SANTA BARBARA, CA – The University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) Campus Democrats today announced their endorsement of local Santa Barbara Councilmember Das Williams in his campaign for the 35th Assembly District.  The UCSB Campus Democrats voted unanimously to endorse Das Williams.

Leaders of the UCSB Campus Democrats cited Das Williams’ deep commitment to and understand of higher education issues and service to the campus community.

“After carefully considering both democratic candidates, we are pleased to endorse Santa Barbara City Councilmember Das Williams for the 35th State Assembly District,” said Amanda Wallner, President of the UCSB Campus Democrats.  “Das Williams has been a huge supporter of Campus Democrats for years. He knows students, he knows Isla Vista, and I am confident that he will continue to work for us and with us in the State Assembly.  Das cares about the students and his commitment to UCSB is unwavering.  The UCSB Campus Democrats are excited to have this opportunity to send a strong advocate for students to Sacramento.”

The UCSB Campus Democrats have hundreds of active members and are the largest Democratic club in the 35th State Assembly District.  The UCSB Campus Democrats are nationally recognized leaders in voter registration and were awarded Chapter of the Year Award in 2009 from the California College Democrats.

“I am proud to have the support of the UCSB Campus Democrats,” said Das Williams.  “I look forward to continue working closely with the Campus Democrats and the UCSB campus community to make affordable, quality higher education a priority in Sacramento.”

Das Williams is running to succeed fellow democrat and termed-out Assemblymember Pedro Nava in 2010.

SANTA BARBARA, CA – Assembly candidate Das Williams is pleased to announce that he has received a new labor endorsement of his campaign for the 35th Assembly District:

International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 46

ILWU Local 46, which represents longshoreman and warehouse workers at Port of Hueneme, now joins a number of other unions which are already in support of Das Williams’ campaign, including the Santa Barbara Police Officer’s Association, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 952, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 413, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 186, Ironworkers Local 433, Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 484, Sheet Metal Workers International Association Local 273, Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, and UA Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 114.

“I am so grateful to have received such an overwhelming amount of support from local labor in this race,” said Das Williams. “I’ve worked hard on the Santa Barbara City Council to create jobs and opportunities for our working families, and I will continue to fight for them in the Assembly.”

Das Williams is running to succeed termed-out Assemblymember Pedro Nava in 2010.

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Das Williams grew up on the Central Coast and is a product of local public schools. In 2003, Das Williams became the youngest person ever to be elected to the Santa Barbara City Council, and was re-elected in 2007. Das has worked as a teacher, a policy aide for former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, and a community organizer working to stop the development of a Wal-Mart in Ventura and enact local living wage laws in Santa Barbara and Ventura. Das serves on the Peabody Charter School Board and is a national board member of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Das received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and holds a graduate degree in Environmental Science & Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Born in Los Angeles to Ray and Tencha LeDesma on July 8, 1937, Ray LeDesma, GOOD Club membership chair, grew up in Oxnard amidst scores of aunts, uncles and cousins.  Growing up, Ray enjoyed camping, hunting and fishing throughout the county.  When his sister, Arlene, was born mentally retarded, the result of a difficult birth, Ray became her watchful big brother.  He carried into adulthood the deeply held belief that we are, indeed, our brothers’ keepers.

Ray graduated from Oxnard High School in 1956 and  went to Cal State San Diego, where, as president of the Catholic Newman Club, he met his future wife, Diane.  He graduated with a B.S. degree in Business and a minor in Zoology and moved back to Oxnard with Diane.   Ray helped his dad and uncle manage the family business, Oxnard Produce Co.

The LeDesmas raised three sons.  Bruce, age 41, graduated from Stanford, then earned his law degree at Harvard. Steve, age 39, graduated from UCSD, then completed his medical degree at UCLA. Brian, age 35, graduated from Stanford and is a business manager for Enterprise Rent-a- Car.  Some of Ray’s past and present passions include traveling, the study of history, astronomy, paleontology, and anthropology.

Ray describes himself as a flaming liberal and supports many like-minded organizations.  He prides himself in being a long time, card-carrying member of the A.C.L.U.  About four years ago, Lauraine Effress brought him and Diane into our club.  His first taste of local political activity was campaigning for John Kerry, Lois Capps, and Pedro Nava.  The GOOD Club is an organization dedicated to the same core beliefs that shaped Ray as a young boy.  Today he tries to impart to his six grandchildren the values that he instilled in his own: Respect everyone, as everyone tries to do the best they can.  As GOOD Club’s warm and welcoming membership chair, Ray’s best is pretty darn good.
Dori Jones

Born in Los Angeles to Ray and Tencha LeDesma on July 8, 1937, Ray LeDesma, GOOD Club membership chair, grew up in Oxnard amidst scores of aunts, uncles and cousins.  Growing up, Ray enjoyed camping, hunting and fishing throughout the county.  When his sister, Arlene, was born mentally retarded, the result of a difficult birth, Ray became her watchful big brother.  He carried into adulthood the deeply held belief that we are, indeed, our brothers’ keepers.

Ray graduated from Oxnard High School in 1956 and  went to Cal State San Diego, where, as president of the Catholic Newman Club, he met his future wife, Diane.  He graduated with a B.S. degree in Business and a minor in Zoology and moved back to Oxnard with Diane.   Ray helped his dad and uncle manage the family business, Oxnard Produce Co.

The LeDesmas raised three sons.  Bruce, age 41, graduated from Stanford, then earned his law degree at Harvard. Steve, age 39, graduated from UCSD, then completed his medical degree at UCLA. Brian, age 35, graduated from Stanford and is a business manager for Enterprise Rent-a- Car.  Some of Ray’s past and present passions include traveling, the study of history, astronomy, paleontology, and anthropology.

Ray describes himself as a flaming liberal and supports many like-minded organizations.  He prides himself in being a long time, card-carrying member of the A.C.L.U.  About four years ago, Lauraine Effress brought him and Diane into our club.  His first taste of local political activity was campaigning for John Kerry, Lois Capps, and Pedro Nava.  The GOOD Club is an organization dedicated to the same core beliefs that shaped Ray as a young boy.  Today he tries to impart to his six grandchildren the values that he instilled in his own: Respect everyone, as everyone tries to do the best they can.  As GOOD Club’s warm and welcoming membership chair, Ray’s best is pretty darn good.
Dori Jones

An email went out a few hours ago from LACDP Chair and Male Vice-Chair of the California Democratic Party Eric Bauman, indicating his endorsement of AD-35 Assemblymember Pedro Nava for Attorney General. From the email:

I’m Eric Bauman, California Democratic Party Vice-Chair. I Endorse Pedro Nava for Attorney General.

Click here to watch video

Pedro Nava understands your dreams. He knows what it takes to support a family. That’s why he is the only candidate for Attorney General with a 100% Labor Fed voting record. That’s why as Attorney General, he will fight for California’s working families.

He is an environmental champion. You deserve clean air, clean water. Your children should not be poisoned by toxic chemicals when they go to school. That’s why he’s a 100% Natural Resource Defense Council vote and why Pedro earned the highest voting record as a member of the California Coastal Commission from the Sierra Club.

CALPRIG has recognized him for consumer protection. He has a 100% voting record from Equality CA and Planned Parenthood.

As a student in public schools, he learned the value of public education, teachers and hard work. Like you, nobody handed him anything. He worked his way through school. While attending community college and CSU, he worked as a grocery clerk, a member of the Retail Clerks International Association Local 1167. Without union help, he never would have graduated from college.

Democrats are proud to support Pedro Nava. He will fight for us.

Requests for donations follow, as usual. The race for Attorney General will be among the more interesting to watch during the upcoming election cycle, with multiple big names in the fray. Bauman’s endorsement should give Mr. Nava a boost among Southern California and Los Angeles insiders and activists, though it’s still very early in this important race.

MOVING THE CENTRAL COAST FORWARD was a meeting about regional transportation needs held on Saturday, January 31 in the cafeteria at Ventura College.

Hosted by ASERT, the Alliance for a Sustainable and Equitable Regional Transportation, and by CAUSE, the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, the meeting featured keynote speaker Senator Alan Lowenthal who chairs the California Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing. There was also a panel of speakers: Rick Cole, Ventura City Manager; Esperanza Martinez of the Los Angeles
Bus Riders’ Union; and Das Williams from the Santa Barbara City Council.

Oh, yawn, right?  (Are you still with me after that first paragraph?)  Well, that’s what I thought when I almost didn’t show up at 8:30 in the morning on a Saturday.  I couldn’t even remember what e-mail or flyer orwhatever had caused the notation on my calendar.  But shortly after getting there and finding the coffee, I realized that I had stumbled upon one of the many battlefields where the final Armageddon is being waged with the beast that is devouring our planet and all life upon it.

Ventura County, incidentally, is not doing as well in the battle as are the counties to our north and south–as the three panel members made clear.

Rick Cole, Ventura’s City Manager, pointed out that we tossed “6,000 years of human culture into the trash can” when we started designing our cities around the automobile instead of around pedestrian traffic. Citing the fairgrounds “with a parking lot the size of Delaware” next to the beach where the runoff goes directly into the ocean, and the county government buildings, which are surrounded by acres of parking lots and can be reached only by car, Cole observed that we have a system in which our citizens who walk, who ride bikes, or take public transport are “separate and unequal.”  He noted that there are no homeless cars because there are laws ensuring that every building constructed has to have enough parking spaces provided.  And if people were treated with as much consideration as cars, there would be seven beds in shelters available for every homeless person.

Rick Cole, Ventura City Manager

Panelist Esperanza Martinez chronicled the success of the Los Angeles’ Bus Riders’ Union.  When the L.A. bus riders learned that buses were getting only 6% of available funding while highways were getting 70% and trains the rest, they got serious.  With action items such as “no seat, no fare” in which they refused to pay if no seats were available, and demonstrations against “transport racism,” they gradually got their share of the federal money to get natural gas fueled buses in L.A., and they saved the monthly bus pass, which is a lifeline for the working poor.

In both Los Angeles County and Santa Barbara County, voters approved a .5% sales tax to be used exclusively to fund transportation.  Ventura County has no such tax base for transportation.  This is a classic case of them that has gets. City Council Member Das Williams from Santa Barbara pointed out that when Los Angeles or Santa Barbara Counties petition the state or federal governments for assistance, they are able to demonstrate that they have money of their own for the projects.  Santa Barbara can go to Lois Capps and say, “We need three dollars; we’ve got two dollars.  Can you give us a dollar?”  Ventura County has to go to Lois Capps and say, “We need three dollars.  Can you give us three dollars?”  It’s not hard to figure out who’s likely to end up with three dollars.

Esperanza Martinez of the Los Angeles Bus Riders’ Union

Keynote speaker Alan Lowenthal, State Senator from Long Beach and chair of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing, made it clear that this wasn’t just a meeting about buses.  This was a meeting about social justice in all of its many aspects.  But once the speakers had made it clear that the issue of woefully inadequate public transportation is only one head of the beast (along with the wars, the economic collapse, the environmental devastation, the human rights atrocities, all the many aspects of the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into), some of us did talk about buses.

There were six workshop sessions.  There was one session on getting funding and results, one each on issues affecting bikes, buses, and trains, one on oil and environment, and one on how to use public transportation.  After the workshops there were breakout sessions where people exchanged information about transportation needs.

There’s something Orwellian about that phrase: “exchanged information about transportation needs.”  We’re talking about when you can’t get there from here—and you have to get there.  We’re talking about there being no buses that come within a mile of the adult education facility on Valentine Road in Ventura where many of the students are handicapped. We’re talking about mothers carrying a small child and pushing another in a stroller in heavy traffic along the shoulder of Victoria north of Gonzales to reach the Prototypes Program.  We’re talking about elderly people trying to reach Oxnard Airport from Ventura Avenue.  We’re talking about a man recently released from prison and on parole who doesn’t have a driver’s license but finally gets a job outside of Santa Paula but can’t get to work because the Vista buses don’t get there early enough so he’s fired.

California State Assembly Member, Pedro Nava, Santa Barbara City Counselmember, Das Williams, Program Host, Carmen Ramirez

State Senator Lowenthal commended the efforts that turned Ventura County blue in 2008.   But he also pointed out that transportation is a key to social justice and that counties with a population of over 500,000 are legally required by the Transportation Development Act to use a percentage of revenues for transportation.  Ventura County now has a population of 800,000 but continues to act like a rural county.  It certainly seems that our newly blue county’s Democrats need to be deployed to this battlefield.

Fresh off winning by a sliver of a percentage point by pretending to be an “independent” with “green” credentials, Tony Strickland is already causing trouble. In a move that will surprise absolutely no one but the moderate voters unfortunate enough to get suckered by Strickland’s con artistry, Strickland is already carrying water for his friends in the extremist Republican Yacht Party.

As California attempts to cut spending and raise revenues to avert a fiscal disaster, Tony “Independent Green” Strickland is standing once again to the right of his own Republican governor in insisting that the perfectly legal and eminently reasonable Democratic budget plan is somehow unconstitutional. It matters little to Tony Strickland if California falls into the sea, economically speaking, so long as his corporate friends in the oil industry are taken care of.

From the VC Star:

The Constitution allows fees to be implemented by a majority vote and also allows lawmakers to pass tax measures that are revenue neutral with a simple majority. Democrats asserted their plan met both of those tests.

Anti-tax groups, with the support of GOP lawmakers, had vowed to challenge the plan in court had it been enacted.

Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, said the Democratic plan “circumvents the Constitution and the will of the people. I think they know it’s unconstitutional. If they really thought this could be done, it would have been done a long time ago.”

Despite the concerns of other Republicans, Schwarzenegger said he would have signed the Democratic bills had they included the economic stimulus provisions he is demanding.

In the end, both Schwarzenegger and Strickland are opposed the Democratic budget solution, but for different reasons. Our own Pedro Nava is on point as usual about the ramifications of failure to pass this badly needed budget:

“If he doesn’t sign it, he needs to explain to the people of California about the 200,000 construction jobs that will be lost,” said Nava, whose district includes Ventura, Santa Barbara and much of Oxnard. “He needs to explain to the 200,000 people out of jobs why he doesn’t think he got enough of what he wanted.” [snip]

“I am bewildered that Republicans fail to recognize the urgency,” he said. “This is like your house is on fire and you’re trying to put it out and the Republicans are objecting because you’re not using the right hose.”

For Republicans like Strickland, however, the entire point is to allow the house to burn down. When you’re part of an extremist party interested only in draining the swamp and making government so small it can drown in a bathtub, bankrupting the State isn’t a bug–it’s a feature. A feature explicitly designed to destroy progressive advances across the state.

And all this being done by a Yacht Party (with Tony Strickland as one of its premier captains) incapable of coming close to majorities in either the State Senate or Assembly, and only capable of electing a governor by nominating a movie star in the wake of a trumped up recall election.

Most Americans would agree the last eight years under the Bush Administration have been a disaster. Two wars, dramatically increased debt, ballooning government size and cataclysmic economic events have strained our country’s resources and tarnished our reputation in the world.

We have also seen an insidious rise in the influence big corporations have on the way our government conducts its business. For example, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute was allowed to rewrite and soften federal reports on global warming. A scandal alleging the exchange of gifts, sexual favors and illegal drug use between Interior Department employees responsible for collecting oil lease royalties, and oil company workers hit the news in September.

Legislation designed to better police the lending industry, whose greed is at the root of the financial upheaval, has been continually watered down at the urging of the financial services industry. Now we are rewarding this excess with taxpayer-funded bailouts.

A culture of lobbying and outside influences has invaded local politics as well:

• The Republican-controlled Ventura County Board of Education has a $396,000 contract with two outside lobbying firms who have both donated money to Tony Strickland. These lobbyists have produced little more than additional bills for local taxpayers and a possible partnership with one of their own clients, a private Christian college in Indiana, which could help build the college a new $8.5 million building but do little for Ventura County students.

• The Ventura County Republican Central Committee accepted a $50,000 donation from Altria, parent company of tobacco giant Philip Morris, on behalf of Strickland’s State Senate campaign. Strickland’s past votes have favored tobacco companies.

• Strickland’s campaign is heavily financed by outside influences including insurance, oil, alcohol, tobacco, gambling and banking. As an assembly member he consistently voted in favor of these interests and against bills to protect the health of our citizens and the environment and to regulate predatory lenders.

• Individual donations to Strickland’s campaign show something remarkable: 66 percent have come from individuals who live elsewhere in California or outside the state. In the case of his opponent, Hannah-Beth Jackson, 62 percent come from individuals who live in the Senate district.

• Assemblywoman Audra Strickland’s campaign contributions show a similar pattern of outside interests with almost no donors from inside the district

It is time for voters to reject this culture of lobbying and corporate greed, which pays politicians to do its bidding. The Ventura County Democratic Central Committee urges voters to cast their ballots for candidates Hannah-Beth Jackson for State Senate District 19, Fran Pavley for the 23rd Senate District, Ferial Masry for the 37th Assembly District, Carole Lutness for the 38th Assembly District, Marta Jorgensen for U.S. Congress and Mark Lisagor and Ramon Flores for the Ventura County Board of Education.

Joseph O’Neill, Chair, Ventura County Democratic Central Committee

Most Americans would agree the last eight years under the Bush Administration have been a disaster. Two wars, dramatically increased debt, ballooning government size and cataclysmic economic events have strained our country’s resources and tarnished our reputation in the world.

We have also seen an insidious rise in the influence big corporations have on the way our government conducts its business. For example, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute was allowed to rewrite and soften federal reports on global warming. A scandal alleging the exchange of gifts, sexual favors and illegal drug use between Interior Department employees responsible for collecting oil lease royalties, and oil company workers hit the news in September.

Legislation designed to better police the lending industry, whose greed is at the root of the financial upheaval, has been continually watered down at the urging of the financial services industry. Now we are rewarding this excess with taxpayer-funded bailouts.

A culture of lobbying and outside influences has invaded local politics as well:

• The Republican-controlled Ventura County Board of Education has a $396,000 contract with two outside lobbying firms who have both donated money to Tony Strickland. These lobbyists have produced little more than additional bills for local taxpayers and a possible partnership with one of their own clients, a private Christian college in Indiana, which could help build the college a new $8.5 million building but do little for Ventura County students.

• The Ventura County Republican Central Committee accepted a $50,000 donation from Altria, parent company of tobacco giant Philip Morris, on behalf of Strickland’s State Senate campaign. Strickland’s past votes have favored tobacco companies.

• Strickland’s campaign is heavily financed by outside influences including insurance, oil, alcohol, tobacco, gambling and banking. As an assembly member he consistently voted in favor of these interests and against bills to protect the health of our citizens and the environment and to regulate predatory lenders.

• Individual donations to Strickland’s campaign show something remarkable: 66 percent have come from individuals who live elsewhere in California or outside the state. In the case of his opponent, Hannah-Beth Jackson, 62 percent come from individuals who live in the Senate district.

• Assemblywoman Audra Strickland’s campaign contributions show a similar pattern of outside interests with almost no donors from inside the district

It is time for voters to reject this culture of lobbying and corporate greed, which pays politicians to do its bidding. The Ventura County Democratic Central Committee urges voters to cast their ballots for candidates Hannah-Beth Jackson for State Senate District 19, Fran Pavley for the 23rd Senate District, Ferial Masry for the 37th Assembly District, Carole Lutness for the 38th Assembly District, Marta Jorgensen for U.S. Congress and Mark Lisagor and Ramon Flores for the Ventura County Board of Education.

Joseph O’Neill, Chair, Ventura County Democratic Central Committee