(The news peg here is that Dr. Chu vows to join the Progressive Caucus. Please welcome her to Calitics. - promoted by David Dayen)
It was December 18th when I first heard the news that President-elect Obama had chosen Hilda Solis as his nominee for Secretary of Labor. I was so thrilled because Hilda Solis is a person of such integrity, a true progressive champion who has left an amazing legacy as my representative in the 32nd district of California. After the initial excitement I felt upon hearing the news, it occurred to me: the congressional seat would be open; this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to help President Obama bring change to America and to continue the work Hilda Solis began in CA-32. I knew I had to run for this seat.
I have represented parts of the 32nd congressional district since 1985 when I was elected to the Garvey School Board in Rosemead. Having gained notoriety fighting an English only ordinance in Monterey Park -- and winning that fight -- I was elected to the Monterey Park City Council in 1988 and served three terms as Mayor. In 2001 I was elected to the state Assembly and was proud to win a seat on the California Board of Equalization in 2006 where I currently serve as Vice-Chair. The 32nd district has been my home for 24 years and I have voted for Hilda Solis as my representative ever since she first won the seat in 2000. Now, in 2009, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to succeed her and carry on her fight for progressive values in Washington.
It's great news that Van Jones has been tapped for a high-level job in the Obama Administration, as a special adviser for green jobs. Having his voice at the Presidential level is bound to be valuable, and great for at-risk communities who will not be forgotten with Jones as their defender. At the same time, I have to agree with the first comment in this Grist story.
If it is more than a rumor, then Van faces some decisions that would keep me awake at night. Would he be more effective where he is, or on the insde of the administration??? How much power would he really have?? Could he go along with the administration the next time it starts talking about "clean coal?"
Indeed, he might have to make that determination almost immediately. Because the FutureGen project, a "clean coal" research facility in Illinois, is likely to be funded with stimulus money in the short term. This is just research, of course, and even Energy Secretary Steven Chu supports it "with modifications." But the fact is that clean coal technology hasn't worked and offers a false sense of hope that we can just keep burning dirty fuels and not get dirty ourselves. It would be nice to have Van Jones' perspective on this, but he's embedded inside the Administration now.
Leadership is self-generating, but leadership like Van Jones' comes around only once in a long while. We have a lot of battles in California over green jobs and alternative energy that could have used a strident voice like Jones'. There's an effort to triple our commitment to clean energy through a renewable portfolio standard. The Senate leader's top priority is career tech education with an eye to green jobs and the new economy. Perhaps Jones' departure means that new leaders will take hold of these issues and push them forward. But perhaps not. It leaves a big hole.
I congratulate him as I've congratulated other Californians who have moved to Washington. But it's interesting, from my perspective, that the two individuals most likely to be able to drive a movement politics in the Golden State - Hilda Solis and Van Jones - have packed up and joined the Obama Administration. I can't say I blame them, this state is a basket case. And their talents will be used well.
Congratulations to Congresswoman Hilda Solis who was confirmed as Secretary of Labor this afternoon!
Secretary Hilda Solis is one of the reasons that I founded the CALIFORNIA List. I was working for EMILY's List and met then Califoria State Senator Hilda Solis, who was running for Congress. She was challenging longtime Congressman Marty Martinez, who she believed did not represent the district with any enthusiasm or effectiveness. It was inspiring to watch her as a candidate and she won! I saw first hand how the pipeline of terrific, qualified leaders works, and I see it again today as Barack Obama's choice of one of California's finest public servants was confirmed by the Senate 80-17.
Minutes ago, the US Senate confirmed Hilda Solis by an 80-17 vote to be the Secretary of Labor. This is a big victory for progressives to fight conservative obstructionism and get a real friend to the labor movement in a top position in Barack Obama's cabinet. It was an unnecessarily long fight, but this is a great resolution. In addition, with Solis having authored the Green Jobs Act, she will undoubtedly be a force for making sure jobs in the alternative energy sector are good union jobs that pay a living wage.
This also means that there will shortly, perhaps as soon as tomorrow, be a vacancy in the 32nd District seat. There are three main candidates for the seat thus far, all of whom have already begun campaigning.
Judy Chu is currently on the Board of Equalization. While a Chinese-American running for a seat that is majority Latino, Chu has the support of the California Federation of Labor, which typically cleans up in these kinds of special elections. That alone makes her the favorite IMO.
Gil Cedillo is a State Senator in the adjoining district, and so he represents very few of these constituents. He has been strong on issues around immigration in particular, and will certainly be formidable in this race.
Emanuel Pleitez worked in the Obama transition team on the Treasury Department. The fact that Treasury has practically no senior officers staffing it save for Tim Geithner, over a month after the inauguration, doesn't really speak well to Pleitez' transition capabilities. But he apparently has the most robust campaign apparatus in the district thus far (with 17 volunteer full-time staff members), and he was born and raised in the district.
We invite every single one of them to interact with us on Calitics.
The most likely scenario is that either the primary or the general election gets folded into the May 19 special election. Gov. Schwarzenegger has 14 calendar days to set the schedule.
It was a long struggle with a somewhat anti-climactic resolution, but Hilda Solis was approved by the Senate HELP Committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) on a voice vote. Today over 20,000 petition signatures were delivered to the leaders of the HELP Committee by SEIU, UFW, UFCW, Change to Win and the Courage Campaign, and those voices were heard.
Now the confirmation moves to the full Senate for a vote, where it will hopefully be approved in short order. Sometimes we win one.
Politico reports that the recent tax issues surrounding Hilda Solis' husband won't derail her nomination for Labor Secretary, but they're still going to obstruct:
Key Republican senators on the committee vetting the California Democrat's nomination say they won't blame her for the problems facing her husband, Sam Sayyad, who paid around $6,400 last week to settle tax liens against his auto-repair company.
But they are still exploring the congresswoman's ties to a pro-union organization, and a vote on her nomination has yet to be scheduled [...]
Solis has angered some Republicans' on the panel for deflecting questions on her positions over controversial "card-check" legislation, which would make it easier for workers to unionize, and for whether she supports maintaining right-to-work laws that prohibit forcing workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment.
Those issues, however, are not enough to drag down her nomination and Republicans are unlikely to block the nomination, according to aides and senators.
Still, there is one last issue that could influence the HELP committee's upcoming vote. The committee is waiting for additional information about her role as an unpaid board member and treasurer for the pro-union group American Rights at Work, while she was a member of the House.
Isakson said they are reviewing whether her role in an organization lobbying Congress violated campaign finance rules, "which I think would just come back to hurt her if we didn't get that out and cleared out one way or another."
These are just a series of stall tactics to drag this confirmation out. Solis' involvement with American Rights At Work has been gone over plenty of times. It is a red herring. Hilda Solis needs to be confirmed now. Sign the petition.
The stimulus plan isn't the only thing Republicans are obstructing. Hilda Solis, still the representative from CA-32, was nominated as Secretary of Labor by President Obama on December 19. It's been nearly two months and her nomination still hasn't moved out of the Senate HELP committee.
Republicans, led by Mike Enzi of Wyoming, are trying to stop Hilda Solis because of her support of workers' rights, including - but not limited to - the Employee Free Choice Act. They even want her to promise to not lobby on behalf of Employee Free Choice as a condition of confirmation - which she has so far refused to do.
A hearing was finally to have been held in committee on her nomination last week but news of a tax problem her husband had - which has since been resolved - caused yet another delay, and conservatives are hoping to use the delays to kill one of Obama's most progressive nominees entirely.
It's time for Californians to stand up for Hilda Solis.
She's been there for us in the past. Last summer when Arnold Schwarzenegger planned to slash the wages of over 200,000 state workers to the minimum wage, Solis joined our successful grassroots effort to block that move. Now that she is poised to bring significant progressive change to an important part of the federal government, it's vital that California progressives show that we have her back.
The Courage Campaign is asking its members to show their support for Hilda Solis by asking them to sign a letter to Senator Ted Kennedy, chair of the Senate HELP committee, encouraging him to lead the fight against conservative resistance and for Hilda Solis's confirmation.
In doing so we join our allies at SEIU and MoveOn.org who have also pushed out their own kinds of support Solis actions in recent days. There's also a Facebook group to join as well.
Why a letter to Senator Kennedy? We're not at all worried that he isn't supportive of the nomination or that he's unwilling to move quickly to get it done. What we want to do instead is demonstrate to key Senators just how wide and deep public support for Hilda Solis truly is. To reinforce the case for her confirmation, and to help Kennedy and other Democrats beat back the conservative attack on a true progressive hero.
After waiting and waiting, labor groups are finally demanding that Hilda Solis be confirmed as the Secretary of Labor. Andy Stern of the SEIU made a short video:
"Enough is enough, the gloves are coming off on Friday," said one official with the AFL-CIO, outraged over the delays. "Labor, women's groups, Hispanic groups are opening fire. We worked with Republicans in good faith. Hilda Solis has answered all their questions but they continue to oppose her for partisan ideological reasons."
With Solis's nomination stalled again on Thursday after revelations that her husband had just settled $6,400 in tax leins against his business, unions are no longer willing to hold their breath for the sake of fewer dramatics.
"Our full efforts are being mobilized to fight back," the union official said. "Earned media and field campaign to generate calls, letters, and emails coming tomorrow. Depending on how things move paid media will be added on top of these efforts."
Good to see. Progressive groups like MoveOn should get Hilda's back, too.
UPDATE: Our old friend Hans von Spakovsky, vote suppressor extraordinaire, is writing anti-Solis screeds in places like The Weekly Standard.
UPDATE II: MoveOn jumps in with a letter to the editor tool.
The former speaker of the Assembly hasn't actually been gone all that long, and it was always anticipated that he would might make a run at the State Senate in 2010 (among other possibilities). Fabian Núñez has filed papers to run for the SD-22 seat currently held by Gil Cedillo - a seat that might open up even sooner if Cedillo wins a special election to replace Hilda Solis in the Congress:
This week, he filed paperwork to fill the seat of termed-out Sen. Gil Cedillo in 2010. Cedillo's seat could be vacated even sooner, as the Los Angeles Democrat is running for Congress to replace Rep. Hilda Solis, who President Barack Obama has tapped as labor secretary.
Núñez would be a prohibitive favorite, should he run. His campaign treasury was stuffed with nearly $5 million as of the end of 2008.
The filing could also simply be a place to legally store all that campaign cash. Many former leaders keep accounts open for races in which few if anyone expects them to compete.
Although it's possible Núñez is just parking the cash, this would seem like a sensible move for him to make. He'd have at least another 8 years in the Legislature, potentially longer if term limits reform ever gets implemented (and I hope it does). And I have to believe that Núñez would indeed be the favorite for the seat, given his profile as Speaker and his campaign warchest.
Still, Núñez would do well to build his campaign around a solution to our state's ongoing budget mess. He was in the Big Five room for the last four years of negotiations, and should have as good an idea as anybody what could be improved in the system.
And he also has a responsibility to voters to explain how he would do better - Democrats failed to offer a clear alternative to the Republican tax cuts mantra while he was speaker, making it very difficult for Democrats and progressives in 2009 to mount a successful pushback against Republican demands. That's not say this crisis is all his fault, but as one of the recent leaders in Sacramento, he would do well to give voters a clear sense of how he would use his experience to chart a different course in the Senate.
Hilda Solis's confirmation in the Senate HELP Committee was abruptly cancelled today after a report surfaced about her husband paying $6,400 to remove a tax lien on his business.
The report, by USA Today, came just before the Senate's Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee was slated to meet to consider Solis's nomination, which had been delayed by questions over her role on the board of the pro-labor organization American Rights at Work. A source said that committee members did not learn about the tax issue until today.
"Today's executive session was postponed to allow members additional time to review the documentation submitted in support of Representative Solis's nomination to serve in the important position of Labor Secretary," read a joint statement issued by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the panel's chairman, and Mike Enzi (Wyoming), the committee's ranking Republican. "There are no holds on her nomination and members on both sides of the aisle remain committed to giving her nomination the fair and thorough consideration that she deserves. We will continue to work together to move this nomination forward as soon as possible."
No new date has been set for the hearing. The disclosure about Solis's husband comes after tax problems caused trouble for three of Obama's top appointees, leading two of them -- HHS-nominee Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer, who was to be chief performance officer -- to withdraw.
Senate Republicans have been slow-walking this nomination for weeks, and this revelation gave them another reason to do so. To be clear, we're talking about her husband's business. Given that she's in Congress and is in Washington most of the time, I doubt very highly that she has anything to do with it. In addition, by paying the taxes, Solis and her entire family are adhering to Obama's ethical standards, not subverting them.
So this is the latest in a months-long obstructionism. The LA Times reported today that some GOP members were trying to put a gag order on Solis:
Underscoring the bitter debate over a proposal to make it easier for workers to form unions, Republican senators are suggesting that President Obama's pick for Labor secretary must recuse herself from lobbying for the bill's passage.
In a written exchange with Solis, Republican senators indicated they are wary of her ties to a tax-exempt group dedicated to helping workers unionize [...]
Solis' Cabinet nomination is in the crossfire. She was a co-sponsor of the bill in 2007 and has served for the last four years on the board of American Rights at Work. Solis receives no salary as a board member or treasurer [...]
In their questionnaire, the senators noted that American Rights at Work has lobbied for passage of the bill. They asked Solis whether she would seek a waiver from the Obama administration or avoid any role in passing the legislation.
Solis replied that she does not need a waiver and has no intention of stepping back. She said she was only a member of Congress exercising her powers.
"I am not a registered lobbyist, nor do I in any way meet the statutory requirements for registration as a lobbyist," she wrote.
The American Rights at Work thing is a complete red herring. She was a representative figure for those who supported Employee Free Choice in Congress. She is not a lobbyist. She supported a bill. And so denying her free-speech rights seems ridiculous to the extreme.
I don't know if a family member's tax issue is enough to sink this nomination (like the last Labor Secretary's spouse, one Mitch McConnell, has no ethical issues to speak of), but I for one think Solis should be confirmed. And as for the Employee Free Choice Act, the battle for a fair workplace goes on. Thousands of people are marching in the streets of Los Angeles today in support of free choice.
Good news: Hilda Solis will get a long-awaited confirmation vote to be the Secretary of Labor tomorrow in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The hold-up was ridiculous, based on "confusion" on Solis' stand on the Employee Free Choice Act, when it was extremely clear where she stood (in full support), and even more clear that as a legislative issue she would have little to do with the legislation until it was enacted. Earlier in the day, Think Progress noted that the right wing was attempting to Daschle-ize Solis for completely bogus reasons:
In the wake of Daschle's departure, the right-wing is gunning for another Cabinet victim - Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), the nominee for Labor Secretary. The Heritage Foundation writes, "Hilda Solis: The Next Tom Daschle?"
According to The Hill, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) "has questioned whether Solis had done lobbying work while she was both a House member and an official at a pro-labor group, American Rights at Work" (ARW) [...]
As for the "conflict of interest" that the right wing is highlighting? Solis wasn't paid for her activities with ARW, and as the Washington Independent pointed out, her role was well-known and ceremonial:
"What would be the charge? Either that she participated in lobbying by being a leader with ARW, or that she erred by originally not mentioning this job in her disclosure documents. Two reasons this might not work: Solis' role in ARW was well-known and ceremonial (it's on their Website), and no congressman has hinted that he/she would file a complaint that could make a splash but not be deemed frivolous and politically motivated."
This is typical right-wing obstructionism designed to score political points. Let's hope Solis is confirmed be a wide margin tomorrow. It's beyond ridiculous.
Related: CA-32 candidate Emanuel Pleitez, one of at least three to declare for Solis' seat, has some good thoughts about the culpability of credit rating agencies in the financial meltdown.
So after huffing and puffing for weeks, Arlen Specter got what he wanted out of the Eric Holder nomination hearings (his main potential primary opponent declined to run against him) and decided to back the Attorney General nominee. After all the talk of principle and judgment, it just took improved electoral prospects for Specter to have a change of heart. Funny how that goes.
But there's another nominee that is languishing, perhaps the only true progressive in Obama's cabinet, and many of us would like to know why. Greg Sargent at his new digs reports on Hilda Solis' nomination:
Why hasn't Hilda Solis been confirmed as Labor Secretary yet, and why haven't we heard from the unions or from the Obama administration about it?
Some top operatives in the labor movement are frustrated with the Obama administration for not giving them the go-ahead to publicly target Republicans who appear to be stalling Solis' confirmation, people in the labor movement familiar with the situation tell me.
The silence from Obama aides on Solis is ominous to some labor officials, because they view the Republican efforts to hold up Solis as a first shot in the larger coming war over the Employee Free Choice Act, a top labor priority. Some labor officials worry that the Obama administration's refusal to make an issue of the hold-up on Solis is a sign that the Obama team won't act aggressively on Employee Free Choice.
"The anonymous hold on Solis is a clear proxy fight for Employee Free Choice," says a top operative at a prominent union. "And from the Obama Adminisitration ... crickets."
The governor can't announce the date for a special election for the vacancy in CA-32 until there actually is a vacancy in CA-32. And there will only be a vacancy in CA-32 once Hilda Solis is confirmed as Labor Secretary and resigns from her seat in Congress.
Which might not happen for a while, as some Republican on the Committee has placed an anonymous hold on her confirmation:
While other new Cabinet members are already hard at work, the confirmation of Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, as President Barack Obama's Labor secretary remains stalled in a Senate committee.
At least one unidentified Republican senator is using a parliamentary procedure to holdup Solis' confirmation, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, alleged from the Senate floor Thursday.
The anonymous hold - as the informal delay tactic is known - essentially prevents the full Senate from voting on Solis' confirmation by threatening a filibuster. It could be lifted at any time.
The hold was placed on the nomination because of Solis' support for legislation aimed at facilitating union organization and regarding pay-discrimination, and for non-responsive answers during her confirmation hearing, the Washington, DC-based Congress Daily reported Friday.
Solis is one of the original co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act, and I think we can rest assured that trying to prevent President Obama from getting the EFCA passed is probably a large factor in stalling Solis' nomination.
Here's a little something so you can head into the weekend informed.
• The SEIU put together a rally of over 1,000 members in Sacramento today, demanding a budget solution. More are expected in Sacramento, San Francisco and Fresno tomorrow. Given the desperation, I see nothing wrong with taking it to the streets. You can also contribute to their letter-writing campaign to the Governor here.
• Here are a couple of real victories for organized labor and working people. First, UNITE-Here's workers won a court decision that will expand the Living Wage ordinance in Southern California and gives 550 laundry workers a better chance to sue Cintas for back wages. Speaking of back pay, TV networks settled two class-action lawsuits with reality-show workers for $4 million dollars. These workers were made to falsify time cards and work up to 20-hour days without overtime or meal breaks. I have some friends in the industry who were parties to these lawsuits and I'm very happy they reached a good conclusion. The fight continues.
• The Senate GOP is slow-walking the confirmation of Hilda Solis as Labor Secretary, which is annoying. She is more than qualified and her views on the Employee Free Choice Act, which is a legislative fight, are hardly germane as well as well-known. She deserves a vote and not this nonsense. America needs a friend to labor at the Labor Department again.
• I have no idea why Rocky Delgadillo is running for Attorney General again. Rocky has been a real hero in fighting insurance industry malfeasance like rescission, but his recent troubles over his wife running his city-owned SUV into a pole (and she didn't have a license) and paying for it with city money is a 30-second ad waiting to happen. Maybe he should wait out a cycle?
• The FDA has approved a Menlo Park-based company for a human trial for a stem cell treatment, the first ever in the US. This is not just a victory for science but could prove to make California a real leader in medical therapeutics. We need some expansion in industry here, anyway.
• Good article from Open Left about how cleaner ports can add lots of middle-class green job, as it has with the Clean Trucks program at the port of Los Angeles.
(Well, I couldn't agree more. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
Congresswoman Hilda Solis is a strong champion of working families and will be an outstanding Secretary of Labor. Given our enormous economic challenges facing our nation, I urge the Senate to take swift action and confirm her nomination.
I have to admit that this is kind of unexpected. Not only did State Sen. Gil Cedillo announce his intention to run for Congress in the seat soon to be vacated by incoming Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, but Gloria Romero, who was widely expected to run for the seat, abruptly decided to bow out, endorsing Cedillo and announcing her intention to run for State Superintendent of Public Instruction instead.
Here's a bit from Romero's statement:
I have evaluated the wonderful opportunities before me and have chosen to listen to my heart.
My passion is education. I understand that education is the civil rights issue of our time -- the great equalizer in America . My commitment -- particularly now as the Chair of both the powerful Senate Education Committee and Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Education -- is to lead the Senate's effort to transform and hold accountable our state's public education system.
It is for this reason that I have chosen to decline to run for Congress and to pursue my dream of becoming California 's next Superintendent of Public Instruction [...]
I endorse Senator Cedillo and look forward to working with him to continue the "change we can believe in" both in California and Washington in these troubling times.
And here's a bit from Cedillo's:
State senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) today confirmed his intention to run for the 32nd congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Hilda Solis, the Obama administration choice for Secretary of Labor.
"This is a tremendous opportunity for Latinos and the working people of East Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley. Hilda Solis has been a strong leader on labor and economic issues for the 32nd District. As a candidate I seek to continue that focus, creating a competitive workforce, securing access to affordable healthcare and investment into public safety and transportation," shared Cedillo.
This changes the calculus of this race a bit. Gloria Romero represented most of this district in the State Senate. Gil Cedillo actually does not. In fact, Judy Chu has represented maybe more of this area than Cedillo has. Chu has already grabbed the endorsements of local Assemblymen Kevin DeLeon and Ed Hernandez. And if more Hispanics join the field, that could certainly chip away at Cedillo's support among low-information voters. One of the Calderon brothers may still jump in. And Dante noted last week that Emanuel Pleitez may run.
This kind of makes this astroturf piece by Paul Hefner, playing down expectations that Chu could win in a divided race and playing up Romero's chances while disclosing midway through that he WORKS for Romero, look ridiculous in retrospect. (What's even funnier is the dueling astroturf comment in that piece from Judy Chu's former chief of staff.)
I would be careful with assuming that ethnic support is monolithic. The last special election we saw with an ethnic divide, in CA-37, was decided more because of strong labor support for Laura Richardson than identity politics, though it never stopped Richardson from trying to frame the entire race that way. Chu absolutely can garner support in Latino areas, as much as Cedillo can in Monterey Park. Labor's endorsement is going to mean a lot.
On the merits, I would say that Cedillo would certainly be a strong progressive with a particular interest in immigration policy, and Chu has a good background through the Board of Equalization on taxes and economics. Hopefully we'll have both of them on Calitics in the near future to discuss their candidacies.
(P.S. This HuffPo article about the new Progressive Change Campaign Committee suggests that they might play in CA-32. That ship has pretty much sailed, though if they got on board with Sen. Cedillo it may make some sense.
I've noticed a strain of thought which believes that all that is needed to achieve Democratic goals in the state is better framing and messaging, because that can get into the media and convince more Californians of the need to restore sanity to the budget process and reform state government. This assumes that there's any kind of substantial political media to begin with. There's shockingly little on local news and radio, and even the newspapers have scaled back their local political coverage. What is currently out there reaches at most 1% of the electorate, and cuts to Capitol bureaus in Sacramento have decreased that gradually over the last year. No media outlet is willing to carry information to the public, a dangerous scenario for a state in crisis.
And because of this breakdown, this provides an opportunity for those with an agenda, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and right-wing think tanks (or even the false equivalent nonsense of a California Forward) to pursue their goals under the cover of "news." They infect what little coverage there is and provide ready-made content in the form of editorials for papers to print. A sorry example of this showed up in yesterday's LA Times, when Bret Jacobson wrote a screed about Hilda Solis' choice as Labor Secretary.
Solis regularly sides with organized labor's demands, including the biggest of them all: union leaders' desperate campaign to boost their membership by getting rid of secret ballot elections. That privacy allows millions of American workers to vote their conscience when deciding whether to start paying dues to a union boss. Consequently, it's easy to see why union bosses prefer "card check" -- a dubious method that requires employees to sign a legally binding card stating their preference in a way that would allow anyone to know if they are pro-union or not.
The fight over card check has already been a precarious affair. And this week, with the announcement of Obama's pick of Solis, the situation got even stickier. Solis has a hypocritical history of demanding secret ballots for herself but not for working Americans.
I don't think I have to go too much further with Jacobson's propaganda. As I've argued elsewhere, what he calls a "secret ballot" is actually a flawed system of union elections that needs to be fixed. If labor elections were legitimate, there wouldn't be the need for legislation. Instead, think of it as your "secret ballot" Presidential election marred by: mandatory pro-McCain training sessions held across the country, mandatory meetings where "Obama is a Muslim" propaganda is foregrounded, threats to take away your job if you vote for Obama, and threats to close your workplace entirely if Obama wins. There is nothing democratic about these one-sided farces characterized by intimidation and harassment. That's why we need a new system for determining whether workers want to collectively bargain, and majority signup is simply the best practice out there.
But that's not my biggest beef with Jacobson's argument. It's that, at the bottom of his editorial, the LA Times credits him by writing "Bret Jacobson is founder and president of Maverick Strategies LLC, a research and communications firm serving business and free-market think tanks." What they don't say is that he has a long history of union-busting, partnering with the man who is leading efforts to fight the Employee Free Choice Act. Matt Browner Hamlin discloses the lack of disclosure:
"Prior to founding Maverick Strategies, Bret co-founded the Center for Union Facts, overseeing that organization's research activities, guiding its communications, launching its new-media capabilities, and helping plan its strategic national advertising and earned-media campaigns."
And just for those not paying attention at home, here's Sourcewatch:
"The Center for Union Facts is a secretive front group for individuals and industries opposed to union activities. It is part of lobbyist Rick Berman's family of front groups including the Employment Policies Institute. The domain name www.unionfacts.com was registered to Berman & Co. in May 2005." [...]
In short, the Center for Union Facts is the key organization in Big Business efforts to stop the progress of labor in America, most notably through fighting against the Employee Free Choice Act. One of their co-founders, Bret Jacobson, was given license to push the Center's anti-union, anti-worker agenda in an op-ed against the nominee for Labor Secretary, while the Times failed to disclose the only informative part of his biography. He's the founder of a research firm? What is that supposed to tell the Times' readers? Pretty much every person I know who works in politics does some level of consulting. The most important piece of Jacobson's biography - his professional connection to one of the biggest anti-union groups in America - is left out of a column that specifically pushes the Center's agenda. In an AP article three days ago, a spokesman for the Center attacked President-elect Obama's pick of Solis for Labor Secretary (though, amazingly, the AP cited the Center as "a group critical of organized labor").
Matt works for the SEIU. There, I just disclosed that. Congratulations to me for having more integrity than the Los Angeles Times!
The Employee Free Choice Act is a national issue. But when you have a corporate-run media (the LA Times editorial board has a history of anti-worker pontificating) combined with a nearly invisible political class so that Californians have no base of knowledge about their government, the ease with which propagandists can place their beliefs into what little political media exists is frankly breathtaking. There is plenty of blame to go around in California's current crisis, but the lack of any responsible (or even present) certainly contributes to it.
Last night at a holiday party for the West Los Angeles Democratic Club, state Board of Equalization Chair Dr. Judy Chu announced her intention to run for the Congressional seat vacated by Hilda Solis, who will become the Secretary of Labor in the Obama Administration. Before getting on the Board of Equalization, Chu served the 49th Assembly district, which is inside Solis' Congressional district and includes the heavily Asian Monterey Park, as well as El Monte and Rosemead. Her husband, Mike Eng, currently holds that seat (I guess that means Eng isn't running). Before that, Chu served on the Monterey Park City Council.
Chu and likely candidate Gloria Romero have faced each other before, in a primary for state Assembly in 1998. Romero won, but when she moved up to the State Senate in 2001 (replacing Solis) Chu took over the Assembly seat. I think the race may depend on who else is in the field. If Gil Cedillo or one of the Calderon brothers decide to run, Chu may have an advantage as the only Asian candidate among a field of Latinos. Also, a lot may depend on whether or not Solis endorses. Union support will also be critical.
Chu was an professor for 13 years, and in the Assembly she sat on the Transportation Committee and the Health Committee. Her ratings in the Assembly from the major interest groups were all top-rate. It should be a spirited race, and I hope to hear Chu's stands on key national issues.
Let's have a brief respite from the coming California apocalypse to try and figure out which politician will beat a fast retreat out of Sacramento and into DC to replace Hilda Solis in the Congress. There are actually some good progressive possibilities here, which one would hope considering that Solis was such a progressive leader. The CapAlert early line matched with my expectations.
Democratic state Sens. Gil Cedillo and Gloria Romero say they're exploring running for the East Los Angeles County congressional seat that's expected to be vacated by Rep. Hilda Solis, reportedly President-elect Barack Obama's pick for labor secretary.
While Cedillo was expressing his interest Thursday to reporters on the floor of the Senate, Romero wandered by and said she was "definitely" looking at jumping into the race.
Told that in addition to Cedillo, the Calderon brothers -- Assemblyman Charles and state Sen. Ron -- could be contenders, Romero declared, "I can beat them all" -- and walked off.
I like the confidence.
Both Cedillo or Romero would be great additions to the House. I would give Romero the edge because it's actually her district - Cedillo serves a contiguous district. Romero would be a rare voice for prison reform in Washington, and while her advocacy proved fruitless in Sacramento, ultimately she will be proven right if we see mass releases in the next few months, and having her on the national stage would be very helpful to the prison reform movement. For Cedillo it's the same, only on immigration reform. I would imagine that both of them would join the House Progressive Caucus.
As long as the Calderons stay out of this seat, I'd be happy.
Other contenders are the sitting Assemblymembers in the district, Ed Hernandez and Mike Eng, as well as state Board of Equalization chair Judy Chu, who in a twist is married to Mike Eng, which would make for an interesting primary. I think Chu is good in her position but I can't say I know much about her on other issues.
The last special Congressional election gave us Laura Richardson. Hopefully we'll do much better with this one.
UPDATE: As per below, Jackie Speier won the last special election for Congress in CA, actually.
Labor source: Obama picks California Rep. Hilda Solis for labor secretary.
That is the entirety of the report. If proven true and it's not like we hear a leak from the Obama team that isn't later confirmed, this would be a big loss for California.
Some around these parts were hoping she would throw her hat in the ring as a strong progressive and run for governor.
That said, this would be a big win for labor. If true, it will to be great to have her championing the labor movement from within the Obama administration. She will be a breath of fresh air compared to the Bush administration's approach to labor regulations.
A friend that works for the AFL-CIO reminds me that she has a 97% lifetime rating from them.
UPDATE: Statement from Cal Labor Fed Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski over the flip.
