Topic: Immigration Reform
When: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 – 6:15 PM (networking) / 6:45 PM (program)
Guest Speaker: Maricela Morales
Where:  (click on address below for map)
The Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship,
3327 Old Conejo Rd. Newbury Park   (Wendy Dr. 101 Fwy Exit)   

Comprehensive immigration reform: What do the House and Senate bills look like? What are their chances of passage? What can we do to make it happen?

Maricela Morales is a founding staff member of CAUSE (founded in 2001) and is presently its Deputy Executive Director. CAUSE is a Ventura County based nonprofit organization serving the six-county central coast region through Santa Cruz County, with the mission to build grassroots power for social, economic and environmental justice. Maricela has served on the Port Hueneme City Council, 2002-2010, and as mayor of the city of Port Hueneme in 2007.

For further information, please contact either RL Miller or John Griffin, co-presidents: president@conejodemocrats.com or 805.338.6036

Members and visitors welcome

NOTE:  All meetings are on the second Wednesday of the month, at the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, at the address above.

Topic: Sustaining the Planet
When: Wednesday, May 8, 2013 -
6:15 PM (networking) / 6:45 PM (Panel)
Guest Speaker: Kirk Prather
Where:  (click on address below for map)
The Conejo Valley Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship,
3327 Old Conejo Rd. Newbury Park
(Wendy Dr. 101 Fwy Exit)

Find out how all of us can do more to help achieve planet sustainability than we realize without onerous sacrifice.  This presentation will review the sustainability challenge, some of the great progress that has been accomplished already and the many opportunities we have to move ourselves and our society towards sustainability.

Kirk Prather is a semi-retired energy efficiency and manufacturing efficiency practitioner. He recently retired as a Senior Consultant at CMTC (California Manufacturing Technology Consulting), a non-profit consulting firm.

Members and visitors welcome

NOTE:  The May meeting (and all meetings afterward) will be on the second Wednesday of the month, at the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, at the address above.

Spring Time in Ventura County

Celebrate with
Congresswoman Julia Brownley
State Senator Fran Pavley
State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson
State Assemblyman Das Williams 
City and County Elected Officials
and more…

Saturday, May 4, 2013 • 11am- 2pm

Enjoy fabulous food and mellow music in a springlike garden setting at 
The Secret Garden Restaurant
255 E High St.  Moorpark, CA 93021
www.thesecretgardenrestaurant.com
Annual Spring Fundraiser
Silent and Live Auctions & Opportunity Drawing

TO BUY TICKETS
At VCDP web site/actblue link
https://secure.actblue.com/page/vcdccspringfling2013
Donations: $40 General / $30 Students
At the door: $55.00
Buy a Table of 10 for $35 per ticket ($350)

Or please  leave name / number of tickets on message line:
805-CAL-DEMS (225-3367).
Or email Lori DeMersseman with ticket orders/questions at DSVCdems@gmail.com.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Spring Fling
Harbor Cruise Night
Kennedy Legacy Dinner
Or Choose one event at the rates below:

Back Cover = $1000, Full Color
Includes 6 Tickets, 5”wide x 8”high
Inside Back Cover = $750, Full Color
Includes 4 Tickets, 5”wide x 8”high
Inside Front Cover = $750, Full Color
Includes 4 Tickets, 5”wide x 8”high
Full Page = $300, Black & White
5”wide x 8”high
Half Page = $150, Black & White
5”wide x 3.875”high
Quarter Page = $75, Black & White
2.375”wide x 3.875”high
Business Card = $50, Black & White ,
3.5”wide x 2”high

Include my ad in all 3 event programs for a 15% Discount

Contact Colleen Graven regarding your Sponsorship and Artwork
805-338-5582
Email prepared art to:
cre8service@gmail.com

Please send high resolution jpeg or pdf files prepared to the specs above.
If you need help with art call Colleen
805-338-5582

Make checks payable to:
The Ventura County Democratic Central Committee
Checks can be sent to:
VCDCC, P.O. Box 1587, Camarillo, CA 93011

Order Tickets at:
https://secure.actblue.com/page/vcdccspringfling2013
Or please  leave name / number of tickets on message line:
805-CAL-DEMS (225-3367).
Or email Lori DeMersseman with ticket orders/questions at DSVCdems@gmail.com.

The resolution supports CAUSE, the Coastal Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, based in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and its ongoing efforts toward fair and comprehensive immigration reform. The motion followed a presentation by Maricela Morales, Deputy Executive Director of CAUSE, on the urgency of the issue.

Ruth Maria Capelle, elected member of the VCDCC from the 5th district, who made the resolution, derived her major points from a four-page summary provided by CAUSE. This document is based on substantive scholarly research on the undocumented immigrant community of which at least 71,000 are in Ventura County and approximately 12 million in the United States. Of particular importance is the recognition of effective coalition building in order to bring about positive change – an end to the criminalization of the undocumented, the separation of immigrant families, and the guarantee to a path to citizenship.

RESOLUTION
in support of FAIR AND COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

WHEREAS the existing US immigration system has been broken for decades, was not appropriately addressed in the 1986 Immigration Reform Act or by the post-2001 reforms of the U.S. Immigration Service and Naturalization (now ICE), and no U.S. policy has been developed to alleviate the root causes of the massively increasing influx of undocumented immigrants since the 1990’s,

WHEREAS the militarization of the U.S. border and massive deportations have utterly failed to provide a long-term solution to the push-and-pull factors which bring immigrants across our borders and resulted in the death of thousands and separation of families,

WHEREAS the current Obama Administration has placed fair and comprehensive Immigration Reform on the top of its agenda and CAUSE, the Coastal Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, based in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, has done a substantive analysis of present policies and their effect on immigration,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Ventura County Democratic Party support principles of Fair and Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Specifically, we:
• recognize the full humanity of immigrants and protection guaranteed by law of their human and civil rights,
• stand in favor of laws which uphold family unity and the end of the criminalization of immigrants,
• believe that comprehensive immigration reform will provide economic opportunity to our region while upholding worker rights, especially concerning the farm workers who are vital in the local and national economy,
• seek a just and humane reform that will provide a fair process to secure legal residency and a path to U.S. citizenship,

THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Ventura County Democratic Party applauds and supports the efforts of CAUSE; will contribute to our democratic process by facilitating cross-cultural coalition building and educating ourselves, the public, and our elected public representatives about the complex historical and urgent present day elements of immigration reform; and will communicate passage of this resolution to CAUSE and to all members of Congress representing any part of Ventura County.

Submitted by Ruth Maria Capelle

Three Ventura County legislators have introduced bills seeking to regulate fracking. Miller hopes that they will see the resolution as exemplifying the will of their constituents to not just regulate it, but to place a moratorium on it. Further, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors should find a way to protect their citizens from potentially dangerous practices.

The text of the resolution reads:

RESOLUTION – MORATORIUM ON HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

WHEREAS, hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking,” is a technique that injects water, sand, and toxic chemicals at high pressure deep into the ground, often traveling horizontally, to extract oil or gas from shale or other dense rock;

WHEREAS, fracking uses large amounts of water, thus reducing its availability for agriculture and other public use; uses chemicals that can contaminate the water supply and can cause cancer; creates wastewater that can bring deep earth contaminants to the surface; releases methane gas that exacerbates climate change and pollutes the air with asthma-causing smog; can induce earthquakes; and continues our dependence on fossil fuels;

WHEREAS, fracking is currently exempt from regulation under the Safe Water Drinking Act and is not yet regulated in California, and as a result the chemicals are treated as trade secrets and location of fracked wells is not made public;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Ventura County Democratic Party supports an immediate moratorium on fracking with such a moratorium to remain in place until (a) legislation, ordinances, and regulations are put in place that guarantee public health and safety, and address the impacts of climate change; (b) immediate testing and disclosure of all sites currently being fracked or that have been fracked in the past; and c) substitution of renewable energy wherever feasible;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Ventura County Democratic Party send a copy of this resolution to the Governor of the State of California, United States Senators representing California, Members of Congress representing any part of Ventura County, members of the state senate and state assembly representing any part of Ventura County, and all members of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, asking them to take action.

Submitted by RLMiller 2/14/2013
Passed Ventura County Democratic Party Central Committee 2/26/2013

While a number of college student bodies have passed divestment resolutions, it’s believed that the Ventura County resolution is the first in the country to be passed by a diverse group of people elected by voters at large. Ventura County is home to oil drilling operations and is generally more conservative than Los Angeles to the south. Nevertheless, the resolution passed on a nearly unanimous vote, illustrating the representatives’ concerns. Climate change will wreak havoc on Ventura County – at a very possible 2 feet of sea level rise, Port Hueneme loses 18 percent of its land and 10 percent of its homes.

RL Miller, author of the resolution, states: “I drafted this to send a message to the fossil fuel companies: we will not participate in our own destruction.” Miller intends to submit the resolution to the California Democratic Party in time for its convention in April.

The resolution reads in full:

Resolution in Support of Divestment from Fossil Fuel Companies

WHEREAS, almost every government in the world has agreed that any warming above a 2°C (3.6°F) rise would be unsafe. We have already raised the temperature .8°C, and that has caused far more damage than most scientists expected. A third of summer sea ice in the Arctic is gone, the oceans are 30 percent more acidic, and since warm air holds more water vapor than cold, consequences of inaction will result in devastating floods and drought;

WHEREAS, scientists estimate that humans can pour roughly 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and still have some reasonable hope of staying below two degrees, while proven coal, oil, and gas reserves equals about 2,795 gigatons of CO2, or five times the amount we can release to maintain 2 degrees of warming;

and WHEREAS, California’s institutions of higher education and pension funds should encourage only those investments that allow students and retirees to live healthy lives without the impact of a warming planet, and thus campaigns to divest from fossil fuels have begun at campuses within both the University of California and California State University systems;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Ventura County Democratic Party calls upon the University of California and California State University endowments, and CALPERS, CALSTRS, and Ventura County Employees Retirement Account pension funds to immediately stop new investments in fossil fuel companies, to take steps to divest all holdings from the top 200 fossil fuel companies as determined by the Carbon Tracker list within five years, and to release updates available to the public, detailing progress made toward full divestment;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Ventura County Democratic Party send a copy of this resolution to the Governor of the State of California, Board of Regents of the University of California, Chancellor of the California State University system, United States Senators representing California, Members of Congress representing any part of Ventura County, members of the state senate and state assembly representing any part of Ventura County, and all members of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, asking support for divestment from fossil fuels.

submitted by RLMiller 2/14/2013
Revised 2/21/2013
Passed Ventura County Democratic Party Central Committee 2/26/2013

Let’s give a huge round of thanks to our U.S. Congressional representatives Julia Brownley and Lois Capps, who signed on to a letter to President Obama opposing Republican-backed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. These cuts include the so-called “chained CPI,” which would reduce benefits by recalculating inflation rates.

“Chained CPI” would alter the Consumer Price Index—the key measure of inflation that determines cost of living increases for many federal and state programs—by assuming that people will always be able to buy a cheaper alternative when prices rise. That assumption might work for an apple—you’ll buy an orange instead. But it doesn’t work for products and services that don’t have alternatives, like healthcare, utilities and water, for example. By using this “unchained” method, inflation would be seen as rising less, and this would translate into fewer benefits under Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. For the 3.6 million people dependent on these programs, they would be falling behind real inflation.

“Earned Social Security and Medicare benefits provide the financial and health protections necessary to keep individuals and families out of poverty,” the letter signed by Brownley, Capps, and more than 100 other Congresspeople stated. “We remain deeply opposed to proposals to reduce Social Security benefits through use of the chained CPI to calculate cost-of-living adjustments. We remain committed to making the changes that will extend solvency for 75 years, but Social Security has not contributed to our current fiscal problems and it should not be on the bargaining table,” the letter continued.

For their efforts in preserving the benefits that we’ve earned, Reps. Brownley and Capps deserve our thanks. You can contact them at Julia Brownley’s official web page and Lois Capps’ official web page.

Perhaps you’ve heard the radio ads. Texas Governor Rick Perry has taken to the airwaves (and airports) in his effort to lure California businesses to the Lone Star State. On February 12, he visited Haas Automation, a specialty metal fabricating company in Oxnard, presumably in an effort to convince Haas to expand, if not move, its business to Texas.

Perry claims that Texas offers a lower cost of living, and of doing business. However, while Perry claims that building a business in California is, in his words, “virtually impossible,” the reality is that the Golden State created 257,000 private sector jobs last year, the highest in the nation, and that relocating businesses account for just 0.03% of all job losses, according to the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.

“Ventura County Democrats hope that Texas Governor Rick Perry will learn from California’s recent success how he can improve his state’s dismal record on poverty, wages, education standards and social services,” said David Atkins, chair of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee. “The Golden State has the most Fortune 500 companies of any in the nation, with over 100,000 new businesses started every year. We’re confident that despite Rick Perry’s effort to steal away the fruits of California’s labor to prop up the hollow Texan economy, California businesses will see past his empty promises and continue to enjoy California’s warm, prosperous and demand-driven economic climate.”