Tag Archives: Courage Campaign

Prisons

Total Recall: The Courage Campaign Governor Watch UPDATE – Prison Reform

From the Courage Campaign

California’s prisons are in a serious crisis.  California’s prisons are massively overcrowded, and more people are being sent there than ever before.  The conditions inside the prisons have deteriorated to the point that the health care system is already under the control of a federal court (three inmates died just this last December due to poor health care).  The courts have threatened to take over the rest of the system if urgent reforms are not implemented.  As Total Recall (the Courage Campaign governor watch) has noted, prison reform was a key part of Governor Schwarzenegger’s campaign promises both in the 2003 recall election and his 2006 reelection.  But Schwarzenegger took almost no action to fix our prisons in his first term as Governor, and he didn’t release a detailed plan to fix the problem until after his reelection, in December 2006.  Schwarzenegger’s first major prison bill has finally been signed, just this month.

More Prisons, And Billions More For Prisons

Nearly every expert agrees that sentencing reform – stopping the huge increases in the prison population – is desperately needed in California.  For Governor Schwarzenegger to fulfill his promise to fix our correctional system, he needs to provide bold leadership and resist the calls for “tough on crime.”  We simply cannot afford to send so many people to prison, and there’s no evidence that locking up 170,000 people (and the number keeps getting higher) has made us any safer.

Rather than enact bold reforms, on May 3, 2007, Schwarzenegger successfully pushed through a plan to build tens of thousands of new prison cells, which together with a few new treatment programs will rack up a cost of some 7.4 Billion Dollars.  Despite the rejection of voters, again and again, for bond dollars to build new prisons, the plan hailed as a success by Schwarzenegger spends more than 6 Billion just on construction alone — operating cost estimates will come later.  Schwarzenegger did not do what almost every expert on prisons has said he must do: institute immediate reform of the sentencing system to stop sending so many people to prison.  The 7.4 Billion Dollar plan does nothing to relieve the crisis in the immediate term.  Rather than a permanent fix to the broken system, this plan is a 7.4 Billion Dollar bandage.  Did I mention that the cost of this plan is 7.4 Billion Dollars?

Health Care for Inmates: Still Cruel and Unusual

The construction of new prisons is just the first part of the massive cost that we will have to pay to maintain a prison system housing 200,000 human beings.  Last week, the person appointed to fix the health care system in the prisons released his proposal to bring the system out of “cruel and unusual” territory.  The proposal had no price tag, but experts say it will take nearly 20 years and billions of dollars to fully implement.

Death Chamber Controversy

Adding a new dimension to Schwarzenegger’s prison failures is the recent controversy over a secret new death chamber at San Quentin prison.  Governor Schwarzenegger and his staff apparently knew of the plan to build this new chamber well before it was made public — but Schwarzenegger made statements to the contrary.  John Myers has an excellent description of the unfolding controversy here.

Total Recall

This series is dedicated to keeping you informed of how well Schwarzenegger’s actions live up to his promises.  We’ll keep you updated on developments as they happen.

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Local Opposition To Blackwater Training Camp in CA Grows

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(cross-posted from Courage Campaign also at dailyKos)

If you've been following the story up to now, you know that Blackwater USA, the war profiteering private mercenary firm currently under investigation by Congress, has plans to open a mercenary training camp outside of the tiny, peaceful rural town of Potrero in San Diego County. Luckily, many community members and activist groups around the state have other plans entirely.

Since we launched our petition calling on our governor and senators to do whatever is in their power to block this project, I've been amazed at the diverse coalition that has united in opposition to Blackwater West. Everyone from anti-war groups such as Code Pink, to environmental groups such as The Sierra Club to progressive faith groups such as United For Peace and Justice have been fighting Blackwater's  invasion of California. But truly the most moving appeals I've heard in opposition of this training camp have been from people who actually live there, who would actually have to live with a mercenary training camp in their backyard. 

Some local perspective over the flip…

Anne in Jamul, CA signed our petition and offers this plea:

I moved to Jamul, CA to be in a peaceful, quiet place. I can see where the proposed "Blackwater" site will be built from my front window. However, I'm most concerned with the possiblity for fire that keeping many bunkers of amunition create. There have already been at least 4 fires that required evacuation from my area since I have lived there and I do not believe that corporation will take the measures necessary to keep the civilians in the area out of harms way, if they can make some money.

And this from Cheryl, also in Jamul:

I am opposed to this project on many levels. Locally, it would be an environmental disaster and would destroy the community character of Potero forever. Traffic and other environmental impacts would have far reaching effects. Every community along scenic Hwy 94 would be impacted negatively. Communities would likely suffer from the influence of and potential harm from the unsavory characters that this project would attract.

And Coral:

I am vehemently opposed to the training center being built there. I am afraid that one of the last family oriented back country communities will be destroyed by noise and war training by Blackwater. This will be devestating to our peaceful living environment. We moved out here 6 years ago to live in the peace and tranquility of natural suroundings. Please don't destroy our community and don't devalue our property.

You probably won't be shocked to learn that starting in May of last year, Blackwater began to infiltrate the local planning board, which is an elected advisory committee. Between May and October, there were meetings where local residents were largely left in the dark to the point that once the community began to rise up in protest of the proposed training camp that fall, it was too late to prevent the planning group from voting 7-0 in favor of Blackwater moving forward. Well, they may come to regret that vote.

Terry at TerryFacePlace has a great post about what's going on locally on this issue. She informs us that…uh oh, one of the planning group members who voted in favor of Blackwater isn't even eligible for the post.

A little bit of digging has revealed that Potrero Planning Group member Emil Susu is not a registered voter and not eligible to hold the elected office. The County has declared his seat vacant. Susu is registered to vote in Florida, not California. Mr Hammers says when Susu reregisters in Potrero, he'll appoint him to the PPG. Sounds like a nice little kingdom he's got out there.

Terry also informs us that local residents have launched a recall movement against several members of the Potrero Planning Group and one resident has filed suit to have the 7-0 vote thrown out.

The suit alleges several violations of the Brown Act, the open government mandate in California, including issues involving the inadequate public notice, and the right to anonymous comment. The Brown Act states that citizens may not be compelled to sign in at a public meeting in order to be allowed to speak. Hammers would not allow this individual to comment at the March meeting because she didn't feel comfortable signing in and wanted her name off the written record. Raymond Lutz of Citizen Oversight was attending that meeting, and read the provision of the Brown Act aloud to the PPG and they still would not allow her to speak.

Additionally, In their December 14, 2006 meeting, the PPG mandated certain conditions for their endorsement of this project, including satisfactory results in a "live fire" noise test in the valley. That noise test has not occurred, because the current owner of the property would not allow it. Additionally, a review of the County records reveal the vote record that was turned in to the County reflecting the PPGs approval of the Blackwater West project is blank, and there is nothing in the record documenting the PPG's noise test requirement. There are also no meeting minutes, nor a transcript of that meeting. Based on the written record, you'd never know that anyone in Potrero was opposed to Blackwater USA setting up camp in their backyard.

And speaking of that live fire test, this is classic:

I understand that Mr Hammers took his gun out to the valley, and shot off a few rounds and is satisfied noise won't be an issue.

Unfortunately, his private and personal live fire test made enough noise that a resident across the valley called Jan Hedlun, another PPG member (and the ONLY one opposed to this training camp) and said, "someone is firing a gun in the valley".

As for Ms. Hedlun, she has been a forceful voice as the lone planning group member opposed to Blackwater West (it should be noted that she was elected to the planning group in November and was not made aware that she was eligible for the Blackwater vote; she would have voted against it.) I had the pleasure of meeting her when I was in San Diego for the CDP convention and she told me that some of the other members of the planning group were flown to Blackwater's home base in North Carolina to see first hand just what a pleasant place a Blackwater training camp can be. Funny, Jan wasn't invited.

Here's video I took of Jan at a press conference down in SD:

So where does Blackwater West stand now? Well, because the 824-acre plot of land that Blackwater wants to build on is currently zoned for agriculture, there are a bunch of hoops that they need to jump through before this can go forward in any meaningful way. The first is an environmental impact report, public comment for which is being taken until the end of the month. Ultimately it will be up to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, which may not take up the issue until 2009, but that's why we need to work to defeat it now.

In addition, Congressman Filner has vowed to do whatever he can at the federal level to stop Blackwater in their tracks. He has sent letters to Congressman Waxman and thinks the way to stop them is put a hold on any private development until the investigations into the waste and fraud charges currently under way in the House are resolved. Thank you, Congressman for all your hard work. And thanks to everyone who has signed and forwarded our petition. In just ten days, it's gotten over 2,300 signatures and steadily climbing every day. Please add your name to it today to let California's statewide leaders know you oppose Blackwater in California and let the local community know you're standing with them. It is, after all, their backyard.

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ACTION: Help Us Keep Blackwater Out of California

(cross-posted from Courage Campaign also at dailyKos)

As I wrote HERE, Blackwater USA, the private "security" firm under investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for fraud and corruption for its war profiteering in Iraq, has grand plans for an 824-acre mercenary training camp just outside the tiny rural town of Potrero, CA, 45 miles east of San Diego. The facility would be a haven for war profiteers all the while ruining the peace and quiet of a tiny rural town, destroying the habitats of who knows how much local wildlife and threatening fire damage to a fire-prone area.  Luckily, we have some intrepid local opponents of the project working overtime to defeat Blackwater's best laid plans. More than 300 of Potrero's 450 registered voters have signed a petition opposing the sight; Rep. Bob Filner has vowed to do whatever he can to beat back Blackwater's advances; and Raymond Lutz, the intrepid president of East County Democratic Club, has launched a website, StopBlackwater.net, to aggregate and disseminate information about the threat of Blackwater West.

Which brings me to how you can help.

Courage Campaign has joined forces with the folks in East County to spread the word about Blackwater West and organize people on a statewide level against the project. To that end, we've launched a petition drive targeting Governor Schwarzenegger, Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein to pressure them to do whatever is in their power to stop this dangerous project. More…

The petition reads, in part,

Blackwater is currently under investigation by the House of Representatives for their mercenary activity in Iraq and should not be able to use our great state to perpetrate further fraud against the American people. California has a history of saying NO to those who work against the public interest. It's time to take a stand against Blackwater and send a clear message that the era of war profiteering has ended.

Please join us in opposing Blackwater in California by signing the petition today:

http://couragecampaign.org/page/petition/Blackwater 

In addition, we are going to do whatever we can to support Lutz in his latest endeavor: passing a resolution on the floor of the CA Democratic Convention in San Diego this weekend. Please spread the word to all the delegates you know to support this resolution. Lutz is going to present it to the resolutions committee on Friday and hopefully it will make it to the floor without having to get 300 delegates to sign it, but if we need to do that, we'll do that. Proposed text of the resolution is as follows:

  WHEREAS, Blackwater USA, a North Carolina-based private security firm under contract to the Pentagon to supply armed personnel for duties in the Iraq War, proposes to build a large mercenary and paramilitary training compound called Blackwater West near Potrero, in San Diego County, on an 824-acre parcel that includes Cleveland National Forest acreage, borders a proposed wilderness area adjacent to the Hauser Wilderness, and is both an important watershed and an environmentally sensitive habitat for wildlife; said mercenary and paramilitary activities are inherently dangerous and pose serious risks–including severe fire danger–to surrounding communities and wilderness areas, will deplete groundwater, substantially increase traffic, increase noise from shooting ranges, driving track, and helicopter activities, among many other environmental concerns.

  WHEREAS, Blackwater USA and other private contractors are not subject to an effective system of oversight and accountability with respect to their operations and government contracting activities, and are the subject of ongoing hearings before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee regarding allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse; Blackwater USA has resisted attempts to subject its private soldiers to the Pentagon's Uniform Code of Military Justice, claiming they are civilians, and has simultaneously claimed immunity from litigation under civil law in the United States, asserting its forces are part of the Pentagon's "Total Force."

  AND WHEREAS, the "John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007" (H.R. 5122), which was signed into law by President Bush in October 2006, seriously weakens two bulwarks of liberty–the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act of 1807–by expanding the power of the president to declare martial law and use troops as a domestic police force in response to a "public emergency" or any "other condition"; and Blackwater troops (which were deployed domestically in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina) or other private mercenary and paramilitary forces pose a severe threat to the civil liberties of the American people and now could be deployed to quell public dissent, put down popular uprisings, or even to stop opposing points of view through intimidation or outright force.

  THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the California Democratic Party opposes mercenary training by private concerns anywhere in the State of California, including the Blackwater West project.

  BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all military, paramilitary, or related security/law enforcement training operations in California, whether private, governmental, or some combination of the two, will be conducted on, and only on, secured U.S. military bases or other established government-regulated facilities designed for that purpose.

Just to reiterate, this language may change still, but this is as it stands now. Again, please spread the word to CA delegates to please support this resolution when it comes up for a vote this weekend.

Look for updates on the progress of the resolution all weekend. 

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Blackwater Plans To Build A Mercenary Training Camp Right Here In CA?

(cross-posted from Courage Campaign also at dailyKos)

Oh, hell no!

It’s bad enough that an ex-Blackwater lobbyist holds a prominent position in the California Department of Homeland Security. But now the private “security” firm Blackwater USA wants to build an 824-acre mercenary training camp outside the tiny rural town of Potrero in San Diego County.

If it is approved by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, the “Blackwater West” training facility would mark the third point in a so-called Blackwater Triangle that already includes their main base in Moyock, NC and their just recently opened facility, Blackwater North, in Mount Carroll, Illinois.

Creeped out yet? More on the project and the efforts underway to stop it over the flip.

According to a great Raw Story piece from earlier this month, the proposed Blackwater West facility

would include 15 firing ranges for automatic and semi-automatic weapons and small caliber guns, as well as an emergency vehicle operator’s course the length of ten football fields — 3,280 feet in length and 1,320 feet in width, according to a project description. The facility would also include bunkhouses and commando-type training facilities, ship simulators, and law enforcement and rescue safety training towers with rock-climbing walls and platforms.

The facility would house as many as 360 instructors and students at any given time, in a town of only 840. Remarkably, the project has already been approved by the Potrero planning group (an advisory body) in a 7-0 vote last December. Not that all members of the planning group support Blackwater mind you.

Jan Hedlun is the lone Potrero planner opposing the project. Elected in November, Hedlun didn’t vote at the December meeting because she says she wasn’t told she was eligible.

“I’m in the middle of a battle,” Hedlun said. “I am a lamb in a lion’s den. They’re pushing this through quicker than anything I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”

The San Diego Reader concurs, calling it an “ambush.” While Blackwater was busy laying the groundwork gaining the support they’d need to get the OK from the planning group during much of last year, the public wasn’t informed of the plan until October.

The planning for this assault was well down the road before Potrero citizens even knew about it. “They have been trying to build support without notifying anybody here,” says resident Carl Meyer. “I have proof that since May they [Blackwater] have been meeting privately with Department of Planning and Land Use personnel. They have been trying to get standards lowered” in noise, roads, and other parts of the plan.

Not even Representative Bob Filner, in whose district the training camp would reside, was immune from the ambush. According to The San Diego Union Tribune:

company officers did not contact him until after they met with county planners, and after the local planning group unanimously approved a preliminary proposal.

Now that people are aware of it, however, they’re not happy. Of the 450 registered voters in the town, more than 300 of them have signed a petition opposing the project. There may even be an effort underway to recall the 7 members of the planning board that voted in favor of the project last year. And Filner is working to block the project.

He told the AP that he is exploring legislation that would block the deal pending further review by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has included Blackwater in its review of Iraqi war contractors.

In addition, the grassroots uprising has been phenomenal. An April 5, a Department of Planning and Land Use scoping meeting to discuss the environmental impact of the proposed facility attracted more than 100 protesters. Video is HERE and a local NBC news report can be viewed HERE.

In addition, Raymond Lutz, president of the East County Democratic Club has started StopBlackwater.net, which links to a great wiki. He’s been really leading this fight. 

And Terry over at TerryFacePlace has been intrepidly blogging on the subject. 

Now, the good news is that Blackwater West is not in danger of becoming a reality any time soon. Because the area is currently zoned for agriculture, an environmental impact report is required to change the zoning before it actually goes to the Board of Supes. This process should take up to 22 months. So we have time, but all the more reason we need to fight now.

Stay tuned for more very soon including what YOU can do to help!

California, Economy, Orange County

Wal-Mart Wants a Supercenter in Garden Grove… But Does the New City Council Agree?

“It’s too early to decide… I dare not express any opinions until after I see the environmental impact report on that project.”

(From OC Register)

So what is newly appointed Garden Grove City Council Member Steven Jones talking about, and why is everyone paying such close attention to it? And why is everyone looking at Garden Grove as if what happens in this town may change everything for working people in Orange County? Follow me after the flip for the answers, and much, much more…

So what’s the big news? Wal-Mart’s coming to town… And they want it “Super-sized”!
Here’s what was said in The LA Times about Wal-Mart’s proposed Supercenter back in December (via Topix):

While other Southern California cities pass laws to prevent Wal-Mart Supercenters from opening, Garden Grove appears to be all but holding open the front door for the big-box retailer.

Pressed for money and looking for a way to revive a tired commercial district in central Garden Grove, city officials see a Supercenter as a potential savior. ‘This is going to enhance the quality of life of our residents, and it will be an anchor to a blighted area,’ said Councilwoman Janet Nguyen. Twenty-one Supercenters, which combine a regular Wal-Mart with a discount supermarket, have opened in the state, most in north Los Angeles County and outlying areas of the Inland Empire.

However, this proposed project would mean the very first Wal-Mart Supercenter in Orange County. Now, many local officials and business people are quite excited about this. They are excited about the prospect of increased tax revenue from Wal-Mart. They are thrilled about all the new customers flooding into Garden Grove to do business. Basically, they can hardly wait to see Wal-Mart revive this under served and largely ignored part of town.

But wait! Is everyone all that excited about the new Wal-Mart Supercenter? And does everyone really think that Wal-Mart will be a great boon for Garden Grove?

Wal-Mart critics argue that the retail giant would depress wages, especially compared to the pay of unionized workers at grocery stores that would be the Supercenter’s main competition. Ismail Majoo, who owns a discount variety store in neighboring Santa Ana, is a member of the Main Street Coalition, a small group of clergy, labor leaders and small-business owners concerned about a Supercenter’s impact on small business. ‘The Supercenter will wipe out the small-business owner because of the store’s aggressive pricing policy,’ Majoo said. ‘I’m not really worried about my business, but I do worry about the whole neighborhood.’ The Rev. Wilfredo Benitez, rector at St. Anselm Episcopal Church in Garden Grove, has been the religious leader most outspoken against the Supercenter, attending two anti Wal-Mart rallies and raising the issue three times in recent Sunday sermons. ‘It’s a bit frustrating,’ Benitez said. ‘It’s territory a lot of pastors won’t go into on Sunday morning. But we all have the moral imperative to stand on the side of the poor and those who would be exploited.’ ‘We don’t want that Supercenter here,’ he added.

Actually now that they mention it, Wal-Mart does have a nasty record of hurting the community that it comes into. They’ve been known to rely upon taxpayer-funded corporate welfare to artificially “lower prices” and cut down their honest playing competition. They don’t exactly have the best record of keeping bigotry and discrimination out of their business. Well basically, Wal-Mart isn’t the type of company that cares about the diverse, working-class community in Garden Grove.

So what can you do about it now? Well, why not sign the Courage Campaign’s petition asking Garden Grove City Council Member Steven Jones not to allow Wal-Mart to hurt the small businesses in Central Orange County. He may be the key deciding vote in determining whether or not Wal-Mart is allowed to come in and change the entire dynamics of doing business in Garden Grove and Central Orange County. The future of our small businesses and our working-class communities is on the line, so we need to let Council Member Jones know how we really feel about what may potentially be a VERY RAW DEAL for the people of Garden Grove.

Uncategorized

California Election Protection Roundup

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There’s a lot going on in election protection these days. I know for many the issue cooled once Debra Bowen was elected Secretary of State but while we can certainly breathe more easily now, there’s still plenty of work yet to be done.

  • Thanks again to Debra Bowen for headlining our public conference call earlier this month to discuss matters of election protection. If you missed it you can hear the entire thing HERE. And if this issue is of particular interest to you, please join our Election Protection California – Ask Debra Bowen group, which Debra Bowen’s office will be monitoring to gauge voters’ concerns.

Join me over the flip for a couple of updates from BradBlog whose new site design is mercifully, a lot less green.

  • Thanks to BradBlog for the heads up that this Friday, Harri Hursti of Hursti Hack fame will be appearing at Palm Desert City Hall council chambers for a public hearing where he will discuss, among other things:

    issues of how an electronic voting (e-voting) system may be undetectably compromised and vote totals easily modified to completely change the outcome of the election. He will discuss how the “Red Team”/”Blue Team” approach of security hack testing of systems, as newly proposed last week by Secretary of State Debra Bowen would work in testing the Sequoia Edge II equipment now in use in Riverside County.

    The hearing is Friday, March 30 at 9am at 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, PALM DESERT, CA 92260-2524.

  • Gee, what a shocker, looks like the voting irregularity lawsuit filed down in CA-50 has been thrown out by an appeals court for being “moot” since Billbray has been serving in Congress for six months.
  • Speaking of CA-50, remember the ridiculously partisan San Diego County registrar of voters, Mikel Haas. He got promoted.
California, Economy, Environment, Orange County

Join Rick Jacobs for a Special Screening of “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price”

I just got something in my email box from the Democratic Party of Orange County. And I guess since this is such a special event, I should share it with you. There will be a special screening of the eye-opening documentary, “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price”…
And Co-producer Rick Jacobs, who also happens to chair the Courage Campaign, will be here to talk to us after the film about how Wal-Mart is affecting Orange County’s economy and communities, as well as the entire rest of the nation.

Follow me after the flip for more on this special event…

OK, here’s the email:

The Democratic Party of Orange County and Orange County Central Labor Council are proud to present a special OC screening of “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.”

The screening will be on Tuesday, April 10, 2007, at 7:00 pm, and will take place at the IBEW Local 441, 309 N. Rampart, Suite M, Orange, CA 92868. Immediately following, there will be a group discussion about the effect Wal-Mart is having on Orange County, and the entire nation.

Joining us will be Rick Jacobs, co-founder and chair of Brave New Films as well as Chair of the Courage Campaign, an independent political committee on progressive issues in California. He chaired the presidential campaign of Howard Dean in California and serves as Senior Advisor to Democracy for America. He is a featured contributor to Arianna Huffington’s huffingtonpost.com.

“Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the every day lives of families struggling to fight against a goliath. The film is based on individual human beings, all over the world, at all levels of society, telling their story in very personal terms.

The event is open to the public and media. Please RSVP to attend.

You can RSVP by clicking here: http://walmart.brave…

See you there!

Sincerely,

Mike Levin
Democratic Party of Orange County

So would you like to join us on April 10, and find out how Wal-Mart is REALLY affecting our community? If so, please RSVP for the event…
And join us at IBEW Local 441 in Orange for the movie!

California

ATM Watch: On Getting Back From The Government What We Give

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(cross-posted from The Courage Campaign)

One of the arguments for moving the presidential primary up was to give California more leverage in demanding that the federal tax dollars we send to Washington come back to us in a more equitable manner. Russell Goldsmith breaks down the current situation California finds itself in over at HuffPo:

California gets shortchanged when federal tax dollars are at stake. In 2003, according to the non-partisan California Institute for Federal Policy research, Californians sent $50 billion more to Washington in federal taxes than the state received in federal expenditures. That means that for every dollar you paid to the Internal Revenue Service, only 79 cents found its way back to California in the form of federal programs and expenditures.

If I'm doing my math right, that means that the $50 billion we're getting shortchanged represents the remaining 21 cents on the dollar that we pay out. Imagine what even gaining 5 cents more on the dollar would mean…more than $10 billion a year that could go toward our schools, roads, prisons! As it is, a full 44 states get a better deal than we do including, no surprise, Texas, which gets a return of 92 cents to the dollar back.

More…

So now that we've moved our primary, what's being done about getting us a fair return on our tax dollar? All week, members of the Assembly, Democrats and Republicans, have been in Washington DC to lobby our newly in control senators and Congressional appropriations committee members (of whom California has 5.) Indeed, such a trip has not taken place in 5 years. 

In a press conference, assembly members including Speaker Nunez, cited the incarceration of illegal immigrants and investment in alternative energy as targets for increased spending.

Nuñez and Mike Villines of Fresno, the Republican leader in the Assembly, said one prime topic with members of Congress was to increase funding for the incarceration of illegal immigrants, which costs the state about $750 million a year. Currently, federal reimbursement covers about a third of that.

[snip] 

Legislators also pushed for more federal money for the research and development of alternative fuels, saying that would boost California businesses.

But is this renewed advocacy a function of an earlier primary date or merely of a newly Democratic majority in Washington, one that may be more receptive to throwing increased funding a big blue state's way?

That's a good question. Upon the Assembly's passage of the measure, Speaker Nunez said that early primary state South Carolina gets $1.35 on the dollar back from Washington. But as George Skelton tells us in his column today, the earliest primary state of all, New Hampshire, gets back only 65 cents to the dollar. Skelton makes the case that the amount a state gets back isn't about political heft, rather it is a function of demographics.

Pretty simple. California is a relatively youthful state, so there are fewer Social Security and Medicare payments, per capita. It's also a prosperous state, so there are higher income tax payments — and, on average, fewer welfare checks and Medicaid reimbursements (Medi-Cal in California) than elsewhere. 

And as for the reason for New Hampshire's raw deal:

That's because it has even less poverty and more per-capita wealth than California.

Skelton cites the California Institute for Federal Policy Research as the source for his numbers and quotes its executive director Tim Ransdall to back up his point:

"We are doomed to be a donor state," he says. "The question is, how much is OK. When does it become too much?

The large majority of the deficit is structural. Demographics. Just a fact of life."

So Skelton's message is a positive one ultimately: we're getting screwed because we're youthful, prosperous and have averted any major disasters! But isn't the idea that who gets elected to the highest positions in our government has NOTHING to do with the money a state gets back from the government a little naive? After all, as Russell Goldsmith tells us of Dick Cheney's home state:

About a year ago, I visited Jackson, Wyoming, where the vice president lives. While I was there, I learned that the state had just received $4 million in federal funds for some "badly needed" bike paths! Now, Jackson is home to some 8,500 people, so Uncle Sam's gift comes to about $500 per person in a town where animals outnumber residents by at least two to one. For a bike path. In a state with no state income tax. 

That doesn't make sense. Neither does Wyoming's share of federal money for homeland security. Until recently, it was seven times per capita bigger than California's, even though our state is home to some of America's most important–and vulnerable–economic assets.

Goldsmith absolutely sees a correlation and indeed calls on all of us to use our newfound attention from the presidential candidates to demand that they not only address California's issues, but commit to funding them.

Over the next two years, the presidential candidates of both parties will hold rallies, shake hands and raise lots of money here in California. The process has already begun. We Californians must take these opportunities to address not only the important issues we care about as Americans–from the environment to the economy to the war in Iraq–but also to the critical issues that significantly affect California but are neglected by the federal government–especially the costs and challenges of illegal immigration, homeland security, health care, transportation and the piracy of intellectual property. Candidates for president, as well as the U.S. Senate and House, should be held to account for their views on fairly funding these important challenges facing California that are appropriately federal responsibilities.

This is exactly what our ATM Watch series hopes to accomplish, and you can help. GO HERE and let us know what issues are important to you and we'll get the message to the campaigns. Also, join the ATM Watch group HERE and blog about your experiences with the candidates. Are they addressing the issues most important to California?

Our campaign contributions aren't the only things that leave the state never to return. Getting our fair share of federal tax money can be a huge factor in improving our state's fiscal health and we should use our newfound access to the candidates to lobby for just that.

Bay Area

ATM Watch: Barack Obama part 1 – Oakland Rally (w/pics & video)

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(Cross-posted from The Courage Campaign also at dailyKos).

This past Saturday, 12,000 of my closest friends and I gathered in Oakland to see (or in some cases, just hear…) Barack Obama speak. It’s nice to see Senator Obama giving the public some face time while he swings through our state to do what we know every presidential candidate must: make a withdrawal from the ATM that is California.

After the rally the senator headed off to the Mark Hopkins Hotel in SF for a fundraiser but not before wowing the crowd in Oakland. As one would expect, Obama gave a variation on his stump speech in which he rails against cynicism and offers something different, what he calls the politics of hope. And judging by the crowd’s reaction, at least those who were close enough to see the senator, hope is much more than just a buzzword…the optimism in the air was palpable. It felt almost celebratory. As Frank wrote HERE, this phenomenon is real.

Over the flip, my take with video of most of his speech and some photos. I think I can safely say that Saturday will go down as my most memorable St. Patrick’s Day ever.

Here’s a picture of the folks in the bleachers behind the stage. I know they look relatively calm but don’t be fooled…it was merely the calm before the storm.

And now witness the storm:

As you can see, he was greeted like a rock star. Talk about energy. It was incredible.

After some small talk about his family, Senator Obama got into the meat of his speech and immediately framed his candidacy as something larger than himself:

We are here today because the country calls us. We are here today because history beckons us.

He uses the first person plural to especially good effect to communicate, essentially, “we are in this together.” He speaks mostly about the domestic challenges we face — listen to how the crowd reacts when he talks about the economy and who is benefitting most — but then ends the section strongly with criticism of the war. I think it’s interesting who his first target of criticism is:

We are in the midst of a war that should have never been authorized!

Message: unlike my opponents, I never would have authorized it.

It really is a pleasure to listen to Obama’s speeches. In this next section, witness how he skillfully segues from the war to a meeting with a wounded veteran and his family to a discussion of how Washington has lost its way and, by extension, why he’s running for president:

Politics is not a game. The decisions that are made in Washington are not sport. And the reason that we have not been able to meet the challenges that we face….is because at some level we have been so consumed by cynicism and pettyness in Washington that we no longer recognize what’s at stake, we no longer understand what’s going on in the lives of that veteran…

This time, the “we” he’s referring to seems to be his colleagues in Washington.

In the next section, he continues to rail against cynicism and offers his prescription:

It is time for us to step up and meet these challenges and create the sort of politics that’s not based on division, that’s not based on hatred, that’s not based on fear, but that’s based on hope. And that’s the sort of politics that we expect to create in this election. If we change our politics, then we will change the nation.

He goes on to address the matter of his experience. Here he brilliantly turns his supposed lack of experience into an asset, not a liability. Watch the whole thing, it’s great.

The highlight of this next section for me is when Senator Obama talks at length about healthcare and makes a promise. Listen to the crowd on this one.

We can…make sure that every single American has basic healthcare in fact I want to be held accountable for that!We can have universal healthcare by the end of the next president’s first term. By the end of MY FIRST TERM!

He moves on to the topic of energy, during which he gives it up for California. Notice his continued use of “we” with the repeated (to nice effect) refrain: “We know what to do.”

We know what to do. We know what to do with energy. And if we set up a system like California has boldly decided it’s gonna set up, so we are capping the emission of greenhouse gases, it can actually generate jobs and industry. There’s no reason why we can’t create entire new sectors of the economy.

As he prepares to wrap up, he brings his speech back around to Iraq and reminds us all where he stood when it counted.

I am proud of the fact that I opposed this war from the start and I stood up in 2002 and said that this is a bad idea, that this will cost us billions of dollars and thousands of lives and we don’t have a strategy for getting out.

Again, he runs against his opponents without overtly running against them.

Message: it’s about judgment, stupid.

He is perhaps at his best, though, when he talks about the troops and the responsibility we have to them when they come home. As passionate as his speech has been up to now, he reveals new heights of intensity when he says:

Don’t stand next to a flag and say you believe in supporting the troops when you forget them when they come home!

Nice.

He opens this final stretch of the speech with a statement that seems to crystallize the very essence of Obama’s candidacy:

We can do all of these things. But let me tell you this. I can’t do it on my own

He goes on to catalog the history of American progress, from the fight against British tyranny to the fight against slavery, to the fight to allow women to vote, to the fight for civil rights and for workers to unionize. It never happened from the top down, he says, rather the change has always come from the bottom up.

The enormous power of ordinary people…People have had the audacity, the boldness, to believe that something better is right around the bend, that something better is out on the horizon. That is how this country was built.

Which he then brings back, to rousing effect, to what he hopes to accomplish with his candidacy:

And so let me just say this today, Oakland, California, I can’t do this on my own. This campaign is a vehicle for you. It is a vehicle for your hopes, it’s a vehicle for your dreams. When a million voices join together, they can not be stopped!

Cue rapturous applause.

The thing about Obama and the reason he does seem to transcend party, race, religion, everything, is that he connects on a level that we’re not used to Democrats connecting on. Bill Clinton got you in the gut of course, but more recently we’re so used to getting laundry lists from candidates, it’s so refreshing to have a politician who appeals to something deeper in us and who gets that voting is not about making a rational decision based on facts, it’s about making a judgment call based on gut instinct. Obama is running on the idea that we should all vote for someone and something, not just against someone. And he’s also reminding us about the stakes of this election: the future of our country. It’s optimistic and yes it is audacious. But more than anything else, on some level it’s exactly what we need. I think the enormous crowds he gets wherever he goes are a testament to that, Oakland’s 12,000 strong not the least among them.

Once the speech was over, he worked the crowd a bit. Here are a few photos.

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ATM Watch: John McCain Tells Donors “California Is In Play”

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(cross-posted from The Courage Campaign)

As we know, the presidential candidates like to swoop in to California for money and often swoop right out again without speaking to voters who can't afford the 4-figure price of admission. Well, now, thanks to the power of the Internet, we can all listen in on what goes on inside those fundraisers.

John McCain held a $1,000/plate event at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, CA on Monday and who was there with videocamera in hand but right wing blogger Jon Fleischman (his You Tube channel.) Thanks to him for the insightful video.

In this first piece, McCain makes the case for his candidacy, not just as a candidate for president nationally, but as a candidate seeking California's support specifically. The most intriguing quote: 

California must be in play if any Republican wants to be elected president of the United States of America.

Video and more over the flip…

And he's not just talking about winning the Republican nomination, he wants California's electoral votes in the general (notice how shamelessly he kisses California's ass…)

I believe that I can convince a majority of the people of this great state, of this incredibly great state, this HUGE state, that I am the best qualified to be the president of the United States

It's clear that McCain thinks he'd be of particular interest to California voters because he is from the west, Arizona. And as he says, somewhat laughably, it seems to me:

I understand water, I understand land.

But his point is clear — he's making his case by appealing to California's issues, exactly what we'd like all candidates to do. There's one big problem for ole' Johnny though: a little thing called Iraq. 

In the next piece, McCain continues his war cheerleading and expresses frustration with having to return to Washington to, er, do his job (say it isn't so!) This line was particularly contempt-spewing:

I probably have to try to go back to the city of Satan in the next couple of days so we take up another resolution by the Democrats to somehow get us out of Iraq.

City of Satan, John, really? Well, he was among Orange County Republicans. The guy knows his audience.

But really, does anyone really think a Republican outside of the Arnold mold really has a shot in hell of winning California? After all, Schwarzenegger has made it abundantly clear where he stands on the war: diametrically opposed to John McCain.

I think a timeline is absolutely important because I think that the people in America don't want to see another Korean War or another Vietnam War where it's an open-ended thing. There should be a timeline.

Then again, McCain doesn't have to believe he can win California, he probably doesn't, he just has to make the money men in that room believe it, all the better to take their money and run. But I still can't help but smile at the premise of the case he's making, that to win the presidency any Republican is going to have to win California. To be true, that statement must presume that at the very least Ohio and Florida will go Dem next year. And while I'd like to believe that's true, it's sweet indeed to hear such desperation coming straight from the Republicans' mouths.

We here at ATM Watch will continue to track the candidates both in person and online as they come and go through our state in the coming year. ATDleft will be tracking Mitt Romney in Dana Point on Friday and I'm hoping to get up to Oakland on Saturday for Obama's rally. And if you have questions you'd like us to get to the candidates, feel free to submit them HERE.

It's our goal to make sure the candidates meet with every day California voters, not just the donors.