Live Blogging the California Democratic Party Convention
Saturday, April 25th, 2009
CALIFORNIA STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONVENTION
Really really crowded here in Sacramento today. A lot of people and a lot of excitement. The Progressive Caucus is starting right now and it is the largest caucus. I’ll post updates and news on this article below the fold throughout the convention.
Info on all the resolutions will be uploaded later.
DAY 3
Update 6:
Home again in Ojai. Yea! Though now I hear about a gang violence incident and I’m saddened and angered. My niece knew the victim.
I’m going to update all that happened at the end of the convention. -
First, after the propositions that I’ve already covered, we went into the resolutions phase. The final bit of business before we all go home. The way it works is that every odd year there are resolutions that are submitted by the various central committees throughout the state. These can be about anything, all the way up to and including national issues. As the largest state, in terms of population, and the largest economy in the country this is not surprising. Anyway, on even years the convention sets the platform in the same fashion. This being an odd year, it’s resolutions.
This year there were 15 resolutions. Four that dealt with party business, eight that dealt with statewide issues, two that dealt with Federal and State issues and one that dealt with International/Foreign Policy issues. The latter was the resolution that calls for an investigation Judge(now) Jay Bybee and Others for their role in allowing torture as part of “enhanced interrogation”. After having witnessed the process of democracy for the propositions, I was leery of dealing with 15 new items. However, as luck would have it, the process is as follows. First, the issues as a whole are presented for people to “pull” the ones that they wish to debate on the floor. Then the ones that were not “pulled” are voted on together, as one yes or no with no debate. In this way 13 of the 15 resolutions passes, including the one about torture.
That left two. The fun and games began when now former Regional Director of our own 10th District, Bob Handy pulled Resolution SAC 09.18A “A Call for Hearings & Reaffirmation of the Party’s support of a Moratorium on the Death Penalty”.
Bob Handy pulling the resolution.
Now, before you start getting all pissy at Bob, he was pulling the resolution because he wanted to insert different language that actually made it stronger. Bob was for calling for an Abolition of the Death Penalty here in California. Unfortunately, procedures were not followed during the resolution committee meeting earlier in the weekend that the seekers of complete abolition needed to follow in order to change the resolution. As a result, people had a conniption when he brought it up on the floor. The upshot is that there is something called a friendly vs an unfriendly amendment. A friendly amendment is like changing a single word, etc. An unfriendly amendment is when someone tries to fundamentally change the issue at hand. The issue at hand is the word moratorium vs the word abolition. Apparently, and please correct any and all errors I make in this blog, a moratorium would cease the death penalty in California while leaving those currently on death row at risk of death dependent on the Governor, while an abolition means that the death penalty is gone, totally.
Now realize that there is a LARGE invisible clock ticking, not just the one represented by everybody’s wish to go home. As these things come down to the wire and as people become heated, there is the ever increasing possibility that someone, anyone, will call for a quorum vote. As this is all going on, people have either not shown up on a Sunday or they have had to catch a plane or they have simply assumed that it will all work out and they left. This means that there is an ever dwindling number of people and we become vulnerable to a quorum call to see if there are even enough people to hold a vote. If this happens and there isn’t a quorum, the convention ends and the remaining resolutions are finished and not passed.
To make matters worse, at least as far as this delegate is concerned, the lady running the show up in the podium has a very confusing manner of dealing with things.
She was very commanding and competent, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I wasn’t alone. Anyway, it became apparent that we were now in jeopardy of not finishing the business with regard to the death penalty and the other resolution I will go into later. Someone did call for a quorum, but when it was explained to him that the final resolution that I will go into in a minute would likely be tabled also, he took his quorum call back. Well, the abolition folks came up and said that while they would prefer a complete abolition and then they told us all about the “money pit” that our death penalty represents, they said that they did not want this resolution to go down to defeat and said they would support it as is. More confusion emanated from the podium but the convention was having none of it. We basically demanded an up or down vote and exactly two people voted against the resolution. Fun.
Now on to the last resolution: And this one is exciting too. Oil Severance. Therefore be it resolved, that the California Democratic Party believes the State should levy an extraction tax on oil and natural gas to directly fund all three segments of public higher education in California and provide educational opportunities to qualified students, and be it further resolved, that copies of this resolution be sent to all Democratic state legislators asking them to urgently work toward these goals.
Kick Ass! Right!
Well this man didn’t think so and he pulled the resolution. To be honest, I couldn’t really follow his argument. Even Texas has an extraction tax and the tuition to attend the University of Texas is $2,000.00 a year according to one of the delegates who got up in favor of the resolution. Again, pleases feel free to correct me. Anyway, the clock was ticking. Then the dreaded happened. A quorum call…
from this lady. Well, at this point all those remaining in the hall, probably not a quorum were really upset. This picture was taken as Ventura County’s own David Atkins and KK Holland, along with the not insubstantial goading of the whole convention and now former Chair Art Torres, convinced her to rescind her quorum call. The resolution passed by a gargantuan margin. 
Homeward Bound
This was my view as I drove home through Taft on the 33. Some people see oil extraction, but now I see less expensive college tuition for our children. Hell, I might even be willing to talk slant drilling.
OVER AND OUT
Update 1:
Woke up refreshed today, possibly because I didn’t drink a whole lot of red wine last night. Kept it tame despite the free dinner at the Red to Blue Grassroots dinner last night. Today is the big day, at least to me. Of course, this is also the short day. Strange. We’ll be voting on the resolutions for the Party today as well as the official position of the party on the resolutions on the ballot on May 19th. This is kind of the real work of the convention whereas the rest is largely networking and power brokering.
First up is the resolutions. In the vote were we all held up our cards, 58 percent were for a Yes position on 1A. I am extremely ambivalent to this prop. The rules state that 60 percent is required for the Party to have a position. The party will now take no stance with regard to 1A. The party appears to reflect my ambivalence.
Update 2:
Prop 1B will be supported by the party.
Sadly, Prop 1C will be will also be supported by the party. 1C is the prop that will allow future earnings of the Lottery to be securitized so the state can issue bonds and fill the 40+ billion dollar budget hole. It is astonishing to me that after the collapse of the financial sector that we’ve been witnessing; a collapse that happened because of securitized instruments like CDOs and CDSs and our bubble, casino capitalism. It’s strange that the idea to fix the budget shortfall that is a direct result of the misdeeds of Wall St. and our bubble economy will itself cause another bubble and more white collar crime on the part of the financial sector. Really really dumb.
Voting on 1C.
Update 3:
1D Children’s Services did not reach the required 60 percent so the Party will remain neutral on the prop. 1E Mental Health Services Funding is being discussed now.
Update 4:
1E did not get anywhere near 60 percent. The Party position on 1E is now neutral. Prop 1F Elected Officials’ Salaries is being discussed now. As with all the other props, there will be three speakers for and three speakers for then a visual vote and possibly a count if the visual vote looks close.
Update 5:
Here’s my station as I’m blogging all this here on the floor of the convention, literally.
By the way, Prop 1F will be a recommended Yes by the Party. So for those of you looking for an easy reference for the Propositions and the position of the CDP here they are:
Prop 1A State Budget Change = Neutral
Prop 1B Education Funding = Yes
Prop 1C Lottery Modernization(Read License to Steal) = Yes
Prop 1D Children’s Services = Neutral
Prop 1E Mental Health Services Funding = Neutral
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DAY 2
Update 1:
Taking the Sacramento Rapid Transit light rail and my bicycle to the convention today from Fair Oaks where I’m staying. I’l need to get a bike lock on the way, I never lock the bike up in Ojai so I don’t have a lock. The agenda has a lot of speakers, John Garamendi, Bill Lockyer, Jerry Brown, Antonio Villaraigosa, Gavin Newsom, etc. All the heavies are speaking, I better get going.
Update 2:
Boxer was just up. She’s my favorite Senator. The crowd loved her and they really cheered when she said she was NEVER afraid of Dick Cheney.
Update 3:
Jerry Brown ladies and gents. The next governor of the great state of California.
Jerry pointed out that when he went to college here in California, prisons were 3 percent of the budget. Now, as he begins his campaign for Governor, prisons are the same percentage of the budget as the colleges. He also pointed out that when he was governor and passed laws to conserve energy here in California, he was given the derisive nickname “Moonbeam”. Well, in the last 26 years since he was governor our per capita energy usage has remained a flat line. It has not gone up while all the other states have skyrocketed. Jerry for Governor again!
Update 4:
Posting in comments as comp is down. The election for Region 10 Director is happening now. Ojai’s own Sue Broidy is up against Julie Lopez Dad. There’s currently a fight going on about re-opening credentials for voting. This was brought by one Jim Hensley. That will name will have meaning for those that are familiar with the Ventura county dems. Suffice to say he is against Sue. Very contentious.
Sue speaking to the Region 10 Caucus
SUE WINS! 88 to 33
The new Region 10 Director
Update 5:
Nancy Pelosi just finished speaking. She spoke about all the great Democrats from California that are playing a role in the Obama Administration and the Congress. She said that Universal quality health care would be a reality this year. She did not utter the words “single payer”. At one point during her speech, someone shouted “Prosecute Bush”. Unfortunately the call was not compounded, but Pelosi heard it and she faltered ever so slightly. My impression is that the forces for real progressive change are building. Professional politicians like Nancy Pelosi are extremely sensitive to shifts in power. It is their number one defining sense. The first female Speaker of the House and the first Californian Speaker of the House has the power of peoples House, the Senate and the Executive behind her. The Democrats hold the majority. All she needs is some gentle pressure from us.
Update 6:
The big election for the Chair, Vice Chair, and Controller. Since I’m writing this after the fact, I can tell you that John Burton won for chair, Alex Rooker for vice chair and Hilary Crosby for controller of the party. No real surprise on the first two, but the controller is a bit of a change up in the progressive direction.
My vote accomplished. The new chair John Burton is an accomplished political operator and an asset to the state party despite his recalcitrance toward technology. I’m going out on a limb here as I’ve been told that he has a bit of a reputation for being vindictive, but I was not all the impressed with the way he used the young democrats on the stage when he was being officially nominated for the Chair. The young dems were all up on the stage and they were all enthusiastic holding his sign and cheering and he didn’t really acknowledge then. I heard a prominent Ventura Democrat say that it looked to him/her like John was just using the young dems as a prop. All that said, I still support John Burton for the good of the party. I voted in what seemed to me a more progressive direction more to send a message than to actually get a different result. He is an exceptionally good operator and the only thing we need to ensure is that we seriously cultivate the grassroots and that will take copious amounts of technology. In short, please buy a computer John. The young Dems can help you with the setup/install, etc.
Update 7:
After the voting and that line, we need a break. Our trip to the old Governor’s mansion and subsequent tour put on by Jerry Brown for Governor was a lot of fun.
Check that TV.
Gotta love claw foot tubs.
Update 7:
.
Sandra Kinsler and Howard Dean
I was lucky enough to get to go to the Red to Blue Grassroots dinner because Brian and Sandra had an extra ticket. Even better, the ticket they had was for a vegetarian which I happen to be. During this convention it has continually struck me that the vast majority of the energy in the state party is on the progressive side. This dinner essentially confirmed this impression. This dinner had all of the people who are working to turn red areas of our state blue. The real movers and shakers, yuck I hate that phrase, were at this dinner including Howard Dean who was the keynote speaker.
Sue Broidy, the new Region 10 Director and prominent progressive mover and shaker, there I go again, speaking at the dinner.
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Day 1
Update 1:
The Progressive Caucus is changing its bylaws and there is a lot of talk about the new changes. The most controversial change is the proposed change in the Chair. Currently there are North and a South Co-Chairs. The new bylaws are trying to make just one Chairperson so that there are no longer any geological divisions in the caucus so it can better throw its weight around. Considering that this is the largest caucus in the state party, it makes sense. They are about to vote on an amendment about the combining of Sec/Tres to further streamline the AT LARGE board members. An amendment has been made to keep the the Sec and Tres as two different board positions.
Update 2:
The amendment has passes so there will be one chair and two vice chairs a Sec AND a Treas. The new bylaws are now going to the floor for a vote. They are counting the vote on the new bylaws with the amendment now.
Update 3:
The bylaws have passed with the amendment. Now the meeting can start, but we only have 26 min.left.
Update 4:
AG Jerry Brown put in an appearance, walking through. Is he our next Governor? A lot of good things were placed into the overall party’s platform. Let me hear single payer.
Update
5: This is a really good caucus and the best part of the Democratic
Party, by far. They are flexing their muscles and starting to seriously
effect legislation in our state. I’m signing up to be a liaison for the
caucus in our Assembly District. Battery dying, PEACE OUT.
