OK, Art Torres is saying his goodbyes in his final convention as chair.  To set up the day, we’ve already seen the new party officers elected, with the increased accountability from the selection of Hillary Crosby, the surprisingly good showing from Chris Finnie (24% of the vote), signaling the newfound muscle of the progressive grassroots.  

The big showdown today will be over the party endorsements. The Resolutions Committee voted to endorse a Yes vote on all of them, but Prop. 1A will surely be pulled from the consent calendar.  It’s really anybody’s guess what will happen after that.  The party may vote on a substitute motion to endorse a “No” vote, or there may be an offer to go neutral on the proposition, or the Yes side will pass on the floor, or somebody could call quorum and throw the whole convention into chaos.  We shall see.

Calitics bloggers also spoke with Gavin Newsom, John Garamendi, Bill Hedrick (running in CA-44), Beth Krom (running in CA-48) and more, and we’ll be rolling out some of those interviews throughout the week.  Much more convention coverage to come.

…I think it’s worth putting Art Torres’ goodbye letter, just sent via email, on the flip.

…The LA Times went yes on all the props but 1B, by the way, which, since they are a center-right editorial board that detests public employee unions, makes perfect sense.

…Forgot to mention that Russ Warner announced last night at the Take Back Red California dinner that he would run again in CA-26 against David Dreier.  Obama took that district, and the increased name recognition of Warner, who has already run district-wide, will surely help.  

…After the regional directors finally finished giving out their awards, new state party chair John Burton comes out in a bowling shirt to the tune of Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger.

…Burton basically calls for unity regardless of the differences on the ballot propositions on the budget.  This “Democrats in disarray” meme is plenty overrated.  We’ll deal with whatever happens after May 19.  Incidentally, mediaptera reports that Yes on 1A folks are getting paid $25 an hour to hand out lit at the convention.

…Burton says “we will be the party of peace, not only in Iraq but in Afghanistan.”  Wow, nice going.  “We need some exit strategy in Afghanistan.”  He leaves to a standing ovation.

…Howard Dean enters to massive cheers and a standing ovation.  “You have the power!”  He made his biggest splash right here six years ago with his 2003 speech at the CDP, the speech that catapulted him in the 2004 Presidential race.  He’s talking about the “generational revolution” that Democrats have brought to America.  “The first multicultural generation in the history of America, the first multicultural President in the history of America, and we took our country back.  Isn’t it great to be a Democrat?”

…Dean talks about the rise of Blue State Digital and how they came right out of the Dean campaign into Obama for America.

Dante: Art Torres has introduced a colleague from his new organization, the founder of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine

…Debra Bowen will be introduced in a moment.  She’s a rising star in the party.

…After Debra Bowen’s energetic speech, Art Pulaski of the Cal Labor Fed is speaking.  Pulaski calls out Dianne Feinstein for her lack of support on the Employee Free Choice Act, and good for him.  He’s using the story of Cesario Guerrin (sp?), a labor worker who was stopped from joining a union.

…The #cdp09 hashtag is a good source for reactions to the speeches from the floor.  Betty Yee of the Board of Equalization is up now.  Hey, hashtaggers, copy/paste your comments on Calitics!

…Here we go, the Resolutions Committee is up, and the propositions will be first on the list.

…the speakers on the Pro and Con side are massing at the various microphones.  This is going to take a while.  I’m starting a new thread.

My Fellow Democrats,

It has been an honor to have served for thirteen years as Chairman of the most incredible state Democratic Party in the nation. Together we have made great strides in improving our Party by registering voters with the Bounty program, by grassroots activists opening up offices and creating a sense of community and service to many, and by electing Democrats to the Assembly, Senate and Congress who are protecting the values we all cherish in our state.

Our Party has also embraced our young people and they have joined with us as never before, creating a new generation of Democratic voters and activists. We have elected the first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi of California — one of the highest offices in our country. And of course, California proudly provided a strong margin of victory to elect President Barak Obama.

We are all proud of what President Obama has accomplished during his first 100 days, giving our nation strong initiatives to renew and reinvest in our economy and improve the quality of our lives in the most difficult of times. He is a President who will provide great leadership for our country and our world.

Since 2004, we have added six blue counties with the help of dedicated folks in Alpine, Stanislaus, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, and Ventura. We also increased our numbers in Orange County to nearly 34% Democratic registration. These are not small achievements! This is the result of a huge amount of hard work by very dedicated Democrats.

In short, I leave the new Chair and Party leadership a healthy Democratic Party, both politically and financially, as I move to another chapter in my life — the Vice Chairmanship of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which was created by the voters as Proposition 71 in 2004.

As a colon cancer survivor, I will also be a patient advocate for CIRM in my new role. I join a team of dedicated scientists and policy makers to help raise the more than $400 million needed to fund the research necessary to target diseases that have plagued so many California families. Every day I spend at CIRM headquarters, I sense the excitement of a field of science moving forward rapidly, in fact more rapidly than anyone on the science staff there imagined possible even a couple years ago. When CIRM adopted a scientific strategic plan in October 2006 the scientists there envisioned reaching a stage this year where they could fund “disease teams” that would combine basic researchers and clinicians to work together to develop a therapy ready for clinical trials three-to-four years from now.

In 2006 they predicted funding one or two such teams that would be ready for this challenge today. But when the initial grant applications for the Disease Team Awards were counted a couple weeks ago, there were 73 of them. That is 73 California research teams that think they can get a stem-cell based therapy ready for clinical trials within four years. These teams are targeting a broad array of diseases from osteoarthritis and blindness to cancer and a host of neurodegenerative diseases. Only a subset of these applications will make it through CRIM’s rigorous grant review process, which strives to bet on only the very best science in which to make California’s investment, but no matter the outcome of the grant reviews, this represents a tremendous acceleration toward reaching the promise of stem cells.

The California research community has been able to get to this point in large part because of three years of sustained funding from CIRM. Since the agency issued its first training grants in April of 2006 it has been able to provide consistent support for its new cadre of stem cell researchers. All the scientists I talk to tell me that this type of sustained funding is what science requires to get the results that create new therapies and even cures and, in turn, the jobs that the fast growing biotech industry will provide for Californians. CIRM’s ability to continue this sustained funding is linked to the budgetary health of the state and the state’s ability to issue bonds that support CIRM’s work. So the health and well being of patients in California – and around the world – is one more thing to keep in mind as we vote on the budget initiatives May 19.

This letter is not a goodbye for me, but rather a fulfillment of new path ahead – as we all continue to make a difference in the lives of Californians.

God speed my fellow Democrats!

Several weeks of hard work have paid off, and the California Democratic Party is poised to provide a major tool in the fight for justice and accountability for the Bush torture regime.  The Resolutions Committee included on their consent calendar the resolution to begin a Congressional inquiry into Judge Jay Bybee and other lawyers who wrote opinions justifying and providing the fig leaf of a rationale for torture, with all punishments allowable under the law, including impeachment.  

Without the release of the OLC memo from August 1, 2002, showing Bybee admitting that waterboarding gives the impression of imminent death and allowing it anyway, showing Bybee allowing the CIA to put detainees in a small box with bugs in a Room 101-style exploitation of phobias, I’m not sure this resolution would have passed.  But the release massed a groundswell of support from the grassroots.  My petition to urge the CDP to support the resolution gathered 4,827 signatures in about a week.  Courage Campaign hopped aboard as well and got 9,000 or so sigs on their petition.  Activists called the CDP offices and pushed for passage.  And the party got the message.

Resolutions can go flat if they aren’t picked up and used as a tool.  Today, when it passes the full party on the convention floor in a few hours, we can celebrate.  Tomorrow, we put this to work.  Thanks to everyone who put in the time and effort to get this done.

UPDATE: Here’s the full text of the resolution, on the flip:

CALLING FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF JUDGE JAY BYBEE AND OTHERS FOR THEIR ROLE IN ALLOWING TORTURE AS PART OF “ENHANCED INTERROGATION”

Whereas, former Assistant Attorney General, and current Federal Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Jay Bybee signed the “Bybee Memo,” or “Torture Memo” of August 1, 2002, which advised the C.I.A. that “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment was at times allowable under U.S. law, and authored, co-authored and signed other memos on “extraordinary rendition” and “enhanced interrogation,” more of which are being currently revealed to the American public as the new Administration brings them to light; and

Whereas the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment, the supreme law of the land under Article VI of our Constitution, requires the prosecution of those who authorize torture, and it has been established that waterboarding is torture; and

Whereas, on January 15, 2009 before leaving office, President George W. Bush, in an effort to cover his culpability, and the culpability of others, had his Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice issue a memo stating that certain opinions issued in 2001-2003 with respect to “the allocation of authorities between President and Congress in matters of war and national security do not reflect the current view of this Office;”

Therefore be it resolved that the California Democratic Party supports resolution of inquiry and vigorous investigation of these and related actions by the Congress of the United States, including the full use of Congressional subpoena power authority and all appropriate remedies, to disclose completely the possible criminal actions of Judge Jay Bybee and others to the American people and to take necessary and available action with appropriate remedies and punishment allowed by law; and

Be it further resolved, that a copy of this resolution with its original authorization be sent to the Office of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and that copies of the signed resolution be sent to each Democratic member of the California delegation to the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

At a press avail following her speech at the California Democratic Party convention, I asked Sen. Boxer about the Resolutions Committee passing support for a Congressional inquiry into the actions of torture judge Jay Bybee and the imposition of all possible penalties including impeachment.  She said “I’m very open to that…. there is an ongoing investigation at the Justice Department into his work (at the Office of Professional Responsibility -ed), and we’ll see how that goes.  But I’m very open to that.  And I’ll remind everyone that I didn’t vote for him when his nomination came up.  I was one of 19 to do so.”

Needless to say, the support from Sen. Boxer will be a great help in the Resolutions Committee, when they prioritize the top ten resolutions to send to the floor of the convention tomorrow.

The other interesting tidbit from the presser was that Sen. Boxer offered no indication of her endorsement on the ballot measures for the special election on May 19.  She says she and Sen. Feinstein haven’t studied the measures yet, and that they will get together in Washington and offer a joint statement once they make their decision.  “I’ll let you know when I go public.  But let me say this – the budget process in California is dysfunctional, because of the super-majority needed to pass a budget and tax increases.  And until we get to the root causes of changing that, it’s very difficult to do anything.”  This pretty much tracks with what we’ve been saying for a long time.  Until you pass #1, it won’t matter if you pass #2-#10.

Other topics covered included torture investigations (Boxer supports the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that Sen. Leahy recommended), the fate of cram-down provisions in the Senate (“Sen. Durbin is doing a heroic job… the banks are still a major lobbying group.”), potential opponents in her 2010 re-election (I hope nobody runs against me!”), and the news of a budget reconciliation deal on health care in the Senate (she didn’t have much to say on that other than that reconciliation should always be on the table, as it was during the Reagan years, and that the situation is “in flux.”)  Boxer was at her most eloquent answering a question about the rule of law and the impression that those at the highest levels of power, be it the banksters or the torture regime, were above it.  “The law must prevail… the people should feel that something’s wrong, if nothing is done on torture.  If we don’t like a law, we repeal it, we don’t ignore it.”

…more from davej.

Here’s a thread for the opening session at the CDP convention.  Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is taking the stage right now, leaving me wondering what this would be like if she was speaking as a candidate for Governor.  Ah well.

The juicy tidbit I’ve heard is that Phil Angelides is strongly considering jumping into the CA-03 race against Dan Lungren.  This makes a pretty good deal of sense.  Angelides has the policy chops, the ability to raise money (he has a huge list of supporters to tap from 2006), and a focus on green jobs and clean energy from the Apollo Alliance.  I’d like to see this.

Solis’ money quote: “This is the most progressive Administration I’ve seen in a long time.”

More later.

…The Garamendi-bots are out, bringing him to the floor.  I think they just had a bunch of leftover signs from when he was running for Lt. Governor.

…Most awkward quote ever: “George W. Bush, you are bad history!”  Garamendi followed up with the old “We now have a President who can speak a complete sentence” standby…

…This is a drastically long speech by the Lt. Gov.  I think the crowd’s basically with him, but it’s a little awkward that he got the Governor candidate-length speech when he isn’t running for Governor.

Robert: Treasurer Bill Lockyer is laying out the problems with the state budget – Federal tax collections are off by 6%, by 16% here in California. He reluctantly backs the May 19 initiatives, but made a solid case for repealing the 2/3 rule.

Dave: So Gavin Newsom is being introduced now.  Lots of “visibility” in the crowd.

Robert: Looks like Gavin is planning to run as a change candidate – especially on his Healthy SF universal program and his protection of teachers’ jobs. “The old ways of business just don’t cut it in this tough new world.”

Dave: As Gavin talks about his alleged delivery of health care to everyone in San Francisco, can someone please ask him about cutting the city health care budget by 25% across the board to cover his city’s budget deficit?  I will, in a couple hours.

Robert: As David notes, Gavin is clearly planning on running on his record as San Francisco mayor – able to provide “sound fiscal policies” while providing health care and giving teachers a raise. All this depends on the details not getting out to the broader CA public.

Dave: Money quote – “We’re not intent to relive history.”  Yes, just to rewrite it.  You can read Gavin’s speech here.

Dave: Barbara Boxer is up right now.  I’m reading over the speech, and it’s a bunch of red meat.

Things I’ve noticed, both in Sacramento and throughout the state, as we wait for the General Session to begin:

• Soon-to-be failed Senate candidate Chuck DeVore raised a paltry $132,000 and has more debt than cash, spending over $100K on expenses in the first quarter.  I guess non-stop Twittering costs major money!

• The great book Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency won a top prize at the LA Times Festival of Books last night.

• Saw new Assemblymember from the Palm Springs area Manuel Perez yesterday, and his entire set of bills this year are centered on the green economy, including vocational training for green jobs.  Hopefully he’ll come to Calitics and tell us about it.

• At the Progressive Caucus last night, leaders assured the crowd that the endorsement of Prop. 1A will be pulled from the consent calendar and fully debated on the floor tomorrow.  Given the rules, this will require a 60% vote on the floor to vacate the Yes endorsement.  I think it may be close, we’ll see if the institutional support can hold off the masses.  The “No” side probably has a better shot going for a netural position.  The electeds are doing absolutely everything they can to lock up votes, including fearmongering distortions of the facts.  It’s a little ugly.

UPDATE: My friend Garry Shay of the Rules Committee sets me straight on some bad information I received: “It takes a 50% vote to adopt the Yes position, or No position, when done in Convention.  It’s 60% for the Executive Board to adopt a position on a ballot measure. In neither case does it take 60% to vacate the Yes recommendation.”  That certainly makes things more interesting.

• I’m assuming Phil Angelides still has a vote on the floor, and he’s a firm no on 1A, saying that it would just push the problem forward instead of doing the structural work necessary to fix the state.

• Had some interesting conversations with Congressional candidates Mark DeSaulnier and Anthony Woods last night, I’ll expand more in a later post.

• We’ll see speeches this morning from Sen. Boxer, and gubernatorial candidates Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown, among others.  We have some blogger meetings set up with Boxer and Newsom, among others, as well.  

More later…

The very, VERY good news is that the resolution to impeach Jay Bybee from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals passed the Resolutions Committee with only small changes to the language.  Any impeachment process must begin with a Congressional inquiry that gets remanded to the House Judiciary Committee.  That’s exactly the language we got, a resolution supporting a Congressional inquiry into Bybee and the other lawyers who justified torture.  To everyone that signed petitions, you helped make this happen. We’re not done yet, however.  In order to get to the floor, the resolution must get ranked among the top ten at a “prioritizing” meeting today.  Many more than ten resolutions passed in committee, so it will be a fight to get the Bybee resolution on the floor.  I will be testifying in the committee today and lobbying for passage, armed with the thousands of signatures and personal testimonials gathered over the past week.

This could be as consequential as anything done in this convention, despite it happening off the floor and relatively outside of scrutiny.  A resolution of support from the full CDP would be powerful.  I’ll keep you updated.

…Maybe some of Jay Bybee’s anonymous friends will show up to speak on his behalf.

In the Resolutions Committee meeting here in Sacramento, the committee approved a “Yes” vote for all the measures on the May 19 ballot.  The discussion was fairly revealing and typical of what I’ve seen around the state.  The committee members, almost to a man except for Calitics’ own Brian Leubitz, argued that the ballot measures reflected the best that the legislature could do, and spun tales about the consequences of failure.  Out in the audience, the crowd loudly cheered any time this official narrative was challenged by remarking on the consequences of success, for example the spending cap that would ratchet down state services permanently.  My favorite part was when someone, arguing for 1D, said that “if we don’t pass this, children will suffer painful cuts.”  Which of course is the POINT of 1D.  “We have to think of the children when we cut programs for children!” was the basic message.

Once again, we see the grassroots/establishment divide, where the legislature and their compatriots in learned helplessness wail about tales of woe while urging a Yes vote on measures that would make things demonstrably worse in the state.  We’ve gone through this over and over again, so the fact that the resolutions committee supported the measures doesn’t surprise.  However, the strength of the opposition in the room tells me that something may occur on the floor on Sunday.

I would guess that the establishment will try to push the entire package through, and since the only real institutional opposition is on 1A, there will be an effort to pull 1A from the consent calendar.  I think it’s genuinely up for question as to whether or not it was successful, which is interesting in and of itself.

More later…