DEMOCRATIC ACTIVISTS from across the state will gather this weekend in Sacramento for the State Democratic Convention in what will likely be a continued celebration of the Obama win tinged with disagreement within the ranks over the series of ballot measures up on May 19.
It's a place for candidates on the 2010 ballot to network, too. In advance of the convention, Assembly member Pedro Nava's staff sent me a video promoting his 2010 run for Attorney General. While current Attorney General Jerry Brown, 71, has not officially jumped ship and declared he's running for governor instead, he's widely expected to. Brown's Web site is sufficiently vague as well, with "Jerry Brown 2010" as the main thrust without specifying what he really wants to do with himself next year.
Nava, a former deputy district attorney, civil litigator and one of the best public speakers around, represents Assembly District 35, which covers Ventura. He joins a crowded field of Democratic contenders for attorney general including San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and fellow Assembly members Ted Lieu and Alberto Torrico.
State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, once a state senator for Ventura, has also considered a run for governor, but will need to keep up with the fundraising titans who have already jumped in, including former eBay executive Meg Whitman, who just threw $2.8 million of her own money into her campaign last week.
It's never a recession for politicians.
I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE THE DAY when my friends over at the progressive political blog Calitics would agree 100 percent with the state's GOP leaders on anything. But they've both denounced all six of the May ballot measures.
In more strange bedfellows news, Democratic Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg have joined forces with Republican state Sen. Dave Cogdill and Assembly member Mike Villines in supporting the propositions. The California Teachers Association also supports them and Ventura County's school superintendents have taken a stand of support for just 1A, 1B, and 1C.
To muddle things further, the Service Employees International Union's California State Council has joined the California Faculty Association and the California Federation of Teachers to oppose Prop.1A.
So what's a good Democrat to do? Celebrate the Obama win!
"So what's a good Democrat to do?"
How about learning how to spend only what you have? That would be a start.
Vote no on Prop. 1 D for sure.
JohnDoe
"So what's a good Democrat to do?"
Get rid of the 2/3rds rule, so Republicans can't force unrealistic budgets on us and of course solve the problem by electing more Democrats who believe in schools, firefighters and policemen.
Well, I rarely make partisan comments, but you asked. Perhaps a good Democrat might want to be thinking carefully about what is in the long run interests of the public, and less about what is in the short run interests of the party. I don't know if such an exercise would alter many people's votes or preferences, but it would go a long way to helping all of us feel more comfortable that our government is working for all of us. Now the truth is the same shoe should be worn by Republicans, and I acknowledge that too often it is not. If we all started to spend more time trying genuinely to serve the public interest, everyone would be better off and all of us would have more confidence in our government and our leaders. Just a thought.
Neal Andrews
Neal,
I think you have done a decent job and I read your blog last summer when you went to support McCain/Palin.
Do you think Palin was a good choice for the future of our country? To me it seems like McCain made a short term choice and didn't think what could have been in the long term interest of the nation.
Conventions often have many events for delegates sponsored by interest groups. Could you tell us some of them you and your fellow blogger attended?
Keep up the good work!
Marie:
A good Democrat should start by remembering that dialogue is democracy. And the small "d" in "democratic dialogue" is far more important than the big "D" in blind Democratic Party loyalty.
We shall see this fundamental principle put to the test at the Democratic State Convention this weekend.
The political buzz reports a significant and growing number of delegates representing key Democratic constituencies demanding a spirited convention floor debate on the political, economic and moral merits, or lack thereof, of lock-step State Party support of the Propositions on the May 19th ballot.
This is healthy for the Democratic Party and the State. And it is far preferable to blind, mind-numbing, party loyalty towards a suite of propositions authored by the Sacramento Democratic Party elites, enforced by Party apparatchiks, without the benefit of spirited discourse and diversity of view points expressed by the delegates to the Democratic State Convention.
A good Democrat remembers that FDR began the New Deal by announcing proudly to the American people during the depths of the Great Depression that, "..We have nothing to fear but fear itself.."
Contrast this with the uncertainty and fear triggered by a seriously flawed, smoke-and-mirrors State budget, brokered by the Gang of Five, in private negotiations. Worse, it was shamelessly adopted almost 100 days late.
And this so-called balanced State budget, (which it wasn't because even though it was adopted in February of 2009, it was knowingly based on Arnold's Department of Finance rosier economic projections issued in November of 2008) created nothing but fear and uncertainty for thousands, especially by unconscionably pitting school children and hard-working teachers against the disabled, poor and homeless. .
And to make matters worse, as you can see from the URL link above, according to State Controller John Chiang, the $31 Billion in State revenues collected as of April 15, 2009, was some $4.4 Billion LESS than revenues collected as of April 15, 2008, and almost $7 Billion LESS than the April 2009 revenue target contained in the State Legislature so-called “Balanced, Adopted FY 08-09 Budget.”
And far worse, the Gang of Five’s State Budget rewarded Hollywood Entertainment and Silicon Valley Mega-Corporations, who are big-time contributors to both parties, with almost $900 Million in tax-breaks while increasing the State's tax take by $1,000 to $1,200 per year on an average working-class family of four (that is if they still have a job) who only make $40,000 per year.
A good Democrat remembers the sage advice of President John F. Kennedy, who understood that the key to economic prosperity, tax equity amongst its citizens, and sound public finance, was a lowering of the effective tax rates, but an increase in the tax base on which those lowered rates were applied. And by removing legal tax-loopholes, and vigorously prosecuting wealthy individuals and corporations who avoid their taxes by shielding and transferring income to out-of-state and often out-of-country tax havens.
State tax breaks and loopholes for well-connected professionals, mega-corporations and oil companies, authored by the State Legislature and signed into law by the Governor, cost the State's treasury scores of billions of dollars each year, while soullessly enriching the concentration of wealth and the economic power of a minority of privileged political elites.
A good Democrat remembers that personal responsibility and fiscal prudence is not the exclusive province of so-called Republican fiscal conservatives, regardless of what they say. But rather a fundamental obligation of the citizenry, as well as a solemn public trust given to the representatives elected by the citizenry to represent them. This often requires men and women of good will to tell their political constituencies "no" when the public purse is shrinking and the public good demands it.
A good Democrat takes heed of Democratic President Harry S. Truman’s warning when he said, "..If the people are given a choice between a Republican, and a Democrat who acts like a Republican, the people will choose a Republican every time.."
Frankly, if FDR, Harry Truman, and JFK were all still alive today, and if they were California voters, I'm certain that to a man they would vote against these ill-conceived State Budget ballot propositions proudly.
For a very simple reason, these flawed Propositions fundamentally don't meet either the good Democrat, or the good government test of sound public budget administration, economic fairness, and tax equity amongst the citizenry.
As for me, I'm from the working-class, personal-responsibility, progressive-populist-wing of the Democratic Party, and I plan on voting NO on all these Propositions, except the last one, which hits the State Legislature where it hurts, right in their fat wallets!
NostraDemus
Actually I can't tell you what the "fellow blogger" might have done at the Republican National Convention. I didn't stand at his elbow every minute of every day.
I can tell you that I personally sent a blog report each and every day, albeit sometimes at 3:00 AM and well past deadline, to the Ventura County Star, reporting on every activity that I participated in. Not all of them were published. Probably simply because they were so routine and uninteresting that they would have bored you to tears. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there were no lavish parties hosted at tremendous expense by special interest lobbyists or major donors that I got invited to. Probably just a reflection of my own insignificance in the grand scheme of things, huh? After all, surely there must have been some such devious smoke-filled room hanky-panky going on somewhere in a Republican Convention! On the other hand, I spent a great deal of time trying to influence the political positions of the Republican Party to help it reflect more fully and completely what I genuinely feel are the inclinations of the great center of American public opinion (and particularly of my specific Ventura community. They are admittedly too often not as well reflected in the GOP as I would like, just as they are equally not so well reflected often among the policies endorsed by some of my Democratic colleagues. As an elected delegate to represent the people of this community, that was my job, and I did it to the best of my ability. I have no regrets whatsoever. Indeed I am proud to have been selected and to have done my best for my community.
Neal Andrews
I feel the need to add my uninformed opinion to the ballot measures. Everyone loves prop F because it keeps the legislators from getting raises. No one wants 1A or 1B because they will raise taxes a bit. All you people who think raising taxes is bad should stop and ask yourselves how we are going to continue operating the state on no money. Both props will give us more operating money to run this enormous monster state. We can't pay for it any other way. Perhaps you never learned to balance your check book, but unless you put money into the bank, you can't take any money out. Mr. & Mrs. Joe Public please reconsider
Marie,
Did you go to the state convention? Do you have any thoughts or preferences for who you want as governor?
No, I'm not a delegate, Brian.
I would vote for Jack O'Connell for governor if he decided to run, but he has a long way to go in the fundraising department. If I were a Republican, I would vote for Tom Campbell.
Congratulations to my friend Sue Broidy for her win as Region 10 director!