Links:
* California Watch looks at Roy Ashburn’s record and considers whether he’s been more anti-gay than his district. Meanwhile Bigot Randy Thomasson is calling for him to resign. Apparently Thomasson doesn’t believe anybody is “actually gay” and it’s all simply a matter of infidelity. Except, Ashburn has been divorced for several years, and won re-election after his divorce.
* Randy Shaw thinks that there needs to be a plan for education activists beyond just protests.
* Asm. Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego) is pushing for a full review of our sex offender laws following the murder of Chelsea King. Here’s hoping that we see a balanced approach that respects the rule of law while doing what is possible to make the community safe. This time, let’s try to make sure that we get laws that work, not ones that just sound tough.
* The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the front group that hides where the money opposing marriage equality is coming from, kicked in $5000 to John Eastman’s campaign for AG.
TPMDC: “Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA), who voted for the health care reform bill last year, says he may vote against the Senate bill over concerns about ‘backroom deals’ with certain states and the number of people covered.” He’s waiting until seeing the final legislation — i.e., the “sidecar” bill that will go through the Senate via majority rule (reconciliation) — before making his decision.
$5 million or $5000?
…was uncharacteristically sloppy, and one has to read the sole comment by Tom Edminster to be set straight–the reason there is no “education initiative” on the ballot (yet) is because the one initiative that could actually help education and all other public services is seemingly being ignored by the liberal political establishment in this state–the “Lakoff Initiative” for majority rule. I’d like to think this was a conscious strategy–I think there are good reasons to put something like this on the ballot as a TRULY grassroots volunteer effort, even if it means that it fails.
I’ll admit I haven’t been following the progressive media discussion of this at all. But my inbox is increasingly peppered with support for the initiative from people who’ve never sent me any information on politics before–so anecdotally, I’m VERY impressed. At the Solano Co. Democratic fundraiser a few weeks ago my significant other (who bears more than a passing resemblance to GL) was briefly mistaken for Lakoff by an activist who had proudly gathered 40 signatures.
The last thing I want to see–speaking as someone whose primary identity these days is as a public school parent–is an education-only initiative à la the regrettable Prop 98. Our schools don’t stand alone if our cities and counties are failing and crumbling, and we need to put forth our vision of the California we want to see in order to create a real political movement, untethered to the Democrats. It sounds like there are a growing number of post-secondary student activists who recognize this, so as the seasoned cynical “realist” adults (you amazing young Calitics guys are sort of in the middle age-wise) many of us would do well to borrow from, and be reinvigorated by, that energy. I find it more inspiring, albeit scarier, to work for something, rather to fight an increasing number of piecemeal rear-guard battles to preserve programs and institutions that don’t meet our needs, let alone our dreams of what this State could be.
I’m a Californian for majority rule in the legislature, and I believe now is the time to stop hedging our bets, and to go for broke, because the alternative is an unimaginably grim future for our kids.