Cross-posted at Daily Kos and MyDD.

During Schwarzenegger’s special election, the California Nurses Association received a great deal of attention for aggressive politics after Ahnold talked of “kicking their butts.” This year is no different with the nurses taking aggressive tactics to the battle for Proposition 89 – The Clean Money and Fair Elections act.

How aggressive? Well how many initiative campaigns get reviewed by the industry website All Hip Hop?

Now CNA is (literally) rolling out six mobile phone bank buses, with 24 lines a piece and wrapped in signage. This will allow the ability to drive to hospitals for shift changes and let nurses easily phone bank before or after shifts.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Wildermuth wrote:

Hit the road with the nurses for Prop. 89

With modern politics now tied to focus groups, tracking polls, TV attack ads and the other oh-so-serious — and often oh-so-boring — accouterments of California elections, there’s almost no time for good, old-fashioned political stunts that at least added a little life and personality to the voting business in years past.

The exception: The California Nurses Association, which is out on the hustings backing Proposition 89, the campaign finance initiative. CNA members on Wednesday afternoon opened the union’s “Get On the Bus,” campaign, which will put nurses on six colorfully decorated buses driving across the state promoting Prop. 89. […]

Earlier this month, it was street theater in Sacramento, as Prop. 89 backers joined a Jack Abramoff impersonator to string a million dollars in phony money from a lobbyist’s office to the headquarters of the California Chamber of Commerce, which is opposed to the measure.

They’ve also brought a guy dressed as Batman to a number of their events and even projected a 40-foot “Bat-signal” on a building where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was having a fundraiser.

They’re also probably the only campaign to have its own rap song the three-and-a-half minute “About Time for 89,” written and performed by Colette Washington: “It’s about time for Prop. 89, what’s going on in Sac Town is blowin’ my mind…”

Check out a new video where Colette performs at the launch of Get on the Bus. Big Pharma and Big Oil and Big Money may be able to spend whatever it takes to preserve the perverse status quo, but creativity and hard work are our slingshot in this David vs. Goliath battle. Get on Board!

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Proposition 89 | Video | Donate

(She’s the Mike McCurry of California. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

From the San Jose Mercury News:

Swanson derided supporters’ glee over the Internet wave washing over the ad.

“Sixteen thousand hits? That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 4 to 5 million people they’ll need to convince,” Swanson said. “Everyone heralded the netroots as the next great thing, and you saw it propel Howard Dean initially. But when it came to translating it to votes, it didn’t happen.”

The irony is that this story is about an ad from Bill Hillsman and talks about the Lamont campaign, which translated enough votes to win, beating a sitting US Senator.

It really isn’t surprising that Swanson, who is the shill for big insurance and big oil, would bash the netroots.

However, the idea of integrating youtube into campaigns to get exposure is something that is going far beyond politics.

For example, tonight on PBS, Bill Moyers is devoting Now to the topic of public financing of elections. So PBS put a preview on youtube.

The TV insider publication Broadcasting and Cable took notice:

PBS is getting serious about getting more bang for it promotional buck–or make that no buck–via the Internet.

It has set up a “directors account” on YouTube–allowing for longer clips and some other perks–and begun showcasing promos, with a link to the PBS homepage and the show’s site.

PBS President Paula Kerger has said from the get-go that the noncom service needed to be on the cutting edge of getting its programming to where the eyeballs are, and CPB President Patricia Harrison said just this week that programmers “can no longer broadcast to an audience where you last saw them.”

The PBS clips–14 of them so far–include tune-in information, like “check your local listings.”  Kevin Dando, director of education and online communication, for PBS, says it is helping to promote the shows to a huge audience–100 million views a day to all of YouTube. And you can’t beat the price of the screen time: free.

“It’s a great way to get in front of a broad variety of audiences,” Dando says. He points out that the clip promoting a NOW program on “clean elections” is now among the top-50 most viewed recent video posts to the site with 13,600 views to date.

“It’s where the market is headed,” he says.

To increase the chances of getting noticed, PBS loads the clip with tags so that it will come up on a variety of searches–for the NOW show, the tags were “NOW,” “PBS,” “votes,””sale campaigns,” “democracy,” “clean elections,” “election,” “proposition 89,” “vote voting.”

Indeed, it is where the market is headed. Which makes Robin Swanson look extremely out of touch when she bashes us.

The Merc News story quoting Swanson also had some other quotes, from people who actually understand politics:

“I don’t know if we’ll pull this off,” said Bill Hillsman, who created the ad and is the media consultant for Connecticut senatorial candidate Ned Lamont’s insurgent campaign against Sen. Joe Lieberman, “but if the spot goes out enough, people will say this is how I feel, and if for no other reason but this, I’ll go out and vote.”

Joe Trippi, the San Jose State University graduate who helped revolutionize the convergence of politics and the Internet as former presidential candidate Howard Dean’s campaign manager in 2004, said the ad “really captures” the mood of the voter.

“It’s the perfect spot,” said Trippi, a consultant to the Proposition 89 campaign. “It helps create the echo chamber between the Internet and TV that it will need to make that big move. This is getting moved around pretty virally right now.” […]

“We’ve learned from working with underdog and insurgency campaigns that if you do an ad that people are watching (on the Internet),” Hillsman said, “you get a multiplier effect that makes it three to five times worth the amount you paid for it.”

Hillsman’s ad campaign for Lamont was the first political effort to tap into the YouTube phenomenon. YouTube, which was recently acquired by Google, is one of the largest and fastest-growing free video sharing Web sites.

If you haven’t yet, check out the ad and use our tools to email it to your friends.

And check out the youtube promo for tonight’s PBS special on public financing (which I recommend watching).

Bill Hillsman’s new Stop the Pounding ad is getting play all across the internets, including a post on Crooks and Liars (the most popular political video blog in America). Here is what some people are saying:

“one of the slickest and most engaging political ads in California right now….In this ad, the medium is the message. Rather than targeting corporate donations and their influence on politicians, it attacks television advertising funded by those donations.” –Robert Salladay, LA Times Political Muscle Blog

“It is a terrific ad – and an incredibly important campaign.” –David Sirota, SirotaBlog

“Watch Hillsman’s ad, which is a remarkable piece of political jujitsu on the practices of political advertising, and has the possiblity to remake them.” –Jamie Court, Huffington Post

“hilarious YouTube Video, courtesy of 89now.org and/or Clean Money Elections which just about sums up this year’s election.  I love it how they’ve managed to tie in our fatigue with the campaigning….” –Dan Wood, A Progressive Alamedan

“to me there is no single race as crucial as the battle to pass Proposition 89, a huge first step towards cleaning up politics in this state and taking it out of the hands of wealthy special interests. Joe Trippi sent me an ad today that was done by the brilliant filmmaker Bill Hillsman.” –Howie Klein, Down WithTyranny

“His new ad for the issue doesn’t even look like a political ad — its production values are too high-end. Polling shows Proposition 89 is in a fierce battle, but as Hillsman’s ad makes clear, the big money interests are actually shooting themselves in the foot. Spending tens of millions of dollars on nasty ad campaigns to try to destroy popular initiatives, these corporate interests are angering voters. Hillsman goes ninja style and turns these frustrations into a powerful argument for campaign finance reform.” –Left in the West, AOL News Elections Blog

( – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Cross-posted at Daily Kos

California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg isn’t the only Sacramento powerhouse seeking to protect power by opposing reform.

The Chevron Corporation — formerly known as Standard Oil of California — wrote a $250,000 check to a special interest group opposing Proposition 89, the California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act.

Chevron has extensively funded the negative attack ads against Proposition 87, the Clean Energy initiative also on the November ballot.

A chronological view of Chevron’s $19 million in contributions contains seven checks written over a nine month period.

The company has a storied history of buying results. In 1984, Chevron’s merger with Gulf Oil was the largest merger that had ever occured. Chevron also gobbled up Texaco, Unocal, and Sacramento politics.

On September 2, 2004, Tom Chorneau reported for the AP:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ambitious plan to reorganize almost every aspect of state government was influenced significantly by oil and gas giant ChevronTexaco Corp., which managed to shape such key recommendations as the removal of restrictions on oil refineries.

Many corporations and interest groups participated in the governor’s reform plan — known as the California Performance Review — but state records and interviews with the participants show Chevron enjoyed immense success in influencing the report through its array of lobbyists, attorneys and trade organizations.

And few corporations have spent so much political cash on the governor, either. Since Schwarzenegger’s election last October, the San Ramon company has contributed more than $200,000 to his committees and $500,000 to the California Republican Party.

Chevron, whose officials acknowledge they lobbied hard to get their ideas in the report, is one of about 20 companies that paid to send the governor and his staff to this week’s Republican National Convention in New York. On Wednesday, Schwarzenegger attended a closed-door meeting in New York with representatives of those companies, including Chevron. And just three weeks after the Governor’s Office released the 2,700-page reorganization report, the company gave $100,000 to a Schwarzenegger-controlled political fund.

At the time that was a lot of money. Richard Holober, Executive Director Consumer Federation of California, explained what has happened since then:

Since 2004, Chevron gave $3 million in political contributions in California. For a company that made a record $14 billion in profits last year, it was money well spent. Despite public indignation, big oil crushed a proposed state tax on windfall oil profits.

Chevron has proven successful in the current system. The company has spend millions and ensured they make record billions.

Under Proposition 89, Chevron would be able to contribute $10,000 against each initiative, removing almost twenty-million dollars in negative ads. Chevron employees would be able to contribute, but Proposition 89 would create a system where political issues aren’t decided like an auction.

Clean Money — public financing of campaigns — has proven successful in Maine and Arizona. Included in Proposition 89 are the best practices from those systems, adapted for California. The initiative also includes are review process that will allow regular refinement.

The National Latino Congreso is meeting in Los Angeles for the first comprehensive gathering of Latino leaders, organizations and elected officials since 1977:

We therefore believe it is time to initiate a thoroughgoing debate on tactics and strategies for more effectively using Latino electoral influence and governance/policy assets to better achieve greater change and justice for our communities, nation, hemisphere and world.

At the Latino Congreso information will be delivered, issues will be discussed, strategies will be proposed, and decisions will be made by delegates and observers representing the breadth of the community. Our hope is that a new agenda for today and the next generation will be born.

Today, that new agenda was reflected in a unanimous vote calling for public financing of elections in California.

“The Clean Elections program in Arizona has greatly strengthened the Latino voice in the political process. It has opened the doors of democracy to allow more Latinos to run for office and has increased Latino voter turnout,” said Rep. Steven Gallardo (D-Phoenix), an Arizona state legislator who has been elected to office with traditional private campaign financing and under the Arizona clean public money system.

“With a Clean Money system, each community plays a dominant role in choosing who will represent them in Sacramento. Prop. 89 will allow Latino communities to choose their leaders without a veto from wealthier communities who dole out campaign contributions,” said Felipe Agredano, outreach coordinator for the California Clean Money Campaign, an organization which promotes a system of public financing of elections in California.

“Prop. 89 will allow Latino districts to more directly focus on the needs of Latinos because the people dictate the decisions, not corporate or special interests,” continued Agredano.

Proposition 89 has been endorsed by trusted organizations, including: League of Women Voters of California; California Clean Money Campaign; California Church IMPACT; California Common Cause; California Nurses Association; Consumer Federation of California; Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights; and gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides. You can read more about the growing support for Prop 89 here or visit the Proposition 89 blog for news.

Cross-posted at Daily Kos

With the passing of Labor Day, we have entered the traditional campaign season: a time for politicians to go meet voters. Yet the reality is that — even as you are reading this — many candidates are locked in a small room as part of the daily ritual known as call time. Somewhere along the line, it became conventional wisdom that money equals ads which equals votes, with call-time seen as the most effective way to raise money and thus win elections.

An entire generation of politicians have been evaluated not by their leadership or ideas, but by their discipline when it comes to spending hours on end begging for big checks, one call after another after another after another. It is commitment to call-time that positions a politician as a contender during the primaries, it decides if a candidate is seen as viable in the general election, and it plays a major role in whether a legislator will rise through the ranks into “leadership”. In short, call-time is seen as one of the most critical attributes in every stage of politics.

Wouldn’t it be nice if politicians could spend the next two months listening to voters instead of talking at donors? The answer is public financing, it is working in other states, and this is the year when it can start working in California.

How it Works
Proposition 89 is the Clean Money and Fair Elections Act on this fall’s ballot in California. The initiative would relegate call-time to history and fundamentally reform the political economy in the most populous state by making public financing of campaigns a reality. Prop 89 levels the playing field so new candidates can win on their ideas, not because of the money they raise.

  * Candidates who agree to spending limits and to take no private contributions qualify for public funding
  * $5 contributions from voters required to prove viability
  * Clean candidates receive enough to run competitive campaigns. They can’t raise money beyond public funds

Why Special Interests are Terrified
Prop 89 makes elections about ideas, not about money. Campaigns are measured by people, not dollars. That’s why trusted groups representing your interests —  like the League of Women Voters of California, California Common Cause, the Consumer Federation of California, and the California Clean Money Campaign — support Prop 89. And why lobbyists and special interests —  like big oil, drug companies, insurance firms, HMOs and some unions — don’t.

Just the other day, KQED Forum became a blogger bash (video here) because blogs threaten the ability of “very vested interests in Sacramento” to come together and oppose Proposition 89.

Bill Whalen, a Hoover Fellow and media consultant for the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Jones, Tom Campbell and Richard Riordan said (transcript via Kid Oakland):

I don’t worry so much as a Republican, but as a citizen, and there’s one word: “the blogosphere”  That’s what scares me.  There are angry people on the left and angry people on the right.  And I’m not sure if I want to see that anger harnessed in reforming our government.  I like the firewall, if you will. … Among the leaders opposing [Prop 89] are the California Teachers Association and the California Chamber of Commerce.  Why?  They are very vested interests in Sacramento, they don’t want the rules changed.  But Direct Democracy, to me we have it in effect in the initiative process and I’d kind of like to keep it harnessed.

What You Can Do
Until Proposition 89 passes, politicians will stay hidden away doing call-time and elections will be about money. The “very vested interests” in Sacramento will spend literally tens of million of dollars to preserve their stranglehold over California.

They may have more money, but reform can happen because we have more people. So take a quick minute and sign up for email updates.

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For daily updates, bookmark the Proposition 89 Blog.