Every night during the tourist season, and on weekends during the school year, Disneyland lights up the night with some pretty good fireworks. I’m sure it has some negative impacts environmentally, but I’m not the one to quantify that.  But, there will be some daytime fireworks this weekend.  As many around here know, there’s an CDP E-board meeting in Anaheim this weekend. And, as you can clearly see if you read down this page, there will be some interesting issues at the resolutions committee, which I happen to sit on. Oooh, fun!

But seriously, I want everybody to know a few things.  The resolution committee has made a tremendous effort to open up the process up as much as possible. Is it perfect? Of course not, but credit where credit is due on working with grassroots leaders from the entire spectrum of the party.

I’ll make every effort to get some posts up about the E-board meeting as quickly as possible.

(full-disclosure, I work for Courage Campaign.  this was x-posted on Daily Kos)

The call for the California Democratic Party to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein has grown exponentially over the past few days and a huge log was just thrown on the fire.  MoveOn.org just sent an email to all of their California members urging them to sign on to the call for censure over at Courage Campaign.

They are now one of 19 grassroots organizations in California who have signed on to the call since Monday.  That is absolutely amazing considering how long it takes many Democratic Clubs to pass resolutions given their high barriers for endorsement. 

The response by the party structure and the Senator have been well documented here by dday and hekebolos.  Needless to say, we stirred up one heck of a hornet’s nest and it really could not have been done without you.

Below is the email we just sent out to our list and MoveOn’s email.  As the email says, join the movement.  Hold Senator Feinstein accountable.

Dear Julia,

This is the moment. This is the movement. And this is just the beginning.

This is the moment when tens of thousands of you express your profound disappointment in Senator Dianne Feinstein for voting with President Bush on the most important issues of our time.

This is the movement for accountability, a people-powered coalition of grassroots, netroots, and Courage Campaign supporters standing together to protect the core progressive principles that make America unique.

And now MoveOn.org is standing up for these fundamental values as well. Show them your support now by joining the movement to censure Senator Feinstein:

http://www.courageca…

Today, MoveOn is joining you in calling on the California Democratic Party to approve a resolution that censures the Senator. You can read MoveOn’s reasons for supporting the censure of Senator Feinstein below in an email message sent to their members today.

As MoveOn says in its message, “let’s send Senator Dianne Feinstein a message she can’t ignore.”

However, time is running out to send that message, with this weekend’s California Democratic Party Executive Board meeting in Anaheim fast approaching.

Please join the progressive organizations and Democratic clubs (click the link below to read a full list) driving this movement for accountability by signing your name in support of censuring the Senator:

http://www.courageca…

Rest assured that no matter what happens this weekend you can count on the Courage Campaign to continue to hold Senator Feinstein accountable as long as she fails to defend the core principles of her own party and country.

And, remember, this is just the beginning. Whether it is killing Republican dirty tricks, blocking Blackwater’s base on the California border, or holding Senator Feinstein accountable, the Courage Campaign is committed to people-powered political action that — as Democracy for America’s Jim Dean says so often — builds a culture of activism, not a culture of incumbency.

Please join this movement today. The grassroots, the netroots, the Courage Campaign and Move.org need your support:

http://www.courageca…

Please also take a minute to read MoveOn’s message in full below. It captures this historic moment — and the movement you are building — amazingly well.

Rick Jacobs
Chair
Courage Campaign

  ——

From: Wes Boyd, MoveOn.org Political Action
  Date: Nov 15, 2007 11:12 AM
  Subject: Send Senator Feinstein a Message
  To: Rick Jacobs

Dear fellow Californian,

Last week, every member of the Senate had a chance to take a stand against torture. Most Democrats did-they opposed the nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General because he left the door open to torture. He wouldn’t, for example, say whether water-boarding-an interrogation technique that simulates drowning-constituted torture.

But Senator Feinstein wasn’t with the majority of Democrats-she actually cast a pivotal vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee to confirm him.

And that’s not all. In recent months, Senator Feinstein backed the president on issues ranging from right-wing judges to immunity for phone companies that broke the law.

Now, California Democrats-led by our friends at the Courage Campaign-are seriously organizing to get her attention. They’ve launched a grassroots campaign to ask the California Democratic Party to officially censure Senator Feinstein when its executive board meets this weekend.

We only have a few days before the meeting, so it’s important to make our voices heard right now. Can you sign the Courage Campaign’s petition asking the California Democratic Party to censure Senator Feinstein? Click here to sign:

http://www.courageca…

Only 29% of Californians-and just 9% of California Democrats-approve of the president, but Senator Feinstein has sided with him on key issues.

• On Torture: Senator Feinstein recommended Michael Mukasey for Attorney General, despite his refusal to call the practice of water-boarding “torture.”1
• On Judges: Senator Feinstein was the deciding vote to confirm Judge Leslie Southwick,2 even though Southwick had ruled that a white employee couldn’t be fired for using a demeaning and offensive racial slur towards an African-American co-worker. Southwick also took custody of an eight-year-old girl away from her mother, because the mother was living with another woman in a “lesbian home.”3
• On Wiretapping: Now Senator Feinstein says she is going to support immunity for phone companies that helped the Bush administration illegally spy on the phone calls and emails of innocent Americans.4

When Senator Feinstein sides with President Bush and the Republicans on key issues like these, she not only goes against what a majority of her constituents want-she gives cover to other weak Democrats, too. This means it’s even harder for Congress to make progress on the critical issues that so many voters care about.

Senator Feinstein isn’t up for election again until 2012, but we can’t afford another 5 years of this. She needs to hear from Californians that she needs to start siding with them-not George Bush.

A censure from the California Democratic Party is the strongest way to send that message.

Can you add your name to the Courage Campaign’s petition asking the California Democratic Party to censure Senator Feinstein? Click here to sign:

http://www.courageca…

Let’s send Senator Dianne Feinstein a message she can’t ignore.

Thanks for all you do,

-Wes, Ilyse, Joan, Carrie, Tanya, Marika and the whole MoveOn.org Political Action Team
  Thursday, November 15th, 2007

Sources:

1. “Bush Nominee Wins Key Democratic Support,” NPR, November 3, 2007
http://www.moveon.or…

2. “Feinstein to support attorney general nomination,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 3, 2007
http://www.moveon.or…

3. “Senators Should Reject Bush’s Latest Nominee to 5th Circuit,” People for the American Way, May 30, 2007
http://www.pfaw.org/…

4. “Feinstein backs legal immunity for telecom firms in wiretap cases,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 9, 2007
http://www.moveon.or…

note: I changed the links so they are not the tracking ones used by MoveOn.

(Visit the Courage Campaign censure page for more info or to support the resolution. – promoted by Lucas O’Connor)

Progressives are angry with Dianne Feinstein to a degree that I’ve never seen before.  She followed up the Leslie Southwick nomination with the Michael Mukasey nomination, and this week she may tip the balance on telecom immunity in the Senate Judiciary Committee.  This weekend, at the California Democratic Party executive board meeting, she may get a reprimand.

  One day after voting to elevate a divisive conservative judge to the federal appeals court in New Orleans, President Bush invited California Sen. Dianne Feinstein aboard Air Force One to survey the damage from the recent spate of Southern California wildfires.

The senator later remarked privately that she found her conversation with Bush aboard Air Force One “illuminating,” a source close to Feinstein told the Huffington Post […]

Now, a coalition of progressive Democrats upset with Feinstein’s controversial votes will ask the California Democratic Party to censure her at its executive board meeting this weekend, the Huffington Post has learned.

The move comes as Feinstein again finds herself under fire for saying Thursday that she now supports granting legal immunity to telecom companies that shared customer email and phone messages with the federal government as part of the warrantless surveillance program.

“Dianne Feinstein does not listen to the people of California,” said Rick Jacobs, president of the Courage Campaign, a progressive organization in California. “She supports George Bush’s agenda time after time.”

Knowing what I know about the e-board, this is not likely to pass.  And if it did, it’s not likely to mean anything or change any opinion.  But it’s a symbol of exactly how upset the grassroots is with Feinstein, and how they are grasping for something to express their disapproval.

The resolution text is on the flip.

Whereas Senator Dianne Feinstein voted to support the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey as United States Attorney General, thereby elevating to the highest position in law enforcement a man who refused to renounce the right of the President to resort to torture and who refused to recognize waterboarding as a form of torture, and by this action Senator Feinstein failed to oppose President Bush and failed to stand for the ideals of the Democratic Party, which abhors torture and stands firmly against its use by the United States at all times and places; and

Whereas Senator Feinstein voted to confirm Judge Leslie Southwick for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit despite his clear record of racism and gender discrimination, thus failing to stand firmly with the Democratic Party, which supports gender equality and opposes racism in any of its manifestations; and

Whereas these examples are far from the only instances where Senator Feinstein, after seeking and securing the support and endorsement of the California Democratic Party, has failed to support the policies and principles of our party

Therefore be it resolved that the California Democratic Party expresses its disappointment at, and censure of, Senator Feinstein for ignoring Democratic principles and falling so far below the standard of what we expect of our elected officials.

(Basic Blocking and Tackling – promoted by jsw)

Cross posted on The Progressive Connection

On Highway 99, near Chowchilla, stands a vacant metal building with a canopy that shelters a large orange sphere.

In the land before time, before there was McDonald’s or Burger King, there was Mammoth Orange, and its smaller relative, Giant Orange. These quintessential fast food joints, shaped like a citrus fruit and painted a violent shade of orange, served hamburgers and orange juice all up and down California’s Central Valley.

There were hundreds of them, landmarks of popular culture — and now there is just one left, the Mammoth Orange, on the east side of Highway 99 near the turnoff for Highway 152. Its days are numbered.

Progress is coming to this stretch of 99, one of the last bits of old four-lane highway with local access roads.

The old highway is being turned into a full-scale freeway. The crucial difference is that a freeway has limited access — drivers can’t enter or exit except on special on- and off-ramps. That means there’s no room on a freeway for roadside joints, like the Mammoth Orange.

The Mammoth Orange lost its battle earlier this year. Cut off from customers because of its poor access, the last-of-its-kind business weakened and then finally failed.

But the Mammoth Orange struck me as an apt, if peculiar, metaphor for California Democratic Party politics. You see, I have this image of the CDP as the new Highway 99 freeway. The Mammoth Orange is, of course, the grassroots…

Much like Hwy. 99 has what the Mammoth Orange needs (customers), the CDP has much of what the grassroots is desperately seeking. As promised in its 58-County Strategy, the CDP has the ability to offer both financial and logistical support in registering voters; it has materials and technological tools that it can make available; it has finance expertise it can share; it has liability insurance it can provide; and it has communications and research capability that it can deploy on behalf of Democrats.

But for the grassroots, much like the Mammoth Orange, the access provided by key connectors is critical to their success. With its 58-County Strategy, the CDP made the decision, for better or worse, to rely on the county Central Committees to deliver its services to the grassroots. In some counties with high-functioning Central Committees, this is a good plan. But in many, many other counties with dysfunctional Central Committees, it’s a lot like having a Mammoth Orange with no off-ramps.

So what’s to be done?

Well, the CDP unveiled some of its new plans at last weekend’s Central California Democratic Convention in Fresno. It’s my understanding that more details will be fleshed out at this weekend’s E-Board meeting in the OC (check out the Rural Caucus). In an attempt to strengthen the connectors that link the CDP to the grassroots, the Party will be meeting with every Central Committee to develop unique strategic plans for each county. Individualized goals will be fixed, timetables will be set, and benchmarks will be established which each Central Committee will be expected to meet.

Here are the guidelines set out by the CDP for the Central Committees:

Party Business:

• Regular monthly meetings, Executive Board meetings, and Standing Committee Meetings
• Full membership (either through election or appointment), alternate selection and associate memberships encouraged.  Alternate and associate memberships to be aimed at diversifying the membership to reflect county demographics to the greatest extent possible
• Regular communications to members, Regional Directors and the CDP
• Formalized endorsement process
• Chartering and re-chartering process for clubs and encouraging club participation in the formal local party structure

Finance/Budget:

• Year round budget for all activities
• Establish fundraising goals with diverse methods of sustaining funding

Electoral Strategies/Voter Contact:

• Short and long term field plans: voter registration goals and targets, walk programs, key races, coordinated campaign development (coalition building with stakeholders)
• Using the CDP’s Online Campaign Center voter file to maintain and build data from cycle-to-cycle

Volunteer Recruitment and Management:

• Use of the Volunteer Management Database — to track, monitor and manage volunteers from within their county or those from outside who have indicated an interest in working in their county
• Trainings — Campaign Skills, Treasurer’s and others, as needed

Visibility and Outreach:

• Advertising events
• Sponsoring and speaking at affiliated events
• Earned media/Rapid Response team development
• Current and viable websites for each central committee
• Commitment to notify the CDP in a timely manner of changes in local party officers, chartered clubs — as well as upcoming events, so that the CDP website contains the most current information

Candidate Recruitment:

• Candidate training for Congressional, Senate and Assembly races
• Candidate training for down-ticket, non-partisan races
• Working with labor and other allied groups for non-partisan seats
• Elected official outreach; incumbent relations

Now, of all these guidelines, apparently only two will be optional: the use of the CDP’s Online Campaign Center voter file and the use of the Volunteer Management Database. Our Central Committees will be expected to fulfill all of the other duties listed above. Maybe, just maybe, these new and improved connectors will be just the shot-in-the-arm the grassroots has been hoping for.

A lot of great stuff has been posted on Calitics about the fires in Southern California.  I wanted to share the “official” Democratic response and invite folks to join in these efforts.  Thanks for all that you are doing. 

The California Democratic Party, the San Diego Democratic Party and Democrats Work are working together to help Californians devastated by the fires, and we ask you to join us. After the jump there are some ways you can make a difference today and in the hard weeks and months to come.

I want to point out one great fact regarding the third item listed below.  In just over an hour, nearly 100 people from across the state (and even Nevada) signed up with Democrats Work to engage in on-the-ground rebuilding efforts when the time is right. 

Give Food and Household Goods

The San Diego Democratic Party is collecting food and household goods for families in San Diego. They need regular-size items in demand, including canned meat, fruits, vegetables, and juices as well as cleaning supplies, diapers, detergent, and personal hygiene products.  You can also send a gift card for a local food chain (Ralphs, Vons or Albertsons).

Items can be delivered or mailed to:

San Diego Democrats
8304 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Suite 108
San Diego, California 92111

To make arrangements after-hours or in other locations around the county, email [email protected] or call (858) 277-3367.

Give through the “Virtual Food Bank” – Donate Other Goods or Money to the San Diego Food Bank

The San Diego Democratic Party has partnered with the San Diego Food Bank, which works with a network of more than 260 agencies throughout the San Diego area, to get food to those who need it. The Food Bank has a virtual market where you can shop for goods needed in the area or make a make a direct money contribution. Click here to make a contribution of food or money.

Roll Up Your Sleeves and Help to Rebuild

While there are many things we can do right now to help, there will also be a need in the coming weeks and months for assistance with the rebuilding efforts in the affected communities. Sign-up now to be a volunteer on the ground. We will keep you posted on opportunities to help the rebuilding efforts.  We must help these communities not only while the fires are burning, but, more importantly, with the rebuilding that will go on for many months and even years.

(Righting a bit of a wrong here. This should have been frontpaged when it first appeared; not everything is or should be about the day-to-day slugfest. – promoted by jsw)

For lack of a nail, the shoe was lost;
for lack of a shoe, the horse was lost;
for lack of a horse, the rider was lost;
for lack of a rider, the message was lost;
for lack of a message, the battle was lost;
for lack of a battle, the war was lost;
for lack of a war, the kingdom was lost.

Northern California Democrats have been hearing a lot lately about how the CDP is targeting two of our most important races, CA-11 and AD-15. Both of these districts have historically elected Republicans, with CA-11 holding a 5.5% Republican registration advantage and AD-15 recently dwindling to a 2% Republican advantage. Now that the AD-15 seat is turning over due to term limits, the CDP is hoping to pick up a new Democratic Assembly seat while protecting the sole Congressional gain that California Democrats made in 2006.

Unfortunately, the Democratic definition of “targeting” seems to bear an uncanny resemblance to catnapping. Take, for example, the City of San Ramon elections for mayor and City Council that were scheduled for this November.

As is true in most locales, San Ramon’s city offices are considered non-partisan. Yet in San Ramon, the mayor and the entire City Council are all Republicans, despite the fact that city-wide Democratic registration  stands at 9,988 compared to 10,589 Republicans, with a pool of 6,033 DTS voters.

So exactly what happened to San Ramon’s November 2007 election? Well, there’s not going to be an election. That’s because when the August 10 filing deadline rolled around, nobody had filed to run for mayor against the Republican incumbent; nobody had filed to run for City Council against the Republican incumbents. With nobody challenging them at the polls, the three incumbents were appointed to new terms on August 20.

So how does the lack of a nail lose the war?

Well, for starters, San Ramon’s incumbent mayor, H. Abram Wilson, is also running for the Republican nomination for AD-15. As the highest-ranking elected in the race, he has excellent name recognition and a sizable network of supporters, all of which led to him being considered by many as the early favorite in the Republican field. But his pesky mayoral race was widely viewed as a big negative, siphoning his time, money and energy away from the AD race. Would he be able to spend the bulk of 2007 running for mayor and then immediately jump into a heated AD race?

He addressed those questions head-on earlier this summer:

San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson has loaned his campaign $95,000. He has received $18,474 from other contributors.

Wilson described his loan as a pragmatic jump-start to his Assembly campaign, which he’s running concurrently with his re-election bid for mayor. San Ramon city elections will be held in November; the Assembly primary election is June 2008.

“People have asked me if I’m committed to the Assembly race because I am running for mayor and how could I do both,” Wilson said. “But when people see that you are willing to put your own funds in, they will see that you believe in yourself and you believe you can win.”

As of August 10, all of Wilson’s troubles vanished. Freed up from any work or expense in that mayoral race, he’s been able to focus exclusively on the AD-15 seat. That means that, three months ahead of schedule, all of his fundraising activities, along with all of his time and energy, are able to be fully deployed into the Assembly race, and the doubt that plagued his candidacy has been cast aside. Wilson’s position as the frontrunner seems stronger than ever.

And if Wilson wins the primary, he is clearly the most difficult of the Republican candidates for a Democrat to defeat. Genial, experienced, and very careful to present himself as a “moderate” Republican, Wilson’s presence on the November 2008 ballot would make the AD-15 seat that much more challenging for a Democrat to win.

But it’s not just AD-15 that’s impacted by the San Ramon race. As one of my readers pointed out, Jerry McNerney also has a dog in this hunt:

Why should building a farm team should be the responsibility of McNerney’s team?

He is the sole beneficiary. The farm team helps by eliminating officeholders down ballot that could be hostile and sling arrows at every opportunity they get. […]

Now I envision [Republican Congressional candidate Dean] Andal’s people using those GOP officeholders to close ranks and rally their base to take down McNerney, probably in direct mail to San Ramon and Danville voters, maybe not even use party affiliation, but just the fact that they are local office holders and they support Andal. It will be something like, “The entire City Council of San Ramon supports Dean Andal. Join us, as he shares our commitment to low taxes and economic growth” — or something like that.

So the Democrats’ inability to field a single candidate in San Ramon has serious consequences for a whole host of other races. And exactly who is to blame? Well, the list is long. As another of my readers pointed out, there was a fundamental failure at the local Democratic club and Central Committee level to get involved in the race and recruit candidates.

Likewise, with the CDP bragging loudly all year about how they were targeting AD-15 and CD-11, one might have imagined that, in addition to money, they would provide a little planning and a little effort on the ground. And, frankly, it just wasn’t that hard to look at the AD candidates, see Wilson as the strongest contender, and think, “Gee, maybe it would be good to throw up a few roadblocks to his campaign — like, you know, a competitor in his mayoral race.”

Then there’s Jerry McNerney, the Congressman who represents San Ramon. As the regional party leader, he had both the opportunity and the responsibility to recruit good candidates for the San Ramon races. And let’s face it, McNerney’s involvement in the race wouldn’t just have been an altruistic party-building mechanism; it would have come back to help him immeasurably — a classic win-win.

But instead, all of these Democrats complacently snoozed through the San Ramon city elections. So here we have, in this one race, a ripple that has the potential to be felt over a very large area. A contested race in San Ramon might have resulted in a Democratic counter-balance to the all-Republican San Ramon city government, might have helped build the Democratic base locally, might have helped develop a bench of Democratic officeholders, might have hampered the strongest Republican in his AD-15 primary race, and might even have shored up Jerry McNerney’s Congressional base. We’ll never know, though, because it didn’t happen.

This post is an amalgam of posts found here and here and here at The Progressive Connection.