California's Congresswoman

Hilda Solis Confirmed as Nation's Labor Secretary

Good news for middle class and working people in America.   Following is a press release issued today by Ventura's research and action non-profit Coastal Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy or CAUSE 

In a victory for our nation's working families, Congresswoman Hilda Solis, President Obama's Cabinet nominee for Labor Secretary, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, February 24th by a vote of 80 to 17.

Hilda Solis will take over the reins of the Labor Department at a time of great challenges and optimism within the labor community. Her nomination represents a major victory for labor rights advocates and labor unions, which are hailing her candidacy as a boon for their legislative priorities -- specifically the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

"The confirmation of Rep. Hilda Solis is a huge victory: finally Americans will have a Secretary of Labor who represents working people, not wealthy CEOs," read a statement from AFL-CIO president John Sweeney.

In a statement from SEIU header Andy Stern: "Working men and women now have a Department of Labor they can count on to stand up and fight for them because Secretary Solis personally understands the challenges workers face in a global economy. For Secretary Solis this is not just another job, but the culmination of a lifetime of action serving as a voice for people who work."

First elected in 2000, Solis has been serving her fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. She represented California's 32nd Congressional District, which includes portions of East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. Prior to her election to Congress, Solis served eight years in the California state legislature. In August 2000, Solis became the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for her pioneering work on environmental justice issues in California.

In 2003, she became the first Latina appointed to the powerful Committee on Energy and Commerce where she served as Vice Chair of the Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee and a member of the Health and Telecommunications Subcommittees. She was also a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources. In March 2007, Solis was named a member of the newly created House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Solis was Vice Chair of the Democratic Steering & Policy Committee and served as a Senior Whip, as well as a Regional Whip for Southern California. She was also serving her third term as the Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' Task Force on Health and the Environment.

CAUSE had invited Secretary of Labor Solis to serve as the keynote speaker of CAUSE's ^7th Annual 2009 Women SEE Justice Conference on March 7^th International Women's Day. Unfortunately, the Secretary of Labor has sent her regrets that she will not be able to attend. In her place, this year's keynote speaker will be long-time immigrant rights advocate, Angelica Salas. For more information on CAUSE's 2009 Women's Social, Economic and Environmental (SEE) Justice Conference at Oxnard College, log on to CAUSE's online calendar, or contact Maricela Morales at maricela@coastalallliance.com.

For more information on other upcoming CAUSE community actions, trainings and policy forums, such as the Ventura County Green Economy - Green Jobs Action Summit on May 21, 2009, log on to our website calendar at www.coastalalliance.com. 

by Kara Altshuler

I really want this blog to be about the free-loading Stricklands and how they're getting paid to do absolutely nothing.  However, Audra offers so little on her website (no current photos of her in the district, no news items, and no legislation to speak of during years 2007 or 2008) that it's pretty slim pickings.

So, in total boredom, I turn to the federal news.  I'm sure this is just what Grover Norquist had in mind when he argued that there should be complete deregulation of the economy.

Peanut Corp. of America files for bankruptcy

By KATE BRUMBACK and GREG BLUESTEIN - 4 days ago

ATLANTA (AP) -- The peanut processing company at the heart of a national salmonella outbreak is going out of business. The Lynchburg, Va.-based Peanut Corp. of America filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Virginia Friday, the latest bad news for the company that has been accused of producing tainted peanut products that may have reached everyone from poor school children to disaster victims.

"It's regrettable, but it's inevitable with the events of last month," said Andrew S. Goldstein, a bankruptcy lawyer in Roanoke, Va., who filed the petition.

The salmonella outbreak was traced to the company's plant in Blakely, Ga., where inspectors found roaches, mold and a leaking roof. A second plant in Plainview, Texas was shuttered this week after preliminary tests came back positive for possible salmonella contamination. So far, the outbreak has been suspected of sickening more than 630 people and may have caused nine deaths. It also has led to more than 2,000 product recalls, one of the largest recalls in U.S. history.

The president of the company, Stewart Parnell, pleaded the Fifth, in front of a House subcommittee that really wanted to know why he instructed his employees to continue selling his toxic products after they discovered they were contaminated.  I'd like to know, too.

I'd like to know why the American public is repeatedly faced with food recall after food recall, year after year after year.  After all, isn't it the job of the FDA to check on food production in the US, to ensure the safety of products we buy and eat every day?  Do we need another Upton Sinclair to write a 21st century version of The Jungle? 

One really obvious, really bad outcome of shrinking the federal government and cutting back on regulation and oversight is that people die.  And isn't it amazing that this peanut company was able to file for bankruptcy to protect itself from wrongful-death lawsuits, when our Republican Congress and President George W. Bush made that impossible for people with that wonderful bankruptcy/credit card law in 2005? 

by Kara Altshuler

There's quite a discussion on the budget deficit in CA going on over at Making Waves, Marie Lakin's blog.  I highly recommend it. 

Marie posted a link that I think bears repeating because the analysis is just what the Republicans have not provided these last several months.  They moan and complain about fraud and waste in our government, but provide no specifics on just where that fraud and waste actually are.  Well, George Skelton teases the numbers apart, and presents them in an easy to understand fashion.  Since we can't get the straight talk from Tony or Audra, thank heaven we have George.

http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-me-cap16-2009feb16,0,1062359.column

by Helen Conly

Just when we really need a reasonable intelligent dialogue about how to craft public policy to lift our nation and the world out of recession, reasonable, realistic legislators are nowhere to be found. 

Yesterday, it was an 11am beginning with toothbrushes suggested and just now it is a 2:30 meeting in Sacramento to debate.  How long can California wait?  We will have much to discuss and mull over while cities and counties are slashing budgets and union contracts are being reduced for employee services.  I want to see oil and corporate tax revenues invested in our state in an across the board tightening of the proverbial belt to solve this crisis now.  Reinstate the car tax for goodness sake.  We need to be serious about emissions from vehicles.  Who do you think should pay?  I say --let the legislators begin by taking a 30% cut in pay until this is solved and a reduction in per diem of ½ what they now book for their trouble and time.