OK, this is pretty hilarious. Remember when Larry Dodge, the guy who was going to retire the California Yacht Party’s entire debt, threatened to withhold three million bucks unless the party overhauled its inept operations? Well, I guess he got his answer, because now he’s starting up his own organization outside the party.
A who’s who group of California Republicans will announce on Wednesday the formation of a new political organization whose mission will be to recruit and elect GOP candidates to statewide office in California.
The group will be chaired by Larry Dodge, the wealthy Republican donor who has been unhappy with the organization of the California Republican Party accusing the party of lacking “professional management.”
Former California GOP Chairman Duf Sundheim will serve as executive director of the group, which is calling itself California Republicans Aligned for Tomorrow (CRAFT).
This is a party defined by giving tax breaks to yacht owners, and so its richest donors build a new group called CRAFT… which is another word for yacht. You can’t make up this stuff, folks.
The Yacht Party’s richest members have such little faith in their party organization that they decide to build a new one, in the fleeting hope that somehow THAT was the problem, and not a set of policies that Californians almost unilaterally reject.
I must say that the Courage Campaign must be flattered over this imitation, the difference of course being that they are committed to empowering members from the bottom up, while CRAFT sounds pretty top-down to me. In fact, it’s unclear that this is anything but a money-laundering organization that can be more flexible than the state party. All the same players are involved.
Among those set to announce the group’s formation on a Wednesday conference call include both GOP legislative leaders, Assemblyman Mike Villines and Sen. Dave Cogdill, Party chairman Ron Nehring, former Gov. Pete Wilson, Rep. David Dreier, the chair of the California Republican congressional delegation, freshman Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner.
Six old white guys and one old white guy (George Runner)’s wife. CRAFT diversity fever – catch it!
In the spirit of comity, I’ll offer one word of advice: don’t kick off your conference call by noting how much your candidates totally suck.
The new group notes that since 1994, Republicans have won only four of 24 possible statewide elections in California.
The Courage Campaign today became the first organization to push out the Responsible Plan to its members. We sent out an email to our list this morning (see it on the flip) encouraging our members to endorse the Responsible Plan and almost as importantly, talk to candidates they know about endorsing the plan.
Over 50 candidates, including Debbie Cook, Ron Shepston, Cheryl Ede, Bill Hedrick and Mary Pallant here in California have endorsed the Responsible Plan. It is key that we get your help to continue to build momentum for the plan. That means getting as many people and candidates to endorse, so sign it and pass the link on to your friends.
This is about changing the conversation about the war. When people ask what we are going to do about the war, this is our plan. It is our roadmap to both ending the war and taking care of our veterans. Rather than using the Republican frame on the war, focused mostly on the tactical, i.e. the surge as a strategy, we need to take control of the narrative. Promoting the Responsible Plan is one way to do that.
Framing the debate is only one site of the equation. The movement behind the Responsible Plan also about electing Democrats who will run strongly on the war and end it when they take office. We need more and better Democrats.
Dear Julia,
The war in Iraq will never end.
That’s right. This occupation will never end unless we change the conversation and change Washington.
Fortunately, there’s an unprecedented new movement of courageous congressional candidates, military veterans, bloggers, and activists teaming up on a plan to responsibly withdraw our troops from Iraq. Together, this unique alliance is pushing back on John “100 years” McCain and his fellow head-in-the-sand politicians and pundits.
And now, we’re bringing this movement for change to California.
It’s called the “Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq” — a comprehensive strategy endorsed by 50 congressional candidates, two generals, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense, and netroots activists across the progressive blogosphere (led by our friends at Open Left). And, as the plan gains momentum, it is provoking a predictable reaction from the right-wing, pro-war crowd and their sympathetic stenographers in the traditional media.
You can see it for yourself. In a less-than-shocking example of beltway blindness on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Cokie Roberts dismissively rolled her eyes at the “Responsible Plan,” proudly quoting John McCain’s tired talking points.
How do we change the national conversation today? By showing Cokie Roberts and her friends in the media that the American public is fed up with Washington’s failure to end the war. You can start now by signing on to the “Responsible Plan” after you watch Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation magazine, courageously challenge Roberts and her mimicry of McCain on ABC:
Arianna Huffington, in a piece for the Huffington Post, does an excellent job summarizing how it got started, what it says, and what it will mean come 2009:
“(The plan was initiated by) Darcy Burner, a Democratic challenger who is running for Congress in Washington state. Working with national security experts and retired military generals such as Major Gen. Paul Eaton, the officer in charge of training the Iraqi military immediately after the invasion in 2003 and 2004, (Burner) developed “A Responsible Plan to End the War,” a comprehensive approach to Iraq based on legislation already introduced in Congress.
The (plan) doesn’t just lay out how to end the war — it also addresses the institutional failures that led to the tragic invasion and occupation of Iraq. This includes rebuilding the U.S. diplomatic apparatus, banning the use of armed military contractors like Blackwater, banning torture, promoting government transparency, and restoring accountability through the checks and balances laid out in the Constitution.”
… The idea is to band together a group of challengers running on a shared platform who, if elected, will be able to head into Congress armed with a mandate, supported by allies, and wielding a specific legislative agenda designed to end the war. Call it ‘A Contract to Restore America.'”
From the grassroots to Congress, the “Responsible Plan” is a people-powered campaign to flip the script on the right-wing cabal that started this disastrous war and continues to defend it. As you might expect, neo-conservative extremists are already waging attacks on the “Responsible Plan,” including one pro-war organization — founded by former Bush Administration officials — that called the strategy “surrender.”
The “Responsible Plan” has already been endorsed by 50 congressional candidates in just a few weeks, including five from California (click here to see who they are).
But that’s not enough. To stop the right-wing noise machine now, we need you to show your support and speak out. Please sign on, post a comment, and tell your friends — and your favorite congressional candidate — that they should support this responsible plan to end the war in Iraq:
Ending the war in Iraq does not mean just electing more Democrats. It also means electing better Democrats. The kind of Democrats who won’t cave in to the ridiculous rhetoric of neo-con extremists, Cokie Roberts, and the other shameless power-brokers and pundits populating our nation’s capital.
We have to keep up the pressure on our elected representatives as well as strongly encourage this year’s slate of congressional candidates to get behind the “Responsible Plan” now. Many of you have personal relationships with congressional candidates — both incumbents and challengers — across California. Can you reach out to them and ask them to take responsibility by endorsing the “Responsible Plan” now?
We know that we can end this war in Iraq — and prevent another war with Iran — if we build this movement together. But it’s going to take each and every one of you and your friends to make it possible.
Thank you for taking action today and making 2008 a new era for progressive politics in California. And the world.
Rick Jacobs
Chair
P.S. A few weeks ago, you helped us air “Yacht Party” TV ads about California Republicans refusing to close a multi-million dollar “yacht tax” loophole, despite facing a grim $16 billion budget deficit. Meanwhile, the federal government is diverting funds that would support housing and education in order to pay for endless war in Iraq.
Our elected leaders have their priorities out of whack. This has got to stop. You can take matters into your own hands today by signing on, speaking out, and telling your friends:
Here in the dog days of April, as the state awaits the governor’s May Revise, frustration seems to be setting in over the budget. The real political battles will begin in earnest after the May Revise, but the jockeying for position has been going on for some time, including in the state’s media. Unsurprisingly, the media wants to spin the budget crisis as a failure of all Sacramento politicians, when in fact the current impasse is the responsibility of one group alone: the Republicans.
As an article in today’s Sac Bee would have us believe, there is “scant support for budget changes.” But a deeper look shows that while Democrats have already proposed budget fixes, such as closing the yacht loophole and creating an oil severance tax (as exists in nearly every other state), it is the Republicans alone that have blocked meaningful budget action.
And why have they done so? Republicans want us to believe that any revenue solution is economically damaging:
However, Sen. Dave Cogdill of Modesto, the GOP’s incoming leader, said the state should not take away credits at a time when the economy is struggling.
Other ideas that have yet to gain traction would raise income taxes on high-wage earners or amend Proposition 13 to assess businesses in the same way as residential property. The latter, known as “split-roll” property tax, would require that commercial and industrial properties be reassessed more regularly, bringing the state an estimated $3 billion annually.
Cogdill dismissed all as non-starters.
“We should help the general fund by stimulating the economy and be a more beneficial partner with industry, rather than stifling them,” Cogdill said.
But whose economy is stimulated by revenue cuts? Who actually sees this so-called economic growth? And who suffers from the spending cuts that are forced by the revenue cuts? A closer look at the overall situation shows that the Republicans’ claims are nonsense. Tax cuts provide economic growth for a wealthy few, but cause economic distress for pretty much everyone else – especially when those tax cuts come at the expense of education. More below.
Tokofsky said he warned district leaders there should have been a parcel tax on the ballot this year to cover massive slashing by Sacramento — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a $4.8-billion fleecing of the state’s children — but no one had “the guts” to tell the public the truth.
And what is that truth?
The truth is that political leaders love lying to us about what a civil society costs. They’re even willing to trade our children’s futures for their political futures, and California is now plummeting toward the bottom tiers in funding per pupil in the United States.
Though it might be hard for Sacramento’s pols to understand, sometimes you’ve got to find the courage to tell yacht owners you’re closing their tax loopholes, tell drivers there’s a stiff price to pay for a break on the car tax, or do what Reagan and Wilson did, and raise taxes temporarily to avoid draconian cuts.
Darrin James, a teacher in Santa Ana, said teachers could be laid off by the hundreds in his district.
How exactly is laying off 20,000 teachers – for starters – going to produce economic growth? As we enter a recession, that’s 20,000 fewer people paying a mortgage, eating out at a restaurant, shopping at a mall.
More importantly, the long-term economic damage of these education cuts is incalculable. California businesses need educated workers if they are to survive. If they can’t find those workers here they’ll relocate to a state where education funding is taken seriously, or they’ll leave the country.
If middle-class parents have to dip into their own pockets to pay for teachers, that’s less money they have available to spend and keep the economy afloat. If lower-income parents must do the same, and find their health care benefits cut out of existence, then the economy will suffer as well.
The only people who benefit from these tax and spending cuts are those who are already so wealthy that they are insulated from its effects – those who can afford to send their kids to private school, or who can afford to live in a school district with a high property tax base like Carmel, or Beverly Hills, or Woodside.
It is THOSE folks whose economic growth is being protected by the Republicans. Education and health care cuts make California less competitive and leave fewer dollars in most Californians’ pockets, but they enrich those already wealthy.
This isn’t a speculative argument. All we need to do is look around us. Since California’s tax cut mania began in 1978 we have witnessed a generation of inequality, characterized by a growing divide between low-income and high-income earners and the evaporation of the middle-income strata. Here in the 2000s California has slashed taxes even further, and yet the state’s working families are further behind than ever before. 30 years of tax cuts have produced economic growth for those at the top, and produced slow but steady immiseration for everybody else.
As the legacy of California’s 20th century liberalism fades, this will become even worse. The only thing that has allowed any semblance of economic growth in the state for the last 30 years has been Pat Brown’s legacy of massive investment in public education and public infrastructure. The companies that employed Californians over the last 30 years benefited not from 1980s and 1990s tax cuts but 1960s spending on colleges, which produced the entrepreneurs and workers that kept those companies at the forefront of the American economy. They relied on 1960s-era infrastructure, from freeways to aqueducts to BART, to operate. Without renewed investment in schools and infrastructure, and now health care as well, California’s economy will sputter. And we have new issues, such as a climate and energy crisis, to contend with.
Steve Lopez was absolutely right to say that “political leaders love lying to us about what a civil society costs. They’re even willing to trade our children’s futures for their political futures.” But he should have been specific. It is Republicans who are lying to us about these things. It is Republicans who are asking us to trade our children’s future for their immediate political future.
What Republicans are ultimately asking us to do is trade our economic future for aristocracy. To open our wallets so that the wealthy don’t have to open theirs.
The only way that this situation will change is if the public steps up and forces the Republicans to climb down. That activism is already starting to emerge. But it is going to need our support and assistance. The stakes are enormous, but with public mobilization, we can win this fight and provide a viable economic future for this state. And without that mobilization, we will lose that fight, and become a state defined by aristocracy.
Republican candidates for the open seats in November are already beginning to push their ads out. In SD-33, Assemblywoman and proud Yacht Party member Mimi Walters is putting out this ad, cosponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. The ad is a ringing defense of the ruinous anti-tax politics that have brought California to its knees. The copy, in case you don’t feel like clicking on the “Red County” link:
Send a Tax-Fighter to the State Senate! Republican Assemblywoman Mimi Walters, Endorsed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
“Taxpayers know Mimi Walters is the stand-up conservative [irony: the picture next to this shows Mimi sitting down] we can trust to protect taxpayers and private property rights. Mimi is one of our best friends in the state legislature and one of the strongest voices in Sacramento for common sense budgets and smaller government. We need to keep her working for California’s taxpayers.” Jon Coupal, President, HJTA
Tax-fighter Mimi Walters is working to:
-Protect Prop 13
-Stop tax increases
-Enact a state government spending limit
-Protect the 2/3 vote requirement for budgets and taxes
-Stop gas tax increases
So there it is, Mimi Walters is planning to run a virulently anti-tax campaign aimed at winning over the oh-so-crucial Howard Jarvis and Club for Growth crowd. Meanwhile, schools in SD-33, such as in Aliso Viejo, are facing crippling teacher layoffs and visitors are being discouraged from south county beaches thanks to a lifeguard shortage.
Mimi Walters’ makes it clear who her constituents are, and who they are not. It shows that she, like most of the Republican legislative candidates, believes that any level of suffering and economic damage is acceptable so long as not one red cent in taxes is raised. I’m sure the parents who live in SD-33 and worry about their children’s education will be pleased to hear it.
This sort of radical go-down-with-the-ship tactic shows two important things. One, at a time when the state GOP is starved for funds, Republican candidates are going to have little choice but to accept funds from extremist groups like Howard Jarvis. Second, that means Republicans have no choice but to take a far-right line that is not in touch with the state’s voters when dealing with the budget, and that is going to open up opportunities for Democrats.
The Democratic candidate in SD-33 is Gary Pritchard. He’s going to have an uphill battle no matter what, but if Mimi Walters is going to run as an anti-tax zealot happy to see her constituents suffer in crowded classrooms and on crowded freeways, then it gives him an invaluable opening.
It’s been a few weeks since I wrote about this, but surely you all still remember my insistence that what California faces is a structural revenue shortfall – that our budget problems are the cause of a long-term inability to raise enough money to pay for our basic services, and not with how we spend that money.
Obviously such a shortfall can only be closed through new revenues – and yes, that means new taxes. Californians need to finally understand that tax cuts are not a freebie – they come with enormous costs, and that the high price of higher education, their lack of mass transit options, their lack of affordable health care, and the looming K-12 disaster with 20,000 fired teachers are just some of those costs. 30 years of tax cuts have produced social inequality and a lack of opportunity, and only new taxes can reverse those trends.
Facing the worst fiscal crisis of his political career, the Republican governor in recent months has signaled in increasingly frank language that he would consider new taxes as part of a compromise to close an $8 billion deficit.
To be sure, he’s never declared: “Let’s raise taxes.” But more and more, he’s saying he is at least open to discussing it.
“I made it very clear my proposal” does not call for raising taxes, Schwarzenegger said at one of several appearances around the state last month addressing the budget. “But I’m not the only one that is running the Capitol. I’m not the only one that is running the state of California.”
Legislators, he added, are also involved in budgeting. And in the process of finding a compromise with the governor, higher taxes might enter the picture.
“I said and I made it very clear that everything is on the table,” Schwarzenegger said…
…Since then, the governor has struck a more compromising tone, suggesting that ideas such as closing tax loopholes, or applying the sales tax to services currently not subjected to it – such as, say, haircuts and legal advice – should be on the table….
Some experts say it reflects a battle between two identities – one, the anti-tax conservative and self-proclaimed disciple of free-market economist Milton Friedman; the other the political realist trying to fix the state’s daunting fiscal problem and dealing with a Democrat-controlled Legislature that resists his vision.
It’s not surprising that the Merc points to Arnold’s affinity for Milton Friedman – I’ve written before about how Arnold’s budget plans are a kind of California shock doctrine. But it is also interesting that Arnold is gingerly exploring the path of new revenues as a possible solution.
Sales tax modernization in particular has been identified by groups like the California Tax Reform Association as a valuable method of raising billions in new revenues, as the current sales tax is more appropriate to the 1960s than the 2000s in what it covers.
It might be too much to ask Arnold to revisit the Vehicle License Fee cut, which the California Budget Project estimated cost the state a whopping $6.1 billion for the current fiscal year – more than enough to wipe out the proposed education, parks, and health care cuts, all at the cost of about $150/year per person.
Of course, Arnold’s new willingness to support taxes – such as it is – runs into the stubborn opposition of the Yacht Party – Republican legislators who prefer to protect tax loopholes for the wealthy instead of doing their jobs and helping the state meet its public services obligations. These legislators are hell-bent on preventing any new taxes from being passed, and Arnold’s support for new taxes would likely just cause them to dig in even more deeply.
All this suggests that the battle over the budget will not be won in the halls of the Capitol, but in the court of public opinion. Californians are going to have to step in and play the decisive role here, most likely by telling the Yacht Party where to stick it. In that sense Arnold’s willingness to back new taxes is a big plus, as one of the few things Arnold is good for is mobilizing popular support for policies. Polls already show that Californians support Democrats on the budget, and with Arnold on their side, Dems might just be able to isolate the Yacht Party.
How exactly that isolation occurs will be key. Republicans will either have to fold under threat of losing their seats in the November election (a successful Denham recall would be very useful here) or we may have to go to the November ballot itself with a tax package, bypassing the Republicans. Either way, mobilizing the public to oppose the Republicans and support revenue solutions is the only way we will resolve this crisis.
Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) is one of the co-stars of our Yacht Ad, and apparently he isn’t particularly excited about it. Steve Wiegand notes a “bemused” Blakeslee claiming that the current $8 billion deficit is somehow related to him first voting for, then voting against, closing the sloophole.
Well unfortuantely for Asm. Blakeslee, when you vote for it before you voted against it, Rick Jacobs is right-“There’s a little John Kerry in there.” It isn’t up to him to decide when votes are symbolic or substantive, and switching sides on the issue “in a sign of solidarity” with fellow GOPers doesn’t really signal a commitment to moving beyond partisanism for the good of the state. In fact, it’s the “party solidarity” that’s been the problem all along.
Meaning well doesn’t go to far if the votes can’t stay in line with those good intentions. And as a member of the budget committee through the past year of negotiations and general insanity, Blakeslee should know better than to throw around dumb lines like:
“The fact that the (Democrats) can’t even figure out who did and didn’t vote explains why the state of California has an $8 billion deficit right now,”
That sounds likely to be closer to the true Blakeslee. Instead of taking responsibility for the budget mess or instead of offering new ways to generate revenue or re-examine with fresh eyes the budget process in general, Blakeslee falls back on good old solidarity. Throw substance-less bombs across the aisle, try and fail to sound dismissive, and at the end of the day, be no closer to a budget that actually provides a reasonable level of service to the state of California.
So this is your 2008 Yacht Party at work: Even in a rare case where a member may oppose the sloophole, they can’t get past the petty partisanism to maintain the right vote. Party first, people second.
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, California believed it could solve its economic crisis by deporting 2 million Mexican and Mexican American residents – including many US-born citizens. It did absolutely nothing to ameliorate the Depression – you cannot exclude your way to prosperity – but nevertheless the deportations went on throughout the decade.
The Assembly Republicans, better known as the Yacht Party, appear to be heading down the same failed path. They have come up with the foolish idea that the budget crisis can be balanced by attacking immigrants:
Assembly Republicans this week promoted nearly two dozen bills they said would reduce the “negative impact” that illegal immigrants have on the state budget and border security. The proposals range from requiring individuals to show proof of citizenship when receiving state-funded benefits to repealing a law enabling undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition….
Assembly Republicans on Tuesday said illegal immigrants cost the state $9 billion annually, citing a Federation for American Immigration Reform study released in 2004. The group estimated that California spends an estimated $7.7 billion alone on education for undocumented students.
a 2004 Social Security Administration analysis cited a $7 billion surplus in social security contributions as a result of payments from the undocumented, and a study by the Texas state comptroller in December 2006 reported the absence of an estimated 1.4 million undocumented in Texas would result in a loss to gross state product of over $17 billion. No similar analysis has been conducted in California whose undocumented population is similar in size to Texas.
Arnold, for his part, actually got it right in replying to this:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called it a “big mistake” Wednesday to blame illegal immigrants for the state’s looming $8 billion budget gap, just as Republican lawmakers have proposed a rollback of benefits for illegal immigrants to save money….
“There is, you know, always a time like this where you start pointing the finger at various different elements of what creates the budget mess, and, you know, some may point the finger at illegal immigrants,” Schwarzenegger said. “I can guarantee you, I have been now four years in office in Sacramento, I don’t think that illegal immigration has created the mess that we are in.”
Of course, Arnold himself bears most of the responsibility here. And his approach to the budget has been to blame the Legislature and obscure the fact that his actions are what caused this crisis – from the reckless elimination of $6.1 billion in VLF money to the borrowing to close the last deficit to his destructive 10% across the board cuts, this crisis is Arnold’s and Arnold’s alone.
As the recent PPIC numbers show, immigrant bashing has quickly lost its political luster. Fewer and fewer Californians are falling for the Yacht Party’s scapegoating efforts.
California’s future depends on immigration. The trolls in the newspaper and blog comments may not agree, but they are in the minority and unwilling to face reality. The only way to solve our budget crisis is to solve the structural revenue shortfall, and most Californians now agree.
The Yacht Party merely puts itself further and further out on a limb and out of step with public opinion each time they propose solutions that benefit the wealthy few at the expense of everyone else. It’s not entirely clear to me how bipartisan solutions are going to work when one of the parties has gone off the deep end like this.
Just over a month ago, on a $2 budget, David Dayen created A Message from the California Yachting Association and unveiled it here at Calitics, mocking the California Republican Party’s transformation into the Yacht Party. It was an instant smash.
That ad inspired the Courage Campaign to create another Yacht Party ad, this one taking it to the floor of the Legislature and defining the Republicans as the party that protects tax loopholes while watching schools and health care collapse:
Last week’s fundraising campaign was so successful – bringing in over $11,000 in just a few days – that we’ve been able to get this ad onto Sacramento cable TV Wednesday night, on CNN, MSNBC, The Daily Show and the Colbert Report.
Perhaps just as significantly, the successful campaign has brought in new allies on the Yacht Party project. If Courage Campaign can raise $5,000 in the next 48 hours, both Speaker Fabian Núñez and SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West have promised to each match that with $5,000 of their own. That would enable another ad buy not just in Sacramento, but in the home districts of some of the most obstinate Republicans.
This is a significant pledge. It represents the coming together of the netroots, of organized labor, and one of the most powerful Democratic politicians in our state in a shared effort to take the fight to the Republicans, and help stop their efforts to destroy our public services just so rich folks can get a tax break.
I’ve been in the netroots a long time, and have been an observer of California politics for even longer. And I’ve always hoped that such coalitions could be built – progressive coalitions to take back our state from the radicals who have governed it into the ground. These groups haven’t always seen eye to eye, but they also recognize the importance of the budget fight, and the need for common action.
Even if you don’t donate – though I hope you will – I think it’s worth reflecting on just how significant a moment this is.
Over the flip is the fundraising email we sent out to Courage Campaign members today. And pay attention to the “P.S.” at the end – if you like these Yacht Party ads, perhaps you can help us create the next one.
Wow. We’ve got some wonderful news for you.
On Thursday, we asked you to help us raise $10,000 by noon today to get our 30-second “Yacht Party” TV ad on the air in Sacramento, taking the budget fight to head-in-the-sand Republicans in Sacramento. With California facing a massive $16 billion deficit and teachers being laid off by the thousands, Republicans are supporting a shocking tax loophole for, get this: yacht purchases.
Californians have had enough. That’s why our TV ad compelled 335 donors to raise $11,023 combined on ActBlue and our web site, surpassing our first goal. Now, because of your generosity, we just bought time on Sacramento cable to air “Yacht Party” this Wednesday on CNN, MSNBC, the Daily Show and Colbert Report — an action that has attracted media attention across California.
The good news gets even better:
Your people-powered response to our re-framing of the Republicans has inspired our good friends — United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez — to get on board.
What will it mean for our community to meet this $5,000 match by SEIU-UHW and Speaker Núñez? It means extending our ad buy in Sacramento to Thursday AND expanding it to air the ad in specific districts where California Republican “Yacht Party” Assembly members are most vulnerable.
It also means moving one step closer to making 2008 a new era for progressive politics in California. It’s so exciting to see progressives working together in common cause, from the netroots and the Courage Campaign to our friends in organized labor and the Assembly.
If you can help us make this $5,000 match, we can make history. Together.
Will you take 30 seconds to watch “Yacht Party” and then contribute $25, $50, $75, $100, $150 or more on ActBlue to match Speaker Nunez and SEIU-UHW’s challenge before Thursday’s deadline?
We can’t afford to close this disastrous deficit with devastating cuts. Common sense dictates that California bring in new revenue by ending these unbelievable tax loopholes for the rich. The sooner you take action either by contributing or forwarding this message to your friends, the sooner we can pressure the Republicans to stop destroying our social safety net.
Together, we helped kill the GOP’s electoral college “dirty trick,” count the “double bubble” votes in Los Angeles County, and block Blackwater’s base on the California border. And now, SEIU-UHW and Speaker Núñez are joining you to re-frame the Republicans and end this appalling yacht tax loophole for the super-wealthy.
With 30 seconds of your time and a few dollars, we can change the conversation inside Sacramento, help fix our gaping $16 billion state budget deficit, and rebuild the California dream.
Please watch “Yacht Party” and help us make the $5,000 match before Thursday:
And yes, thank you again for making this amazing news possible.
Rick Jacobs
Chair
P.S. Do you own a yacht? Or do you know someone who does? This campaign has gone so well, we want to film another “Yacht Party” TV ad. But this time we need an actual yacht, not just an animated version. If you know someone, preferably in Southern California, who wouldn’t mind having the Courage Campaign film a commercial on their yacht, please email us at “[email protected]”. Thanks!
This is really kind of priceless. So the Assembly caucuses are having their legislative retreats this week. The Assembly Democrats are meeting at the UC Davis Medical Center. The Assembly Republicans have booked out this hotel. In addition to the many amenities at the Le Rivage Hotel, they offer:
Marina – Offers luxury yacht parking, long term and short term
Whether it’s welfare queen Tom McClintock grabbing $300,000 in tax-free per diem payments even though he lives a short commute from the capital, or Jeff Denham pretending to decline pay raises while accepting them a few months after everyone stops paying attention, or Assembly Republicans making sure their retreat has luxury yacht parking, the contrast between the party of the people and the party of self-enrichment is striking. The Yacht Party detests runaway spending unless it’s spent on them.
Dave’s video a few weeks ago on the yacht tax loophole inspired the Courage Campaign to create this TV ad, which with your help we will get up on MSNBC, CNN, The Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Please contribute using our ActBlue page to place it on the air.
The goal is simple: frame the Republicans as the Yacht Party and draw more attention to their refusal to close the loophole.
Check the flip for the email we sent out to Courage Campaign members a few minutes ago, which gives a h/t to Dave, Robert and Calitics, plus quotes from Mark Leno’s blog post here.
Dear Julia,
It’s shocking and unbelievable.
California is in crisis, facing a $16 billion budget deficit. Social services are being slashed to the bone. Teachers and education professionals are being laid off by the thousands (up to 20,000, according to California Department of Education). Tuition and fees at state universities and colleges are being raised through the roof.
And California Republican Assembly members are unanimously supporting an appalling loophole in our state’s tax code that allows the super-rich to avoid paying sales taxes on…
Yachts.
Still blinking in disbelief? You read that right: Tax loopholes for yacht owners.
While you are wondering if your child’s school is going to be shut down because of the brutal cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, his California Republican “Yacht Party” colleagues in the state legislature are protecting the lavish lifestyles of the super-wealthy.
With the budget crisis approaching catastrophe, it’s time to change the conversation inside our state capital. Inspired by California netroots activists like David Dayen and Robert Cruickshank, the Courage Campaign asked our friends at Agit Pop Communications to create a memorable ad to air on cable news programs watched by Republicans in Sacramento (OK, we also want to air it on “fake news” shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but not fake news like the Fox News Channel).
The 30-second ad is called “Yacht Party” and you can watch it by clicking here. To air this ad Wednesday on CNN and MSNBC, plus the Daily Show and Colbert Report, we have to raise $10,000 by Tuesday from members like you.
That means we need 250 generous donors contributing an average of $40 per person ASAP. Will you chip in $25, $50 or $75 or more on ActBlue to fund our “Yacht Party” ad campaign no later than Tuesday at 12 p.m.?
Yacht purchases aren’t the only tax loophole California Republicans are blowing open for the fat-cat donors who paved their path to power in Sacramento.
Get this: Private jets are tax-free as well.
The only catch? Richie Rich must stash his yacht or private jet outside of California for at least 90 days.
So, if you’re wealthy enough to not only own a yacht but spend a sizable chunk of time vacationing on it (or sneakily ship it elsewhere for a few months), you don’t have to pay one dime of sales tax on your ultra-luxurious extravagance. Meanwhile, people like us pay sales tax on essential needs, from clothing to school supplies. And the Republicans in the state legislature march in lockstep, calling for draconian cuts that will destroy California’s social safety net.
It’s time for someone to tell the truth inside Sacramento: instead of serving the people of California, Republicans are serving their yacht-owning paymasters.
Will you help us raise $10,000 to air this “Yacht Party” ad on the Daily Show, Colbert Report, CNN and MSNBC? If you can contribute $25, $50, or $75 or more on ActBlue by noon on Tuesday, we can air this ad Wednesday on the huge flat-panel TV’s of Republicans across Sacramento:
We don’t have much time. But if 250 generous supporters of the Courage Campaign contribute an average of $40 per person before Tuesday at 12 p.m., we can raise the stakes in Sacramento, change the conversation, and maybe even embarrass Republicans into doing the right thing.
Can’t contribute? Then please forward this email to your friends who can ASAP.
Your activism is making 2008 a new era for progressive politics in California. Together, we helped kill the GOP’s electoral college “dirty trick,” count the “double bubble” votes in Los Angeles County, and block Blackwater’s base on the California border.
Now, with 30 seconds of your time and a few dollars, we can change the conversation in Sacramento.
Rick Jacobs
Chair
P.S. On Monday, Democratic Assemblymember Mark Leno blogged the details behind this outrageous “yacht tax” loophole on Calitics (a community blog for Californians):
“In February, the legislature considered closing the loophole that gives the wealthiest in the state a tax exemption for their extravagant toys. The proposal was simply to adjust this loophole in the tax law and increase the waiting period to a year–an action that is estimated would have netted the state $26 million. No-brainer, right? Well, not to the Republicans in the legislature.
Because Republicans in both houses voted against the bill, it failed to garner the two-thirds majority needed for passage. Republicans in the legislature have taken a pledge to never, under any circumstances, consider tax increases, even during budget deficits like the $16 billion one we currently face…
… (Governor Schwarzenegger) is now proposing that we cut more than $4.5 billion from K-12 education; decimate our AIDS Drug Assistance Program; further reduce reimbursement rates for health care providers; put the children of mothers on state assistance at risk of homelessness; deny the blind, the elderly, and the disabled even a minimal cost-of-living adjustment; slash funding for our court system; virtually close down our state parks system; and continue to under-fund our higher education systems.”
Enough is enough. Please watch the “Yacht Party” ad. Contribute what you can afford on ActBlue by Tuesday at noon. And spread the word by forwarding this email to your friends across California as soon as possible:
