On Sunday, The Union-Tribune reported on the simmering issue in San Diego of sex offenders concentrating in the downtown area.  Now that Jessica’s Law (Proposition 83) has been overwhelmingly approved by Californians, local officials have been given the greenlight to run sex offenders out of downtown.  But has anyone given any thought to where they’re supposed to go?

To recap, Proposition 83 prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of parks and schools (among other things).  It also happens to be the pet issue of Republican Assemblywoman Shirley Horton who represents many of my neighbors and who just rode it to a very expensive reelection to the State Assembly.  The constitutional applicability of Jessica’s Law is already being considered in U.S. District Court, but in the meantime, that would restrict all but a few blocks of the entire San Diego downtown area.  The reasoning from City Councilman Kevin Faulconer is that “downtown is a neighborhood now” which leads me to wonder what residential non-neighborhoods he’s imagining sex offenders moving into.  The NIMBYism that goes on in debates like this is perfectly understandable of course, but regardless of what ruling eventually comes from the courts, shouldn’t we be focusing on the bigger issues?  Like, for starters, how to prevent sex offenders who are potentially dangerous from being released in the first place?

Southern Californians for Jessica’s Law, right on the front page, presumably as the crux of their argument since they went to all the trouble of bolding it, announces the horrible reality that “many [sex offenders] are living in our communities and neighborhoods, near our schools and parks…”  Well geez, prisoners are being released and trying to integrate themselves back into communities and neighborhoods?  It would be much better if we could keep them all together somewhere, isolated from the rest of us.  Maybe we could call it jail or something.

Obviously, this is a complex issue with a lot of wrinkles that’s too much for any politician to take on with one bite.  It involves reconsidering penalties for non-violent and drug offenders, it involves the rate of prison construction, it involves reviewing and probably reforming the parole evaluation and tracking system.  And probably it involves treading a very careful course that many will see as soft on child predators.  You can’t get everything into a soundbite though, so we get crap laws like this that are wildly popular in San Diego and elsewhere because they glamorously treat symptoms but never dive into the root causes of the problems we face.

Which steers us to the essence of the issue.  In San Diego, in California, in DC, we’ve spent the past several (or more than several) years suffering through reactive legislation dressed up as proactive and visionary.  Sex offenders are being let out of prison while still potentially a threat?  Don’t keep them in jail or innovate treatment procedures, just don’t let them live anywhere except prison.  Corporations are outsourcing jobs overseas?  Don’t make American workers more desirable via advanced training and education, create tax penalties.  There are people who so hate the way in which the United States has conducted itself internationally that they’ll kill themselves and murder innocent people?  Don’t consider treating people who hold different beliefs with respect or consider dialing back the hegemonic drum-beating, just do your best to kill them.  While the stated goals of these policies will always be presented as exceedingly admirable, problems just don’t get solved.  At the local, state and federal level, we’ve spent years watching the whack-a-mole school of policy in action.

The application of Proposition 83 is in the hands of the courts now, and we’ll see what happens in the next couple of months.  In the meantime, is there such a thing as comprehensive politics anymore?  Are there politicians willing to take a swing at legitimate, large-scale reform?  And if they’re out there, is it even possible to accomplish something like this in the age of soundbites?

If there’s hope for comprehensive reform, it won’t come from the top down.  While it’s a bit much to expect actual legislation to be written and pushed from the grassroots, it’s increasingly clear that a comprehensive platform that reflects the rank and file of the Democratic Party at the local, state, and national level would be best driven by the grassroots, in particular a progressive version thereof.

So when you get a DFA invitation to participate in party elections, or when people talk about Taking Back The CA Democratic Party, it’s exactly this issue.  It’s giving the grassroots an opportunity to ensure that the party’s platform and the laws pursued and enacted make more sense from a functional level.  Ultimately, that our party and our government is working on sustainable progress with the minimum of wasted effort.

So if your district needs a good progressive to run, do it.  If your district already has one, vote for them.  It doesn’t save the world, but it’s a start.

Identifying existing bases of support and changing their minds.  That’s how any campaign manages to defeat an incumbent.  In a Democratic Primary, perhaps it’s a bit more difficult, or perhaps it’s just that the tactics have to be reinvented.  Many institutional groups (NARAL, Sierra Club, etc.) are just blindly endorsing Democratic incumbents whenever and wherever they can.  It requires changing the fundamental mindsets of people and groups who want a united Democratic front and are opposed to a system of regular primary challenges.  It requires taking on the conventional wisdom of every single Democrat in this country that’s terrified of risking a single inch and, particularly in California, it requires cracking the California Democratic Party’s iron insistence on picking the nominee before the primary (except of course, for governor, or for cases in which we beat them).  So who endorsed Ellen Tauscher in 2006?  This is the list we’re starting from.  These are the minds we’ll need to change, or at least be able to contend with.  What can we gather and how can we attack this?

The full endorsement page for Ellen Tauscher’s 2006 congressional campaign is still up and running on her website here.  Looking through it quickly, several things jump out.  One, that certainly is an impressive looking list, both in volume and content, to a casual eye.  Lots of Democrats, lots of organizations representing good sorts of people and ideas, lots of well-meaning folks.

A more careful look reveals a few other things.  For one, they’re ALL institutional.  No community leaders, no local party officials, no organizers, nobody without clout related to fundraising and ballot boxes.  Who cares what goes on in the community.  Also, some notable names missing.  Senator Barbara Boxer doesn’t make the list. Nancy Pelosi or the 32 other Congressional California Democrats aren’t mentioned either.  For that matter, not a single member of the House of Representatives or national figure outside of Senator Dianne Feinstein. Then there are other nice little maneuvers, like listing the Vice Mayor of Fairfield ahead of the Mayor of Fairfield.  Not sure how that one played in Fairfield City Hall, but I’d imagine better in some parts than others.  So here’s the full list, I would venture that it probably isn’t too early to think about how to come at this, whether in any primary that CA-10 may see or anywhere else.

Elected Officials

Dianne Feinstein,Senator, United States Senate
Phil Angelides, State Treasurer, State of California
Cruz Bustamante, Lt. Governor, State of California
John Garamendi, State Insurance Commissioner, CA Department of Insurance
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, California Department of Justice
Steve Westley, State Controller, State of California
Tom Torlakson, Senator- 7th District, California State Senate
Loni Hancock, Assembly Member- 14th District, California State Assembly
Lois Wolk, Assembly Member- 8th District, California State Assembly
Federal Glover, Supervisor, District 5, Cotra Costa County Board of Supervisors
John Vasquez, County Supervisor, Solano County
Gary Stanton, Sheriff/Coroner, Solano County
Jim Davis, City Council Member, City of Antioch
Donald Freitas, Mayor, City of Antioch
Michael Smith, Councilmember, City of Dixon
Janet Abelson, Mayor, City of El Cerrito
Jan Bridges, Councilmember, City of El Cerrito
Jack Batson, Vice Mayor, City of Fairfield
Harry Price, Mayor, City of Fairfield
Christopher Stokes, Mayor, City of Isleton
Carl Anduri, Councilmember, City of Lagayette
Lorraine Dietrich, Councilmember, City of Livermore
Marjorie Leider, Vice Mayor, City of Livermore
Laura Abrams, Councilmember, City of Orinda
Bill Judge, Mayor, City of Orinda
Victoria Smith, City Council Member, City of Orinda
Amy Worth, Councilmember, City of Orinda
John Hanecak, City Council Member, City of Pleasant Hill
Michael Harris, Councilmember, City of Pleasant Hill
Pete Sanchez, Vice Mayor, City of Suisun
Kathy Hicks, Mayor, City of Walnut Creek

Vanessa Crews, President, Acalanes Union High School District Governing Board
Dennis Goetsch, Superintedent of Schools, Antioch Unified School District
Joyce Seelinger, School Board Member, Antioch Unified School District
Shana Levine, School Board Member, Dixon Unified School District
Kim Poole, School Board Member, Dixon Unified School District
Amy Swanson, School Board Member, Dixon Unified School District
Anne Griffin, Vice President, Fairfield Suisun Unified School District
Kathy Marianno, School Board Member, Fairfield Suisun Unified School District
Gary Ebrhart, School Board Member, Mt. Diablo Unified School District
Dennis Fay, School Board Member, Orinda Unified School District
Pat Rudebusch, School Board Member, Orinda Unified School District
Paul Gardner, Governing Board Member, San Ramon Valley Unified School District
Rob Kessler, Superintedent of Schools, San Ramon Valley Unified School District
Ray Silva, School Board Member, Solano County Office of Education
Dave Brown, School Board Member, West Contra Costa Unified School District

Beverly Lane, Director, East Bay Regional Park District
Ted Radke, Director, East Bay Regional Park District
Christine Monsen, Executive Director, ACTIA

Organizations

AFSCME California
Alliance For Retired Americans
California Federation of Teachers
California Labor Federation
California Organization of Police and Sheriffs
California School Employees Association
California State Employees Association
California Teachers Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Citizens for Global Solutions
Contra Costa Central Labor Council
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 302
National Association of Social Workers
National Organization for Women Political Action Committee
National Women’s Political Caucus
NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Public Employees Union, Local One
Service Employees International Union
Sierra Club
The Vacaville Reporter

(The movie was good, I also recommend Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch — get ready for the trolls. – promoted by blogswarm)

On November 28th, the San Diego City Council voted in favor of banning Wal-Mart Superstores (spotted by Todd Beeton at Calitics as well) citing low-wage jobs, traffic congestion and the demise of mom-and-pop stores as reason to keep the biggest of the Big Boxes outside of San Diego.  This was, perhaps sadly, one of the bigger political stories of my several years in San Diego, with friends and foes of discount superstores crowding into the public hearing to plead their cases.  That Walmart would come out on the wrong end of this in San Diego of all places is pretty impressive, as we find our progressive moments to be few and far between.  But as is generally the case when some combination of evil corporations, politics and California combine, it looks as though we’re heading for an expensive legal campaign and an even more expensive disinformation campaign as Walmart fights back.  This is a battle that we’re going to have to fight and win eventually if a progressive agenda is going to have a prayer in this country, and since the fight in Chicago has come and gone, perhaps we can seize on this one to create and hone strategy.

First, to set the stage.  The Council’s vote was 5-3 in favor, sending it to Mayor Jerry Sanders who has no interest in slowing down development or corporations.  Sanders has made clear that he’ll veto the measure in January, but if the 5 votes hold, the veto would be overriden.  This ban is very carefully designed to only ban the largest of Walmart stores, leaving untouched the “normal” sized stores and similar big-boxers such as Target, Lowes, Costco, etc.  Walmart has a long history of taking fights with local governments to the courts and the ballot boxes, and while they’re not saying anything one way or another, we can expect them to not go quietly here.

It’s clear from many of the opinions expressed at the City Council meeting and from random conversations I’ve had around town that the economic ramifications of a Walmart economy.  People are very much convinced that these low prices sustain them, and the problem of course is that in most tangible ways, that’s true.  There’s no doubt in my mind that this will be the crux of Walmart’s inevitable media blitz once the City Council reaffirms their vote.  It’s tough to combat an argument of “they want to raise prices,” especially since it sounds so much like “they want to raise your taxes.”

In an article last week running down the future possibilities, it turns out

One well-known Republican political consultant, who requested anonymity, has already tried to contact the company about working on a referendum, but said the company has not responded to his request. Others in the political community expect the company to wait for the council vote on overriding the mayoral veto — which would take just the same five votes that were needed to pass the ban — before announcing its plans.

The article goes on to suggest that local labor organizations are likely to be major players in any potential referendum action, speculating that “you would see them organize like never before.”  If it comes to this, it’s a great opportunity to roll out the growing netroots/labor ties and start building more and stronger bridges between online activism and grassroots activism.  Most importantly though, it presents an opportunity for the netroots to expand its collective purview beyond straight electoral politics.  As we continue finding our way through the inevitable post-election “what do we do with ourselves” period, I would suggest that the best way to become relevant even when there isn’t an election is to take on more of the day-to-day stuff that keeps the grassroots in business.  Not only do we build progressive infrastructure and step up the hearts-and-minds battle, but the netroots becomes an indispensable ally of the existing grassroots process.

As far as I’ve always understood it, Walmart undercuts everything about a strong and functional local economy.  When it first comes to town, people love the bargains, but as the independent stores with higher wages start getting undercut and going out of business, gradually Walmart’s prices aren’t bargains anymore.  Suddenly, Walmart is all that people can afford.  Obviously this is why a ballot proposition is the most frightening option- this economic cycle is already well established in San Diego and people rely on these prices to get by.  But an education campaign can change that.  Going forward, I mostly hope that this issue, at least broadly if not specifically in San Diego, gains more attention.  The netroots is best as the place where talking points are proposed, refined and distributed, so the more we talk about this, the better equipped people on the ground will be when we all start lobbying our friends and neighbors on this issue.  For all the expanding capabilities of the netroots, serving as a bullhorn is still what we’re best at, so let’s begin to shout.  People deserve better than a Walmart society, and San Diego is the coming battle.

If Katie Merrill had the goal of preventing a primary campaign against Ellen Tauscher, it might not have been the best strategy to provoke the publisher of the most widely read political blog in the world into declaring, “So in CA-10, we will have a candidate, and there will be a primary.”

But as Jane Hamsher noted, Tauscher has greater problems than netroots. Sure, California bloggers are going to cover this race closely (Calitics is averaging more than a post a day on Ellen Tauscher in December of all months and Markos lives in the east bay). And sure, if things get interesting the national blogs will have the ability to get the race nationwide attention. But all of that will be focused towards understanding and supporting what is actually going on in California’s 10th congressional district.

Rototilling the Grassroots

From a grassroots perspective, the DLC fad of the 1990s destroyed the Democratic Party. The reliance on corporate big money all but cut rank and file supporters out of the process.

The new people-powered grassroots wave was a direct reaction to people like Gray Davis who triangulated against the base to be funded by big corporations.

Ellen Tauscher was part of this fad, but her continued contempt for the grassroots is so out of style that it makes it clear she is out of touch.

Since Tauscher bought her seat by spending $1.7 million, she has grown increasingly dependent upon PAC contributions while failing to develop support infrastructure in district. In her first re-election, almost 60% of her funding came from individuals, but her most recent report shows the ration flipping to where she now relies upon (mostly business) PACs for more than 60% of her warchest.

Now here is where the blogs come in and why Katie Merrill’s move was such a political disaster for Congresswoman Tauscher. What the blog infrastructure allows is not just volunteers and tons of money, but the ability for local resentment of Tauscher’s arrogance to have a nationwide voice.

After reading the front page post on Daily Kos, an 18 year old spoke up in the comments. He then learned how easy it was for him to refine his point, set up an account here, and post his thoughts as a diary. This morning, that diary was picked up by Fire Dog Lake and broadcast nationwide.

There is a structure to promote and reward ideas about the race, which is compounded in Tauscher’s case by the unique geography where bay area writers have six different BART stops they can choose from in the 10th district.

In the successful primary campaign against Joe Lieberman in Connecticut, the blogosphere amplified the reporting of Paul Bass and Colin McEnroe turning them into nationwide stars. Do you think this dynamic has escaped Tim Redmond? If a bay area race becomes ground zero in the battle for the future of the Democratic Party, CA-10 could be more thoroughly covered than most people can imagine.

The tools are readily available for grassroots activists to share stories of personal experiences involving Ellen Tauscher. I’ve heard lots of stories that I’m sure others would appreciate hearing and I know there are far more out there. So start an account and tell your stories — people are waiting to listen.

——–

Some of the comments thanks to Counterproductive Katie’s whine:

Kos, “It’s not surprising that this writer, Ellen Tauscher campaign manager Katie Merrill, would try to head off what will be a vicious fight for this seat in a primary. Unlike her apparent hero Joe Lieberman, Tauscher won’t get a “do-over” if she loses.”

Blue in Colorado, “How stupid can this woman be? A campaign manager-political operative needlessly and untruthfully insulting a several million strong group in her own party.”

zot23, ” I don’t even know who Tauscher was 5 mins ago, but now I support a primary challenge against her.  This whiney-ass boo-hoo letter makes me think she’s afraid of a populist net-roots primary challenge for a reason.”

Emetbloom, “I can tell you that there is significant antipathy towards Tauscher in both the El Cerrito and the Lamorinda Democratic Clubs.  I can also tell you that a lot of folks in CoCo County are upset because Tauscher belittles people who have challenged her vote on the war, has actively supported a Republican over active Dems for Community College Board, and in general is scornful towards people who don’t agree with her.  Also, her support of Filson didn’t exactly win her any supporters among Dems in her district.”

deaniac83, “Ellen Tauscher did her darnest to push Jerry McNerney – now the victorious Congressman from California’s 11th CD (defeating Richard Pombo) out in the Democratic primary.  You know why?  Because her longtime donor Steve Filson was running.  Tauscher put her nose in where it didn’t belong (I know this because but I can’t reveal the exact happenings or the source) to try to force Jerry out, and she was not nice about it.  We had to trounce DLC and Tauscher favorite Filson in the primaries 52-25% and then go on to beat Pombo.”

DavidW, “She was dragged kicking and screaming to drop her support for the Iraq War, and to start standng up against Bush. I’m in her district and I attended the district “town hall” meetings when she spoke about the war. Though she wasn’t an active proponent of the war, she didn’t represent her district when she voted for it, and it took her forever before she backed away from her support (via votes) for the war”

hartford for lamont, “by invoking Lieberman, a guy who lost the Connecticut Dem vote, all that Katie Merrill is doing here is showing how ignorant she is about what being a good Democrat is all about.”

machopicasso, “According to Tauscher’s campaign manager, it was a “misguided effort” to challenge an incumbent who was willing to leave the Democratic party in order to retain his Senate seat, campain with Republicans, and draw substantial support from the White House. That’s a totally different ballgame. Quite frankly, I’m surprised Merrill wants to place Tauscher and Lieberman in the same category. The latter already lost his primary; maybe Tauscher isn’t all that committed to the party, herself.”

electricgrendel, “She picked this fight.  It was her insufferable and useless “business friendly” Democratic model that helped greatly in getting the Democratic message diluted to the point of uselessness.  Not only that, but if I am not mistaken it was Ellen Tauscher who went out boasting about how much power she’d gotten because so many of the newly elected Dems were “conservative”. As for the press flak’s whine that we should be doing X, Y and Z so long as none of that involves rooting out conservative/business-friendly Democrats who make it impossible for us to deliver on a populist message, the only thing I have to say is that there are a whole lot of us.  There are a lot of fingers on a whole lot of keyboards and there are a whole lot of small wallets out there ready to open.  Don’t worry about us trying make sure that the freshman get elected and that we secure the White House in 08.”

tmo, “Lots of Dems in the district don’t like her and don’t consider her to be on their side. The general wisdom in the district is that she’s out of touch with her constituents and is not interested in being in touch; she knows what’s best and the voters should really just stay quiet.”

Giodude, “As I recall, she got really upset when the legislature unveiled the new maps. She was upset her moderate voting record would be a liability in her safe democratic seat.”

Neutron, “The chickens are coming home to roost for Lobbyistloving Tauscher.”

brittain33, “And here we have “business-friendly” Ellen Tauscher, representing a district substantially more liberal than her. No wonder she didn’t want this outcome. It reduces her ability to be a power player in the middle, who also happens to be exceptionally valuable to lobbyists. If she plays her moderation as a point of principle and not a way to get money from lobbyists and nicknames from George W. Bush, she’ll do well. If she sells out, by all means, primary her ass.”

RevJoe, “And Tauscher should be very, very afraid. She has been out of touch with her constituents for quite some time. She is definitely out of touch with her party.”

Faber, “This county is home to a large number of technical professionals;  I’m one of them.  Times aren’t as bad as they were in that business, but they’re not what they were in 2000. Ellen Tauscher has been in bed with ITAA since the get-go, and has sold out this constituency every chance she got. It isn’t a matter of ideological litmus tests or “values” issues.  Tauscher has simply done a rotten job of representing the issues of her constituents.  I will be working actively on a primary challenge for 2008.”

Big Tent Democrat, “The Netroots does not demand ideological purity. The Netroots demands the Democrats fight for Democrats, and that ideological disputes be resolved within our Big Tent. Tauscher’s meeting with Bush undercut our Dem leadership. That was Bush’s goal and Tauscher played along, just as Joe Lieberman always did. But it is more fun to believe there is an ideological test in the Netroots. Pure malarkey in the best tradition of Lieberman.”

AustinSF, “Congresswoman Tauscher serves as National Vice-Chair of the Democratic Leadership Council, an organization that is widely regarded as the intellectual center of the Democratic Party. DLC > them’s fightin words around these Dkos parts.”

mackellanpatrick, “I live in Ellen Tauscher’s district, and I agree that a primary challenge would be good for the district, good for the Democrats, good for democracy, and, frankly, good for Ellen Tauscher.  She seems to live in a gilded bubble and has gone unchallenged for too long, which isn’t good for anyone in leadership. The district has truly changed underneath her and become much more liberal.  And her campaign manager is just frankly an ass.  If you’re going to create enemies, at least be smart enough to be on the right side of history and don’t ramble on with “dying entrenched dinosaur overlord” kinds of things when new tools and communities arise with fresh voices.  A real choice for Democrats in the 10 would be a good thing, and maybe this time ALL democrats would rally around and support whoever the actual winner was, and not start their own party if they didn’t like the results.”

michael1104, “I seriously cannot wait to see her go! It is going to be soooo much fun challenging her and making her defend her right-wing corporatist stances against a progressive Democrat who would better represent the district.”

Pthy Cherub, “Nevertheless, she deserves a primary challenger that speaks to the values of the district and not her Liebermanesque view of how the world ought to be.  Maybe just maybe, she failed to notice her neighbor district brough done Pombo with a candidate that beat the establisment candidate in the district.  Some people have to learn lessons by actually getting in trouble rather than showing leadership and evolving when evidence says their political worldview is undergoing a dynamic shift.  She wants to “learn” the hardway – didn’t Joementum start out by poo pooing the netroots too.”

Nemesis22, “If Tauscher wants to avoid a primary from the emboldened left of the party, having her campaign manager whine about the indignity of being challenged by the great unwashed & comparing her favorably to Joe Lieberman isn’t a good start.”

And finally, a letter:

Dear Congresswoman Tauscher:

Today I read your campaign manager disrespecting the netroots Democrats, whining about attacks on pseudo-centrists Lieberman, Harman, and now apparently you.  "D-Alamo?"  Please.

You want to pick a fight with the netroots?  Fine.  It's on.

You've just turned another netroot constituent into a political enemy. 

See you in two years

Way to go Katie!

UPDATE: Counterproductive Katie responds:

On the contrary, my post far from backfired. In fact, the critical responses to my post on CMR and on different blogs prove my point.

No, you proved our point, catapulted a primary, and in the process an 18 year old high school kid proved he has more game than you when it comes to online communications.

The DNC under Howard Dean, whatever its faults may be, has done a good job of helping the grassroots be more effective.  One of the ways they are doing this now is through the “Democratic Reunion” events. They have a listing of all the events in California. If you have some time, consider participating in helping to make the state and country more “blue.”  I’ll try to put some of the events in the event section, but there tons of events, so make sure you search for your city.