As we all know, this is an historic moment for our country, and our community. Faced with enormous challenges here in Los Angeles and across the globe, we watched yesterday as Barack Obama promised to lead us through these challenges in a new direction.
But he can't do it alone. We all need to contribute. First and foremost, we each need to ask ourselves what we can do solve two of the greatest problems before us: the economic and the environmental crisis.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is committed to taking these issues head on. As experts in the production, installation and distribution of energy across America we are dedicated to ensuring our country and our community is powered by renewable energy. As President Obama stated in his speech, investing in clean technology creates much needed jobs now, while combatting global warming - a threat so dangerous we can no longer wait to address it.
That is why the IBEW is supporting Measure B, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to create thousands of good paying jobs by requiring the LA Department of Water and Power (LADWP) install, operate and maintain 400 megawatts of solar power by 2014. When fully implemented, this plan will eliminate 400,000 tons of greenhouse gases from our air each year.
Measure B goes before voters in LA March 3rd. The Coalition for Clean Air, Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, Sierra Club, the American Lung Association and the LA County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, are among dozens of environmental, labor and health organizations who support the measure. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass is also backing the plan.
Today, the LADWP produces more than 75 percent of its power from dirty fossil fuels. It is no wonder we have the worst air pollution in America, killing more people in our city each year than car crashes. The solution is here: solar power is clean, available, cost effective and ready for installation now.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a new report today projecting that 164,000 more jobs will be lost in the L.A. area between now and the end of the year, the second-highest job loss in the nation after New York. Investment in green infrastructure and aggressive incentives for solar manufacturers to locate in LA, both of which are included in Measure B, will stimulate our economy and create the jobs we need to put people back to work. In addition, the Measure calls for the training and retraining of workers to gain the skills necessary to build a career in LA's new green economy.
Obama's plans for the nation are very similar. He aims to create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze efforts to build a clean energy future and fight global warming. His plan also ensures 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
To learn more about Measure B and join the coalition to address LA's economic and environmental challenges, visit www.greenenergygoodjobsla.com.
-- Marvin Kropke and Brian D'Arcy, Business Managers of IBEW 11 and 18
It started with yarn. A lot of little balls of colored yarn.
Last week, a lot of us in the Southern California Obama campaign gathered for the first time since the election for the mega "Change is Coming" event at LA Trade Tech because we wanted to learn what we could do next.
As one of the team building exercises, the organizers had someone at each table grab a ball of yarn and string it to another table across the room to someone else they had met through the campaign. Soon the room was a tangle of blue, yellow, green and orange strings. It's the picture you see to the left.
At the end of the meeting, we were all asked to adopt a local food bank. Our group in the northern part of CD36 settled on the Westside Food Bank, those in the southbay and the harbor area adopted The Food Bank of Southern California, His Helping Hand Food Pantry in Lomita and Harbor Interfaith Services in San Pedro. Between the two groups, by reaching out to our Obama networks, our neighbors, Facebook, and Community Organize (a new networking site developed by the leadership of the California Obama campaign), we collected over 8,000 pounds - FOUR TONS - of food, blankets and toiletries, donated a thousand dollars, and recruited dozens of volunteers to sort and box the proceeds.
(sometimes, close recount elections don't go our way. - promoted by Dante Atkins (hekebolos))
It is with a heavy heart that I report the news that things aren't looking good in the Jackson-Strickland race in SD-19. Strickland has retaken a lead in the provisional and absentee counts that he is unlikely to relinquish barring a small miracle, as favorable Santa Barbara County is nearly entirely counted, leaving pro-Strickland Ventura County and the pro-Strickland sliver of L.A. County to probably pad his lead. The Santa Barbara Independent has more:
Tony Strickland surged to a 1,560 vote lead over Hannah-Beth Jackson Wednesday, on the strength of newly counted ballots in Ventura County. Santa Barbara county's registrar also reported counting new ballots, which favored the Democrat, but not by nearly enough to make up for the Republican's strength in Ventura.
It is the first significant lead for either candidate in the closely-contested 19th state senate district since Election Day, and puts Strickland in a commanding position, as counting continues in three counties with portions of the sprawling district.
The overall tally now stands at:
Strickland 187,631 (50.20)
Jackson 186,071 (49.79)
• The SacBee has a nice little comparison between the three budget plans, Arnold's, the Democratic conference committee's, and the GOP borrow and spend "plan."
• Are we a "high-tax" state? George Skelton takes a look at some of the numbers. It's not such an easy question. You can get numbers anywhere from 6th in the country to 45th on different metrics. Take a look at the article, there's a lot of data there.
• There's a fundraiser for Ginny Mayer for State Senate on September 14th. Ginny Mayer is running for the 35th District, which runs along the coast from Seal Beach to Irvine and Newport Beach, currently held by Tom Harman.
Thursday night, August 14th, from 6:30-8:00 pm at the Monrovia Community Center (119 West Palm Avenue), Russ Warner will be holding the first of many "Coffee and Conversation" meetings (or, as I put it Coffee, Dessert, and Democracy) throughout the district, to give voters in CA-26 an opportunity to meet him.
Each week (he's taking Democratic Convention week off, tho), the meeting will be in a different part of the district. See below the fold for meetings over the next few weeks.
The Los Angeles-based union, which represents low-wage caregivers, also spent nearly $300,000 last year on a Four Seasons Resorts golf tournament, a Beverly Hills cigar club, restaurants such as Morton's steakhouse and a consulting contract with the William Morris Agency, the Hollywood talent shop, records show.
In addition, the union paid six figures to a video firm whose principals include a former union employee. And a now-defunct minor league basketball team coached by the president's brother-in-law received $16,000 for what the union described as public relations, according to the union's U.S. Labor Department filings and interviews.
It's not clear if there are any legal violations here, and Freeman and his family members deny that there was anything inappropriate in the contracts and spending:
"Every expenditure has been in the context of fighting poverty," [Freeman] said.... Freeman, 38, said the union's members have benefited from the money spent on the video production and day-care companies that his wife and mother-in-law operate at their homes, because of what he termed the high quality of the services.
The article goes on to detail the expenditures and flaws with them, some of which went to nonprofits in trouble with the IRS and "entities" associated with former LA Rams star Eric Dickerson that have been suspended from doing business in California.
Labor unions constantly have to battle the usually false perception that they misuse funds, and face a well-funded right-wing campaign that seeks to undermine unions for even the slightest error. Most unions, including those I've been a part of, are very scrupulous about how they use money to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, so I am very surprised to hear that this was going on.
And I'm not alone in that. The article quotes Nelson Liechtenstein, one of the nation's leading labor historians, as follows:
It's very important for unions not to do this kind of thing," he said. "Union leadership is a public trust -- all the more so when the people being represented are among the lowest-paid in America."...
Lichtenstein said the [$418,000 golf] tournament spending was troubling under any circumstances.
"I don't care if they're making money or not," he said. "It's disconnected from the world of the people they're representing. No one's playing golf who's a home healthcare worker.
So this is going to be a difficult test of the union movement in LA and nationallly. But it's a test. Freeman needs to step down and offer a full-throated apology. The union needs to ask for an independent audit of the local. And the public needs to hear immediately from union leadership -- Stern, county labor chief Maria Elena Durazo, other top SEIU leaders such as janitors' union chief Mike Garcia -- about how such conduct must not be permitted in the movement. So far, the silence is deafening. Stern, in the story, refuses to address the conduct in question. That won't cut it.
Why does the action need to be so clear-cut? Because the labor movement is on the rise in Los Angeles. To attend a city council meeting or a mayoral press conference is to watch the labor movement governing the city. As the journalist Harold Meyerson has written, the rise of the LA unions as a labor force has been aided by the widespread perception that our unions are not old-style, corrupt empires. This is supposed to be new labor. The public needs to see transparency and accountability in the response to this.
As for Freeman, I hope he can make amends for this conduct and have a future in the labor movement. But it can't be as president of this local.
Matthews has it exactly right. The SEIU leadership needs to show that they won't tolerate this kind of action within their ranks. Union democracy is important, and so is union accountability, union honesty, and union ethics. The misdeeds of one local unfortunately tend to get used to attack the labor movement as a whole - and Andy Stern and Tyrone Freeman in particular owe that movement answers and action.
One of the newer entries into the California right-wing blogosphere is Fox and Hounds Daily, a project of the Small Business Action Committee and its head, Joel Fox. Fox was the longtime head of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which helps explain Fox's absurd anti-tax screed about various local taxes on the LA ballot.
Whenever right-wingers start expressing concern about how taxes will impact working people, those working Californians should immediately be skeptical. Since when have conservatives expressed genuine concern for the needs of the poor, or the shrinking middle class? Conservatives have long used taxes to attain populist credibility with working Californians but a close examination of Fox's article shows that this is based on a lie. The right-wing anti-tax movement is directly responsible for the dire straits working Californians find themselves in today, and the proposals Fox criticizes would do much to help save them money.
This is the core point that Democrats and progressives need to be repeatedly hitting - taxes save you money. Take for example the proposed LA Metro sales tax that Fox uses as a prime target:
The MTA wants a ½-cent sales tax hike for thirty years to cover various transportation projects. When implemented (if passed), L.A.'s sales tax will be 8.75%. That assumes there will be no state sales tax increase that may come along in a state budget deal. If that happens, along with a successful MTA sales tax increase, Los Angeles residents will be looking at a sales tax over 9%.
Nowhere in the article does Fox mention what the tax would be used for. It's a typical disinformation move - complain about higher taxes but fail to explain what it would provide. As gas prices soared, working Californians' wallets were squeezed, perhaps nowhere moreso than in Los Angeles County, which has a growing mass transit system but remains overly reliant on automobiles for commuting.
The LACMTA proposal would address that by providing billions for desperately needed mass transit projects, whether it's the Subway to the Sea, the Foothill Extension of the Gold Line, or some other project. Mass transit saves people money. Real money. That's why ridership on the LACMTA's rail lines soared this year. Southern Californians are desperate for mass transit options so that they can save money. Why does Fox want to deny them that option?
Yesterday, the DEA raided a medical marijuana dispensary in Culver City, spending hours on site detaining employees and ultimately leaving the facility in disarray. This is unfortunately not an unusal story. Since 2005, the DEA has raided dozens of state-sanctioned dispensaries in California.
But this time was different. We're used to the DEA calling in help from various federal agencies and local law enforcement. But I guess none of their usual buddies were available yesterday because from the picture below, which appeared in the LA Times today, it looks like they had to resort to calling in Blackwater:
The DEA often likes to say that medical marijuana is not their top priority (though at the height of the raids last year, they were raiding an average of one dispensary per week). They like to argue that medical marijuana raids do not take resources away from other drug interdiction. Yet this photo makes me wonder - if they have sufficient resources to shut down meth labs and to bust medical marijuana providers, why do they need the help of Blackwater, a private agency?
Yet another reason we need Congress to hold oversight hearings on DEA medical marijuana activities. Good to know that House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers is concerned about this issue and has already begun to question the DEA on its actions.
The City of Los Angeles is joining San Francisco in putting into effect a ban on all plastic shopping bags. The Los Angeles City Council announced today that the plastic bag ban will go into effect July 1, 2010. The L.A. Times reports that the ban is at all grocery stores as well as retail markets. The regulation will only go into effect if the State fails to charge customers a $.25 fee for requesting plastic bags. San Francisco passed a similar ordinance back in 2007.
The City Council is hoping to cut the number of bags that wash into the Los Angeles river every year. The plastic bag industry, which has a lobbying group, filed a lawsuit last week challenging the plan. We'll see what happens in the next two years.
Eric Bauman is going to raise $1 million dollars for 2008. The best part is how he's going to spend it.
Last night, members of the Los Angeles County Central Committee raised their hands to take an oath of office from Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, and took to electing Party officers. Among them was Chairman Eric Bauman, unanimously re-elected to a fifth term.
I'm told that's a record. From his words last night, it's easy to see why.
Bauman has been singled out here as someone who speaks his mind and knows the mechanics of electioneering, even when his opinions and techniques run against the grain of some Democratic leaders.
He showed what he's made of in thanking the Central Committee and looking ahead to 2008 - and perhaps beyond:
Now is the time to rebuild, refresh and reassemble the mosaic that comprises our Democratic Party for it is only through unity, strength and shared purpose that we can be successful this fall.
As we work to build unity however, we must take seriously our responsibility to remind those we have elected or put in positions of power of their obligation to do the right thing by our Party and our people.
Whether it is protecting those most at-risk from harsh budget cuts or standing up for our Constitution or avoiding situations and actions that have the appearance of impropriety, as leaders of our Party, we must not fear holding feet to the fire and speaking truth to power.
If we truly are leaders, we must act like it: respectfully, responsibly, but fearlessly.
Who else senses a little tough love in there?
What I find interesting about Bauman's leadership of the LACDP is not just his (sadly uncommon) willingness to speak truth to power, but how he marshalls forces and resources on the ground to help candidates up and down the ballot, even in those districts often written off as unwinnable.
After the jump I'll share what I heard last night (and from Bauman separately), and what I've seen him do to build and strengthen the Democratic Party in Los Angeles County.
Where else but Venice, California, would you go to hear an outraged crank argue for indicting the sitting president of the United States for murder in a gymnasium packed to the gills with wild-eyed radicals cheering his every charge?
Which is exactly what we did this past Wednesday, except the crank was no crank, but rather the world-famous former district attorney and best-selling author Vincent Bugliosi, and more than a few radicals in the audience looked to have day jobs and mortgages to pay.
Disclaimer: I volunteer as the Netroots Outreach Coordinator for the Mary Pallant Campaign
Mary Pallant's campaign (which I have written about here, here, here and elsewhere) got a big new boost today: the endorsement of progressive CA State Senator Sheila Kuehl.
Despite the unwillingness of our Democratic Congress (Rep. Wexler notwithstanding) to do their Constitutional duty to hold the criminals in the Bush Administration accountable for their actions, the major sacrifices made by and injuries done to Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson and their colleagues and associates will not soon be forgotten by those of us who care deeply about our country. This nation owes them a debt of gratitude for their service and their willingness to tell the truth in spite of incredible hostility and pressure from a corrupt and utterly immoral White House and its cronies.
Those progressive patriots of you who live in the Southern California area will have the opportunity to meet Joe Wilson himself at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:30pm for the equally courageous Netroots candidate Ron Shepston. I'll be there as well, for what that's worth!
Most Californians are sure that their election is over. All the media coverage is blaring babble from the most recent presidential debate in distant states as well as other inane minutia that denigrates the process.
Yet, if you look closely, really closely, you may find evidence that there is yet another election coming up here in June. Yes, June 3rd to be exact.
This season, in spite of the state being billions of dollars in debt, and the cries of horror about budget cuts, our state legislators gave us the special treat of spending double on TWO elections!!!.
And the citizens who ARE paying attention to the obscure references to the June 3rd primary are again faced with figuring out who is worth voting for, if anyone.
With little information in the mainstream media, many turn to their local Democratic Clubs and special interest groups for guidance. Or, they look to their Democratic party. This guidance most often comes in the form of the last minute slate mailers, the topic of this conversation.
Congratulations to the winners at this afternoon's Obama caucus for CD 30, Robert Vanderet, Victoria von Szeliski, and Shayne Adamski. This trio of very organized campaign volunteers ran as a team, and took all three delegate seats. With heartwarming support from progressive Democrats and the Santa Monica Democratic Club, I came in third for the two male delegate slots. Marcy Winograd, also supported by Progressive Democrats of America, Los Angeles, came in second for the one female slot.
Using the organizing skills they've amassed working together for Obama, the campaign team ran a focused slate from their own ranks of exactly as many candidates as there were seats to be filled. The three winners made effective use of the resources they and other volunteers have generated for our Obama campaign, including compiled email addresses and online discussion groups.
Thank you to everyone who came out for this amazingly energizing caucus -- over 650 Democrats stood in line in the sweltering sun to cast their votes. It is clear that Barack Obama has inspired a dedicated campaign that will take him, and us Democrats, all the way to the White House.
As a delegate to the state Democratic convention in San Jose last week, I helped the Progressive Democrats of America team change the state party platform on the war in Iraq. See http://www.laprogressive.com/2...
Now I need your support to become your national delegate, and carry the same progressive agenda to the national party at the August convention in Denver. Please come to the 30th CD (Waxman's district) Obama delegate caucus:
WHEN This Sunday, April 13th at 2pm
WHERE Rancho Park Rec Center, 2551 Motor Ave. in L.A., just south of Pico
(note change from previously announced UCLA location)
To vote at the caucus, you must be there by 3pm at the latest. While there'll be opportunity to socialize with fellow Obama Democrats and hear a number of speakers, you need not stay all afternoon to cast your vote. As a Santa Monica City Councilmember in my third term, I know how to make progressive politics work and how to effectively advocate our progressive agenda. Please take the time on Sunday to come cast your vote for Kevin McKeown as one of your Obama delegates.
(Excellent news to hear all of these CA Congressional Candidates lining up behind the Responsible Plan. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
As a responsible citizen and congressional candidate I have decided to endorse the Responsible Plan to end the occupation of Iraq. This plan encompasses more than withdrawal from Iraq: it addresses other imperative issues that have arisen as a result of our invasion. Iraq is one of the worst foreign policy debacles in the history of our nation and has resulted in far more devastating consequences beyond Iraq. The Responsible Plan is a responsible course of action with steps to be taken that we as a nation must embrace in order to ensure that when we leave Iraq we restore more than Iraq.
Many of our troops may have avoided death in Samarra, but the only way we can avoid future deaths is withdraw and then follow a course that will avoid steering us down the same path that led us to pre-emptive war. We begin to reverse the terrible fate we have inflicted on the Iraqi people, our military, and our standing in the world by leaving Iraq, instituting diplomacy, and instilling humanitarian aid for Iraqi civilians and refugees.
Our mission to accomplish is to urge our Congress to sign on to the Responsible Plan to end the occupation, replace our troops with diplomats, restore Habeas Corpus and work to restore our 4th Estate, the media, to the independent watchdog it needs to be.
I therefore heartily endorse the Responsible Plan and look forward to joining forces with other candidates who have embraced and endorsed this plan.
(As a friend of both Mary and David, I couldn't be happier to see them teaming up and bringing a progressive message to Ventura County. - promoted by David Dayen)
Hello Calitics! My name is David Atkins--though most of you probably know me better on the blogs as thereisnospoon. I'm writing today on behalf of Mary Pallant, the candidate I believe is best-suited to take CA-24 by storm and turn this district a bright shade of Progressive blue! I've had several meetings with Mary over the last few years, and she has impressed me greatly with her tough-mindedness, can-do spirit, strong knowledge of the issues, organizational prowess, and personal charisma and charm. I believe in Mary and her ability to win this seat--and now that I live and work in Ventura County, I've signed on to be the Netroots Coordinator for her campaign. From now until November, you'll see Mary and I posting under this account to give you updates on the progress of our campaign to get rid of Elton Gallegly, one of the worst rubber-stamp Republicans in the Congress.
I just talked to someone with the California Democratic Party, and apparently no one has stepped forth to run for the Senate seat of Bob Margett in the 29th District. I was told that "[someone] would step forward to take it on."
Not that this fact bothers me. I just love being told by my Senator, when I write in support of a single-payer health plan, that it would make the doctor's room look like the DMV (from what I can tell, if a doctor takes HMO patients, the room already does...).
I hope that organization in other parts of the state where people are being termed-out is better than it is here.
