Tag Archives: Kevin DeLeon

California, Environment

Sacramento Responds To Golden Wasteland Report/NBC Expose

Somebody’s listening. We issued Golden Wasteland this morning, a harsh look at  the Department of Toxic Substances Control and how it’s falling down on its job of protecting Californians and the environment from toxic harm.  NBC took a deep look at the Department last night as well — and its director refused to answer direct questions. Well now Sacramento has some of its own.

Senator DeLeon (D-Los Angeles) just wrote DTSC Director Debbie Raphael asking for some answers about its lack of enforcement and its mismanagement of hazard waste regulation. He’s calling for a Senate investigation.

Uncategorized

Somebody Started the Music in LA, Commence Chair Swapping

Back when John Perez was just starting to take command of the Speaker race, Sen. Gil Cedillo was threatening to run in the primary against him.  He never really gave any clear reasons for doing so, just that he had another 2 years left in the Assembly under term limits. Oh, and he had a poll showing that he could win.  But, you know how polls go, when a sitting Assembly speaker is challenged, there might be some money flowing to the race.

So, conveniently enough for Cedillo, Asm. Kevin DeLeon has announced that he will be vacating his Assembly seat and running for Cedillo’s senate seat.

“It has been and continues to be an honor to serve the communities of our region as a member of the Assembly,” De León said, “Today, I am announcing my strong desire to continue that work by running for the California State Senate. Now more than ever we need legislators who are dedicated to protecting vital public services, education, and public safety. These are extraordinarily difficult times and I will work tirelessly for the constituents of the 22nd Senate District.” (Capitol Weekly)

This situation is probably the best for all concerned, except that DeLeon doesn’t get to become Speaker.  At any rate, DeLeon had only one Assembly term left, we get a four year Speaker, and avoid a nasty primary fight.

How convenient.

Budget, education

Al Gore on California Education Funding

2 Comments

(full disclosure: I work for Courage)

Vice President Al Gore recorded a video and wrote an email to Courage Campaign members about the importance of investing in education even during a time of economic crisis.

In it Al Gore asks for people to respond back to him directly on Current.com with either a video response or text.  They have a pretty nifty tool that will detect a webcam on your computer and let you respond right there, just scroll down to the bottom.

On Monday, I went to the capitol and filmed 18 different Assemblymembers responding to Al Gore.  Dave has been cutting them into individual videos and uploading them.  Below the fold is the rest of the email from Gore.  I had hoped to be able to embed those videos from the Assemblymembers here, but the code from Current is not playing nicely, so you will have to click the link to see.

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino AD-44, Assemblywoman Betty Karnette AD-54, Assemblyman Dave Jones, AD-09, Assemblyman Kevin DeLeon AD-45, Assemblyman Ed Hernandez AD-57, Assemblyman Hector De La Torre AD-50, Assemblyman John Laird AD-27, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine AD-40, Assemblyman Lori Saldana AD-76, Assemblyman Sandré Swanson AD-16 and there are a few more coming including Speaker Karen Bass.

Dear Julia,

I don’t write emails like this often.

But, with Californians facing a massive budget crisis and potentially devastating cuts to education, I feel compelled to speak out. As members of the Courage Campaign community, I hope you will speak out as well.

I recorded this one-minute video for the Courage Campaign on Current.com. Please watch it and let me know what you think by recording a short video or written response of your own.

Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone magazine, asked me an interesting question in an interview a few months ago:

“How do we engineer the sweeping social and political and industrial change that we need in a short period of time, from top to bottom?”

My answer is that we must create a shift in consciousness — and, education is the catalyst for this shift.

That’s why I recorded this video for the Courage Campaign. Please watch it on Current.com and, if you feel so inspired, respond with a webcam video or text response of your own.

Education is not a partisan issue. It is a crucial building block toward creating a more informed democracy. We can solve the climate crisis, and every other problem facing our nation, if we begin by transforming America’s priorities on education.

As parents, teachers and students speak out about these proposed cuts, they need your support, now more than ever. Please forward this message to your friends who care about the future of California and our country as much as you do.

I hope you will take a moment today to record a short webcam video or write a response to my video. Your voice, and the voices of your friends, can change the conversation in California.

Thank you,

Al Gore

Lots of thanks to Steve Maviglio for help getting the legislators to come give their responses to Gore.