First of all, I will establish the ground rules:
- Anyone can nominate any Californian to appear on these ballots. We will continue these polls as long as there is interest and as long as we don't have a winner. As soon as there is a winner, we will draft that person to run against her in 2012.
- The person nominated must have an active website or be active in the news. In other words, I must be able to follow them on a weekly basis and give updates.
- Once someone finishes last, they are eliminated. I will maintain a list of people who were eliminated.
Eliminated:
John Chiang
News on Dianne Feinstein:
This section will feature any diaries that have been written in the last week about DiFi. Please use the tag with her name, and please write and recommend diaries about her. It is vitally important that we all write diaries about how she sold us out.
California Rural Democratic Party decries loss of civil liberties.
This diary blasts Feinstein and Boxer for selling out; the latter did not vote on this issue.
I'm frankly frightened. The California Senators I relied on to protect my civil liberties caved. Is ducking the vote any better or worse than voting against your constituents' liberties? What rights do we lose next?
Under the assertion that "We need to protect ourselves from attack", the US Congress granted to George Bush a pardon for his ILLEGAL acts.
This Congress, the Democratic Congress with the new ideas and the vow to stop the illegal acts of this President, cowed to the old rhetoric and made it legal for the Bush Administration to deny the citizens of this country the right to privacy, pardoned the Administration's illegal intrusions into citizens private electronic conversations, and permitted the abrogation of the rule of law, and the right to due process.
And then, in a capping move that added insult to injury, they put Alberto Gonzales, George Bush and one other hand picked Bush flunky in charge of overseeing it. Yes, the same Gonzales who has defied a Congressional subpoena, the same Gonzales who believes it is perfectly ok to defy the Geneva Convention and torture citizens and non-citizens who he, in his infinite wisdom, designates as enemy combatants.The same Gonzales who refused to allow the US Surgeon General from reporting to the American people the results of life saving research on health and sexual practices and the same Gonzales who fired nine Federal prosecutors because they did not follow the party line--the Republican party that is.
Indeed, our new Democratic Congress gave to George Bush their blessing in his bid to overthrow the Constitutional gifts and freedoms for which our forefathers, and all our brave men and women in uniform, fought and died, the right to due process under the law, the right to hold a private conversation beyond the prying eyes of the government, and the requirement that intrusions into these freedoms would only occur in extreme circumstances as determined by a duly appointed and unbiased court order.
drational discusses Gonzales in general and has this to say about her:
So why did Feinstein Support FISA Update, when she knows Gonzales is a Creep, if not a Liar
This one is tougher to answer. Is she afraid of being labelled a "terrorist supporter"? She is in no danger of losing her senate seat....
I wonder if Feinstein's capitulation on this vote reflects knowledge that the real issue is warrantless domestic-domestic surveillance, which is not permitted by this bill.
This does not excuse her capitulation to the administration and the loss of civil liberties her vote enabled, but it does suggest that the issue may not be dead.
In the News:
Dianne Feinstein's excuses for voting for Leslie Southwick:
When Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) decided to vote for Southwick's passage out of committee she cited his qualifications and asserted her belief that while his rulings in the two cases other liberals have objected to may have been misguided, they were not indicative of Southwick's personal beliefs or of his approach to the law.
"I don't believe he's a racist. I don't believe I'm a racist. I believe he made a mistake," she said at a committee meeting. "These were two cases out of the 7,000 in which he participated." But she may have been negotiating the political landscape herself as she diverged from the rest of the Democrats on the committee.
Arthur Hellman, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said Feinstein may have been looking at a larger picture, at the possibility of a Democratic president whose nominees could be blocked by Republican senators. "She may have looked ahead and said I just don't want that future. It's a terrible future," he said.
Feinstein's vote for Senate consideration of Southwick, which drew praise from Specter, may have an effect on the floor vote, which is expected after the Senate reconvenes in September. As a prominent Democrat, her vote may give other Democrats a reason —and political cover— to vote for Southwick's confirmation, Hellman said.
And not only did Feinstein's vote count as an excuse, it angered Democratic Congresswomen, who hinted that they would support a primary challenge to her in 2012:
Feinstein, however, praised Southwick as having received the highest evaluation from the American Bar Asssociation and for taking leave from the appeals court in 2004 to serve with the Judge Advocate’s Corps in Iraq. In a letter to Feinstein, Southwick wrote that he "regret[ted] that the [the court’s] failure to express in more depth our repugnance of the use" of the racial slur "has now led to an impression that we did not approach this case with sufficient gravity and understanding of the impact of this word." Southwick’s letter did not refer to the case of the lesbian mother.
At the Thursday hearing, Feinstein said, "Judge Southwick is a qualified, circumspect person. I don’t believe he’s a racist. ... I believe he made a mistake" in some decisions.
But Feinstein’s allies think she has made more than just a mistake. Homosexuals "are not going to be silent about this, said Betty Dansky of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, according to the Aug. 4 San Francisco Chronicle. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) said she was "deeply disappointed" in Feinstein, while Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said if the senator "continues to relate to this [Congressional Black] caucus in the way she’s been doing ... we’ll have no alternative but to not only share this information, but to fight against her coming back to the United States Senate."
Dianne Feinstein pushes for more cheap labor in this country:
Craig and Feinstein’s Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, better known as the AgJOBS bill, could be a solution. It reforms the H-2A program, which only provides visas to 40,000 of the estimated 9 million undocumented workers. AgJOBS would raise the number of worker visas in agriculture to 500,000 a year. That number still seems piddling, especially when an estimated between 50 percent and 75 percent of all farm workers are in the U.S. illegally.
AgJOBS legislation has been stalled for three years in the Senate where special interests have labeled it as amnesty for illegal immigrants and a destroyer of jobs for American citizens. Under the bill, undocumented farm-workers with a long work history in the U.S. could apply for legal residency and, if successful, begin the process to become an American citizen at the back of a long line of applicants. The accusation that the visa program robs jobs from American workers couldn’t be any further from the truth. Americans tend to shy away from physically demanding, seasonal and migrant jobs.
New Nominee:
Rob Reiner.
Replacing Chiang will be actor and film director Rob Reiner. He has been involved in education including this effort to achieve universal preschool education.
There have been setbacks. Virginia's Republican legislature this year rejected a universal preschool plan by the state's Democratic governor, calling the cost too high. In California, filmmaker Rob Reiner led a high-profile campaign to fund universal preschool last year with higher cigarette taxes. It failed amid concerns that it was a boon for the teacher's union and accusations that a state commission headed by Mr. Reiner improperly used public funds to lobby for the measure. (The state auditor later rejected that allegation, and at the time Mr. Reiner denied any impropriety.)
Preschool isn't mandatory, and states sometimes have trouble predicting how many parents will sign up for programs. One result is a shortage of funding in some states where demand has been greater than expected.
Other Candidates:
Debra Bowen
As one might expect, the Republicans are hysterical over Bowen's decertification of the Diebold voting machines; this Democrat lays out the smackdown:
Shame on Napa County Registrar of Voters John Tuteur. Shame on you for besmirching your own sterling reputation by taking a cheap potshot at Secretary of State Debra Bowen for demonstrating her concern that every California voter’s vote is correctly and accurately recorded and tabulated.
As stated by investigative reporter Brad Friedman (BradBlog.com), Tuteur misrepresented Bowen’s report in this way: While Napa could run an election with one voting machine per polling place, it wouldn’t be easy, Tuteur said. And if the county is required to recount every vote cast on those touch-screen machines by hand, it could take weeks.
We’ve come to expect Tuteur to be willing to say absolutely anything, as he demonstrated last week in Sacramento when he gave a statement at the public hearing held by Bowen concerning her "top-to-bottom review" of voting systems. Said Tuteur at that hearing, "The top-to-bottom review has no relevance to the real world conduct of elections within the framework I have just discussed and has wasted almost $1 million dollars of scarce federal funds. This top-to-bottom review deserves the same admonition that I gave to former Secretary Kevin Shelley after his decertification fiasco. Secretary Bowen, you should know better than to erode the public’s confidence in California’s fair and accurate elections process for crass political purposes. (He turns to face Secretary Bowen) Shame on you."
Jerry Brown
Brown is pushing for a bill that would require environmental impact statements for developments. As expected, the Republicans are clamoring for special rights for corporations:
"Brown has a unique talent for turning every job into an attention magnet," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. "Decades ago, before he was governor, he turned the obscure post of secretary of state into a major player in campaign finance reform. It's not surprising he's joining the battle on global warming."
And perhaps it's not surprising that Republicans have turned the former governor, secretary of state, presidential candidate and Oakland mayor into a political target.
This latest Brown vs. GOP dust-up started with an obscure lawsuit Brown filed earlier this year in San Bernardino County, essentially legally pressuring counties to take into the account the effects of global warming when they consider development plans.
Brown is arguing that to follow the spirit of the law - in this case AB T32, the landmark greenhouse-gas emission law passed last year - the effects of global warming should be part of what's required by the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The act requires studies to determine the impact a proposed development would have on the environment.
Gavin Newsom
On the warpath against gun violence:
Responding to the growing concerns of area residents, Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and District Attorney Kamala Harris came together today at the Cow Palace in South San Francisco to announce plans to introduce legislation that will ban the sale of guns and ammunition at the state-owned Cow Palace.
Assemblyman Leno, who was asked by Mayor Newsom and DA Harris to carry the measure, plans to amend AB 1668 to reflect legislation that former Senator Jackie Speier (D- Hillsborough) introduced in 2004.
"It is unconscionable to allow gun shows at the Cow Palace when our young people are literally gunned down right outside its doors," said Leno. "The residents of these communities are living in a war zone and are pleading to ban these gun shows. It is heartless to ignore voice."
The San Francisco Cow Palace is owned and managed by the State of California’s Department of Agriculture's Division of Fairs and Expositions and is located partly in the City and County of San Francisco and partly in Daly City, County of San Mateo. It is situated directly across from the Sunnydale public housing project and close to communities plagued by violence for years.
Previously, the City and County of San Francisco and the Board of Supervisors of San Mateo County unanimously passed resolutions asking the Legislature to ban gun shows at the Cow Palace.
Gun violence is rising in San Francisco. Over the last three years, 85% of all homicides were committed with firearms, compared to only 60% in 2001. Since January 2004, there have been 142 homicides in the Bayview and Ingleside Districts, 43% of all homicides in the City.
"It is time to stop throwing up our hands and start rolling up our sleeves," said DA Harris. "There are just too many illegal firearms on our city streets."
Last month Mayor Newsom signed a measure, co-authored by District Attorney Harris, that would, among other provisions, prohibit the possession and sale of firearms on city property. San Mateo County has a similar ordinance, but because the state owns the Cow Palace, state legislation is needed to address this local issue.
"Gun shows at the Cow palace threaten our most vulnerable residents," said Newsom. "Last week, when we enacted strict new gun laws, we made it clear that we will not stand by and watch as illegal guns proliferate in our city. Today we are advancing our anti-gun efforts even more with this new legislation."
Alameda, Marin and Los Angeles Counties have effectively banned gun shows on county-owned facilities through county ordinances. The US Supreme Court has upheld these county ordinances.
The text of Newsom's letter to Schwartznegger:
We are writing to respectfully request that you take action to halt further gun shows from being held at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. We believe the Cow Palace gun shows contribute to the flow of illegal firearms and the continuing epidemic of gun violence in San Francisco.
While many weapons vendors are surely law-abiding, tragically, others are not. There is a long anecdotal history of illegal gun sales on side streets surrounding the Cow Palace during the gun shows. It is not a coincidence that the Cow Palace is located directly across the street from the San Francisco neighborhoods that suffer the highest concentration of illegal guns, gun violence and homicide in the City. Public safety demands that we confront this source of illegal firearms in our community.
Working for Universal Healthcare in SF:
On July 2, 2007 Healthy San Francisco began its first phase of implementation in the Chinatown community at Chinatown Public Health Center and North East Medical Services. When the program began, it was projected that enrollment would be 600 - 1,000 by the end of August.
Under the Healthy San Francisco program, uninsured residents who may never have gone to a doctor in San Francisco are now receiving needed primary care. "Our enrollment success proves that Healthy San Francisco is the right direction for our city," said Newsom.
Newsom announced that the next phase of the program implementation will begin mid-September and will include more health centers for enrollment and will continue to target the City’s most vulnerable residents who have incomes at or below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level. Healthy San Francisco will be phased in over an 18-24 month period.
John Garamendi
Lt. Governor John Garamendi issued the following statement regarding National Health Center Week:
"More than six million of our fellow Californians live without health insurance, struggling each day to survive, teetering on the brink of financial ruin. Amongst a very broken health care system, California's Community Clinics and Health Centers are our golden safety nets ensuring affordable health coverage for all Californians -- providing preventative primary care service to more than 3.5 million low-income, uninsured and underinsured patients each and every day throughout our great State.
"This week, as we celebrate the important work of our 700 California clinics and health centers, they are struggling to pay bills and continue operating because of the state budget stalemate. Without the critical Medi-Cal reimbursements they need to survive, our safety nets inch that much closer to closing their doors to California's most vulnerable populations.
"On the occasion of National Health Center Week, I urge all Californians to join me in praising and thanking California's Community Clinics and Health Centers for the hard work they do to keep California healthy."
Bill Lockyer
Pushing for a $5 billion green bond issue that would make California buildings more energy-efficient:
State Treasurer Bill Lockyer on Tuesday proposed a $5 billion bond measure to combat global warming by getting California's largest building owner - the state government - to improve its energy efficiency.
Lockyer said he wants the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign off on a November 2008 ballot measure to retrofit the state's massive building inventory with solar panels and other clean energy technologies.
In a meeting with The Bee Capitol Bureau, Lockyer said the state needs to move "as rapidly as possible" to "green our buildings" if it is serious about its commitment to cut California's greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2020.
Antonio Villiaragarosa releases guide to greener buildings
This is a whole resource list that people can use to help green their communities.
Lynn Woolsey
Woolsey hosted a conference in her district with local leaders to share ideas about what they were doing to stop global warming in their communities.
Top local, state and federal officials gathered Thursday to tackle the hefty issue of global warming at a Marin Civic Center forum attended by more than 100 people.
"It is an issue of a generation," said Marin Supervisor Charles McGlashan, who was joined by Assemblyman Jared Huffman and Rep. Lynn Woolsey at the 90-minute session.
McGlashan said the county is addressing the issue with a push for renewable energy, including a look at a plan that would give officials more control over which fuels and facilities to use. Under the "community choice aggregation" plan, there is potential for lower rates and increased use of renewable energy sources.
The county is also looking at ways to get people out of their cars, the supervisor told the gathering, which included other government officials, environmentalists and the public.
McGlashan observed that Marin is the second-smallest of the nine Bay Area counties, but has the third-largest "ecological footprint," a measurement of the use of resources.
"We like to drive a lot," he said.
Barbara Lee
Lee, under fire for her help of Your Black Muslim Bakery, issued this statement:
"At the request of representatives of Your Black Muslim Bakery, my office provided a letter to a federal agency related to the bankruptcy.
"Like many people, I historically supported the Bakery because it has been an important institution in the community, but it is clear that is no longer the case.
"Knowing what we know now, we would not have provided such support, and we are reviewing our casework intake process in an effort to avoid any such circumstance in the future.
"The casework our office provided was casework that we would provide to ANY constituent who came into our office. Our mission has always been to serve ALL of our constituents equally and without preference. While this instance is an exception, we are in principle uncomfortable with the idea that federal offices should be in the habit of denying casework to anyone."
You can read about the troubles of Yusuf Bey, the head of the bakery, here.
Maxine Waters
Waters calls for a boycott of the Olympic Games in China unless that country takes steps to stop the genocide in Sudan:
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has introduced a congressional resolution urging a United States boycott of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
House Resolution 628, presented Aug. 4, calls on President Bush to take action to boycott the games unless the Chinese government acknowledges and condemns the atrocities against blacks in Darfur, Sudan. It also insists that the world’s most populous country end all military and economic support for the African nation’s Arab-controlled government.
"All Maxine Waters is asking [President Bush] to do is condemn Sudan’s genocide in Darfur," said Tim Nonn, coordinator of Dear Sudan, a Petaluma-based grassroots organization. "We shouldn’t put a price on the lives of human beings. No price is high enough for a human life — whether it’s oil going to China, or slavery in America."
Jerry McNerney
Jerry shows that he has not forgotten the people who elected him to Congress; he has developed the Congress at your Corner series of visits, where he reaches out to people by going to places where they congregate frequently.
Diane Watson
Watson is involved in a nasty fight over the Cherokee Nation's disenfranchisement of some of their Black freedmen; she has introduced a bill in which the government would end federal funding to that nation unless they restored their citizenship. You can read an overview of the battle above.
Henry Waxman
Waxman released 6,000 pages worth of documents pertaining to the West LA VA Hospital. The Department of Veterans' Affairs is violating the terms of their deed; they were supposed to be using the land for only the benefit of Veterans. However, they are seeking to privatize the use of that property; Henry Waxman is introducing a bill that would make that illegal.
Ron Dellums
Dellums, who has gotten off to a rocky start in his first six months, is, like Lee, under fire for supporting Your Black Muslim Bakery:
Last Friday, a federal judge ordered the controversial bakery to liquidate its assets in a so-called Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is what its reps had hoped to avoid when they approached Dellums and his former protégée, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, for assistance. Both offices produced letters talking up the organization. Although staff-generated, like most such letters, they were sent in the politicians' names.