The following is an example of the mindset of the so-called "leadership" of the California Democrat Party: "Democrat Party leading politician Dianne Feinstein privately profiting from sale of public buildings and art seized from the public sector Post Office" [link].As it is seen in Nancy Pelosi's interest in the Lennar Corp., their ethics approach a psychopathic level of selfishness. As it is said often, "Never trust a rich person to be a politician"!
"Legislature friendly to business amid Dem majority"
2013-11-03 by Joe Garofoli from "San Francisco Chronicle" [http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Legislature-friendly-to-business-amid-Dem-majority-4952065.php]:
There was no shortage of conservative handwringing a year ago when a Democratic supermajority took over the state Legislature. With Democrats able to pass whatever laws they wanted without having to arm-twist a single Republican, some predicted that the conservative apocalypse was imminent.
Conservatives feared Democrats would use their two-thirds majority to raise taxes and kill the property tax initiative Proposition 13, maybe pass an oil severance tax on petroleum companies.
Not only did none of that happen, but the business-oriented California Chamber of Commerce beat back 37 of the 38 "job-killer" bills it singled out in the recently completed legislative session.
Voters have adopted several political reforms over the past few years that are slowly changing who goes to Sacramento. The Legislature may be dominated by Democrats, some analysts say, but it's not dominated by liberals.
"The chamber and the business community has a greater influence on Democrats than they used to," said Jim Araby, executive director of the 160,000-member United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council, whose union members volunteered thousands of hours last year to elect the Democratic supermajority. "There are now labor Democrats and business Democrats."
'Economy-sensitive' leaders -
The Democratic supermajority did vote to increase California's minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2016 from the current $8 and approved giving driver's licenses to people who entered the country illegally. But some of its other liberal lurches were blunted by Gov. Jerry Brown's self-described "paddle left, paddle right" philosophy of governance - and by some of its more moderate members.
"I prefer to call them 'economy-sensitive' members," said Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a trade association representing almost 400 of the region's top companies.
He attributes the change to a unusually large number of freshman legislators - there are 41 out of 80 Assembly members - "who are less in a hurry, more moderate and have a more even, thoughtful approach to governance."
The state Chamber of Commerce is preparing to use its influence in several races next year where it believes it can make a difference.
"If I'm doing my job right, we will," said Marty Wilson, who oversees the chamber's political activities and is a former adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Already, he said, the group is "very pleased that the Legislature stayed closer to the center than it has in the past."
Traditionally the chamber backs Republicans, but it's looking to broaden its horizons. One of the Assembly races where it may jump in is in liberal San Francisco, where Wilson said "the business community is saying good things" about Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. He'll be facing fellow Democratic Supervisor David Campos in the contest to succeed a termed-out liberal, Tom Ammiano.
Wilson said the chamber will probably be involved in an East Bay Assembly race featuring three Democrats - longtime Brown adviser Steve Glazer, teachers union leader Tim Sbranti and Danville Mayor Newell Arnerich - and Republican attorney Catharine Baker.
Business-savvy legislators -
Some say the Legislature is changing because it is attracting more candidates from the business world. For example, rookie Assemblywoman Marie Waldron, R-Escondido (San Diego County), has owned a screen printing business with her husband for more than 15 years.
"A lot of the new freshmen have business backgrounds, so there's a hope that they will understand the needs of business better," Waldron said.
Other freshmen, like Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, say the new legislators are simply more pragmatic.
Levine recalled that when his first bill was heard this year in committee, it didn't have the support of the panel's Democratic chairman. That "spooked" a few Democrats, he said, so he began courting Republicans until some members of his own party came on board.
The bill, to change the labeling on prescription drugs, passed the Legislature and was signed by Brown.
"It made me value getting the support of Republicans," Levine said.
Guardino and others believe that reforms passed by California voters over the past few years have helped to reshape the Legislature. The top-two primary - where the No. 1 and No. 2 vote-getters square off in the general election, regardless of party - has forced candidates to adopt more moderate views, its backers say.
A new law that empowered a citizens panel instead of legislators to redraw the state's political boundaries has created districts that are more reflective of the electorate, Guardino said.
But some analysts say it's too soon to tell whether those changes have made a lasting impact.
The Legislature's current lineup has another year to go, and plenty of items on the liberal wish list, including Prop. 13 reforms, aren't dead yet, said Eric McGhee, a research fellow with the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. Plus, he said, while the Chamber of Commerce is gloating about its batting average this year, its success rate in the past wasn't that much worse.
Reforms' impact unclear -
The political jury is also out on whether the redrawn district lines have bred more moderate candidates. In 2012, 37 California candidates with no party affiliation ran for the Legislature or Congress. None won, said Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data, a political analysis firm.
"So far, the impact (of the reforms) is more perceived than real. The sample size is still too small to know," Mitchell said. "In 2014, it's an open game again."
"No Longer a Democrat"
2013-09-30 "Vallejo Independent Bulletin" Editor's note: The below correspondence was sent to several elected Democratic party politicians.
---
I just received your robomail about the Affordable Care Act. I'd like to inform you that because the local Democratic Party chapter endorsed a Vallejo City Council candidate who is a well-known homophobe and anti-abortion advocate, I have left the Democratic party after 40 years. His affiliation with the radical Christian Dominionist objectives are not consistent with the National and California Democratic Party platforms. This blatant deception perpetrated by local political manipulative Jon Riley and supported by you and others no longer permit me to support the Party.
I have copied this message to the presidents of the caucuses which represent my interests: Progressive, Women's, Native American, Chicano Latino, Disabilities, and LGBT. I have written to the National Committee under a separate correspondence. The actions of the Solano County Committee are as shameful as the actions of the Republican party on the national level: clearly bought and sold by special interests who are funded by out of area entities and whose motives are personal. I will not allow my city, my party, and my state be betrayed without vehement objection.
Very Sincerely,
[signed] Mónica L. Tipton, M.A.
2013-07-15 "Employees of UFL Sacramento team sue Paul Pelosi"
by Joe Garofoli from "San Francisco Chronicle" [http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Employees-of-UFL-Sacramento-team-sue-Paul-Pelosi-4667148.php]:
California's sports and political worlds are colliding through the dormant United Football League franchise in Sacramento, with several coaches and employees suing owner Paul Pelosi - the millionaire husband of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco - claiming he failed to pay them after promising to do so.
Five employees of the Sacramento Mountain Lions - including former Raiders defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan, who held the same position there - say Paul Pelosi, a real-estate investor and businessman, owes them $250,000, according to the suit filed this month in San Francisco Superior Court.
That would seem like pocket change to Pelosi. He and his wife, the top Democrat in the House, are worth $26 million, according to federal financial disclosure statements. Their investments range from real estate around the Bay Area to their vineyard and home in St. Helena.
The league's founder is Pelosi's friend Bill Hambrecht, a San Francisco investment banker who managed Google's initial public offering.
"It's a vanity sports league and the people who own them are wealthy men," said Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco civil-rights attorney who is representing the plaintiffs. "They have ignored their obligations to pay these people. Hambrecht and Paul Pelosi could write a check for what they owe these people without blinking, and they haven't bothered to do it."
In meetings before the team, Dhillon said, her clients recall Pelosi guaranteeing that they would get paid.
An additional political twist: Dhillon is the vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party - but she said she this is not about politics.
"I didn't go out and seek this case; these plaintiffs sought me out," Dhillon said. "You can take this set of facts, you can take out the name Pelosi and take it to any labor lawyer in California and they would file this lawsuit because it is outrageous."
Paul Pelosi did not return phone calls requesting comment Monday.
When the league canceled the second half of its season in October, Paul Pelosi said in a statement that "it is our first priority to take care of our players, coaches, and staff and then to raise sufficient funds to take care of our other obligations and to resume fully financed operations in 2013."
Speaking as a "spokesman for the UFL ownership group" in that statement, Paul Pelosi blamed postponement on "a lack of sufficient funds due to the high cost of workmen's compensation insurance and other elements."
Dhillon said, "They never got (worker's compensation insurance), from what my clients told me."
Nancy Pelosi has a 95 percent lifetime rating on labor issues, according to the AFL-CIO rating of legislators.
Paul Pelosi's stake in the Sacramento football team is in the range of $5 million to $25 million, according to the broad scale used in federal financial-disclosure forms. He claimed between $1 million and $5 million in losses, according to the disclosures.
Founded in 2009, the UFL has teetered on the edge of viability. It promised to return in the spring of 2013 but didn't, and a future return is in peril.
Earlier this year, 78 of its players sued the league, its teams and Hambrecht for failing to pay them fully. They were seeking $1.5 million plus fees.
Nearly a year ago, Dennis Green - the former Stanford and Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals head coach - sued the Sacramento team for $1 million that he said he is still owed for coaching the Mountain Lions. The matter is in arbitration.
"Sen. Feinstein Wants to Strip Independent Journalists’ Rights"
2013-09-22 by Kevin Mathews from "Care2.com" [care2.com/causes/sen-feinstein-wants-to-strip-independent-journalists-rights.html]:
Feinstein discusses her amendment in a Senate meeting.
Freedom of the press may be one of the founding principles of the United States, but Senator Dianne Feinstein is on a mission to limit these powers. The fourth-term California Democrat has proposed an amendment to narrow the definition of journalism and give privileges to only those she deems “real reporters.” [latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-dianne-feinstein-congress-press-shield-law-20130913,0,5900019.story]
Currently, most states have shield laws designed to protect journalists, but no such laws exist on a federal level. Recently, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved national shield laws, but Feinstein was unhappy with how broadly journalist could be interpreted and wrote up an amendment to address her personal concerns.
Feinstein’s suggestion is blatantly unconstitutional. The First Amendment is clear: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,” yet here is a member of Congress trying to do precisely that. By applying a strict definition to who can be considered a journalist, Feinstein is not only discrediting, but also destructing independent and citizen journalism.
Shield laws allow reporters to protect their sources and prevent them from having to testify against them in court. These laws are safeguards that ensure critical news is disseminated and the populace remains informed without government interference.
Feinstein seems chiefly concerned with affiliates of Wikileaks and other such agencies calling themselves journalists. She has been one of the most vocal Senators in calling for prosecuting Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden for espionage. Evidently, publicizing some of the most critical information of our time that other more “reputable” agencies wouldn’t touch does not count as an act of journalism, particularly when the leaked info makes Feinstein look bad.
Indeed, despite alleging that she wants to protect only “legitimate journalists,” Feinstein has a history of showing no respect for legitimate journalists. On a trip to China while serving as San Francisco’s mayor, Feinstein told Evelyn Hsu, an American reporter, that she preferred Chinese reporters, explaining, “They just write down what we say.”
Feinstein’s limited definition of a journalist is “someone who is an employee, agent, or independent contractor for a media entity.” In an act of compromise, she did agree to take out the word “salaried” from her description of a journalist, though she called it an “unnecessary worry.” From my vantage point, restricting “real” reporting to jobs paid for by corporate entities is hardly an illegitimate concern.
How many people even trust mainstream media anymore? Print publishing is slowly dying, while cable news has devolved into corporate-sponsored propaganda disguised as “infotainment.” For crying out loud, MSNBC reporter Chuck Todd just told us that it isn’t his job to expose political lies. If Feinstein’s mission is to limit freedoms of the press to entities in the pocket of the powerful and wealthy, the real goal must be to further obscure the truth… while holding those who actually report the truth responsible for daring to expose it.
In her explanation for redefining journalists [calbuzz.com/2012/06/past-as-prologue-why-difi-goes-nuts-over-leaks], Feinstein asks, “Should this privilege apply to anyone? To a 17-year-old who drops out of high school, buys a website for $5, and starts a blog?” Her comment reeks of classism and elitism, as if an average young citizen couldn’t offer valuable information to the public.
The fact is we need citizen journalists, independent media outlets and bloggers like those here at Care2.com more than ever. We need reporters who challenge authority, conduct actual investigations, cover all stories and spread the truth. Just because what these journalists reveal might be a little too “real” for Feinstein doesn’t make their work any less “real.”
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