All posts by Julia Rosen

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Secretary Bowen’s Election Dos and Don’ts

There are many reasons to love the job that Secretary Debra Bowen is doing as our Secretary of State.  This Dos and Don’ts list (via email) is one of them.  It is a great reminder to all of us as the election quickly approaches.  There is a lot of critical information and deadlines in here.

DO:     Register to vote, or double-check your registration, by October 20, if you want to vote in the November 4 election.  Voter registration cards are available at libraries, U.S. Post Offices, county elections offices, and California Department of Motor Vehicles offices, or you can print one from the Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm.

If you want to double-check your registration or confirm the accuracy of your information (such as address and political party choice), call your county elections office. Contact information is at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_d.htm.

DON’T:  Offer incentives to voters for agreeing to register to vote or to vote a certain way.  This is illegal under state and federal law.

DO:     Know that you may still vote even if you have left your home because of a foreclosure.  If you have not formed a new permanent residence, you may vote where you were previously registered.

DON’T:  Campaign for votes, solicit petition signatures, or wear campaign materials within 100 feet of a polling place.  Electioneering in the immediate area around polling places is illegal in California.  More information on this subject is available at http://www.sos.ca.gov/election…

DO:     Choose whether to vote at a polling place or vote by mail, and vote by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day.  Any California voter can vote by mail (formerly known as absentee voting).  The deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot from your county elections office is October 28.

If you prefer the in-person experience, polls will be open between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on November 4.  If you are in line when the polls close, you will be allowed to vote.  If you would rather vote by mail, remember that those ballots also must be turned in by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day at a polling place in your county or at your county elections office.  Postmarks do not count for ballots.

DON’T:  Sit on the sidelines during this important election.  Consider other ways to get involved in your democracy.  Be a poll worker and help make Election Day run smoother for everyone.  Host a ballot study group with your neighbors or family.  Volunteer for a campaign you believe in, and encourage others to vote.

DO:     Know your voting rights and your polling place.  If, for any reason, your name is not on the list at your polling place, you have the right to cast a provisional ballot.  The provisional ballot will be counted after your county elections office has confirmed that you are registered to vote in your county and you did not already vote elsewhere in that election.  If you don’t know where your polling place is, or if you have any concerns about your election experience, call your county elections office or the Secretary of State’s Voter Hotline at (800) 345-VOTE.

Ask a poll worker for assistance if you don’t understand your voting system.  And if you make a mistake on your ballot, ask a poll worker for a new ballot.

Now excuse me as I run off to make sure my teammate has mailed in her voter registration form…

Marriage Equality

Prop 8: $6 million down. Time to step it up.

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(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

Yes, you read that headline correct.  I told ya that the Mormons and others were flooding the Yes on 8 campaign’s coffers with donations.  We may have beaten them up on the air, but they have more cash to spend on their buy.  The two recent polls taken after the ads have hit the airwaves show that we are losing ground.  So, Brian is right to say “complacency is our worst enemy”.

So here is what we have to do folks, there is something every one of you can do.  It will take all of us to win this thing.

  1. Contribute to the campaign using the Calitics ActBlue page.  If you have the cash to give big give big.  If you only have $5 or $10, give what you can.  Yes, your money will be spent on TV ads, but unfortunately that is the way we win elections here in California.
  2. Volunteer. Show up at a local campaign office.  They are all over the state.  Or stay in the comfort of your own home to phone bank.  We win this by persuading more undecideds to vote No on Prop 8.
  3. Talk to your friends and family about Prop. 8.  Lot’s of people are still confused that supporting marriage equality means voting No. To that end, the Courage Campaign has created what the Politiker is calling“the most humorous TV ad of the fall election season”.  They like it, we think it’s pretty funny, but watch it for yourself.

    It is aimed at straight people, using a privacy, “get the government out of my pants” argument.  The undecided electorate is quirky.  Some of your friends will be swayed by talk about fundamental rights being taken away.  Others with a more libertarian streak may like the video. Tailor your discussion to your friends.

Oh and keep an eye out for a new ad from the No on 8 campaign that should hit the airwaves shortly.

We can win this historic fight, but we gotta buckle down and do the hard work and contribute what we can.

Check the flip for an email I got from a Yes on 8 person who for some reason thinks I know where the lost in China lawns signs are.  

I have no clue why this dude thinks I know where the Yes on 8 signs are, but he is really eager to get a bunch for his church.

Would you please let me know how I can get those yard signs, I need lots of them, my church wants to make sure we have them.

How much do these cost? are they by packages?

Please let me know.

Thank you and God bless you.

Jack

How about you do one of the above and ignore dear ole Jack.  Deal?

Marriage Equality

The Floundering Yes on 8 Campaign: One Million Missing Lawn Signs Found in China

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This past weekend the Yes on 8 campaign had talked up passing out ONE MILLION lawn signs.  It was going to be their big splash event, something big and bold to get a bunch of earned media.

To counter that push, the No on 8, Equality for All campaign organized a bunch of visibility events for the media and to raise the public face/profile of the campaign.  Then shuttled the the volunteers back inside to do the work that will bring this election home: calling undecided voters.  

But a funny thing happened….  There were no lawn signs, no big events from the Yes side.

I started hearing rumors that they had trouble with their vendor.  It turns out they were stuck in China.  Yes, China.  Here is an email from a one Gena Downey, producer of the cult hit Mormon film (I’m joking about the cult and hit thing) God’s Army.

The YES on Prop 8 yard signs have been delayed in route from China. We expect to distribute them within the next two weeks. I will email you as soon as they arrive so we can make sure you have one immediately. In the interim, please continue to take note of any friends or family who would like one as well.

So, the Yes campaign, rather than purchasing some good old fashioned union made in America lawn signs, they went to some cut rate producer in China who blew the delivery date by at least three weeks.  What, they couldn’t afford traditional American signs?

That seems to have worked out well.  Why does the Yes on 8 campaign hate America?

Love America. Volunteer for the No on Prop 8 campaign.  

Donate via the Calitics ActBlue page, so we can make up ground on the Yes campaign, which is beating us, the $100k from Speilberg to the No on 8 notwithstanding.

[UPDATE] by Julia Aravosis has more.

Meanwhile a friend emailed Gina to inquire about the signs and she responded back excitedly.  I guess she hasn’t figured it out that her email has been forwarded around.

The signs are not in yet. They are coming in from China and have been delayed but as soon as they arrive I will have them at my place in Burbank. That’s great news and I can get them up to you as soon as they land. Wow, so good to hear this!

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Prop. 8: Mormons v. Brad Pitt

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The newest major donor to the No on Prop 8: Equality for All campaign is one Brad Pitt.  It comes at a key time in fundraising over the initiative that would take away the right for gays and lesbians to get married.  The Yes side is seeing a major surge in donations, flooding into their coffers.  In fact, they are out raising us right now, Brad Pitt’s donation included.

The Mormon church is getting heavily involved in the campaign.  It looks like about 35% of contributions to the other side have come in from Mormons, or at least that is what they are claiming over at this Mormons for 8 website.  A high percentage of the large checks are coming from Utah.  

Here is the question: is a religious institution trying to buy this election and change the California Constitution?

They aren’t just donating.  They are fueling their GOTV activites.  Mormons have been invading neighborhoods en mass.  They are not using walk lists, but rather descend in large groups to knock doors and try and pass out the million yard signs they think is going to win them this election.  It’s flat out creepy.  It freaks out entire communities and usually the No on 8 campaign hears within a few minutes where the Mormons have decided to invade on any given day.

Look, I don’t have anything specific against Mormons.  It’s just that when a specific religious institution decides to play a large role in a political battle, it weirds me out.  Separation of chuch and state….

I know many of you have seen the polls and think we are going to win the battle over fundamental rights here in California.  But I have news from you.  The other side is winning the fundraising battle.  They are energized with volunteers and are counting on a sort of Bradley effect to put them over the top.  This is from an email from Dale Bankhead, the campaign manager for No on 8 (flip it):

You’ve probably heard that the polls show our side ahead. Some are saying that victory for our side is a sure thing. Don’t be fooled! This race is too close to call. The ugly truth we have learned from defeat after defeat in states across the country is that people lie on polls, especially about how they feel about LGBT people. In contest after contest, from Wisconsin to Colorado, we have gone into election day with polls showing our side with 7 to 10 points more support than we actually received at the ballot box.

This thing is close.  Want anecdotal evidence?  Key campaign staffers and leaders within the gay community are somehow squeezing their long awaited personal weddings in right now.  They are not running the risk that they will not be able to get married after the election.  So they are taking time out of working on the campaign to get married themselves.

The No on 8 campaign needs your help.  This is THE biggest campaign in California and we can’t win it without money and volunteers.

So give via the Calitics ActBlue page directly to the campaign.  And sign-up to volunteer.  They need people in their offices making calls and IDing voters.  This weekend there are a ton of field activities to participate in, as the Mormons and others on the Yes side try and pass out their million lawn signs.

[UPDATE] by Julia: Here is the quote from Pitt.  It’s a good one.

Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8.

As Larry points out in the comments on the dkos version of this post, the Yes side is outraising us 3 to 2 right now.  So give if you can.

Marriage Equality

Pro Prop 8 Group Squandering Resources

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The battle for equality, fairness and rights, aka Prop. 8 is an extremely close fight.  So, it is with pleasure that I pass along this story about the California Family Council (CFC).  They have been raising millions to pass Prop. 8, but instead of spending most of the money on GOTV efforts, the leaders have been lining their own pockets.  Justin McClachlan, a freelance journalist in SoCal broke the story on his blog.

Since 2003, the public has given the Riverside, Calif.-based California Family Council (CFC) nearly $3 million to support charitable work that the organizations says “protects and fosters judeo-Christian principles in California’s laws.” But, according to its federal tax returns, little more than $500,000 of that money has gone to “program services,” or expenses directly related to that charitable work.

In contrast, the CFC’s top two employees, including its founder and executive director, Ron Prentice, were paid a total of $1.1 million over four years. The CFC’s other employees earned a total of $900,000 in compensation — bringing the total spent on employees at the Council to about $2 million since it began in 2003.

McClachlan has a pretty chart to go with his article, but more interestingly makes the case that CFC is in danger of losing their tax exempt status based on this overspending on salaries.

Gene Takagi, an attorney who specializes in nonprofit organizations and who writes the Nonprofit Law Blog, said the legal intricacies of nonprofit finances are complex. He pointed to an article he wrote in the American Bar Association’s The Practical Lawyer on nonprofit governance.

In the article, he warns that “(a)n organization that engages in an inurement transaction (such as paying an unreasonable compensation to an insider) may face revocation of its exempt status” and that nonprofits have to show that they are working to benefit public interests, not private ones.

While seeing their tax exempt status revoked would be great, right now I am just thrilled that they are a) busy dealing with this rather than trying to pass Prop. 8 b) not spending those dollars on trying to pass Prop. 8.

In general, the other side has been pretty inefficient in their activities, focusing on visibility events, which do not do a great job of persuading voters, or descending en mass into neighborhoods without walk lists.  They are having huge rallies instead of talking to voters.  They think they can fire up their base enough to win in California.  It is up to all of you to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Make sure all of your friends and family know to vote No on Prop. 8.  Vow to vote no.  Contribute to the campaign via ActBlue.

Budget

Inverse Budget Logic

It’s like an energizer bunny, it just keeps going and going and going.  The state budget crisis that is and the state’s ability to continue paying its basic bills.  Ironically, not paying some bills because there is no budget in place makes it easier to keep the core governmental operations going.

John Meyers explains:

It now appears that the long budget impasse is actually making it less likely, not more, that the state will run out of money.

Confused? Hold on to your seats.

Weeeee…fun with people’s lives being destroyed.

This morning, Controller John Chiang released fiscal data from the month of August, showing that state government had $9.6 billion in funds that can be used to keep things running. That’s some $5 billion more than Governor Schwarzenegger’s May budget plan projected.

As a result, Chiang has delayed his much talked about plan to borrow money from Wall Street. The costly revenue anticipation warrants might still be needed down the road, he says, but not now.

Why? Because the state is living off all that cash it’s supposed to be sending out to vendors that provide a number of services… services that, as we know, are suffering without a budget in place.

And in an inversely logical sort of way, the longer the impasse lasts… the less likely the state will run out of money. That’s because the list of services that can’t be paid for gets bigger… meaning more money still sitting in the bank that can keep basic government operations afloat.

So, the pressure is reduced on the legislators.  It pushes off the day when the state starts running out of money, can’t pay its staff and has to shut down.  Eventually we will reach that point if we continue down this destructive path.

Everyone is at loggerheads.  There is no path to a solution.  There is no way this gets fully resolved this year, just about every deal involves the lottery and that requires a special election at this point.  It is both a crisis and a disaster with no end game in sight.

UPDATE by Dave: Just to add to this, the Assembly rejected the Yacht Party’s callous proposal today, and once again, we find 5 Republican Assemblymen unwilling to go along with a cuts-only budget.  Greg Aghazarian, Tom Berryhill, Sam Blakeslee, George Plescia and John Benoit.  Some of these are due to their running for other seats where they need moderate votes, some maybe out of some vestigial sense of empathy.  Whatever the reason, these are the big targets right now.  They need to be pressured immediately.

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Sen. Barbara Boxer on Gov. Palin’s nomination as GOP VP

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By and large the Democratic response to the Palin pick as McCain’s running mate has been strong, especially when you contrast it to the feeble words from the Republicans after Obama’s big speech last night.

Sen. Barbara Boxer just issued this fantastic statement about Gov. Palin, who is a weak pick for McCain and a huge gamble.  Boxer goes right after her.

The Vice President is a heartbeat away from becoming President, so to choose someone with not one hour’s worth of experience on national issues is a dangerous choice.

If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken.

The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women.  On the issues, they could not be further apart.

Senator McCain had so many other options if he wanted to put a women on his ticket, such as Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison or Senator Olympia Snowe – they would have been an appropriate choice compared to this dangerous choice.

In addition, Sarah Palin is under investigation by the Alaska state legislature which makes this more incomprehensible.

Interestingly, Hillary’s statement is much weaker, but I think by design.

“We should all be proud of Governor Sarah Palin’s historic nomination, and I congratulate her and Senator McCain.  While their policies would take America in the wrong direction, Governor Palin will add an important new voice to the debate.”

Clinton is going to be all nice and then spend the next several months tearing into her.  This pick guarantees an even bigger role for Hillary Clinton.  She will be the one continuing to make the argument to her supporters that Barack Obama is a much superior choice than the anti-choice, anti-equality, anti-working class ticket of McCain/Palin.

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Friday at the Big Tent

Just about everyone has packed up and gone home.  But the week would not be complete without at least one more interview.  The Financial Times is here and shooting a piece on the blogosphere and the Big Tent.  Right now they are filming this over my shoulder.

I wonder if the blogosphere wrote more stories about the media than the media has about the blogosphere this week.  Here is a question for people.  Will be the media still be coming around to interview bloggers as a novelty story in 2012, or we cease being quite as interesting?

As for me, this has been a week I will never, ever forget.  It has been historic, inspiring and exhausting.  I worked my tail off and had a lot of fun.  Progress Now (with which Courage Campaign is affiliated) and Daily Kos did an amazing job pulling off the Big Tent.  Sure there were hiccups, but by and large it was a huge success.  Heck, the Smithsonian came by earlier today to pick up paraphernalia and get them signed by the organizers.  They will be going in an exhibit, if that gives you a sense of how big of a deal it was.  We have come a long ways from the Tank in 2004.  I can’t wait to see what we accomplish in the next four years.

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Michelle Obama: The American Dream Speech

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The theme of Michelle’s speech has to be the American Dream.

“My dad was our rock.”

She said he woke up a little earlier and worked a little harder when talking about her father using two canes to move across the room to give her mom a kiss.

“Their dream endures.”

“Even though he had this funny name…his family was so much like mine.” Struggling working class, so that their kids could have things they never could.

“America should be a place where you can make it if you try.”

“My piece of the American dream is a piece of the hard won victories of those before me.”

Loud cheer for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.  “People who have never forgot where they came for and who they are fighting for.”

Signs for her speech: “Common Values.  Common Purpose.”

“This time we listened to our hopes and not our fears.”

After the speech Barack joined them live on the big screen.  Sasha and Malia stole the freaking so.  Totally adorable.  That clip is going to be everywhere.  Especially when she was jumping up and down wanting the mike back to tell Barack that she loved him.  Adorable!

Still having issues with the pictures.  Sorry guys.  I’m out of here.  Day one down.  Three to go.  This was an incredible night, one I will never forget.  I am so honored and proud to be here at this historic event.

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McCaskill Time and More Photos

Sen. Claire McCaskil’s kids were up on stage to introduce her.  Her son Austin was the speaker and recalled the wonderful story of how his sister urged her to get on the trail for Obama after she cried during Obama’s Iowa victory speech.  IIRC there was a great article about it in Vanity Fair a few months ago.

Sen. McCaskill is doing a good job telling both the Barack and Michelle Obama story.  “Barack Obama’s story is an American story”.

“I saw him take on both parties to help pass the furthest reaching ethics reform since Watergate.”

“That’s the change we need.”

“I know the son of a single mom will stand up for the needs of our daughters.”

McCasill just relayed the story of finding her mom and her daughters huddled around a computer gChatting with Obama volunteers.

“Yes We Can!”

My connection is slowing down some.  More users on here then before I imagine. I’ll update with pictures when they finish uploading.