2006 June Primary Election: May 2006 Archives

While most Californians spent this past Memorial Day weekend with family and reflecting on those who have given their lives in the service of our country, our biggest polluters and profiteers were at it again....dumping enormous amounts of money into campaigns to defeat more progressive candidates in several key state senate districts.

We've previously exposed these huge corporate players from behind such Orwellian titles as "Californians for Civil Justice Reform"---which is funded primarily by oil, tobacco, development, pharmaceuticals and financial interests, "Californians for Progress and Education" comprised primarily of real estate and development money, in addition to insurance and medical industries, and "Californians for Jobs and a Prosperous Economy" (the anti-consumer people plus the Association of Motor Car Dealers)--to name some of the larger groups injecting Democratic races with money from big oil, tobacco and other disfavored industries.

In deciding who represent progressive values and will fight for them in public office, we've provided you with the latest updates on who is spending big money, and where it's going:

We've been watching the enormous amount of money being spent by big tobacco, oil and pharmaceutical companies, who have been pulling out all the stops to influence the outcome of the heavily contested California State Senate campaigns we're highlighting on our Speak Out California's Primary Voter Guide.

We've been talking about the need to get corporate money out of the campaign process to ensure that our elected officials are beholden to the people and not corporate special interests. As proud progressives, we expect our system of government to be "of the people, by the people and for the people." But in modern-day election battles, in order to make that happen, it's extremely important to keep following the money - who is supporting which candidate and with what money?

The Sacramento Bee over the last few days has done its best to expose who these groups really are. Their coverage is excellent and worth reading.

We've been talking regularly about the ever-expanding role of money in politics and elections specifically. There is no question that the system needs reform so that legislators and political leaders get back to the job of governing on behalf of the people, not the big corporations who have bought out Washington D.C. (ala Jack Abramoff, et. al.) and have been insinuating themselves into the California process as well.

These big business groups have no interest in protecting the public; their only interest is in expanding their profits. They are even so bold as to say so. So why do we tolerate this kind of greedy exploitation of our people and our planet?

We're very pleased to provide you, the voters of California, with important information for Election Day, June 6, 2006. As that date is fast approaching, you will be voting to help decide the direction our state will take. Our Speak Out California Voter Guide for the 2006 Primary Elections is here...

http://speakoutca.org/now/2006primary.php

The guide is designed to provide you with easy access to the best progressive input available for each candidate for statewide (Constitutional) offices and a select number of the hotly-contested State Senate district races which we are highlighting because they pit acknowledged or avowed big corporate-backed Democrats against more progressive Democrats.

Angelides' campaign spokesperson Dan Newman provided us with this response to the previous post...

Westly's ads are false. The truth is: 99% of Californians would not see any change in their taxes under the Angelides plan. Angelides will roll back a portion of George Bush's tax cuts for millionaires and close unjust corporate tax loopholes in order to fully fund schools and balance the budget. Steve Westly supports Schwarzenegger's tuition and fee increases, and supports the Republican tax breaks for multinational corporations like Exxon Mobil. The bottom line: Steve Westly supports taxing the middle class, but is willing to let his fellow gazillionaires off the hook.

Mr Westly's campaign has been contacted, we'll run their response if they choose to provide one. Hope this is helpful! Also we're putting the finishing touches on the voter guide, it should be up later today.

Steve Westly's recent television ads have accused Phil Angelides of proposing tax increases on working families. As progressives, we care deeply about this issue. Doing something about the middle class squeeze happening in this state is a top priority, but given that taxes are the dues we pay to live in a civilized society, not some kind of punishment. So Westly's "taxes are a last resort" message seems like too broad of a brush. The real question: "who pays?"

According to the CBPP, unbelievably, California still has a regressive tax system. Despite a mildly progressive income tax, lower and middle class families pay a larger percentage of their budget than the rich. 70% of Californians support fixing this. A progressive tax system would have a host of benefits: it would result in less money going towards housing and stock bubbles and would give us less public squalor while preserving plenty of private affluence. And it's the right thing to do: the idea of tax levels being set according to ability to pay goes back to the founding of our country.

So let's try an experiment. The Angelides campaign has chosen not to respond to this misleading ad on their website, so we thought we'd give them a chance to do so here. In the interest of fairness we'll let the Westly camp respond to that, and then give Angelides a rebuttal if they want it. We'll run these posts over the next few days and see how it goes.

In our dream world, this is the ad the Angelides camp would run next...

[Slow walking shot of Mr Angelides, maybe walking through a fancy neighborhood or along a beach. Malibu, perhaps.] Mr Angelides: My opponent has accused me of wanting to raise taxes on working families. He says he thinks of taxes as "a last resort." I and my advisors are very much aware of the difficulty of being middle class in this state and one of my objectives when I get in office will be to do everything I can to fix that.

I will not raise taxes on the middle class. But taxes are the dues we pay to live in a civilized society, not a last resort, and the big question we have to ask is who pays. Yes, I am going to ask those who have benefited the most from the investments those who have come before us have made to step up to the plate. Right now we ask poor and middle class families to pay almost the same amount in taxes as the rich. [cut to simplified version of the chart from this CTJ study] All I am proposing is that we fix that in the most equitable way possible.

I know no one likes paying taxes, but they are an investment in our future. Join me and we're going to really rebuild this state.

We can hope, right?

With the June primary election only three weeks away, it is important to consider the source of the money funding the upcoming campaigns. A great deal of attention has been directed toward the funding sources for the Democratic gubernatorial race -- reaching predictably into the multi-millions with Steve Westly again digging into his own very deep pockets to keep his race alive, and Phil Angelides calling on equally wealthy personal friends as well as the normal channels to compete with Westly's coffers.

While all eyes are focused on this out-sized battle, with mud and allegations beginning to escalate to a potentially damaging fever-pitch, let's not lose sight of Governor Schwarzenegger's campaign fundraising while waiting in the wings for the emerging and possibly bloodied Democratic adversary.

Indeed, the Governor is continuing his shameless shake-downs of business interests throughout California and the country. No matter how he tries to spin his "bona fides", this Governor is the corporate community's Golden Boy and he's making sure they pay big-time to keep him driving the Great State of California's corporate gravy-train. So much so that down-ticket candidates, such as Tony Strickland (engaged in a mutually mud-slinging battle against Abel Maldonado for the Republican nomination for State Controller), have publicly complained that there's nothing left for them after the Governor sweeps through with his vacuum-cleaner, sucking up all the eager and enormous Big Business campaign bucks.

While putting the finishing touches on our 2006 Primary Election Voter Guide, which will be available soon, we are focusing on Democratic races and who may be carrying the Progressive mantle; predictably, there are no Republicans under consideration in this election cycle. Therefore, we won't concentrate on the Governor's unrelenting fundraising activities. Instead, we will provide the best available information on the other side of the ticket for June. But for November, you'll be amazed to learn how prolific this Governor has been milking his cronies and corporate allies for all the bucks he can squeeze out of them.

In the meantime, the battles for key statewide and legislative races illustrate more than ever that we must get the money out of the system or at least reduce its influence. Regardless of which party or campaign, anyone running to represent THE PEOPLE is discovering that it is either a rich person's game or a place where principle has been sacrificed for political success. Progressive politics demand reform of the current system. Special interests simply are able to buy too much influence. And by "special," we don't mean those whose interests are the public, the environment and the consumer. By providing information, we'll try to identify some of those players for the progressive voter anxious to move our state forward and bring the power back to THE PEOPLE. We deserve no less.