After the break, I’ve posted a letter sent from Bob Packer on July 28th to the California LDS stake (diocese) presidents.

I’ll note a couple of items that caught my attention before posting the letter without further comment:

Apparently, there is a plan in place to put up one million ‘Yes on 8’ yard signs at 7:00 am on September 22nd.

This letter makes clear that those walking their precincts on behalf of the ‘Yes on 8’ campaign are not doing so to persuade their neighbors, but rather to identify potential ‘Yes’ votes.  As such, the precinct walking is clearly part of a standard get-out-the-vote operation, rather than an attempt to change hearts and minds.

July 28, 2008

Dear Presidents:

Yesterday a wonderful meeting was held with the eight Area Directors in Northern California. These are amazingly powerful people. The Area folks represent the grassroots effort for the passage of the Proposition and their responsibility overlays each Coordinating Council. This was a great and powerful meeting. I assure you that the LDS folks who work closely with or who are on the Board directly of the coalition are very impressive and politically experienced folks. It was great to see.

I have a few answers to frequent questions that are being asked and I feel that if I were you, I’d wanna know. Hope that this helps:

Organization, it’ s a little confusing!? Answer: The Brethren have felt that the best way to organize and pass the Proposition is to have an Ecclesiastical arm and a Grassroots arm to organization. Elder Dalton, Area Seventy and Chair of California for every thing, reports to the Brethren. I assist him. We work with coordinating councils, all 17 in California and then Stake Presidents and Bishops, rank and file. The second leg to organization is grassroots. This is done so as to engage as many like minded folks who are not LDS, but whom will help. The senior folks who run the grassroots are LDS at the coalition and are headed by Glen Greener and Gary Lawrence. These folks are assisted in Nor Cal by Boyd Smith, and in turn by Area, then Regional Directors. The regional directors overlay Stakes. Below are Zip Code Supervisors by wards.

What is the role of grassroots? Answer: The grassroots folks in each Stake, Regional Directors will train zip code supervisors. Their goal, is to find the voters who will vote yes. It is not to persuade others … but to find those who will vote yes. The ZCS will seek, with the RD help, to encourage as many as the ward members and like minded people as possible, to accept eight different responsibilities, all from walking a precinct to determine folks opinions (not to sell), to calling, to placing signage, to a myriad of essential tasks that Area Directors will oversee. Please know Presidents, that the RDs/ZCS’s will be contacting many many people to accept responsibilities. We hope that you are fine with this happening without the Stake President or Bishop approving each assignment! We assume that you are ok with that!!

Will like minded people from other congregations really join with us? Answer: There was a conference call last week with 1200 pastors in California with James Dobson as the featured speaker. This Thursday, there is another conference call with 2000 California clergy. It appears that the effort on the part of like minded people is huge compared to eight years ago. The Area Directors and Regional Directors will be aware of contacting the congregations for a joint effort.  Walking the precincts in particular is where we all may have an opportunity to grab a good friend of another religion and walk with them. If LDS people want to participate in that conference and know of the site of broadcast, they are welcome to go.

What is the timeline from here for the next few weeks.? Answer:

1.  Congregations of LDS all having been taught the doctrine in July so that they may see the importance of fundraising and grassroots participation. Some Stakes have called all Stake Council and wives as well as several folks who may be able to contribute not on the Council. The Stake President, in that Cottage Meeting, has asked for their support. A great part of a fund raising effort, accomplished in one night.

2.  August 1st:  All Regional Directors have been called and contacted by Area Directors for training.

3.  August 3rd:  Training of Regional Directors commences by the Area Directors

4.  August 1st-10th:  Zip Code Supervisors are in place and are to be trained by Regional Directors..

5.  August 16th:  The First of three Saturday precinct walks are to be held under the direction of the Regional Directors.

6.  August 23rd:  The Second of the Saturday precinct walks are to be held.

7.  Sept. 22nd:  One million signs will be put up in yards around the state at 7:00am.

Other timeline events will be planned and executed and you will be updated.

That’s enough. if I caused more questions than answered, please hit me back.

Thanks for all that you and have on your plate. The Lord will make up whatever we all feel we are lacking.

Brother Packer

Here is the source:  http://yesonprop8.blogspot.com…

Judge for yourselves.  Looks authentic to me.

UPDATE:  http://mormonsformarriage.com/?page_…

… the avalanche of signs is, indeed, a goal of the Yes on 8 folks. Our ward training program said that signs would be handed out a few days before September 22nd, but with instructions to not actually put them out until 7 a.m. on the 22nd. They wanted to give the effect that suddenly the signs were blossoming all over the place and all-of-a-sudden everyone was supporting the proposition.

UPDATE II:  This letter was originally found on this blog:  yesonprop8.blogspot.com

The letter was presented on that site as having been written by Boyd K. Packer.

According to commenters who were able to visit the site while it was still accessible, this notice was placed there in response to my diaries:

I am Bob Packer, a church volunteer working with the coalition supporting Proposition 8. For the record, the letter you are citing was written by me, not by President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or any other Church leaders.

In view of Bob’s claim, I take it that any question of authorship has been settled and that the letter has been confirmed legit by the ‘Yes on 8’ side.

Chino Blanco

The GOP consulting firm Schubert Flint Public Affairs is led by Frank Schubert and Jeff Flint, who also co-manage the Yes on 8 campaign.

The firm has announced an Open House to be held this Thursday, August 14th from 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm to celebrate the opening of Schubert Flint’s new Irvine office.

If you are able to get over to Irvine this Thursday evening, I’ve prepared a flyer that you can download, print out and take with you to distribute to the Open House attendees:  Schubert Flint Protest Flyer Download (PDF)

The screen version for your viewing pleasure:

A map to the office’s Irvine location can be found here.

Please note that the building parking attendants leave after 6:30 pm, so if you’re driving and plan to stay later than that, you’ll enjoy free parking (just grab a ticket on your way in, and the gates will be up when you leave).

Here’s an annotated view of the building:

This is a golden opportunity to interact with the principals, staff and clients of the leading PR firm behind the latest effort to ban gay marriage in California.  

If you live in Orange County, oppose Proposition 8, and can afford to donate three hours of your time this week, I invite you to spend those three hours this Thursday evening in front of 2020 Main in Irvine.

UPDATE: The local tel contact for this action is Vern Nelson at 714-235-VERN

Chino Blanco

(Hey OC folks! It’s party time with Republican anti-equality hacks! w00t! – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Schubert Flint Public Affairs has been hired to run the Yes on Prop. 8 (“Protect Marriage”) initiative.  If you’ve happened to notice the names Jennifer Kerns, Frank Schubert, or Jeff Flint in media coverage of California’s Proposition 8 initiative, that would be because they all work for Schubert Flint.

After the break, I’ve posted an invitation from Schubert Flint Public Affairs to join them for an Open House on August 14th to celebrate the opening of their new Irvine office.

For reasons of my own (also posted after the break), my initial impulse when I saw this invitation was not to RSVP, but rather, to wonder if some other response might not be more appropriate for such an event?  What would you suggest?    

If you happen to be familiar with my diaries from the past month, you’d know that I have some issues with churches that pay Republican PR flacks, like Schubert Flint, to manage initiative campaigns.  While the rank-and-file church membership is led to believe that such campaigns are being fought in order to protect ‘traditional’ values, the political operatives cashing the church’s paychecks are mostly interested in the benefits that such campaigns bring to the GOP and themselves.

The chronicles of my frustration at church association with the likes of Schubert Flint span an arc from “initial disappointment with my former church for once again backing the wrong side in a civil rights struggle” to “complete bewilderment at how the church squares their ostensibly ‘politically neutral’ purpose of accomplishing God’s work with their generous financial support of a servant of Mammon like Schubert Flint.”  In any case, it’s an arc that should give you some idea of where I’m coming from in all this (executive summaries in parentheses):

Mormons enter Calif. marriage fight

(Mormons arguing for ‘traditional’ marriage?  Good luck with that.)

An invitation to show up or walk out on June 29th

(Don’t Mormons have anything better to do than wage losing political battles from the pulpit?)

Meet Rameumptom, Inc: Schubert-Flint

(“Yes on 8” is being sold by the same folks who sold us the Iraq war.)

The Prop 8 ATM: A Christmas Carol

(And no matter the issue, they’ll keep on selling as long as it keeps on paying off for them.)

Googling Gay Marriage: Putting a Fork in Prop 8

(Jeff Flint is a real piece of work.  End of story.)

In any case, enough of my rehashing, here’s the invite:

Take a look.  Note the time, date, and location.  And let me know what you think.

While you’re thinking, I’m gonna ramble on a bit more before kicking back and looking forward to your input.

I was raised LDS (Mormon), served a two-year mission for the church, but parted ways in my twenties due to the (seemingly) unbridgeable divide between my politics and that of the church my family joined five generations ago.  That said, I harbor lingering attachments to the faith and community I once shared and enjoyed.  And so, at times like these, I’m led to wonder anew at the failure of my erstwhile co-religionists to appreciate the utter necessity of respecting all Americans as equals before the law, especially as our Californian LDS brothers and sisters are also citizens of a country that (only after much struggle) now affords their religion the opportunity to thrive.  At the very least, if they’re sincere in wanting to play a ‘conservative’ role in American society, I wish they’d pay more attention to fellow conservatives like Ward Connerly, who understand that:      

For anyone to say that this is an issue for people who are gay and that this isn’t about civil rights is sadly mistaken. If you really believe in freedom and limited government, to be intellectually consistent and honest you have to oppose efforts of the majority to impose their will on people.

Considering my firm belief that gay Americans should have the freedom to marry, I’m curious what an intellectually consistent and honest response to Schubert Flint’s invitation might look like.  

Chino Blanco

There is a new Field Poll on Proposition 8 – the Hate amendment. The dead-enders still supporting the Yatch Party are going down with the ship. But 63% of Democrats are voting no and so-called Independents are even more progressive with 66% against putting discrimination in the Constitution. That accounts for a current score of 51% No to 42% Yes. That’s right, it is way under 50, hell, the good guys are up by 9 pts.  

So reports the LA Times:

The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to remove an anti-gay marriage initiative from the November ballot.

Meeting in closed session, the court denied a petition calling for the removal of the initiative, Proposition 8, on the grounds it was a constitutional revision that only the Legislature or a constitutional convention could place before voters….

The court, meeting at its regular weekly conference, denied the petition without comment in a brief order.

No surprise here, especially if you’ve been following Brian’s excellent commentaries on the issue.

November isn’t that far away. If you haven’t signed up with Equality for All – what the hell are you waiting for?!

Every political insider in the state woke up this morning, opened the Sacramento Bee and read:

Perata aid angers some Dems

$250,000 to help with his legal bills should go to 2008 races, they say.

The California Democratic Party’s decision to spend another $250,000 on Senate leader Don Perata’s legal bills has angered some party activists, who say the money would be better spent electing Democrats this year.

The Oakland Democrat has racked up nearly $2 million in fees fending off an ongoing FBI corruption investigation in the last four years. With the latest donation, made July 1, the party has now given a total of $450,000 to help cover Perata’s legal bills.

“The California Democratic Party is in business to defeat Republicans and elect Democrats,” said Rick Jacobs, co-founder of the Courage Campaign, a left-leaning online activist group. “It’s not really to keep corrupt politicians out of jail.”

Steve Cummings, vice president of the Democratic Club of Ventura County, said that while he had not personally formed an opinion, “People are going to be livid.”

Democratic activists who want to take advantage of what could be another tidal wave year should be livid to see the CDP waste money like this. Wasting money on an impotent lame duck who should have passed the batton to Darrell Steinberg long ago instead of electing Democrats is plain stupid. There is no excuse. Art Torres should resign in shame. With this latest scandal, on top of the $4,000,000 he wasted on Fabian Nunez, it is abundantly clear that Torres has no intention of doing his job.

Tomorrow, Speaker Karen Bass is hosting a small dollar fundraiser for the CDP. How can Speaker Bass honestly ask Democratic activists to go to Actblue and make a two figure donation when the CDP is writing six and seven figure checks that have nothing to do with electing Democrats? Chair Torres is embarrassing Speaker Bass with this crap and putting her in an awful position thanks to legal crisis created by the clear appearance of impropriety by Senator Don Perata.

At the heart of the crisis rolling the CDP is money. While DNC Chair Howard Dean and Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama have crossed the bridge to the 21st century and inspired small dollar donors to build people-powered political operations, the CDP is actually going backwards and Chair Torres is running things worse than when he was first anointed by then President Bill Clinton a decade ago. Chair Torres is either unable or unwilling to lead the CDP in this direction. As such, he has no business being Chair and should resign immediately.

When I hear the name “Art Torres” I have a sour taste in my mouth. My first thought is how far the $4,450,000 he has wasted could have gone to register and organize Democrats. Think how far that could have gone towards actually helping Charlie Brown this cycle, or Debbie Cook or Russ Warner or any of the great challengers who should be receiving strong support from the Party. If we lose Proposition 8 and California codifies discrimination into the state constitution, I’m going to think how far that money could have gone towards registering and turning out Democrats. Think how many organizers could be hired and trained with such a large sum.

The California Democratic Party is lost and the first step to set a new course is to admit that the CDP is FUBAR with Art Torres at the helm. Chair Torres needs to step down, preferably before he shames Speaker Bass at tomorrow night’s small dollar fundraiser. For as long as he stays, it makes no sense for small donors to contribute and every Democrat on the ballot this fall in a tight race is at an extreme disadvantage. It is time for reform, for progress. It is time to start winning.

[UPDATE by Dave] – Might as well add this here – the FISA Amendments Act passed today, and Sen. Feinstein voted for cloture, for the final bill, and against stripping out immunity.  Art Torres told us all that last year, she “led the fight” to stop telecom immunity in the United States Senate.  Draw your own conslusions.