising their voices that they needed help only to get no response.  (Fresno doesn’t even have a center for the LGBT population to meet at, let alone organize.)  During the No on 8 Campaign, they cried out that they needed help, that they were prepared to act, only to receive a few yard signs to put out in response.  And even more, they have witnessed the burgeoning movement blooming in their neighboring urban cities only to be forgotten about.  Again.

No wonder they attended Camp Courage with caution.  “Who are these urbanites coming to our town?  Are they going to let us down again?  Are they going to “train us” only to take off, yet again, to forget us?”  Many probably came only to see their opinion of us, which up to this point was correct, validated.

When we opened the camp, Lisa Powell, the amazing head facilitator, asked the attendees, “Who here is uncomfortable?  Who here doesn’t know anyone?  Who here is wondering, ‘What am I doing here?'”  Quite a few hands went up, and I could tell by the faces of others, they wanted to raise their hands, too.  One 16 year old had been dropped off by their mom, to come to the camp all alone, not knowing anyone.  A sure sign of the desperation and the need for community in the area.

One of the first exercises at Camp Courage is for each member of each group to answer one simple question about themselves.  This easy exercise slowly began to break the thick layer of ice.  It began to dawn of everyone that they’re not just going to sit around listening to a droning speaker talk down to them – they were going to be engaged.

But what was the turning point?  What melted the ice wall?  The brilliant but difficult exercise, “The Story of Self.”  This exercise asks the camper to distill their story of how they came out, about how they overcame a challenge that put them on the path of equality, a story that is extremely personal, a story they may have never told, down to two minutes.  Why?  Because the Story of Self is a powerful tool in connecting with people emotionally, and to help bring them into the movement, to connect even with those who oppose us.

I heard stories about the mistreatment from hospitals keeping partners apart while facing fatal circumstances, about children not relating to their gay parent, about a teenager rising above her difficulties at her school, about a straight woman raised in a religious environment who came to realize that her stance in support of the LGBT community could cost her, about a woman and her partner who can’t get full coverage for their daughter ‘s disability.  I heard more stories about a trans woman who went to school and had to wet her pants everyday until she was allowed to use the woman’s restroom, how others were spit in the face by their fellow Fresno residents simply for being who they were, and so much more.

As I was sitting there, listening to these stories, not being able to keep the tears from welling – it hit me.  I’m not here to facilitate.  I’m here to learn.  I’m hear to listen.  I’m here to show these amazing people that they are not alone.  They have truly been on the front lines, the real soldiers, facing hate in a town in which the residents are not ashamed to show it, actually proud of it, literally spitting it in their faces.  I live in the cush bubble of LA where, if someone does hate me, they’re not about to fling it in my face.

I knew so little.  But I walked away knowing so much more.  And not just that, I left with a greater sense of community way beyond the Los Angeles city limits.

After these brave campers told their stories not just to their groups, but to the whole convention, the ice melted.  These people, many of whom didn’t know each other until this day, exposed their hearts and realized that they were not alone.  They had a community that had shared experiences, not only from far away cities, but within their own neighborhoods.  This was the turning point.  The energy transformed from “caution” to “trust” and “community.”

Over the course of two days, with campers driving miles and miles to return, with speakers like Cleve Jones and Dolores Huerta of the union movement to add to the inspiration, with the Story of Us bringing everyone even closer together, with solid friendships between people who were recently strangers developing, with commitments to change and action being made, the sense of community building was tangible.

The recurring them of Camp Courage Fresno was, “I thought I was alone.  Now I know I’m one of many, and I never have to feel that way again.”

But here’s the amazing thing about Fresno.

They’re not alone simply because we urbanites came along and said sincerely, “We’ll never make the mistake of not listening again.”  The truth is, these amazing people are not alone because they have each other.  They have strength from each other.  They’re planning outstanding events and actions (which I will talk about over and over and over in many posts to come – hello MeetintheMiddle4Equalty.org!!!).  They have built their community.  And the movement is headed their direction!

And if there’s one thing I can take away from this experience this past weekend, it’s the sense that I too am a part of a greater community that’s driving an even greater movement.  It’s not just an LGBT community, it’s not just an LGBT movement.  It’s a community of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, intersexuals, queers, straights, union workers, African Americans, Latinos, Asian and everyone in between.

It’s a movement of change.

And I have Fresno, CA to thank for that.

A groundbreaking new poll released today by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights finds that California voters strongly support public investments to create green jobs and prepare people to work in fields that improve the environment.  The results lend timely backing to legislation just introduced by Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg that would invest $5 billion in funding for education and training to prepare students and workers for green careers.

(Poll findings can be found here: Ella Baker Center Green Jobs Poll (http://www.ellabakercenter.org//?p=gcjc_green_jobs_poll).

Oakland-based Ella Baker Center commissioned a poll of 602 likely voters in California to test public opinion about “green jobs.” Of those polled, 80% said that it was either extremely or moderately important “to invest in creating green-collar jobs.”  Steinberg’s SB 675 — The Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Job Training, Career Technical Education and Dropout Prevention Act — would provide grants to build new schools and training facilities, upgrade existing ones, or purchase equipment to provide students and workers with the skills to succeed in green careers.

“This initiative will prepare Californians for our state’s clean energy future, including disadvantaged Californians who may not otherwise have pathways into good, green careers,” said Ian Kim, director of the Ella Baker Center’s Green-Collar Jobs Campaign.

Among the poll’s findings:

•    Voters overwhelmingly support investing in green-collar jobs.  80% of voters said that it was extremely or moderately important to invest in green jobs immediately.  Nearly three in four said they would support fast-tracked investments in solar, wind, and other clean energy projects, and tax breaks for small businesses that create green jobs.

•    Voters broadly support green jobs training and green vocational programs as a tool to provide new opportunities for current and future workers.  Nearly four in five voters said they would support providing green-collar job training for veterans and workers who have recently lost their jobs.  Nearly three in four said they would support green vocational education programs in middle schools, high schools, and community colleges that prepare students for green-collar jobs.

•    Voters are willing to pay for investment in green-collar jobs. Investing in green-collar jobs is so important to voters that they are willing to pass tax increases in order to fund it.  An overwhelming 72% support a small increase on the income tax of millionaires; more than two-thirds support taxing oil company profits; and a strong majority of voters support taxing sources of pollution that cause global warming.

Officials from David Binder Research who conducted the survey believe the numbers signify a cultural shift in the values of Californian voters.  “Survey results show that the current challenges facing the economy and the environment create a perfect storm of support for immediate investment in green-collar jobs,” said analyst Seiji Carpenter.

A new coalition, the Green Jobs Working Group, was recently convened to support bills like Steinberg’s SB 675.  This cross-sector alliance of labor, social justice, and environmental organizations is comprised of the following members: California Apollo Alliance, California Labor Federation, California State Building and Construction Trades Council, Central Valley Air Quality Coalition, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club California.

“Senator Steinberg should be commended for calling for bold investments in green infrastructure and career technical education when California needs them the most,” said Phil Angelides, Chairman of the Apollo Alliance, which has been at the forefront of national, state, and local advocacy efforts to build a clean energy economy.

The focus in SB 675 on partnerships between educational institutions, apprenticeship programs, and businesses is particularly attractive to organized labor, which could see opportunities for new jobs in construction, energy efficiency retrofits, and renewable energy.  “In the building trades, we have long understood that protecting the environment, and building a strong economy that provides good jobs, go hand in hand,” said President Bob Balgenorth, State Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO. “Building trades unions and their workers look forward to working with Senate President Pro Tem Steinberg to move this groundbreaking legislation forward.”

The Ella Baker Center is an anchor organization of the Oakland Apollo Alliance, a coalition that helped create the Oakland Green Jobs Corps project. Part social enterprise, part think-tank, and part advocacy arm, the Ella Baker Center’s Green-Collar Jobs Campaign works for a green economy in California that is strong enough to lift people out of poverty.

For more information, visit http://www.ellabakercenter.org/

For poll results please click here, California Green Jobs Poll (http://www.ellabakercenter.org//?p=gcjc_green_jobs_poll)

There’s a very pernicious habit in California of turning away from budget issues once a crisis is averted, in a show of relief that we will at least get a small reprieve from having to deal with the contentious battles for a period of time.  This false sense of security is bad enough in regular years, when the budget is cobbled together through borrowing against the future and no long-term solutions are implemented.  In this dynamic economic crisis, when rosy outlooks can darken in a matter of days, it’s downright foolhardy.

Greg Lucas at California’s Capitol has been one of the louder voices in insisting that the budget crisis is not at all over.  According to Controller John Chiang, revenue in February was $900 million dollars below estimates.  Now, if you extrapolate that out, we’ll be in a $10-$12 billion dollar budget hole by the end of the year just if things remain at the same level.  This is of course unlikely, as the February national job numbers showed.  So much of the tax increases passed in the February 19 budget solution are tied to employment – an increase in the income tax, and sales tax increases that of course rely on residents having purchasing power.  In addition, these lean economic times will push more people into needing state services, like unemployment and Medi-Cal.  Then there are the counter-cyclical increases and cuts that are working against what the economic recovery is attempting at the federal level.

In addition, many of the spending and taxation decisions made in the recent budget cancel out some of the benefits to California of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The federal package provides an estimated $13.1 billion in refundable income tax credits for middle to low-income Californians at the same time the state budget includes $12.2 billion in tax increases, only some of which are deductible. And only half of taxpayers deduct.

The federal bill includes a one-time $250 payment to the state’s aged, blind and disabled poor at the same time the state is reducing the maximum grant for an individual by $37 a month, $444 annually.

“California is roughly an eighth of the nation. The impact of this is sufficiently large that it could affect the prospects of recovery for the nation as a whole,” said Jean Ross, director of the California Budget Project, who has been examining how the state’s budget interacts with the federal stimulus package.

The biggest short-term issue is cash.  Lucas did an interview with John Chiang where he admitted that we will still need to borrow against the anticipation of future revenue as early as April, to the probable tune of $1.5 billion.  Because the budget deal was completed too late to include changes to the income tax code, those revenues will not come in until the following tax year.  The sales tax will go up April 1, but that will not be enough to cover expenses.

CC: Is February a big month for obligations?

JC: No. April is the real difficult month. If we don’t get that RAN, we’re $636 million in the red. But then the bigger issue is July. When we walk into the next fiscal year we will need a massive cash infusion.

CC: How come?

JC: We always borrow at the beginning of the year, 25 out of the last 26 anyway and then in April we make up the difference. But this year we walk in with weakness into the next fiscal year. There are less tools in the tool kit.  We’ll need a massive RAN or RAW (Revenue Anticipation Warrant).

Remember these last budgets borrow $16.5 billion from (state) special funds to backfill the general fund. So if we have any emergency in the state requiring aid from one of those special fund departments, the state is in trouble. Over 1,100 special funds in the state and we borrowed from over 650 of them. Part of this last budget solution gives us the ability to borrow another $2 billion more. The governor’s budget has us borrowing $11 billion from special funds over the next 18 months.

So we’re going to have to do some outside borrowing for the next fiscal year. Period.

And of course, there’s very little anticipation of the worsening economic picture in the budget, meaning that we’ll be in unquestionably worse shape by summer.  And the cash crisis, forcing short-term borrowing, really impacts selected projects that go out into the bond market, for example infrastructure like the high speed rail project, which will basically have to shut down if there isn’t a quick infusion of cash.  Keep in mind that California has the worst bond rating in the country and the credit markets are still not that friendly to the state.

Another pressing matter is the determination of how much money from the federal stimulus will be available to the state to fill budget holes.  There is a “trigger” in the state budget that would actually reduce some cuts – most of them the worst of the worst, particularly in health care for the needy – as well as reverse increases to the income tax, if at least $10 billion dollars in federal money hits the state budget.  It’s not just that money comes in, it’s that it has to go toward general fund relief in order to contribute to the trigger.  And Mike Genest, the Governor’s finance director, has a preliminary estimate up showing that the state will come up short.  This is insanity.  As the California Budget Project noted on a conference call today, there will be many billions above the trigger number available to the state, the legislature need only craft the receipt of that money in such a way to hit the trigger.  Otherwise, they are raising taxes and cutting services, and needlessly so.  One such bill would change Medi-Cal eligibility requirements to free up as much as $11.23 billion over 27 months.  That should happen ASAP.  Democrats are trying to write this as a special session bill and ensure that it requires only a majority vote.

The main point here is that we remain in crisis mode with the state budget, and will continue for years upon years until we stop putting off the fundamental, structural solutions the way we constantly do.  For example, the prison system remained virtually untouched during the budget crisis, despite being both crippling to the bottom line and unconstitutional in its overcrowding and inability to provide health care.  We desperately need structural changes with how the state budgets, and those will only be accomplished by demolishing the conservative veto over the process and repealing the 2/3 rule.

UPDATE: Here’s a link to the CBP study of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, identifying as much as $50 billion dollars available to the state in funding.  Surely the legislature can figure out how to capture 20% of that and set off the budget trigger.

As Assessor-Recorder in San Francisco neither my religion nor my politics has anything to do with my job.  

As Assessor-Recorder in San Francisco neither my religion nor my politics has anything to do with my job.

But in the last few months, my Google Alerts has been buzzing with repeated mentions in various religious and ultra-conservative blogs about my decision to levy a transfer tax on the Catholic Church in San Francisco – a tax that could ultimately total between $3 and $15 million. The Archdiocese of San Francisco has made the decision to transfer ownership of virtually all the property they hold to another entity. The law is clear – if you transfer ownership of a property, you owe a transfer tax.

A certain strain of conspiracy theorists seem to think my faith or strong opposition to Proposition 8 had something to do with my decision. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Since the day I took office – I’ve taken a “call it as I see it” approach.  Even though I have a background in progressive politics and civil rights, as Assessor I leave politics out when it comes to doing my job.  I certainly know my religious heritage has nothing at all to do with my work. My job is to enforce the law fairly – and that’s what I do.

The Archdiocese continues to claim that the transactions are a mere  “re-organization,” and accordingly, that there is no substantial organizational change (i.e. beneficial interests remain the same).  That is not correct.  In fact, the church transferred multiple parcels from one legal entity to two separate legal entities, each one with a different corporate internal management structure.  This type of transaction is a taxable event under local law.  I have explained this to representatives of the Archdiocese many times.

According to some legal opinions, one of the effects of such a transfer of Church property in the fashion they seek will be that Church assets would be shielded from potential future legal judgments.  True or not, that is not within my power to stop.

What is in my power is the ability to enforce the law completely and fairly. And in San Francisco, if you transfer property, you owe property transfer tax, whether you’re an individual or an organization. It’s important to note that the Archdiocese remains exempted from annual property tax, as well as federal income tax related to their 501(c)(3) status.

The political pressure to reverse my decision is already building. And as I mentioned above, certain folks are already trying to spin my decision to be about politics or religion.

It is about neither. It is about enforcing the law fairly. And in San Francisco we have the same law for individuals as we do for powerful institutions.  

While I was at Camp Courage in Fresno all weekend (much more on that transformative event later today) I missed out on some of the stories happening in state politics, including this gem from Willie Brown’s Sunday column in the San Francisco Chronicle where he explains one reason for Maldonado’s pursuit of an open primary:

State Sen. Abel Maldonado, the deciding vote in the big state budget morass, came to see me last week with a very interesting story about his fellow Republicans.

I was telling him what a good name he has, because no one can figure out if it is Spanish, Italian or Portuguese.

He proceeded to tell me that when he was running for state controller in 2006, he commissioned a poll to gauge the feelings of Republican voters in Orange County.

The poll came back showing him losing to the Democrat by almost 2-1.

“This is impossible,” Maldonado said. “Orange County is loaded with Republicans.”

They did the poll again and the results were the same – the Democrat won.

So Maldonado ran a little test. He had the pollster go back and give voters the same information as before – his age, that he’s a rancher and the like – but this time, he said, tell them the candidate’s name is Smith.

The result: Smith came out ahead.

So he ran another poll, a Republican named Garcia vs. a Democrat named Smith.

Smith won again, even among Republicans.

At that point, Maldonado said, “We’re not spending another nickel – there ain’t no way that anyone with a Spanish name is going to win anything in a Republican primary in this state.”

He was right, in his case at least – he lost the primary to Tony Strickland.

I wish I could say I’m surprised by this, but of course I’m not. As someone with deep familiarity with Orange County Republicans this story rings all too true to my experiences. They just don’t like Latinos. For many OC Republicans, their anti-immigrant sentiment is thinly veiled racism. In public it may be about “the law” but at block parties or conversations with neighbors at the mailbox or even the dinner table, it’s really about fear of a brown planet.

“Did you hear that some Mexicans bought a place on the next street over?” “Yeah, there go our property values.” [I’ve heard variations on this conversation several times in the last 20 years in Tustin.] “Do you remember when Santa Ana was full of English speakers?” “Yeah, now it’s full of Spanish billboards. It’s like Tijuana!” [Another frequently overheard conversation, one that neatly ignores the continuous presence of Spanish-speakers in that city dating to at least the 1860s.]

Racism against Spanish speakers and those with Spanish-sounding surnames in Orange County remains endemic. And so it’s quite understandable that Maldonado would discover these kind of poll results.

Of course it’s worth noting that “Orange County” is a diverse place and that there are large swaths of the county where this hasn’t been a problem, as Loretta Sanchez can attest (though her 1996 and 1998 campaigns against Bob Dornan unfortunately brought out a lot of racism and attacks on her Mexican last name, with the irony here being that Dornan told me at the time she merely used her maiden name “Sanchez” instead of “Brixey”, her then-married name, to win votes!).

Still, this is indicative of the problems that Maldonado has as a slightly less conservative Latino Republican in a state where conditions of membership in the Zombie Death Cult appear to still include not having Latino heritage.

Not to mention the obvious point that this is further evidence that Maldonado was merely seeking personal gain through the budget standoff and is further evidence of why the 2/3rds rule must go…