It seems the Bush administration has developed an exit strategy — unfortunately the target is right here on our home soil.  The still-in-office Bush administration is trying to kill two birds with one stone, and those birds are named Health Care and Reproductive Rights.

It is proposing a complicatedly worded (the main clause has a triple negative) rule.  It would demand that any organization or institution that receives federal aid from the Department of Health and Human Services will not be eligible for aid unless it signs a written certification saying that it will not refuse to hire providers, doctors or nurses that refuse to provide abortion and even many forms of contraception.  

This means that hospitals would have to consider hiring people who will deny the full range of choices available to women or they will be denied federal aid. Furthermore, state and local governments will not be allowed to deny grants to hospitals and clinics if they refuse to provide abortion and many forms of oral contraception.

To use their kind of language, this isn’t not bad for women.

It never ceases to amaze me that those without the gift of reproduction, like President Bush, are endlessly trying to regulate those who can.  This is the key reason why electing women matters – women legislators are historically champions for the issues that concern women most.  In fact, nationally statistics show that the majority of women favor some degree of choice over their reproductive rights. Roe v. Wade is the cornerstone that makes that possible. 

 

Experienced legislative stonecutters know full well that once voters allow the small chipping away at that foundation, it won’t be long before the whole thing is a pile of rubble. You don’t need a magnifying glass to see this is just another veiled attempt to weaken laws protecting our reproductive rights.  Consequently, equal representation for women is not born of the desire to merely level the playing field, it is essential to protecting the rights of the feminine sensibility.

 

We at the CALIFORNIA LIST understand that women legislators are the backbone for feminine liberties.  This is why the decline of elected women here in California is so disheartening.  Women in the California legislature peaked during the 1996 to 2000 electoral cycle with a total of 46 women in both the Senate and Assembly.  Today there are only 28 Democratic women and come November we stand to lose another 2 or 3 women due to term limits.

 

We must reverse this slow decline, so that women can have a stronger voice in our legislative process. 

 

Bettina Duval is the Founder of CALIFORNIA LIST.  Visit their official site or join them on Facebook  and MySpace.

A progressive Democrat winning an election in a traditionally conservative district is no easy task.  Apparently no one gave that memo to Maryland’s newly elected Congressional representative Donna Edwards.  Edwards was sworn into Congress on June 17th making her the first African American Congresswoman in Maryland’s history.  Edwards took the February primary victory over 8 term incumbent Albert Wynn where she outsourced him in both fundraising ability and ballot votes by nearly 3 to 1.  Edwards’ unprecedented triumph caused Congressman Wynn to resign his seat early thereby sending Edwards to a special election run off to fill Wynn’s seat for the remainder of his term.  

Fueled by the heat of a tough primary, Edwards eased a comfortable 60% win over her Republican challenger Peter James. A very impressive and formidable coup for a candidate taking on anti-war and progressive issues that conventional wisdom labeled as out of touch with her district.  We at the CALIFORNIA LIST say “Brava” to Congresswoman Edwards.  Her victory is proof that flipping a known party seat is possible.  This is indeed inspiration for some of our supported candidates running in the November election here in California.

Two particularly hot seats in our election will certainly be Hannah-Beth Jackson candidate for Senate District 19 (Ventura, Los Angeles) and Joan Buchanan candidate for Assembly District 15 (Danville, Oakley).  Jackson faces a tough race against Republican Tony Strickland.  Traditionally a Republican stronghold the seat is up for grabs as Senator Tom McClintock vacates due to term limits.  A win here for Jackson could possibly change the balance of power against the Republicans in the Senate.  Another swing seat is in Assembly District 15 where termed-out Republican Guy Houston steps down.  If Joan Buchanan is victorious it would mean an additional party gain for the Democrats in the State Assembly.

Congresswoman Edwards’ success shows the importance of early and consistent funding support to get the message out.  Both Jackson and Buchanan need your contributions and votes to make a successful bid for their elections.  Please visit the CALIFORNIA LIST website (www.californialist.org) to learn more about the all of our supported candidates and consider the options for membership.  Join us today – your support can make a difference.

While the nation’s political attention has been focused on the Democratic presidential primary election, our Democratic women candidates here in California ran competitive campaigns in really difficult races AND won! However, yesterday’s primary was a bittersweet victory.

The pendulum is swinging away from the great strides we made in the early 90’s to even the playing field in the California legislature. Our dreams of equal representation for women are slowly declining. The trend seems to be that we lose two to three elected women legislators every election cycle. Despite yesterday’s victories, we could potentially lose more women legislators in November. Considering less than 28% of the California state seats are held by women, we must remain vigilant to maintain gender representation.

Congratulations to the candidates listed below for winning races that were among California’s most difficult and most important! We also congratulate all the Democratic women candidates – up and down the ticket – who ran outstanding campaigns! We appreciate all that you have done for Democrats and for women.

Lois Wolk (SD 5, Stockton, Yolo)

Loni Hancock (SD 9, Alameda, Oakland)

Hannah-Beth Jackson (SD 19, Santa Barbara)

Carol Liu (SD 21, Burbank)

Fran Pavley (SD 23, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica)

Mariko Yamada (AD 8, Yolo County)

Alyson Huber (AD 10, Sacramento, El Dorado)

Nancy Skinner (AD 14, Berkeley)

Joan Buchanan (AD 15, Oakland, East Bay)

Fran Florez (AD 30, Fresno, Kern)

Ferial Masry (AD 37, Thousand Oaks)

Bonnie Lowenthal (AD 54, Long Beach)

Diane Singer (AD 60, Orange, San Bernardino)

Norma Torres (AD 61, Pomona, Montclair)

Judy Jones (AD 73, Orange County, North San Diego)

Congratulations to the following incumbents!

Elaine Alquist (SD13, Santa Clarita)

Christine Kehoe (SD 39, San Diego)

Noreen Evans (AD 7, Napa)

Fiona Ma (AD 12, San Francisco)

Cathleen Galgiani (AD 17, Stockton)

Mary Hayashi (AD 18, Oakland)

Anna Caballero (AD 28, Salinas, Monterey County)

Julia Brownley (AD 41, Santa Monica)

Karen Bass (AD 47, Los Angeles)

Wilmer Amina Carter (AD 62, San Bernardino, Fontana)

Lori Saldana (AD 76, San Diego)

Mary Salas (AD 79, San Diego)

Thank you to all our members, donors and supporters. We successfully supported Democratic women candidates throughout California. We continue to make a difference, thanks to your continued support.

CALIFORNIA LIST believes that electing women legislators is important. The women we help elect are the women who will march into Sacramento as champions for universal health care, better education and as protectors of our natural resources. These women are mothers, wives and workers who understand the issues their fellow women face in both the home and employment arenas. This is why electing women matters and maintaining a sustainable pipeline of women moving up the ladder of elected offices is the only way to ensure enough women representatives will be seated.

CALIFORNIA LIST works to help identify strong women candidates to fill the pipeline and actively supports candidates with training, public relations and campaign finance. Our local elections feed seasoned women into the state pipeline and each election cycle we are losing an average of two women electeds. California is suffering a famine of women who can run and win.

We need your help to increase the pipeline and reverse the decline of women electeds. Visit our website at www.californialist.org to learn more about the benefits of CALIFORNIA LIST membership or to renew your membership. Your membership can make a difference -join us today!

Bettina Duval is the founder of the CALIFORNIA LIST, a political fundraising network that helps elect Democratic women to all branches of California state government.

Currently there are 32 elected women in our California State Senate – that’s about 20%  Last week I met with Assemblywoman Patty Berg, former chair of the Women’s Caucus to discuss the upcoming primary election.  It is sad to report, but our predictions were grim. Pundits and pollsters are predicting that we could drop to 25 elected women in our state government.  Needless to say, we are worried.

As the founder of the CALIFORNIA LIST, an organization dedicated to electing women in California, I have watched as our legislature consistently loses 2 elected women each successive election cycle. The loss is occurring in our State Assembly, which affects the pipeline of future female leaders. This seriously affects the flow of political leaders moving up the ladder of experience. For leadership, after serving in the Assembly you move to the State Senate and then to a statewide office.  The decline in women leaders today will have devastating results that can only become more apparent in the future.

What exactly does this loss mean?  As fuel prices take a toll on our economy and California faces a tremendous budget deficit, the choices that will be made in our government in education, health care and transportation are on the table for negotiation. Where will the cuts be made?  How will the priorities be established? By record, women consistently champion those issues that affect families, health and environmental concerns.  With the dwindling statistics of women elected, who will be the advocates of those societal matters that we as women hold so dear?

I think that the differences that women make in government are subtle.  Having women elected officials has opened up the political process and shifted the debate to issues that affect our everyday lives — from health care solutions introduced by Sheila Kuehl to the consumer fraud watchdog policy designed by Jackie Speier to environmental protection laws authored by Fran Pavley.  These women are on the political forefront.

Please visit our website at www.californialist.org to learn about our endorsed women who are running for office on June 3nd – women we feel are qualified to help secure a strong future for California. These women are the future leaders of our state — help elect them on Tuesday.  Help us reverse the downward trend and build our pipeline of elected women.

Bettina Duval is the founder of the CALIFORNIA LIST, a political fundraising network that helps elect Democratic women to all branches of California state government.

Senate District 19 is the KEY State Senate race this year.  This is the district that is most likely to flip from Republican to Democratic, delivering a majority large enough to actually pass budgets over Republican obstructionism.  Hannah-Beth Jackson is the Democratic candidate for State Senate District 19.

Hannah-Beth Jackson served six years in the California State Assembly, representing the 35th District, which encompasses portions of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. She is a tireless advocate for change, having authored more than 60 bills that were signed into law on issues including education, health care, environmental protection, financial privacy, crime victims, reproductive rights, domestic violence, childcare and protecting the rights of consumers. Jackson is an attorney and former prosecutor, who is a co-founder of a non-profit organization.

In the State Assembly, she served as Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources, Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Coastal Protection and Co-Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Title IX. Other leadership positions included serving as chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus and chair of the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee.

Hannah-Beth was named Legislator of the Year by the Consumer Federation of California, the Congress of California Seniors and the California League of Conservation Voters, the National Organization for Women. Other awards include the “Guardian of the Coast Award” from Vote the Coast, the “Wetlands Recovery Award” and “Friend of the Coast Award” from the Wetlands Recovery Project.

Hannah-Beth is a leader in bringing a progressive message to California.  Few people know that after leaving the State Assembly she founded Speak Out California to give a statewide voice to progressive values and advocate for progressive policies.

CALIFORNIA LIST is proud to include Hannah-Beth Jackson as one of our endorsed candidates for the June 3rd California primary. I urge you to visit the CALIFORNIA LIST website and please donate to her campaign or one of the other candidates highlighted on our candidate page.

Bettina Duval is the founder of the CALIFORNIA LIST, a political fundraising network that helps elect Democratic women to all branches of California state government.

While attending UC Berkeley, I ran the ASUC student body elections and that is where I first met Nancy Skinner who was a candidate for Academic Affairs.  Nancy was a young woman who had already recognized her future in the political arena.  Nancy won that election to become Vice President of the ASUC Academic Affairs in 1981 and while in Graduate school she served as the Executive Director of the Graduate Assembly – the independent graduate student government.  Nancy’s collegiate political career is a perfect example of how the political pipeline — a sustainable flow of women advancing up the ladder of elected offices — works.

In 1984 I met Nancy again when she was a candidate for Berkeley City Council.  Again Nancy won her election and became the first UC student to be elected to the City Council in Berkeley.  Her dedication to her fellow students and the community at large was evident and college politics was the perfect place to cut her legislative teeth.

A long time community activist and environmental innovator, Nancy authored the first ban on Styrofoam at fast food outlets, resulting in McDonald’s stopping the use of Styrofoam throughout the United States.  She worked as the Director of The Climate Group, an international organization working to bring business and governments together to find solutions to global warming.  Looking out for future generations; Nancy co-authored the best selling book series, 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth.

In 2006 Nancy was elected to the East Bay Region Park Board in Ward 1 with 84% of the vote.  She represents Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Kensington, Richmond, San Pablo, part of Pinole & Oakland.  Since joining the Board, Nancy has been working to add acres to regional parks and expand Park District programs for youth and schools.

It was no surprise when I met Nancy as a candidate again last year when she approached the CALIFORNIA LIST for support for her campaign for the Assembly seat in District 14.  I know first hand how Nancy has developed a political career with strength and experience.  She has built a firm foundation of electability by moving up the political pipeline — a pipeline CALIFORNIA LIST has been helping to build for the last 6 years.

Even as a young woman back in college, Nancy was already thinking out of the box and using local action as a catalyst to larger social change. CALIFORNIA LIST is proud to endorse Nancy Skinner for State Assembly in District 14 and I urge you to support her in the upcoming June 3rd primary.  Visit our website to make a contribution to Nancy’s campaign today!

Bettina Duval is the founder of the California List, a political fundraising network that helps elect Democratic women to all branches of California state government.

As the June 3rd primary approaches, it is vital that we as voters take stock of the tremendous decline in our elected women here in California.  In 2008, ten female legislators, 7 Democrats and 3 Republicans, will be lost due to term limits. This could seriously affect our pool of elected women which is already less than 1/3 of the total California legislature.  

Living in a progressive state like California we tend to think that we have a large contingent of female elected legislators because over half of our congressional delegation is female and we have two women who are United States Senators.  In our state legislature this is not reality. There are 33 women legislators in the California state legislature (27 Democrats and 6 Republicans).

The mission of the CALIFORNIA LIST is to provide financial and strategic support to progressive Democratic women running for seats in the California state government. Women who are committed to core state issues like better public education, access to health care and the search for alternative fuel sources.

Each election cycle, CALIFORNIA LIST endorses Democratic women running in contested primaries and new candidates. Through a committee process we have vetted our endorsed women candidates with personal interviews and a thorough examination of their record of experience to be those who will support the mission of CALIFORNIA LIST, to work with those committed values, and to make changes that will make a difference.

This is a practical way to build the pipeline – and these are the women we should elect to reverse the decline in the number of women legislators in Sacramento.  Many of these legislators will also become our next Congressperson, Senator, Speaker of the House or even President.  But right now we have to make sure there is a pipeline of women ready to run for higher office.

Help us reverse the decline in women legislators by supporting them with your contributions and your votes!

In addition to the candidates listed above, the women we have endorsed over the years run for re-election. Assembly candidates run for re-election every two years. We are proud to have supported the Assemblywomen listed below early in their first campaigns, and ask you to continue supporting them in their re-election campaigns.

We are working hard to help elect our endorsed candidates and we need your support! Please consider giving a donation of $25, $50, $100 or more to at least 2 of the above candidates and help them WIN!

Visit our website to send in your donation to CALIFORNIA LIST or donate to any of our endorsed candidates. Our new online system is easy, quick, and secure.

Bettina Duval is the founder of the California List, a political fundraising network that helps elect Democratic women to all branches of California state government.