Author: Alliance for a Better California

Originally posted on the BetterCA blog.

The California Recovery Team (CRT) has been violating the law by sending out campaign mail that illegally uses discounted non-profit postage and displays a fraudulent union bug.  Both actions are violations of federal law.  We have requested an investigation by the USPS and announced possible legal action unless they cease their activities.

From our attorney Lance Olson:

CRT’s use of a non-profit permit to get cut-rate discounts on their blatantly political mailing is outrageous.  This permit was either unlawfully issued or is being unlawfully used.  Only organizations that satisfy special standards and have received official authorization from the USPS may mail items using the Nonprofit Standard Mail rate.

By misusing the nonprofit mail permit, the governor’s campaign saved about seven cents per piece mailed.  A single small mailing of one million pieces would have saved $68,000, while a larger six million piece mailing would have saved $408,000.  According to the California Secretary of State, there are currently 15,839,327 registered voters in California.

A fake union bug on the Proposition 75 mailer identifies the piece as being printed by a Allied union shop in Los Angeles (“9”), but no such printer exists.

Howard Dudley, president of Communication Workers of America Local 14904, representing printers and mailers in Southern California, and delegate to the Southern California Allied Printing Trades Council says:

“Union label #9, which Governor Schwarzenegger put on his mailer, is not authorized by the Southern California Allied Printing Trades Council. The unauthorized use of this union label not only raises the question of legitimacy about the governor’s mailer but further raises questions of violation of federal trademark laws.

This is a major mistake by the Schwarzenegger campaign and it further underscores their attempts to win at any cost and portray themselves as friendly to union members.  Clearly, the need to save money outweighed any ethical or legal concerns.

Click images below for more detail, or see the full mailer here

Arnold’s Off-road Adventure: New Flash Video

Everybody loves a good flash video.  This one features Arnold in a Hummer, the California Golden Bear and a nice big cliff.  Let’s just say the bear fares better than the yellow Reform 1.  Watch, laugh, smile and pass it on to your friends, because every Monday needs at least one bright spot.

(cross-posted on dailykos, MyLeftWing, Calitics and MyDD)
For more campaign news:

Gov. Dean was in the house speaking out on the propositions yesterday, riling up 150 grassroots activists.

There is a bit of a scandal concerning some emails the Arnold campaign sent out, apparently illegally to 90,000 teachers.

If you missed it Friday, we have a the “Top 10 Reasons Disco Died, Just Like the Governor’s Initiatives Will.

And if you haven’t checked out our Millionaires for Prop. 75 site, you should.  Get some perspective on who exactly if funding the fight to silence union member’s voices.

One more for ya, ’cause we know you love watching videos.  You can always watch our ads on our television page, but we have added a new one to put up all of the footage and ads that never made it to the air titled “Cutting Room”.

(cross posted everywhere)

Here is your chance to stop Schwarzenegger and his true lies.  Earlier today, the Governor’s campaign team began airing a new 15-second advertisement that says Prop 76 “will increase funding available to school districts.”

That claim is bogus: according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office, Prop 76 will slash education funding by $4 billion – and gives the Governor even more power to starve our schools of funding during a “budget emergency.” The California Budget Project came to the same conclusion yesterday.
This isn’t censorship. The Federal Communications Act demands that the truth be told in TV advertisements.

That’s why the Alliance for a Better California has already sent letters to more than 40 stations in California demanding that they take the ad off the air.

In the next 24 hours, TV stations will decide whether to act on our demand that the ad be modified or retracted. We need your help to demand that the stations force the Governor to be honest with California voters about the destructive impact of Prop 76 on our schools.

Call or email RIGHT NOW

Sacramento — KCRA
Elliott Troshinsky
916-325-3206
etroshinsky@hearst.com

Fresno — KFSN
Charles Pfaff
559-255-2600
cpfaff@kmph.com

San Diego — KUSI
Michael McKinnon
858-505-5193
mmckinnon@kusi.com

Los Angeles — KABC
Arnold Kleiner
818-863-7707
Arnie.kleiner@abc.com

San Francisco — Comcast
Mark Clark
415-863-8500
Mark_clark@cable.comcast.com

Santa Barbara — KEYT
Robert Grissom
805-882-3920
keytgm@aol.com

You can watch the ad here.  For more information on this false ad see our press release.

P.S. The spokesperson in the ad is Sandra McBrayer. McBrayer was named “Teacher of the Year” more than a decade ago. According to a San Diego Union Tribune article (6/19/05), she earns about $100,000 a year and has lobbied in Sacramento for legislation on after-school programs.

(crossposted at dailykos, MyLeftWing and Calitics)

We have been telling you for weeks now that this fight not only is extremely important, but we have a damn good chance of losing.  You want proof?  Well you got it.  SUSA just released their first poll of likely voters on the initiative fight and the numbers are horrible.
Proposition 73:

Parental notification for abortions.

SUSA: Yes 59% No 39% Undecided 2%

(note: the Alliance is not working on this issue)

Proposition 74

The “Blame New Teachers Act” would raise from two year to five years the length of time until teachers are able to gain basic job protections.  This gives them protection against at will firing and entitles them to a hearing before dismissal.  There is no research that shows increasing the probationary period will do anything to improve teacher quality.  Instead,  is a deliberate attack against the  teachers in retribution for fights over maintaining education funding and backing other progressive causes. For a taste of the real ageda of the people behind proposition 74, note the “McCarthy clause”  – included in the grounds for dismissal is “Knowing membership by the employee in the Communist Party.”

What’s at stake: The ability to attract new teachers at a time when baby boomers are retiring and the population of California continues to grow.  It is estimated that California will have to hire 100,000 new teachers in the next decade.

SUSA: Yes 55% No 44% Undecided 2%

Proposition 75:

The “Paycheck Deception Act” would require public employee unions to receive written permission every single year from their members authorizing using their dues money for political activities.  It unfairly targets teachers, nurses, firefighters, police and other public employees with restrictions that don’t apply to other groups or corporations, which regularly spend shareholder money on politics without permission.  Prop. 75 is a deliberate attack on public employees’ ability to oppose the Governor’s agenda, including cutes to education and health care.  

Their tactics have been to create a “phenomenon of anger” towards the unions.  The major sponsor Lew Ulher is an unabashed McCarthyite, former leader of the right-wing extremist John Birch Society and current head of the National Tax Limitation Committee.

What’s at stake: Funding for progressives and their causes.  This initiative would eliminate a major source of funding for traditionally Democratic goals like education funding, benefits for those who die in the line of duty, retirement benefits and heath care.  With union money out of the picture, Norquist inspired Republicans will have a much easier time getting their extremist agenda passed.  If this thing is approved, expect to see it popping up in other states across the country.

SUSA: Yes 60% No 37% Undecided 3%

Proposition 76

The “Cuts School Funding Act” would devastate our public schools and other vital services, cutting school funding by over $4 billion every year – $600 per student, leading to more overcrowded classrooms, teacher layoffs, and fewer textbooks and classroom materials. Our schools lost two billion dollars when Governor Schwarzenegger broke his promise to repay the money he took from education, and if this initiative passes, the Governor will never have to repay that money to our schools. It also overturns the voter-approved Proposition 98, eliminating the minimum funding guarantee for education. It also cuts funding for local government — cutting police and firefighters, as well as local health care services that protect children and the elderly. This initiative hurts our most vulnerable populations including the sick, the elderly and the young.

What’s at stake: All of the above, plus under this initiative Governor could declare a “fiscal emergency” and cut funding for vital services like education, health care, fire and police without approval from anyone else.

SUSA: Yes 58% No 38% Undecided 6%

Proposition 77

Proposition 77, unlike Ohio is a complicated, ineffectual attempt to reform the redistricting process and is opposed by respected government reformers and a broad coalition of citizens’ groups.  It hands over the redistricting reins to a panel of three retired judges who are picked by legislators.  The judges are explicitly prohibited from including any consideration of “communities of interest” while redistricting. This essentially eliminates any future challenges by community and minority groups seeking to retain voting power for their communities.  There is a right way to create an independent redistrict method and a wrong one.  Just because they call it reform does not make it so.

What’s at stake: Potential mid-decade redistricting.  The initiative gives the go-ahead to immediately create new maps with data that is 5 years old.  The new maps would be enforced then sent back to the voters for approval.  “If voters reject redistricting plans, the entire process starts over – new judges, new plans, more elections, and more political bickering – wasting millions of tax dollars.  This could go on indefinitely… with election after election… until voters finally approve… all at taxpayer expense.”

SUSA: Yes 59% No 36% Undecided 6%

————————————————–

Look, this poll is an outlier from other numbers we have seen.  But this is a big wakeup call to those who have not been paying attention to this race.  Enormously important issues are at stake and we could seriously lose.  These initiatives will have repercussions for decades if passed and tactics used here are sure to be replicated across the country.

Stop them now.  Join the Alliance for a Better California and help us defeat Arnold and his cronies.

Here is how you can help

Come over to the BetterCA community to learn more about the issues and join the discussion.  The trolls have found us so there is always a battle going on.  You can watch our ads, comment in the discussion forum, and print out some flyers.

Check out our Netroots page for more ideas on how to get involved.

Sound the alarm, spread the word.  We need to get a buzz going about this battle.  Post here, recommend our diaries and create your own.  Blog on your own site, email your friends and family.

If you are in California get in touch with your local Alliance headquarters, which are located all over the state.  We are walking on the weekends, calling most nights and they are always looking for more volunteers.  Start thinking ahead about setting time aside for election weekend.  We are going to need thousands of volunteers if we are going to win.

NorCal Alliance HQs

SoCal Alliance HQs

LACounty Alliance HQs

(cross posted everywhere)

For those fed up with the unfairly high cost of prescription drugs, Proposition 79 provides a simple solution: Proposition 79  will use the purchasing power of the state of California to negotiate deep, enforceable discounts on prescription drugs for millions of Californians.

The drug companies have raised a record-breaking $80 million dollars to run false and misleading ads around the state; They also have sponsored a sham counter-measure, Prop 78, that looks similar but lacks enforcement–it allows the drug companies to decide which drugs get discounted, which get excluded, what levels the discounts are set, whether the drug companies participate at all, and if enough don’t, the program ends.

In order to fight against the most expensive ballot campaign in the history of the nation–financed by the ultimate special interest, the drug companies, the Proposition 79 knows it needs to do something different.  Something never done in the history of ballot campaigns.
Instead of having Proposition 79 fought on behalf of consumers, Proposition 79 will be fought by consumers, those fed up by the drug companies’ unfair prices. The consumer, health, senior, and community groups behind Proposition 79 are turning the campaign over to the people. We’ll let consumers, on the Internet, design and choose the campaign TV ads for this campaign.

The drug companies are notorious for their false and misleading advertising and marketing tactics, for their products (with the disclaimers about all those side effects!), and in this campaign. Numerous newspapers, from the Sacramento Bee to the Orange County Register, have cited their ads as false and misleading.

We don’t need to do that. All we need to do is simply tell voters the differences between the measures (78 lack enforcement, 79 has it), who supports which measure (the drug companies versus consumer groups), and who benefits (Prop 79 provides deeper discounts to twice as many Californians).

As an example, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has produced one ad that the Yes on 79 Campaign is beginning to air. But we are looking to YOU to help us design and pick an ad that we can use in the final weeks of the campaign.

The Alliance for a Better California, with the Yes on 79 campaign, will host this new contest, “No Disclaimer Needed Ad Contest: Better Ads for Cheaper Drugs.” But the best way to confront the drug companies is to participate and to enter!

Here’s how it works:

1. Make your own ad that tells Californians about the differences between the consumer groups Proposition 79, and the drug companies’ sham Proposition 78.  The ad can be video, animation, text and images, or even simple text and audio.  Be creative. The only restrictions are that the ad must be on message, be 30 seconds or less in length, and that you have the legal rights or license to use to all content you include.
2. Between now, and  11:59 P.M. October 16<sup>th</sup&gt 2005, submit your ad in MPEG or Apple Quicktime format to BetterCA.com’s contest site. Include your contact information – and let us know how you would like to be identified on the site (full name, first initial last name, first name last initial, nickname, etc.).  
3. All the submitted ads, except those that are judged to be inappropriate by the administrators, will be made available for viewing on the Alliance for a Better California’s website.
4. Beginning at 12:01 A.M. on Monday, October 17<sup>th</sup&gt 2005, BetterCA.com community members will judge the submitted content based on the clarity of message, the originality and creativity, and most importantly the overall quality and impact of the ad. Community judging will end at 11:59 PM, Tuesday, October 18<sup>th</sup&gt 2005.
5. At the close of community judging, the site administrators will tabulate the results from the community, and select the top 5 entries. These will be posted and announced as “Community Favorites.”
6. A panel of media experts, who will again rate the entries on clarity, creativity, quality and impact, will judge the community favorites.  The entry with the highest average rating from our panel of media experts, will be declared the overall winner. The winner will be announced on or about  Wednesday, October 19<sup>th</sup&gt, and will be featured on BetterCA.com. The winning ad may even be broadcast all over California.

You can help us defeat the big drug companies, and get cheaper prescription drugs more Californians can count on. submit your ad today, or contribute to help air the winning ad.

Please see the official rules.

Help us spread the word, link back to this post or the main contest page on BetterCA.

You know you are having an effect on the media when the other side tries to keep them from even talking to you.  The following report comes from one of our campaign staffers down south.

The cloudy weather hovering over Irvine yesterday morning paled in comparison to the fog that rolled in as the Schwarzenegger campaign orchestrated yet another staged and scripted “town hall” meeting.

Apparently tired of sharing the spotlight with those pesky nurses, teachers and firefighters who oppose the Governor’s damaging agenda, the campaign handlers today attempted to stop TV cameras from filming the opposition out in front of the Hyatt Regency Irvine.

With security blocking off the main driveway where protestors stood, TV crews were shuttled to the back of the hotel and were initially told they could not film protestors and return to the event.

Perhaps the Governor’s Hollywood version of a “town hall,” doesn’t include real people actually sharing their opinions. As Schwarzenegger’s true colors continue to shine through, his campaign promises ring even more hollow…

“…There is no such thing as democracy in the dark,” Schwarzenegger told the San Jose Mercury News in September of 2003.

“I will open up the windows and doors of government,” he said on the campaign trail.
But apparently those doors are only open to high-dollar campaign contributors and those who will read the Governor’s campaign cue cards on command…

Business as usual for the governor, as his approval ratings go down in a heap with his promises.

Campaign Update

Netroots

From our new Netroots page:

You can help the Alliance for a Better California defeat Arnold’s nasty little November election from the comfort of your desk, couch, coffee house, or where ever you access the net. We’re reaching out to the netroots to help build a successful campaign to quash Schwarzenegger’s plan, and bring real reform to California. Sure, the word netroots gets bandied about an awful lot these day – but here at the Alliance, we truly are dedicated to building an online grassroots community dedicated to real change in California – and to the defeat of Arnold’s special interests election.

• We’ve enlisted online advocacy whiz Joe Trippi – the dean of the Dean Internet campaign – to help us develop a community that works, and that speaks to people like you- who want to be involved on their own terms.
• We’ve brought two full time bloggers on board to maintain the site, and to bring you fresh content and insight every day.
• We’re listening to your suggestions. How can we improve BetterCA.com? How can we get you more involved? You can directly contact either of our bloggers – myself, Julia Rosen, and Drew Tappan – with your suggestions, tips, even whispered rumors you think might be of interest to the campaign, or the website.

Read more on our Netroots page, including html buttons and other ways to get more involved.

New Ads

We went live with new ads today on Proposition 75.  As always you can watch the ads on our television page.

New Microsite

In conjunction with the ad launch we went live with a new site, www.MillionairesforProp75.com, a spoof designed to inform Californians of the real force behind the governor’s special election – his multimillionaire special interest backers and their national anti-tax agenda.

As always, the door is open over at BetterCA, come join our community discussing the special election.  43 days and counting.

(cross posted at dkos, MyLeftWing and Calitics)

(crossposted on the BetterCA blog, My Left Wing and Calitics)

The San Fransico Chronicle has obtained an email sent to tech industry leaders who are joining Arnold on a trip to China. In that message they are wink wink, nudge nudge told not to reimburse the organization sponsoring the trip, but pay for their own flights and costs, AND drop $50k in the coffers of the California State Protocol Foundation, which incidentally doesn’t have report contributions.  They are intentionally laundering money that pays for the Governor’s trips overseas, and Arnold’s people say: “Sorry we can’t control what our friends do.”

High-tech leaders who may accompany Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a November visit to China are being encouraged to avoid paying directly for the trip and instead make hefty donations to a nonprofit committee supporting the governor because the “contributions are not required to be reported,” according to an e-mail obtained by The Chronicle.

The arrogance is really quite astounding:

“The money that comes in can be used for anything. … It can be used for foreign trips,” Dicke [CFO for the Protocol Foundation] said. “The donors expect confidentiality. … We’re not required to disclose them, so we don’t.”

They are right; the letter of the law says that big business can contribute unlimited amounts of funds to organizations that then pay for the Governor to fly around the world.  But that is a far cry from the claims of independence from special interest groups like the Protocol Foundation that the Governor has tried to build his reputation on and far from what has been done in the past.  

Why do these donors expect confidentiality?  What do they have to hide from?  Why would they not want the public to know they are funneling money to the Governor?  Finally, why do they expect it when Gray Davis’s supporters did not?

Garry South, who was senior adviser to former Gov. Gray Davis, confirmed that Schwarzenegger’s Democratic predecessor also had a “host committee” — but he noted there was a key difference.

“Under Gov. Davis, a voluntary decision was made to report who gave money to that host committee,” South said. “We decided it was not worth shielding these people from exposure — that we had to release and report it.”

South, now an adviser to Controller Steve Westly, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said the TechNet’s solicitation crossed the line because it was “literally out there telling companies to launder contributions.”

“This is the pattern and practice of this administration — to try and hide as much of the money as you can,” he said.

The plethora of pro-buisness groups that have sprung up since the Schwarzenegger administration took office is another example of the message I noted earlier: “Say one thing, do another.”  It is up to you to send a message in return: “This is unacceptable and we will reject you and your big business supporters.”

Arnold is preparing to announce on Friday that he is running for re-election…big surprise there. What is interesting is the timing of the announcement and the reasoning for the change in plans.

(cross posted at the BetterCA blog, My Left Wing and Calitics)
SignOnSanDiego.com:

The timing is seen as a move to generate excitement among Republican activists heading to the California Republican Party convention, which convenes Friday in Anaheim.

The politically coy governor has long signaled that he probably would not disclose his political future, or even give it much thought, until after the special election.

He was apparently persuaded to move up his timetable by business supporters who have given a lukewarm reception to Schwarzenegger’s special election, but desperately want a Republican governor to fend off what they regard as bills hostile to business passed by a heavily Democratic Legislature. [emphasis mine]

The governor has to resort to making an early announcement because even the buisness interests that his special election is designed to benefit aren’t jumping out of their seats to help.  

Given Schwarzenegger’s low poll numbers, this early announcement will have little effect on undecided voters. Rather, as the article mentions, it is intended to rally that 34% who somehow believe he’s doing a good job.  His announcement won’t be an offensive move, but rather a defensive attempt to shore up the tiny bit of popular support he still has left.

(cross posted at My Left Wing, Calitics and the BetterCA blog

Today, the Governor launched the campaign in support of his wildly unpopular special interests election. But instead of taking his message to directly to the people, he took a page from the president’s playbook and sequestered himself in a warehouse full of handpicked supporters, far away from the chanting crowds outside.
PE.com:

Schwarzenegger touted his three ballot initiatives, Props. 74, 76 and 77, before an invited audience of politicians, businesspersons and employees of K&N Engineering, Inc., an air-filter company that hosted the event in a warehouse.

The article has a great shot of some protestors outside with “No on 75” signs.  I wonder if he managed to walk in on red carpet this time, instead of the warehouse equivalent of the playground?

(cross posted on My Left Wing and BetterCA.com)

Despite the assertions of it’s backers, Prop. 75 is designed only to weaken the political power of public employees and increase the political power of big business special interests.  Time, and time again the author of Prop. 75, Lew Uhler, has shown shocking frankness in discussing his intentions and made clear that they have nothing to do with protecting worker’s rights.
San Francisco Chronicle, 6/8/05:

“This time we’re focusing exclusively on public employee unions.”

San Francisco Chronicle, 1/12/05:

Uhler said the anti-union theme this year is in part a response to what he characterized as the increased political activity of unions such as the one representing state prison guards, which is annually one of the biggest givers to California politicians.

Sacramento Bee, 3/20/05

“To the extent that the political activities of unions might be diminished, then their demands for the kinds of working conditions, pensions, et cetera, that they are now getting will be mollified,” Uhler said. “And I think that will be a boon to our control over governmental activities in our state.” [emphasis mine]

Uhler belives that slicing off the private-sector unions turns the matter into a more purely focused taxpayer issue.

“After all, you and I pay their salaries, and you and I are accomplices in the withholding of funds for political purposes,” he said.

Proposition 75 is not about the rights of workers, it is not about protecting our cities, or healing our citizens. It is about consolidating power to futher a right-wing fiscal policy.  Uhler’s constiuents are not our firefighters and nurses but right-wing ideologues like Grover Norquist, Newt Gingrich, and Robert Bork.  Prop 75 is about curbing the power of advocate groups to prevent cuts to vital services, and enable more tax breaks for the wealthy.  If teachers, nurses, firefighters, and police are unfairly restricted by Prop. 75, and their voices are silenced, who will fight for the issues that matter to California?

In addition to pushing the deceptive Prop. 75, Uhler runs the National Tax Limitation Committee (NTLC), and organizattion whose primary agenda is the repeal of the federal estate tax.

Andy Furillo of the Sacramento Bee paints a vivid picture of his ideology:

He is an unapologetic McCarthyite and a former member of the John Birch Society whose hard-right ideology has taken him to the fringes of American conservatism.

[snip]

At Yale in the early 1950s, one of Uhler’s closest associates was author and journalist M. Stanton Evans. According to Uhler, Evans is now finishing up a book that “I think has confirmed that Joe McCarthy was on target” in exposing the alleged Communist infiltration of American government and society.

Not only does he think that McCarthy was a swell guy, but he also has a history of adulterating the truth as Reagan’s lackey.  In the late 70’s he was Reagan’s hatchet man in their “fight to shut down California Rural Legal Assistance, the program best known for helping farmworkers and other poor people seek legal redress.”

From the same article:

A panel of retired judges appointed by the Nixon administration investigated the charges and found that the Uhler report “in many instances … misrepresented the facts” and that the allegations against CRLA were “totally irresponsible.”
Cruz Reynoso, the former state Supreme Court justice and a law school classmate of Uhler’s at Boalt Hall, was in charge of CRLA at the time of the controversy.
“I used to tell people, if half of what they said in the report was true, we should all be in prison for the rest of our lives,” said Reynoso, who is now a law professor at the University of California, Davis. “So I have to conclude that these were folks, including Lew at that time, for whom the ends justified the means.”

25 years later Ulher is up to the same old tricks: trying to dismantle organizations that represent ordinary working Californians in order to silence their political voice.  This time, we know him. This time we have the power to stop him.

[The Alliance for a Better California is a coalition of nearly 2.5 million teachers, firefighters, nurses, police officers, health care workers and average, every day people who are devoting our careers to helping others. We stand united in opposing the damaging agenda that Governor Schwarzenegger is advancing in his November 8th Special Election, and have joined together to defeat the measures he and his allies have placed on the ballot.]