Right now in CA petitions are being circulated for intiatives that will be placed on a November special election. This election will cost $70 million dollars to hold, and if the intiatives pass, even more money will be spent at a time our budget is busted.
I am outraged as my local high school district is facing a $10 million shortfall, has issued 400 layoff notices to teachers and is considering cutting one period from the school day. But there is $70 million to push the “special interests” of the Fabricators agenda?
If you live in CA PLEASE get involved to help us inform the public about these intiatives, help us to ask the voters of this state NOT to sign these petitions.
How can you help? Read below.
More….
First, if you are not aware of what these petitions are asking for, here is a quick overview:
Redistricting: would be done now, using 2000 census information by a panel of Judges (I actually support taking the redistricting away from the Legislature, however I do NOT support doing it now using 5 almost 6 year old information). Redistricting would also be done again in 2010, many people would find their districts for Congress and state legislatures being changed twice within 4 years.
Pensions: would take away state funded pensions from public employees and replace it with 401k’s. Firefighter and police who are killed on the job would have no pension to leave their families. Even the Republican head of the State college system has come out against this bill as it would make it that much harder to find teachers at the college level. This bill would also cost local school districts huge amounts of money they don’t have.
Merit Pay for Teachers: bad bill all around. A teacher has no control over what time a child goes to bed, if the child eats breakfast, if the child has the help of parents.
Union Dues: would require unions to get an ok EACH YEAR from their membership to spend dues on political issues. This would impact the ability of Unions to effectively counter the MILLLIONS that corporations put into political campaigns.
What can you do? Go to http://www.californiafordemocracy.com/?q=savecalifornia
and download the flyers asking people NOT to sign these petitions. If you see someone that is circulating the petitions call 1-206-350-7233 to report the location so we can respond with a person to hand out flyers asking people NOT to sign.
Talk to your neighbors, friends and family. Ask them NOT to sign these petitions. Find out when local groups will be working to distribute flyers in your area asking people NOT to sign.
These initiatives are going after the very people who educate us, who protect us, who care for when we are sick. The Fabricator calls these groups “special interests” and he is right, only he leaves out that the “special interest” these groups represent is every person in California who has ever had a child educated in public schoools, had to call the police or firedepartment or who has been in the hospital for any reason.
Please get involved today, don’t WAIT. Keep flyers in your car and counter the circulators as you find them. Keep checking the website I posted for events in your area, don’t let the Fabricator turn our state over to the corporate interests that have given him millions of dollars.
The Fabricator made a promise to the teachers of this state that he would fully fund education if they took less money last year. They worked with him in good faith, and this year he has cut the funding, he has no intention of keeping his word on anything.
We can slow down this process and send the Fabricator a message “from the people” that his corporate fundraising is NOT in our interest, that his policies are harmful to our state, and that we won’t take it anymore.