XPosted 2/13/2008 9:32 PM PST on MyDesert.com on BluePalmSpringsBoyz blog

I just received this invitation from State Senator Carole Migden, Palm Springs Mayor Pro-Tem Ginny Foat, and The Victory Fund to brunch to support Greg Pettis for the CA 80th Assembly District to replace the termed-out Bonnie Garcia.

More below the flip…

Sen. Carole Migden (D-CA 3rd AD), according to Wikipedia:

“represents the 3rd District in the California State Senate, which includes parts of San Francisco, Sonoma County, and Marin County.  She was previously a member of the California State Assembly (1996-2002) and Chairwoman of the California Board of Equalization (2002-2004), the nation’s only publicly-elected tax commission.  She also served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (1991-1996). She also chaired the San Francisco Democratic Party for eight years and is a member of the Democratic National Committee.

“Carole Migden is the Chairperson of California Senate Labor & Industrial Relations Committee and the Chairperson of the Senate Majority Caucus. She was previously the Senate Appropriations Committee Chair. She is the only Lesbian state official in Northern California and one of just ten woman Senators.

Mayor Pro-Tem Foat has served the Coachella Valley in various capacities including as a member of the Human Resources Committee of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments, an Alternate to the Riverside County Transportation Commission, a member of the League of California Cities, and a member of the Sub Committee on Neighborhood Involvement, of the Sub Committee on Convention Center Opening, and of the Sub Committee on Indian Oasis.

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund is the Nation’s largest LGBT political action committee.  As such, the Victory Fund endorses qualified, committed openly LGBT candidates who can win elected office.

The invitation from Migden, Foat, and The Victory Fund to brunch with Pettis is as follows:

George Zander, President of the Desert Stonewall Democrats, ran a great meeting today.  The montly DSD meeting took place at the Desert Pride Center and had between 45 and 50 progressive Democratic political activists in attendance.

Those in attendance included Bob Thomas, Co-Chair of the Palm Springs Democratic Club, Steve Pougnet, newly-elected mayor of Palm Springs, Ginny Foat, Palm Springs City Councilwoman, elected last week as Palm Springs Mayor Pro-Tem, and Palm Springs power-broker, Rick Hutcheson newly-elected Palm Springs City Councilman, Craig Ewing, Palm Springs Planning Director and newly-elected boardmember of the Desert Water Agency, and April Hildner from No on C.  John Williams, an appointed Palm Springs Historic Site Preservation boardmember and defeated candidate for Palm Springs City Council, Greg Pettis, Mayor Pro-Tem of Cathedral City and candidate for the CA 80th Assembly District to replace the termed out Bonnie Garcia, Richard Oberhaus, Pettis’ Campaign Manager, Paul Marchand, Cathedral City Councilmember, Greg Rodriguez from Yes on Measure E and the Hillary Clinton for President campaign, Robert Simmons, Palm Springs Airport Commissioner and supporter of the Barack Obama for President campaign, and Paul Clay and David Hunsicker, candidates for the CA 45th Congressional District to replace Mary Bono also attended.

More below the flip…

Thomas, co-chair of the Palm Springs Democratic Club, provided a thoughtful powerpoint presentation on the figures from the November election.  Democrats turned out in greater numbers than did the disillusioned Republican voters.  In addition, DSD voters turned out at an amazing 70%!  DSD clearly represents an important voting block for all progressive Democratic candidates.  Thomas attributed Williams’ loss by only 76 votes to the division of the vote between Hutchesion, Bob Mahlowitz, and Williams.  On the other hand, voter turn out may have been greater due to the interest in the hotly contested races.

Pougnet, recently elected as Mayor of Palm Springs, with his twins in tow, spoke elequently regarding his vision for the future of Palm Springs.  He thanked his supporters who lived in Palm Springs as well as his supporters, yours truly included, who did not.  Pougnet noted that downtown Palm Springs is important not only to residents of Palm Springs, but also to the entire Coachella Valley.

Hutcheson, recently elected to his first term as Palm Springs City Councilman, gave brief comments and thanked his supporters and the DSD and PSD Democratic Clubs for their support.  Hutcheson also noted that with the changing demographics of the Palm Springs area, it is important to continue to build the local Democratic Party from the grassroots level on up.  Hutcheson made a special effort to thank Williams for running such an outstanding campaign.

Foat, elected last week as Mayor Pro-Tem of Palm Springs, discussed the need for ongoing activism and a better approach to handling the negative campaigning of the Repugnant Party (my phrase, not hers) in the Coachella Valley.  Foat indicated that given the Repugnant behavior Nationwide, we should have expected that they would go negative here as well.  But the viciousness of the attacks against Williams and Hutcheson and the collusion of The Desert Sun was never anticipated.  I say, “Fool me once…”

Ewing, Palm Springs City Planning Director and recently elected to the Desert Water Agency, delivered a short statement and focused on what his own election means for the future of the Palm Springs and Coachella Valley Democratic Party.  Ewing noted that his was a breakthrough election and succeeded in part due to the complacency of the opposition.  He duly noted that in the next election, three of the Desert Water Agency seats will be up for election.  He expects that Democrats will continue to make gains on the DWA.

April Hildner of No on C discussed the resounding win.  No on C succeeded with 60% of the vote.  Hildner hoped that this will bring to an end the efforts of developers in the community to ravage the Chino Cone with unrestricted and unnecessary development.

Greg Pettis, Mayor Pro-Tem of Cathedral City and candidate for the CA 80th Assembly District, discussed his recent efforts to reach out to the Asian-Pacific Islander caucus in the California State Assembly.  With the most recent endorsements, Pettis is poised to receive endorsements from the entire caucus!  Pettis has also been actively seeking the support of labor and discussed his recent endorsement by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 440.  Other union endorsements are apparently coming down the pike.  And, next weekend, Pettis celebrates his 50th Birthday Party.  We expect that Pettis will fete us at Johnny Pasta’s in Cathedral City in a fashion to which we became accustomed with Hillary Clinton’s 50th birthday soiree.   Lol.

Greg Rodriguez discussed the importance of Measure E.  The Measure will assist in upgrading and renovating existing existing schools, making health and safety upgrades, constructing new schools, and constructing permanent classrooms at the elementary schools to replace portable classrooms.  Pougnet discussed his involvement with the Palm Springs Unified School District and his support for Measure E.  Pougnet also noted that much of the construction mandated by Measure E would take place in Desert Hot Springs and not in Palm Springs.  After a notably civil debate and discussion, DSD members voted to endorse Yes on Measure E by a vote of 20 yea, 6 nay, and an uncounted number of abstentions.

Clay and Hunsicker each individually discussed his candidacy for the CA 45th Congressional District.  Either way, it will be great to have a Representative who comes to the 45th CD for more than just fundraising and photo-ops (Bono is notorious for missing important votes on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.)  Clay and Hunsicker were well received, especially with their positive stands re Marriage Equality, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), Sentate Bill 777, and the Hate Crimes Bill.

Turner discussed the activism of Vets for Peace and their petition to deter the warmongering Bush Administration from any military action against Iran.  (Yes, even though the war effort in Afghanistan is suffering from lack of soldiers and lack of equipment, and though the occupation effort in Iraq is faltering with more and more civilian and military casualties, this Administration is obviously considering military action against a Nation so much larger than Afghanistan and Iraq combined.  In area and in population.  

All-in-all, a great meeting.  Please join us at the next meeting on January 12, 2008.  In the meantime, Zander requested additional assistance for the DSD Voter Registration and Candidate Information tables at Palm Springs Village Fest.  Village Fests in December are scheduled for Thursday, December 13, 20, and 27, 2007.  

And, now the race for the CA 80th Assembly District and for the CA 45th Congressional District are in full swing.  Keep turning the Coachella Valley Blue!!!

The following is based on a Reader-submitted opinion to The Desert Sun at mydesert.com by Kurt Barrie, Democratic activist.

With the election victories of openly-gay Steve Pougnet, Palm Springs Mayor-Elect, and of Rick Hutcheson to the City Council, they join Councilwoman Ginny Foat to make a majority on the Palm Springs City Council.  All three are openly-gay Democrats and are strongly supported by the local Desert Stonewall Democrats Democratic Club (DSD).  DSD is a local branch of the National Stonewall Democrats.  In addition, openly-gay Democrat, Craig Ewing, unseated a Repugnant incumbant in the Desert Water Agency race.  These elections are only a few of the many in the Desert that prove changing demographics and voter participation have occurred in this once conservative hold.

In Desert Hot Springs openly-gay Democrat Karl Baker secured a seat on the City Council and in Cathedral City two openly-gay Democrats serve, including Mayor Pro-Tem Greg Pettis and Paul Marchand (the third gay Council member, a Repugnant, Chuck Vasquez, is only openly-gay north of CA-111 in the predominantly gay Cove area of Cathedral City and is in the closet in the rest of Cathedral City).

More below the flip…

These victories by openly-gay Democrats are due in part by the influx of Gays and Lesbians that have been moving to the Desert over the past several years.  One of the reasons this has made a difference here, is that 82% of those in the Gay and Lesbian Community who are registered to vote are Democrats.  This is mirrored by national trends that show the same numbers for Gays and Lesbians who are aligned with the Democratic Party which has been at the forefront of change for gays and lesbians on issues of Marriage Equality, Civil Rights, Hate Crimes, and other legislation.  This margin of Democratic voter registration has produced victories for those running for local, State, and National seats on City Councils, the State Assembly, State Senate, U.S. Congess and the U.S. Senate.

What does all this mean locally?  Well, take Shadowrock Development for instance, not long ago Shadowrock would not have had a problem passing because the demographics were much more conservative and supportive of development in general.  Having a Democratic majority now, you will see that conservation issues, preservation issues and Democratic Party platform issues will predominate.  Mayor-Elect Pougnet has promised a Green symposium, and Councilman-Elect Rick Hutcheson has made it clear that he too will agressively pursue green technology and eco-friendly and new energy sources in Palm Springs.  All three openly-gay Democrats opposed Shadowrock, which means that it would not have been approved by our new City Council.  This is significant since Democrats pulled out the votes in this election and is in part why Shadowrock failed on the ballot in a landslide victory by the No on C campaign.

Democrats in the Desert are celebrating victories and are promising change.  In the future we can expect more conservation, more preservation and more focus on eco-sensitive, green development, as well as more of a focus on changing business patterns in the Coachella Valley.  However, with a few victories of Repugnants in the Coachella Valley, including Weigel’s election to the City Council, edging out openly-gay John Williams by a mere 104 votes, and the various homophobic stances of the Desert Sun, it keeps the Repugnants in the game.  The Repugnants were also succesful in keeping one incumbent on the Desert Water Agency and had a few victories in Desert Hot Springs.  So, the Desert Communities can expect interesting changes ahead.  And local Gay Democrats have much to celebrate with this election and will apparently have many more to celebrate in the future.

Please be gentle as this is my first post on Calitics.com.

Beth Caskie, a member of the Democrats of the Desert and a diarist on Calitics.com, with the assistance of George Zander, President of the Desert Stonewall Democrats organized a fascinating meeting re blogging in the Coachella Valley.  Well-attended, this meeting raised awareness of the importance of blogging in turning the Coachella Valley blue.

Recent history shows that the Coachella Valley is already well on the way to becoming Blue Coachella Valley.  Zander noted that the Coachella Valley is already blue on both ends with five cities giving John Kerry their majority vote in 2004 (Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, and Cathedral City in the West Valley and Indio and Coachella in the East).

Greg Pettis reports that in 1995, Ron Oden was elected to the Palm Springs City Council as its sole Democrat.  Simultaneously, Pettis was voted to the Cathedral City City Council as its lone Democrat.  In 2003, Oden became the first African-American and first openly-gay mayor of Palm Springs.  Simultaneously, Ginny Foat and Steve Pougnet each won City Council seats as Democrats, giving the Palm Springs City Council three Democrats on the five member council!!!  Likewise, in 2004, Cathedral City elected a majority of Democrats including Pettis and Paul Marchand to its City Council.

In 2005, Foat was by far the biggest vote getter in the Palm Springs council race for a complete term and John Williams just barely lost to the Republican incumbent after a last-minute yellow journalistic assault by the local so-called newspaper (aka the Desert Scum).

For your information, in 2007, Pougnet is running to succeed Oden as mayor of Palm Springs when Oden elected to not run for re-election.  Pougnet is highly favored to become the second consecutive openly gay Democrat mayor in Palm Springs.

In addition, Rick Hutcheson, Planning Commission member, has received the endorsement of all three Palm Springs Democratic clubs including Democrats of the Desert, Desert Stonewall Democrats, and Palm Springs Democrats.  In turn, Williams has received endorsements from Desert Stonewall Democrats and Palm Springs Democrats.  On the downside, rather than endorse Williams, the Democrats of the Desert endorsed Bob Mahlowitz.  According to some this action resulted in the recent decision of the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee to withhold formal endorsements for any Democrats in the Palm Springs City Council race.  However, with 40% of the Palm Springs electorate identified as members of the GLBT community, with the increasing Latino voter registration, and with Democrats far outdistancing Republicans in voter registrations in the past few years, Palm Springs is poised to have four Democrats on City Council!

Cathedral City with its two Democratic City Councilmen, Pettis and Marchand, means that Cat City will shortly follow Palm Springs into the Blue Coachella Valley.  Also, prior to his unexpected death, Gary Bosworth was the biggest vote-getter in the Desert Hot Springs city council race in 2005.  Desert Hot Springs Democrats hope to regain this seat during the current election cycle.  Residents of both Indio and Coachella in ‘Down Valley’ regularly elect progressive Democrats for mayor and city council.

So, the idea of a Blue Coachella Valley is no longer a fanciful dream, but should with the ongoing presence of strong local Democratic clubs and demonstrated Democratic unity become reality!

Thanks to soyinkafan for helping me to learn how to incorporate hypertext links into my text.  You obviously have great kharma!