I had a great time at the convention, despite the eight hour resolution committee meeting and the fuss arising from that. I am pleased with the results of the convention. I’d like to second all the praise for John Hanna and add a hat tip to the CDP folks who staffed the committee, they did an amazing job with the resolutions committee.  I think there are a few changes that I’d like to see for the committee, namely a meal break during the eight hour meetings, but overall, the process was smooth.

But in the real world, “smooth” is not a term that can be applied well to California’s situation.  The signs are everywhere, all across the state. But nowhere has been hit harder, and could less afford such a blow than the Imperial Valley.  The LA Times takes a look at the region today, and the state of the Valley is far from strong.

“The valley has never seen things this bad, never,” said Roy Buckner, Imperial County assessor and a lifelong resident of Brawley. “This is the worst.”

***

Name the state statistic, and Imperial County (population: 172,000) is usually near the top or the bottom, whichever is worse: per capita income, welfare recipients, families below the poverty line, elderly living in poverty and so on.

From 1983 to 1999, while unemployment statewide averaged 7%, unemployment in Imperial County was 27%. Last year, the county’s year-end average was the highest in the state. In March, the unemployment rate was 25.1%, the highest in the United States for any area with at least 50,000 people.

(LAT 4/27/2009)

I doubt I really need to once again say that cutting state services at this time is exactly the wrong way to go about it.  It’s been said already by people more important that me, from Paul Krugman to the President. Yet, it can hardly be overemphasized that we have yet to hit bottom.  There will be more pain, and efforts to move money forward are misguided at best, deadly at worst.

The Imperial Valley itself bears a greater burden than most areas of the state.  It had far less leeway, as its economy was already weak.  Unemployment has always been high.  But one of the things that I learned from my trip to India and my efforts to learn more about the country is that labor cannot be considered something to be supported.  The Imperial Valley has a workforce that can be tapped as we move forward with the transition to the more realistic economy of the post-Bush era.  

Yet if we fail to take advantage of our resources, and of this historic time, we will continue to deal with the same problems.  Over and over again, we are pushed to make decisions that are penny wise and pound foolish, and it is places like Imperial Valley that pay for it.

(Candidates made quite the effort to talk with bloggers at the convention. Thanks for writing your experience up, Marinmaven. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Something is happening in the 44th Congressional District and it is excellerating. Whether it is the economy or changing demographics, Bill Hedrick wants harness that change into a win for republican, Ken Calvert’s congressional seat.  

I got to meet Bill Hedrick last Saturday at the 2009 California Democratic Party Convention in Sacramento. He looks like a teacher and it turns out that is his exact background. He is the President of the Rialto Teacher’s Association and was elected for 4 terms as president of the Corona-Norco Unified School District.

I am from Marin County where the democratic candidate always wins to the point that I suspect the Marin Republican Party picks their doomed candidates to run by lottery and perhaps as part of a hazing ritual. Being a Marinite means if you want to make a difference in the state or the country, you have to take a look at the difficult districts in the state and see what you can do.

District 44 is difficult. So difficult, when Bill Hedrick ran in 2008 his candidacy was off the radar of the DCCC and most everyone else. He lost, but not as much as other candidates in similar districts. District 44 is Riverside County and South Orange County. While he did well in Riverside, he had real problems with conservative Orange County. Hendrick points out that The Real Housewives of OC film in this district.

So the big question in the room was, how can he win this time?

First of all, this time around his calls to the PACS are being returned. The DCCC is helping with messaging. There is an ad running that points out that the incumbent republican voted against the stimulus package that would have benefited the 44th District more than any district in California.    

Of course, Bill Hedrick knows there is much more his campaign can do. Last election he had little over 900 volunteers and it was a very grassroots campaign. The contributions amounted to 900 contribution with the average contribution being $65. Often it was clear that the contributors were digging way deep into their pockets to make a meager contribution. He recognizes that he needs to expand is volunteer base and create a national contributor base. Hedrick needs more feet on the ground in Ladera Ranch.

Another area of growth is in voter registration. While Orange county portion of his district has a registration rate of 90%, Riverside County has only 50%.

Hedrick points out that the inland empire is issue oriented which is good for cross-over voters. He has been able to have the conservative voters in his district take another look at him because of his opposition to the TARP bill and his support of the stimulus bill. The people in his district are facing a 60% loss in equity in their homes and there are blocks where you can find 10 empty homes or more from foreclosure.

Hedrick believes that the Obama plan for renegotiating mortgages is not enough for Californians even in his district.

He is also concerned about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. His family is a military family that has seen a total of 10 deployments. Hedrick feels strongly that last year was the time for troops to start pulling out and give the responsibilities to the Iraqis. The concern is that there will always be discoveries that will lead to new excuses that will keep us from getting out.

Personally, I got a really nice vibe from him.  

Wouldn’t it be great if we could win this seat?

http://www.hedrickforcongress….

This weekend was my second California Democratic Party convention and my first as an elected delegate. It was an enjoyable weekend, catching up with old friends and making new ones. I also had the opportunity to spend some time with some of our elected leaders, such as Barbara Boxer, Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, and John Garamendi.

As I look back on the weekend, I am reminded of what I wrote after last year’s convention, including some themes that were clearly in evidence this weekend. From last year:

The Leno-Migden fight certainly reached a dramatic climax today, and the result was stunning. After the vote was finalized Eden James argued that it was a representation of the power of the grassroots within the party, and I think that analysis is absolutely right….Migden’s failed endorsement is also further evidence, along with the rescinded AD-40 endorsement and the split over Prop 93 earlier in the year, to a huge divide between the party grassroots and the Sacramento leadership in particular. Senate Democrats and their staffers had worked hard over the weekend to get a Migden endorsement and the delegates would not go along with it.

Switch out “Leno-Migden” and “Prop 93” for “Proposition 1A” and you’d have essentially the same story from this weekend in Sacramento. Progressives flexed their muscle yet again at this convention, showing that they are the force to be reckoned with in the party – even if progressives did not always speak with a single voice. The refusal to endorse Propositions 1A, 1D and 1E was a sign that progressive delegates are not going to be dictated to by Democratic leaders, and that they feel empowered to say “No” when it is warranted. That’s a sign of a healthy and mature progressive movement. People power is here in the California Democratic Party – and although it has yet to find sustained expression, it’s only a  matter of time before that power revitalizes the party.

There’s a lot else to write about, but for now I’m just going to offer some impressions, written down on the train back from Sacramento (and a note to all Democrats running for a statewide office in 2010: the first one of you to come up with a credible plan to connect Monterey to San Jose via frequent passenger rail service and will swear on the ghost of the Del Monte Express to implement it will get my endorsement).

• Progressive candidates did very well in the race for CDP officer positions, in particular Hillary Crosby, who will hopefully and finally bring some financial accountability to this party. John Burton is himself a staunch progressive, as his victory speech made clear (he denounced the war in Afghanistan, for example). He will be a powerful voice for social democratic politics as party chair, and it’s about time we had one.
• Chris Finnie in particular deserves a shout-out. Even though many progressives, myself included, voted for John Burton, Finnie impressed a lot of delegates with her campaign and her speech. She showed she was running not for her own self-interests, but as the standard bearer for those who wanted true and long-overdue reform of the party. John Burton in turn showed he too saw the need for change by promising to adopt the 12 recommendations for reform that Chris advocated in her campaign. Her efforts showed the value of a contested race for chair, and by sticking with her campaign she showed more guts and probably will have had more of a lasting effect on the party than the other chair candidates who quit earlier on.
• If the governor’s race settles into a two-person contest between Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown, Brown’s going to have to do more than wax nostalgic for the old days. His “recession reception” struck the wrong tone, as he became a kind of museum piece – the blue Plymouth in the drive (Update: According to Calbuzz Brown didn’t know that the Plymouth would be there), the old mansion, old songs. I don’t know if that’s what he was going for, but that’s how it came across. Even if Newsom’s “stroll down memory lane” line is unfair to what Brown has accomplished in the recent past and his capacity to provide some direction forward, Brown has got to start asserting some truly new ideas and a new vision for the next 30 years. We’ll have more on our sitdown with Newsom soon – lots to chew over there.
• There was some early jockeying for position ahead of the 2010 primary, although hardly anyone was paying attention to the downticket races. There are no clear frontrunners or progressive champions in the Insurance Commissioner, Attorney General, or Lieutenant Governor races. But one thing is clear – Debra Bowen is beloved by this party and its base in particular. She’s been an excellent secretary of state, and she’ll have a wide and deep base of support should she decide to run for US Senate in 2012.
• It may just have been me, but it seemed that there really was a new kind of energy among party delegates – a determination to build a party that’s able to produce progressive change. I don’t know how many of the delegates were new, products of the Obama movement, but where I sat (Region 9) a large number of the delegates were folks new to the convention who had been mobilized by the Obama campaign. They aren’t the kind of people to tolerate the usual insider games, and they are motivated by a sense that change isn’t just necessary, but possible. It’s very inspiring.
• I feel I reached the limits of what Twitter can accomplish for political conversation this weekend. During Barbara Boxer’s press event I made some occasional tweets of her comments, but it just disappears into the ether, buried in folks’ feeds among links to some swine flu article or Susan Boyle’s latest hairstyle. Below you can see David Dayen’s excellent liveblog of the debate over the proposition endorsements, which would simply have been impossible given Twitter’s 140 character limit. And there is a robust conversation going on in the comments, much easier to follow and participate in than on Twitter. That’s not to say that Twitter doesn’t have its uses, but it would be a mistake to try and use it to do what we’ve done well at places like Calitics.

Add your thoughts in the comments. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Now, time to catch up on sleep…