Last week, John Burton (the new Chair of the California Democratic Party) sent an update to members of the CDP’s Executive Board about what the organization has been doing since he took the helm in late April.

Please see the message below in its entirety (edited slightly to make it easier to read).  

Congratulations on your election to the California Democratic Party Executive Board!  Our first meeting will take place in Burlingame on the weekend of July 17th through the 19th.  I am looking forward to seeing you there.

And I also wanted to thank you for making the April 09 CDP Convention such a positive and high-energy event.  Our team has hit the ground running. (See the update below)

During this transition time, we are looking for the best ways to address the needs activists expressed to us during the campaign, and putting the programs in place to answer the call.  

During my campaign, I promised I would focus on the basics: getting Democrats elected – from local races all the way up the ticket:  Push to move red areas to blue, in all 58 counties;  Increase Democratic voter registration; give activists the tools and assistance they need to be successful; support our young Democrats; and re-energize the state party.

(Letter continued over the flip)

We are already laying the groundwork so that, together, we can meet these goals.  Plans are in the works for very extensive training program, including:  field strategy, community and online organizing, voter registration, data management, messaging and press tips, and more.  And we are excited to announce our program will also include Controller Hilary Crosby’s Finance Boot Camp.  We will work together to give instructions on PAC reporting, building finance plans and effective small donor fundraising.  

And this is just for starters.  After our trainings, we will launch voter registration drives around the state, focusing on building a base for new farm teams in red areas.  

We have also met with Alissa Ko, President of the California Young Democrats, to review plans to work together to keep young voters involved for 2010.  

In order to communicate more effectively with party leaders, we have distributed a questionnaire to Caucus Chairs and Regional Directors so we can get their ideas on ways to improve our effectiveness in the field.  We also plan to talk with the Regional Directors once a month so we can hear what’s going on in their areas, identify best practices, share information and coordinate messaging around the state.

In our first steps to overhaul the messaging of the party, enhance our communications technology and place a priority on new media, we have hired the CDP’s first Communications Coordinator.  

In order to elect a Democratic Governor, protect Senator Boxer and our legislative and congressional Democrats, as well as elect more local Democrats – we came away from the convention with a pretty ambitious agenda.  We are already hard at work developing the necessary programs.   These programs will give us the foundation to pass a Majority Vote Budget, defeat the Top Two Louisiana Primary and fight for real marriage equality.

There is a lot to do, and we want to do all of it well.  So at the Executive Board Meeting in July, you will see a complete roll out of our plan to elect more Democrats around our state, give the grassroots the tools they have been asking for, and build the foundation for big gains for next year and the years after that.

This is exciting, and I really think it’s going to be a lot of fun.  Onward to 2010!

Chairman’s Update:

1. Eboard Save the Date!:  The Executive Board will take place July 17th through 19th in Burlingame at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.  Please save the date!

2. Tell us your ideas!   Please tell us about your convention experience, and let us know your suggestions on how to improve by filling out this survey.

3. Staff Communication: In order to enhance communication with our staff, please find a new staff roster online.  The CDP staff stands ready to respond quickly to inquiries from local party leaders and volunteers.

4. Training Programs: We are currently developing a comprehensive training program to begin in Summer 2009 and continue through mid 2010.  In the interim, we compiled a list of current trainings sponsored by other Democratic organizations to help activists obtain access to new tools now.

5. Meet the new staff: There are a few new faces at the CDP.  You can find out who joined our team by clicking here.

6. Special Election Activity: Continuing our fight for Democratic values, the CDP recently sent a mailer in support of the party’s position on Proposition 1C.  If passed, 1C would mean an immediate $5 billion dollars to protect social services.  In addition, at the request of the LA County Committee, the CDP got involved in support of Democrat Jack Weiss for LA City Attorney.    His opponent, Carmen Trutanich, has defended polluters and is supported by The California Rifle and Pistol Association, a right-wing affiliate of the NRA..

The Republicans don’t want you to vote.

Across the country we have seen systematic efforts by the Republicans to intimidate and manipulate citizens to prevent them from voting for Barack Obama and the Democratic ticket. This has been a part of the Republican playbook for decades. It’s called voter suppression.

We’re already seeing it this year. Whether it’s overly restrictive voting laws that disenfranchise voters, or the McCain campaign sending absentee ballot applications to Democrats with the wrong return address. The Republicans don’t want you to vote. But we do.

If you’re eligible to vote and you want to vote, we hope that you will vote in this historic election for the Democratic Ticket.

Regardless of whom you are voting for Democrats have been fighting for years to ensure that every ballot of every eligible voter is counted as cast and I encourage you to:

• Check to make sure that you are registered to vote properly. In every election voters like you and me go to the polls expecting to vote, only to be told that their name has been removed from the voter rolls. Don’t let this happen to you. Even if you think you are registered, check your registration status here:

  http://www.votepoke.org

• Register to vote if you’re eligible and have never done so before. Your registration must be postmarked by Oct. 20th, which is this coming Monday. So don’t delay.

  http://www.cadem.org/registero…

• Re-register to vote if you’ve moved or have changed your name since you last registered. Again, you need to get the form in the mail by this coming Monday, October 20. Go here to find a form you can use to register:

  http://www.cadem.org/registero…

• Familiarize yourself with your rights as a voter. We have a list here:

  http://www.cadem.org/voterrights

• Send this on to your friends and family in California so that they can make sure they’re registered properly too.

[more on the flip]

You know, the Republicans are already anticipating a loss on Election Day. They are already huffing and puffing about supposed voter fraud.

However, the existence of “massive voter fraud” by Democrats is about as real as those weapons of mass destruction that were supposed to be in Iraq. Remember, President Bush fired a bunch of his own Attorneys General because they could find no evidence to support a partisan witch-hunt on this issue. The Republican leadership has hoodwinked a lot of good people, but for the leaders of the Republican Party, the red hearing of voter fraud is just an excuse to make it harder for legitimate voters to cast their ballot.

Sincerely,

Sen. Art Torres (ret.)

Chairman, California Democratic Party

P.S. We know that there’s going to be massive turnout this election. In the face of Republican-led vote suppression the best thing you can do to ensure your ability to cast a vote is to make sure that you’re registered to vote properly by going to http://www.votepoke.org and to familiarize yourself with your rights as a voter by going to http://www.cadem.org/voterrights.

(The man who would be Governor… – promoted by jsw)

Title updated.

When Republican State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced with California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring on August 28, 2008 that he would contribute enough money to pay $5 for every new Republican voter registration, no one expected a voter registration card “slamming” program.  

In San Bernardino County the California Republican Party with their local Republican affiliates hired a firm from outside California called YPM – Young Political Majors, owned by a man named Mark Jacoby and run out of Florida and Arizona – to commit the same voter fraud that got YPM run out of other states.

(more on the flip)

Moreover, this isn’t something new. YPM has a bad track record stretching back years and years.  For example, the following story comes from an article written in 2004:

Young Political Majors LLC, or YPM, is a company registered by Mark Jacoby at a Town ‘N Country residence.

Jacoby appeared this summer at the election office in Gainesville with a box of about 1,200 voter registration cards. Of those, about 510 voters had switched to the GOP.

Elections Supervisor Beverly Hill spoke with Jacoby and grew suspicious. She randomly called the Republicans to verify they wanted to switch. All of them said, “Absolutely not,” Hill said. “They didn’t even know they had signed a registration form,” Hill said.

Here’s how YPM does it: their paid signature gatherers ask registered Democratic voters to sign a claimed legitimate petition (in this case a petition to “stop sexual predators from getting out of jail”). Then, depending on the circumstances, they tell the voter that the petition is not legal unless they re-register as a Republican, or they have the voter sign in two places – one of which is the bottom of a Republican voter registration card.

It is simply unacceptable for this type of activity to go on here in California.

“This insidious and fraudulent practice is called ‘slamming,’ and Insurance Commissioner Poizner must put an immediate stop to funding this conspiracy to commit fraud,” said Senator Art Torres (Ret.), Chairman of the California Democratic Party (see letter below letter).      

The San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, Kari Verjil, has allowed the slamming to continue for weeks.  The California Democratic Party is calling on the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office, the Secretary of State and the State Attorney General’s office to investigate and prosecute those who are knowingly committing fraud.  

The same situation is known to have occurred in Riverside County. This past August the Registrar of Voters, Barbara Dunmore, referred that fraud to the Riverside County District Attorney.

American voters should not be treated this way.

* * *

Here is a copy of the letter Chairman Art Torres sent to the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters.

September 16, 2008

Via Facsimile (909) 387-2022

Ms. Kari Verjil        

San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters

Dear Registrar of Voters Verjil:

Our offices have received numerous calls about the California Republican Party’s use of “slamming” — illegally re-registering Democrats as Republicans — in your county.

I would like to know the status of your investigation of the Republican slamming.  A few thousand voter registration cards are being turned in each week to your office and it appears your office has not stopped this fraudulent practice.  

In calls to a random sampling of 100 of these voters, we found one-third of the phone numbers were either disconnected or the wrong number.

When phone slamming happened several years ago, the federal government, as well as state and local officials put a stop to it.  

You must stop this illegal practice whereby American citizens who have registered as Democrats, whether earlier this year or several years ago, are being changed to Republicans with your county voter registration cards by organizations authorized by you to do voter registration.

Sincerely,

Senator Art Torres (Ret.)

Chairman of the California Democratic Party

cc: Secretary of State Debra Bowen

    Attorney General Jerry Brown

    San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos

(Moved video up top as it is pretty gosh darn funny. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Yesterday, we told you about California Democrats who were holding events to celebrate the 73rd birthday of Social Security.  Their intent was to both pay tribute to the program that has been a lifeline to millions of seniors for over seven decades AND to condemn John McCain and Republican members of Congress who are eager to privatize the system and let the corporate greed-mongers of Wall Street make a bundle.

For instance, Jeff Morris, the Congressional Democratic candidate who is going head-to-head with Wally Herger in CA-02, held his campaign kickoff at the Social Security office in Redding.

Julie Bornstein, the Democrat running to unseat Mary Bono Mack in CA-45 also held an event, to open her new campaign office in Palm Springs, with a special emphasis on celebrating 73 years of Social Security.

But Beverly and Leonard’s celebration in CA-03 took the cake, so to speak…

You may have seen the video of Beverly and Leonard in yesterday’s diary as they talked about the important role Social Security has played in their lives and discussed their plans to express their gratitude to the program by delivering a birthday cake to Dan Lungren.

Well, we think Beverly and Leonard did a really sweet job of making their point.  Yesterday morning, they walked into Dan Lungren’s office with their Social Security cake, cut it up, and served large portions to Lungren’s entire staff, making sure to drive home the message that because the cake was so large, there was plenty to go around — everybody could have a piece.

Wow.  Dan Lungren couldn’t have been more on target with HIS messaging.  Yes, there’s plenty of Social Security cake to go around.  It’s just that greedy Republican politicians want to get their hands on it and take the whole cake… leaving average Americans with the empty plate.

From the other events:

In Redding, two Jeff Morris supporters who, at 73, are both the same age as Social Security, pose with Jeff’s Social Security cake.

And Julie Bornstein?  Well, she’s going work to protect Social Security and make sure there’s a piece of it available for every American — not just a few wealthy investors.

Penny

Online Organizing Director

California Democratic Party