The Special Exemptions Act would make it even easier for Super PACs to buy our elections.

by Brian Leubitz (Note: I work for the Stop Special Exemptions Campaign. Cross-posted to DailyKos)

In 1980, Ronald Reagan spent $29.2mil to win the presidency. The incumbent, Jimmy Carter, spent $29.4mil to lose it.

In 2012, with the nominating convention still two months away, Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate with ambiguous goals has committed, so far, over $35mil to ensure that his voice is millions of times larger than any single everyday voter. Just a few days ago, Adelson committed another $10mil at the Koch Brothers luxury convention. No matter how committed the volunteer, no matter how many phone calls they make, no matter how many doors they knock, no single volunteer will ever approach the impact that Sheldon Adelson will have simply by writing a check.

And, with a net worth somewhere in the $25 billion range, it is chump change to Adelson. For comparison’s sake, it’s like you giving a political candidate a hundred dollars. Maybe he’ll notice a small dip in his bank account, but it won’t affect him. And so, the Super PAC Billionaires get to exert massive influence on our elections.

And yet here in California, the Special Exemptions Act would grant these same Super PAC Billionaires a big ol’ pat on the back. The measure crafts out exemptions for some of the biggest businesses and campaign spenders. The measure purports to be an even-handed reform, but instead it protects one side from any change of their big spending ways.

This measure is just far too risky for California. Who knows what kind of disastrous results it could bring? Resurgent anti-environmentalists with corporate polluter money? Anti-public education with for-profit education money? In the end, the Special Exemptions Act would give them a huge leg up in elections, and in the Legislature. You don’t need a crystal ball to see that their real agenda goes far beyond November.

California doesn’t need to protect the Super PAC Billionaires. People like Sheldon Adelson are doing quite alright on their own.  If you haven’t joined the campaign on social media, please take a moment to get connected now: join the campaign today. You can also like the campaign on facebook or follow on twitter.

Initiative would do nothing about SuperPAC insanity.

by Brian Leubitz (Note: I work for the Stop Special Exemptions Campaign. Cross-posted to DailyKos)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve seen the outrageous levels of spending on campaigns this cycle. What’s more, the SuperPac Billionaires are apparently willing to go to unprecedented lengths to get their cronies elected.

It doesn’t take much to realize just what Citizens United and the associated fallout has meant for our elections. Individual Billionaires are giving unprecedented sums to SuperPACs to get their way. Sheldon Adelson, a gambling magnate, is just one example, but his $10mil to a Romney SuperPAC means that his voice will be far larger than any of us can afford. In other words, our elections are now a free for all for those that can afford to spend millions on a campaign. And much of it is done through “non-profits” that don’t even disclose their donors.

The Special Exemptions Act will only make this worse here in California. It will act like miracle grow for the outrageous growth of campaign spending. Rather than being a balanced approach to campaign finance reform, it leaves loopholes for the SuperPAC Billionaires to drive their armored trucks through. Here are just a few of my favorite Special Exemptions:  Sole proprietorships, Real Estate Investment Trusts, LLCs, and  LLPs. And there are many more, just waiting for “investment.”

All this means that the voice of the wealthy would be even more disproportionate to everyday Californians. The Special Exemptions Act tries to pretend that it is Roundup for our campaigns, but in reality, it’s just Miracle Grow for the out of control campaign spending. That’s the last thing we need.

If you would like more information about the Special Exemptions Act, you can join the campaign today. You can also like the campaign on facebook or follow on twitter.

State’s largest union agrees to big pay cuts

by Brian Leubitz

Times aren’t good for state workers these days, and the Governor’s budget wasn’t really good for anybody. After all, the deficit required massive cuts.  However, one of the components of the budget was a pay cut for state workers. And yesterday, he actually got some of the necessary buy-in from labor.

As a vote nears on the final details of a 2012-13 budget, Gov. Jerry Brown has persuaded leaders of the state’s largest public employee union to agree to a key portion of his plan to reduce state spending, a nearly 5 percent pay cut. (SF Chronicle)

There’s no way around the fact that this is really terrible. Workers shouldn’t have to be working backward on the ladder up, but that’s where we are. At some point we have to change this zero-sum game.

However, perhaps that can start with higher education.

The governor wasn’t the only one to get a win this weekend. The budget plan now includes a guarantee that tuition at the University of California and California State University systems won’t increase this year or next year – with a caveat.

Holding tuition flat, which will cost the state $125 million for each system, is contingent on voter approval of Brown’s November ballot measure to raise taxes. If voters reject the initiative, both systems face a $250 million cut.(SF Chronicle)

Obviously, there is still a huge IF here. The Governor’s measure is skating that delicate line, and it is far from guaranteed that the measure will pass. However, our stellar education system is a big part of what made California great. We can’t continue to turn our backs on it, hoping the private sector will pick up the slack. It won’t and we’ll be left in a far less competitive position than we were at the height of the Master Plan.

The Koch Brothers welcome their fellow billionaires to San Diego.

by Brian Leubitz (Note: I work for the Stop Special Exemptions Campaign. Cross-posted to DailyKos)

Hey, did you hear the one about the secret convention of billionaires in San Diego this weekend? It’s really quite the production. They’ll be showing pretty much everything off there is to be seen in a political operation. Well, except grassroots supporters who can’t afford the cost of entry.

Many of the dozens of rich conservative invitees are expected to write huge checks to a pool of cash distributed among Koch-approved groups, potentially boosting the Kochs’ 2012 spending plan beyond their historic $395 million goal. And it’s also a chance for the Kochs to show off their increasingly robust political machine, including a growing voter database project called Themis that played a major role in conservatives’ recent efforts in Wisconsin and in which POLITICO has learned Koch operatives have discussed investing $20 million. (Politico)

Anyway you slice it, these SuperPAC Billionaires are planning to use the Citizens United decision, and some of our other bizarre campaign finance regulations, to the fullest.

But guess what, while we can already expect to see plenty of this at the federal level, the SuperPAC Billionaires are looking to create some special exemptions for themselves right here in California.  This November, Californians will be asked on the ballot to approve the Special Exemptions Act, a system that has more holes in it than a good hunk of Emmental cheese.

It just isn’t what it seems. Rather than being a balanced approach to campaign finance reform, it tips the scales to the SuperPAC Billionaires and their friends. It gives them special exemptions from the restrictions imposed under the measure, so they can have even MORE power in Sacramento.

That’s why there is such a broad coalition of opponents to the measure. From good government organizations to environmental groups, organizations understand that the Special Exemptions Act is wrong for California.

I hope you’ll join the campaign today. You can also like the campaign on facebook or follow on twitter.

Blankenhorn testified at Prop 8 Trial, Now says we should work for marriage equality

by Brian Leubitz

In many ways, it was actually better for David Blankenhorn to be on the other side. He was something of a comic figure. He testified on behalf of the ProtectMarriage.com crew, and ultimately got so twisted around that his testimony likely did them more harm than good. In fact, he ended up saying that we would be “more American” on the day that we allowed marriage equality.

So it shouldn’t be all that shocking that he’s decided to write an op-ed in the New York Times calling for an end to the discrimination against same-sex couples. (h/t P8TT) Now, I’m not trying to be too cynical here, but how else was David Blankenhorn going to get an op-ed in the New York Times?

But, I digress, here’s a snippet on his change of heart:

But there are more good things under heaven than these beliefs. For me, the most important is the equal dignity of homosexual love. I don’t believe that opposite-sex and same-sex relationships are the same, but I do believe, with growing numbers of Americans, that the time for denigrating or stigmatizing same-sex relationships is over. Whatever one’s definition of marriage, legally recognizing gay and lesbian couples and their children is a victory for basic fairness.

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And to my deep regret, much of the opposition to gay marriage seems to stem, at least in part, from an underlying anti-gay animus. To me, a Southerner by birth whose formative moral experience was the civil rights movement, this fact is profoundly disturbing.

So, is he saying that he is just now figuring out that much of the opposition to marriage equality is/was animus? Or, was his faith in his position strong enough that he could look past that. Either way, either he’s insensitive or kind of slow.

But, there is value in the symbolic import of having somebody who testified in favor of Prop 8 changing their position, for whatever reason. If Blankenhorn can truly persuade a few folks to change their minds too, then perhaps his decades arguing vociferously against marriage equality can be forgiven.