I work for the Courage Campaign as the California field manager, and helped to organize this rally.

Last weekend, more than 2,000 people took to the streets to expose the secret billionaires cabal hosted by the Koch brothers near Palm Springs, California. Charles and David Koch invited powerful multi-millionaire conservatives to join them for a weekend at a posh resort to strategize and finance their nefarious plan to squeeze working families, gut social programs, destroy our environment for their profit, and buy our elected officials. The Courage Campaign, joined by an outstanding coalition, were there to let them know they can't come to California to do their dirty work in secret.

The Courage Campaign coordinated a diverse coalition of organizations, bringing together activists – with a broad array of concerns about the Koch brothers – to counter the billionaires cabal. Our partners include Common Cause, CNA, AFSCME, HCAN, Greenpeace, California Student Sustainability Coalition, CREDO, MoveOn, COPEPINK, The Ruckus Society and The Other 98%. My role was to coordinate logistics for the coalition, which is a cohesive panoply of groups committed to hold billionaires accountable for the damage they have done (and stop them before they cause any further harm). This demonstration is the kickoff for national campaigns for corporate accountability and good government this year.

See the flip for more.

United by common values, our coalition developed a series of activities designed to expose the Koch brothers through raising awareness, engaging in analysis of the problems and solutions, and inspiring displays of people power through non-violent civil disobedience. The various aspects of the action were referred to as “Uncloaking the Kochs” (panel), “Koch-Busters” (rally), and “Quarantine the Kochs” (direct action). Each organization and individual brought unique skills to the table and we coordinated our efforts to create a multi-layered demonstration that has sparked public interest and earned considerable media attention.

Common Cause hosted a panel, “Uncloaking the Kochs,” in a nearby movie theater, and you can view that at Common Cause’s youtube page. Over 350 attendees attended the panel on the Koch brothers influence on our political process, including panelists including Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC-Irvine’s law school, Van Jones, Bob Edgar, and Lee Fang. The panel discussion and the rally was broadcast on ustream so many more participated from around the globe.

At the conclusion of the panel, Rick Jacobs led the attendees to the rally outside the Rancho Las Palmas resort. I spoke with a woman who was standing with me at the very front line of the protest outside the resort after the people had taken over the street and 25 had been arrested.

“I’ve lived here for my whole life and I’ve never seen anything like this before. I heard about Van Jones speaking on a panel this morning, so I just came for that [shows me signed copy of his book]. But then this nice man [Rick] announced there was a rally too, so I followed him out here. When I went outside, there were thousands of people in the street. This is very important to our democracy. I can tell you are one of the organizers because of that thing [points to the massive walkie-talkie strapped to my hip] and I just want thank you for doing this.”

I thanked her for being part of this.

You can watch the rally speakers  at Common Cause’s youtube page, where you can find some of these interesting videos.

Sarah Callahan introduced Jim Hightower who introduced Rick Jacobs. The crowd cheered as Rick pointed at the resort and declared, “we have a right to shine a light on legalized bribery and that’s what we’re going to do!”

You can see the video of Rick’s speech posted above. Rick introduced a local resident who spoke about how much pollution impacts his community.

Lyneva Motley, a Board member of ACCE introduced Estela Lopez, who lives nearby in Riverside County with her husband and three children. The bank foreclosed on her home in October and her family fears that they will be evicted. She is fighting for her home as the bank refused to accept their monthly payments.

“We work hard to afford our home. I am here today because I am sick an tired of the big banks taking advantage of everyday, hard-working working families. i am tired of hearing about banks getting bailed out, while we the people get kicked out – out of our homes.

I am tired of people like the Koch brothers and their friends who come here to plot and plan how to stop regulation of the banks, how to keep wages low, how to defund schools and community programs, and leave hard-working families in the dust. I am fighting back. I am fighting for my home, but I am also fighting for our community and our country.

As long as big banks and corporations (aided by people like the Koch brothers) get to do whatever they want, we are in trouble. We the people need to take our country back from big corporate interests!”

One of the speakers eloquently described his struggle with obtaining health insurance, and said that even though the “high-risk pool” for adults with pre-existing conditions created by President Obama’s health reform legislation wasn’t perfect (he described it as “a giveaway to insurance companies”), he’d be damned if he was going to let the Koch brothers and their billionaire cronies take away the only chance he has. I got chills because it’s true for all of us, not just people with preexisting conditions or asthma caused by dirty air or those who have lost their homes or who have been victimized in other ways.

We are all at risk when 2% of our population is allotted more of a voice than the rest of us and we must stand up together in unity against those who would seek to harm our health, our environment and our democracy to line their wallets. I’ll be damned if I’ll let them take our democracy, our economy and our lives for their profit.

Bob Edgar of Common Cause led the crowd in chants including “We are the leaders we have been waiting for” and reminded us we are the hope for our children before introducing a 13-year old who asked “the best question” during the morning’s panel, querying the Kochs about why they can’t use their money for good things that help people.

Then Bob introduced Joel Francis, a senior at Cal State-Los Angeles and a Marine Corps veteran. Joel has repeatedly invited Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch to a public debate regarding the Kochs’ funding of Prop 23 (which would have rolled back our clean energy law to protect polluters like the Kochs) and he stirred the crowd with his remarks about the interrelated problems (video) caused by the Koch brothers and their friends.

Jim Hightower deputized the crowd as members of the “People’s Center for Disease Control” and then Andrew Boyd and Jenny Binstock encouraged the crowd to move toward the entrance to the resort for a non-violent direct action to confront those meeting within the “faux adobe stylings” of the resort walls.

Earlier in the weekend, a GreenPeace airship flew over the venue to remind passers by of the dangerous and covert dealings going on in the resort.

We marched to the front entrance of the Rancho Las Palmas Resort where several dozen sherriff’s deputies in riot gear stood guard. Over 1000 people occupied Rancho Las Palmas Ave and Bob Hope drive (a busy intersection in Rancho Mirage) for at least an hour.

As I stood by the entrance to the resort surrounded by fellow activists, I saw people stepping into the driveway and marching right up to the police line.  The attendees of the billionaires caucus inside the resort began lining up on the roof to watch what was happening outside. Folks with binoculars could identify them, which might be why the Kochs are now claiming that there was another event going on inside the resort (separate from them) – a conference for federal judges. How convenient.

The people crossed the police line in the resort driveway and at least two dozen people in hazmat suits stood face to face with the Sherriffs department deputies in full riot gear.

Thousands of us stood in solidarity as the young activists faced off with the police. One by one, they were cuffed and taken behind the walls of the resort. I watched as they were peacefully detained. The crowd chanted, “Arrest the Kochs, not the people!”

After at least an hour of occupying the intersection, the police attempted to communicate that they wanted us to disperse, but there was a problem with their PA system and no one could hear the announcements. The Riverside County Sheriff’s helicopter (which had been flying over the event in slow circles) swooped down alarmingly close and blasted a garbled message that I learned later was an order for the crowd to disperse. The lawn sprinklers turned on and a few activists got soaked (including me) as the jets splashed onto the sidewalks (I thought you weren’t supposed to water your lawn in the middle of the day in the desert).

As the crowd ceded the intersection, we chanted “We’ll be back!” We waved to the multi-millionaires and their myriad security personnel who had convened on the roof and front porch of the resort to watch the action.

Last week I stood in the street with more than 2,000 activists to telling the Kochs and their billionaires caucus in no uncertain terms that we know what they are up to, and we will expose their deeds to hold them accountable for their actions. We will quarantine the poison they have injected into our democracy to stop the spread of policies that degrade people, denigrate the environment, strip us of our health and our rights.

MORE PHOTOS::

photos of the event from the CA student sustainability coalition:

http://bit.ly/KochPhotos

and even more photos from our coalition:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/u…

Often in recent history times of turmoil have been preceded by times of great jubilation and success.  The great depression for instance of this century was preceded by the roaring 20’s.  Such is the current state of the Republican Party in California.  Great joy and a sense of eager excitement have gripped Republicans everywhere in anticipation of great gains in this year’s midterm election.  While pollsters and pundits across the state and nation have predicted massive Republican gains this year, the real story of the Republican Party in California is being written in a little watched race in a place where the economic hammer has fallen the hardest.  In Imperial County, CA, where unemployment is the highest in the State, the Republicans are facing what amounts to Custard’s last stand.

The Republican nominee for the 80th District is a young up-and-coming politician by the name of Steve Sanchez.  Sanchez is a Conservative stalwart, well liked by his party base.  He served for several years under a previous Republican Assemblywoman, who termed out, as her District Director.  Sanchez is a Marine Corps Combat Veteran, active in many non-profit organizations and on the Board of Directors for two local Chambers.  In other words, the perfect pedigree for his race.  By all accounts he has run a solid campaign, the best his opponent has been able to come up with against him is some missing paperwork on a business he owns, hardly a scandal.  Steve Sanchez, a Latino candidate in a District that has been represented by a Republican for 8 of the last 10 years, in a year that is going the Republican’s way, has everything he needs to win.

Steve Sanchez will lose November 2nd.  Surprised?  Don’t be.  Here is the rest of the story.  His opponent, like Sanchez, is Latino.  But his Democratic opponent, Manuel Perez, has received nearly $500,000 in direct support from his party to try and hold this seat.  Steve Sanchez, the only Latino candidate running for State legislature in California, has received less than $50,000 according to the local paper.  That’s right, 10% of his opponents sum.  In many ways this is the story of the Republican Party in California.  In a State with a population that is increasingly Latino, the Republican Party has been completely inept when it comes to giving this important voting block positions of power.  While the complexion of the state has changed, the complexion of the party has stood stuck in suspended growth.  Perhaps the saddest part of the whole story is, they don’t seem to mind.  Even when a candidate falls in their laps, a candidate they probably could not dream up, they turn their nose.

So while the Republican Party may celebrate in great glee on November 3rd, the true story of this election and future elections to come lay in a sad story of abandonment in a County that knows what it is like to be forgotten.  And one day soon the Republican Party will look back and wonder why they ignored Latino’s and their candidates.  Standing in their own unemployment line, they will have time to ponder.

CSEA members and my fellow union staffer Dale and I walked precincts in Coachella this morning for Manuel Perez, Assemblyman for the 80th AD. As always with this campaign, we were in good company:

Isadore Hall, Assemblyman for the 52nd District, brought five volunteers with him for precinct walking and carne asada.  More from Isadore Hall, CA52AD, on the flip.

Crossposted from dKos

I’ll get better at this videography thing, I promise:

Assemblyman Hall, continued:

We had LIUNA, United Domestic Workers, Coachella Valley Teachers Association, CSEA and more.  This campaign has so many of the same people we had last time, and Manuel Perez’s grassroots/social justice focus is the same.  The difference is now he is on the inside, with a track record.  

(The difference between winning and losing in 2010 isn’t the mushy middle. The difference is the base. And this is a good start. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

California’s Senate Appropriations Cmte passed Mark Leno’s SB 810 out of committee, and the Senate will vote on it next week.  (UPDATE: make that this week.  Started this diary on weekend.)  Leno says that the timing is coincidental and not a response to the Brown debacle, but it works for me.  SB 810 would create a single-payer, universal health care system in California.

You’ll be shocked to learn that Republicans are framing this as Democrats Out of Touch, and it’s possible that SB810’s supporters will get wobbly.  Two things need to happen:

Call the California Senators Calderon, Correa, and Wright and let them know that saving the state billions in waste and fraud is still politically viable – contact info on the flip.

Push back on the corporate narrative – talking points and media links on the flip.

Attack attack attack.  If you’re not a constituent, call them anyway.  Let them know that California can show the rest of the country that Democrats understand we want universal healthcare.

Action Alert on SB 810 (Leno) Single Payer Universal Health Care Bill

from California School Employees Association (full disclosure, this is my employer)

<[The] … single payer universal health care system in California, SB 810, is up for a crucial vote in the Senate this week and we need your help.

SB 810 is real health care reform that we desperately need in California. It would provide affordable, comprehensive health care to all Californians and would allow them to choose their own doctors.  Under this bill, nobody could be denied coverage because they had a pre-existing condition, and they would not lose their coverage if they changed jobs or went away to college.

SB 810 will be voted on by the full state Senate in the coming days.  We need your help in contacting three Senators whose vote may be important to the passage of SB 810.

Please make sure you use the following points when you contact the following two Senators:



• Thank you for your prior support of single payer universal health care.

• SB 810 is the new single payer bill and will come before you for a vote on the Senate Floor in the coming days.

• SB 810 is true health care reform that will cover every Californian and provides us comprehensive, affordable and quality health care.

• I am asking you to continue to support single payer health care and vote “YES” on SB 810.

Senator Ron Calderon (Montebello)

Phone: 916-651-4030

Email: [email protected]    

Senator Lou Correa (Santa Ana)

Phone: 916-651-4034

Email: [email protected]

For Senator Wright the message is:

• I am asking you to vote for SB 810 that would create a single payer universal health care system in California.

• This bill will come before you for a vote on the Senate Floor in the coming days.

• SB 810 is true health care reform that will cover every Californian and provides us comprehensive, affordable and quality health care.

• We need this bill and we need it now.  Please vote “YES” on SB 810.

Senator Rod Wright (Los Angeles)

Phone: 916-651-4025

Email: [email protected]

This final push in the Senate is very important to the passage of SB 810 and keeping real health care reform efforts alive in California.  Thank you!

OK, you’ve taken care of the legislators.  On to the media:

Articles on SB810 here, here, and here.

Ammo for your blog or Letter to the Editor:

I am writing to respond to your recent article on the passage of single payer universal health care in the California Legislature.

It’s about time that someone stood up to the insurance companies and banks and I am thankful that there are some legislators in Sacramento standing up for the people by standing up to insurance companies.  

The real reason average people are so upset about health reform is that we want our elected representatives to listen to us instead of insurance company lobbyists who have run our health care system into the ground.

I have watched as health insurance companies raise our premiums, impose huge co-payments and deductibles and then lower our coverage at the same time.  Health care is now an unaffordable luxury for middle class America, and we are losing jobs to Canada because our health care costs are so much higher.

I am tired of paying twice as much as every other nation for health care while we live at the mercy of heartless insurance companies who take 30% off the top and then deny us care whenever they can.  It’s time to get rid of the insurance company middleman.

California legislators need to listen to the voices of millions of Californians who have no health coverage.  California legislators need to listen to the voices of millions more who have insurance but can’t access it because of growing deductibles, co-payments or other insurance company games.  

I urge California legislators to support the California Universal Health Care Act.  The people are desperate for true courageous leadership on health reform.

Other suggestions:

California’s budget crisis is directly linked to rising health care costs.  Health care for teachers, police officers, firefighters, transit workers face annual increases that are much higher than wages.  Do the math!

SB 810 is a public private partnership where everyone pays into a universal health care plan and then everyone chooses their own private doctors and hospitals.  It’s been proven to save California families and employers billions of dollars in the first year.  It works by taking the money we already spend on health care and then getting rid of the wasteful insurance company bureaucracy that stands between us and our doctor.  

Thank you!

Crossposted at dKos

(While the issues within the State Capitol are important, we also need to work on rebuilding a sustainable economy for the future. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

According to Miguel Figueroa, the Executive Director of the Calexico New River Committee (the sponsors of AB 1079), “Despite decades of resolutions, studies and promises, our city has not received the sustained leadership and support from California that we need to solve this problem. We commend Assemblyman Perez for making New River clean-up a priority in his first term in office…”

Perez is doing what he said he’d do for the region no one has served up to now- clean up the New River, the biggest environmental and public health disaster in the 80th since the 1940s.  Though Senator Ducheny made progress in 2005, it took Perez to get the full coalition together and the federal funds released.

The Desert Sun, true to form, tucks the credit for this “unprecedented attention” and the “reversal of years of neglect” into the second page:

The California-Mexico Border Relations Council in coming weeks will host a public hearing in Imperial County to get residents’ feedback. The relatively new organization, made up of key state secretaries, is tasked with identifying major border issues.

Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, a Coachella Democrat who secured the state funding and is organizing the coming visits, has authored a bill giving the border council authority to coordinate a restoration plan with locals and oversee the necessary environmental studies.

(btw, If this had been a Benoit or Nestande Republican success, we’d have seen their names in the first line, plus photo.  No liberal media here.)  

Next action on this bill is scheduled for August 27, 2009.  Perez’s first bill to make it into law was AB 1555 – broadband development in rural areas.  That helps in Imperial County, too, where unemployment tops 25%.

Yes, I’d like him to do all of this and be as far in front on the budget as Nancy Skinner. But reclaiming a healthful environment along the New River is transformative stuff, too. The people who live along the New River have an Assemblymember, finally.

Perez will face a well funded challenger in all likelihood.  Can a Republican challenger can peel this constituency off with attacks on Manuel’s support for the gay community and women’s healthcare rights?  Jeandron tried last year and failed.  The New River is toxic to the touch, and dooms the whole region to poverty.  If Perez can turn that around, he’ll have done more than every Republican combined since the 1940s.

Xposted on mydesert.com, the online edition of the Desert Sun

Rally this afternoon in Palm Springs and tomorrow afternoon in Beaumont to protest the unconstitutional removal of ‘fundamental right to marry’ for gays and lesbians:

More below the flip…

Rally today in Palm Springs:

Who: Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet, Palm Springs Mayor Pro-Tempore Ginny Foat, HRC, EQCA, and the Desert Pride Center

What: Rally against Proposition 8

Where: Palm Springs City Hall, 3200 E Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, CA

When: 5:00 p.m.

Why: Homophobes and Bigots pass Proposition 8

Rally tomorrow afternoon in Beaumont to protest the unconstitutional removal of ‘fundamental right to marry’ for gays and lesbians and to seek the censure and removal from office of homophobe and bigot Beaumont City Councilmember Roger Berg:

Who: Donald W. Grimm, Ph.D., Charles W. Conn

What: Rally against Proposition 8 and to censure Beaumont City Councilmember Roger Berg

Where: Beaumont Civic Center, 550 E. Sixth Street, Beaumont, CA

When: 12:00 p.m.

Why: Passage of Prop 8, Berg’s assault of No on Prop 8 supporter during rally

XPosted on MyDesert.com

Beaumont City Councilmember Roger Berg was ‘arrested’ for assault on a woman during a No on Proposition 8 demonstration in Beaumont on Monday, November 3, 2008.  In an interview on Tuesday, Betty McMillion, Riverside County Democratic Central Committee chair told BluePalmSpringsBoyz, that Berg had been placed under ‘citizen’s arrest’ by the victim and that police reports had been filed against him.  Additionally, a minor filmed and audioed the aggression and has turned copies over to Beaumont police and the District Attorney’s office for further investigation.

During Election 2008, spontaneous rallies took place around Beaumont, a city in the San Gorgonio Pass region of Riverside County, midway between Palm Springs and Redlands.  A handful of young adults and older teens would gather at major intersections and crowds would gather to protest Proposition 8.  Monday was just such a demonstration.

More below the flip…

The Record Gazette reporters, Traci Kratzer and Cindy Watson, write today:

A Beaumont woman has told police that Beaumont Councilman Roger Berg pushed her during a Proposition 8 demonstration Monday night, an incident witnessed by dozens of people and filmed with a cellphone by one of them.

The pictures of the incident that took place at the intersection of Beaumont Avenue and Oak Valley Parkway about 6 p.m. have been turned over to Beaumont police, the victim said.

Jennifer Avakian, 31, said she and other demonstrators for “No on Prop. 8” were standing in front of Walgreens while demonstrators for “Yes on Prop. 8” were on the other side of the street.  In an interview with the Record Gazette, Avakian said the demonstration was going along peacefully until a man, who she later identified as Berg, began yelling at the “No on Prop. 8” supporters.

“He was screaming and saying that we were going to go to hell and that we were an abomination.” Avakian said.  “He looked crazy, like he was going to hurt someone.”

Berg, 53, allegedly began yelling at another one of the woman (sic) who was holding up a sign, and Avakian said, she went over to intervene.  That is when Avakian said Berg made a fist and pushed it into the sign she was holding, pushing her backwards.

“I was in complete shock,” Avakian said.  “I didn’t even know he was a council member until someone told me who he was.  That just made the whole thing ten times worse.”

Attempts to reach the homophobic, bigoted Berg were unsuccessful, according to the Record Gazette.  BluePalmSpringsBoyz knows from personal experience re Berg’s erratic, temperamental behavior as when I spoke to Beaumont City Council in October in support of No on 8, Berg flailed his arms, turned beet red, and said that if Council did not support Yes on 8, then the next thing that would happen would be that men would be marrying horses.  Horses?  Horses.  Scary to think of what Berg’s and the religious extremists fantasies consist.

At the City Council meeting Tuesday, Berg became upset when resident Heather Gardner spoke and referred to the incident.  As Gardner began her comments, Berg cut her off and asked if it was appropriate to talk about any ballot item with a polling place across the hallway.

City Attorney Joe Akulfi said it was up to the council but that it was a public meeting.

Gardner said she was appalled by Berg’s behavior on Monday night and asked that he apologize…

…Sixty-fifth Assembly District candidate Carl Wood, a Democrat, said he was present during the Monday pushing incident.  He said he noticed Berg as soon as he walked up to the crowd because he looked “extremely angry and was red in the face.”

“He was getting in their face and yelling at them,” Wood said.  “Then he pushed a young woman and it was just surreal because you don’t expect to see something like that.”…

…Another witness, Amanda Pombar, said she didn’t see Avakian get pushed but did see Berg yelling at people.  “He was yelling in people’s faces and he pulled out a Bible and started waving it at the,” Pombar said.  “It was almost like he wasn’t aware anyone was there.”

Wondering here if Berg whacked Avakian with his Bible.  Hideous little creature that Berg is.

Following the incident, Beaumont police were called and a report was taken.  Avakian told police officers that she wanted to place Berg under “citizen’s arrest” for the alleged assault.  “You just don’t do that to someone,” Avakian said about the incident.

According to a city spokeswoman, Darci Carranza, the police department is working on completing the report and once it is completed it will be sent to the district attorney’s office for review.  From there, it will be up to prosecutors on whether to pursue charges against Berg.

Rumors are that the next council meeting on November 18 should be interesting with calls for suspension of Berg from council pending the investigation, for censure, and with a possible recall in the works.

It isn’t the first issue involving Berg and Prop. 8.  Last month, he expressed support for “Yes on Prop. 8,” during a council meeting.  Berg had asked city staff to put a resolution supporting Prop. 8 on the agenda for council consideration and a vote.  At the time, he said he sought council support for the measure because “this is about tradition and family values.  Marriage should be between a man and a woman.”

Course, Berg’s fantasies consist of marriage being between a man and a horse.  Berg neglects to consider the fact that gays and lesbians have family values that are just as consistent and just as strong as their heterosexual brothers and sisters.

The council declined to take a position on Prop. 8, rejecting his proposal of having the city support it.

The final vote was 4-1 in favor of tabling the homophobe’s motion.

Berg has served on the council since 1993.  His current term ends in 2010.

(great ground report from the campaign of my favorite soon-to-be Assemblyman. – promoted by David Dayen)

Large majorities of Perez’s ID’d voters have already voted.  The majority of  VBM and PAV are Democrats this time around.  We’ve expanded the universe to make full use of our powerhouse squad of union brothers and sisters on the job today.

Jeandron dropped some particularly sleazy attack mailers yesterday, but California Medical Association mailed a fold out poster IE for Manuel that’s just beautiful, as you can see above.  As the man says, it’s a movimiento, a social justice movement, not just a campaign.

I’m here in Coachella with CSEA.   SEIU is also walking and poll watching, as is LIUNA, United Domestic Workers, CTA.  The enthusiasm in Imperial County is unprecedented – that’s where Manuel started his day.  He’s working his way from volunteer site to site from Calexico to Palm Springs today.  He’ll vote at Coachella City Hall at 3pm, and join Assembly Speaker Karen Bass at the Democratic HQ at 6pm for a rally, then on to Democratic Party at the Agua Caliente, then back to Coachella HQ to get the final numbers.

Two bands, and much food by then.  Updates as I can.  

Republican Gary Jeandron’s gone negative on Manuel Perez again, airing a radio/TV ad that accuses Manuel of being for higher taxes, higher fees, we can’t afford Manuel Perez – primal scream, clutch the pearls, etc.  The usual GOP disingenuous hysteria.

The Perez campaign has responded:

Now, it’s not that Perez thinks that the Grover Norquist pledge is a good thing, he just notes that Jeandron is running on the usual GOP gimmick, while failing to meet the gimmick’s standards.

UPDATE – I had this diary all wrong before, I referred to the wrong attack ad. Now it makes sense.

ActBlue here.

All of the Republicans running in the Coachella Valley bill themselves as moderates, Gary Jeandron and Mary Mack are two prime examples.  Yet here’s Jeandron’s latest literature being dropped at the Catholic churches in Brawley.  Note the absence of any mention of jobs, affordable healthcare, schools, or water:

Reaching back into the culture warrior bag of tricks.  Such a moderate!  30 years in Palm Springs, and this is how Jeandron treats the gay community.  And hey, way to protect our kids – denying the most vulnerable young women any chance at professional healthcare in a crisis.  Compassionate conservatism, again.

For Perez, the problems in our state are jobs, schools, healthcare, and sustainability.  That’s what our families need, not a California version of the Ministry of Virtue and Vice.  Please help Perez teach Jeandron what values we share here in the 21st century:  Manuel Perez’ Act Blue page.

Here’s his “Values” piece in Spanish.  A tip for the GOP:  religious people have do have values, and they cover more than issues of sex.  This election matters to every family thanks to Republican incompetence on taxes, the budget, schools, the environment, and our very lives due to the lack of affordable healthcare.  Perez has respect for everyone’s religious views, but opposes these propositions in accordance with his beliefs.