Democracy: August 2007 Archives

In celebration of the 87th anniversary of Women's Equality Day, Speak Out California did a series of blogs commemorating the occasion. We conclude that series with a contribution from the first female speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who took the reins of power in an historic celebration in January, 2007. (See our blog entry of January, 2007.)

Here are her comments:

In celebration of Women's Equality Day this Sunday, Speak Out California has asked the state Chair of one of Calilfornia's most influential Women's groups to share the goals and work of her organization. The National Women's Political Committee (NWPC) is a non-partisan organization dedicated to electing women nationwide who share its vision. Celeste Weingard, its current state president, has provided this entry in honor of the 87th anniversary of the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment giving women the right to vote after a 75 year battle.
Although we've seen women make great strides, there is still much to be accomplished to achieve parity in all fields of endeavor. Until we see an equal number of women in public office (and one finally as Commander in Chief), women reaching pay equity, equal opportunity and respect in the workforce, full control over their reproductive decisions and equal partnerships at home, there is still much work left to do.

While this is no time to be complacent, with the US Supreme Court systematically working to undermine women's hard-fought gains, it is still a time to acknowledge that women are making strides in the battle for equal rights. We here at Speak Out California and all progressives in California, share in that celebration.

The dog days of August have apparently taken their toll on a couple visible public figures who have decided to hang-it-up and "spend more time with their families", the euphemism for getting out before it all collapses around them. For Karl Rove, that decision may have come too late. For Robert Dynes it ends a fairly lackluster performance as head of the University of California, a four year stint that has been marred by falling budgets and over-inflated compensation and severance packages to UC administrators.

Although the Dynes legacy has far more limitied ramifications than Rove's, UC President Dynes was able to survive budget cuts and the economic repositioning of the University of California with the reputation of that institution still intact. He had to reach out for more and more private money to keep the University functioning and flourishing, as the state's contribution to the funding of its public university continues to shrink. And he did so with a modicum of success; UC still remains one of the premier institutions of higher education in the nation today.

But his tenure was also marked with scandal, especially at a time when student fees were going up and staff and faculty salaries were virtually stagnant. It was the very public revelation that dozens of mid and higher ranking University officials and administrators were receiving large compensation and severance packages without scrutiny or appropriate checks and balances that did in President Dynes tenure (and certainly didn't help the image of the University system ). This embarassment virtually handcuffed Dynes' efforts to seek out additional state financial support for the University system, as he was hard-pressed to justify requests for greater financial resources when high-end officials were receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars as hush money for potential lawsuits or as incentive to join up or leave early.

But his tenure is mildness personified compared to the undermining of our nation's system of government and integrity and generated by Karl Rove during his destructive tenure as chief advisor to the President of the United States.

Looks like the Reps are at it again!
Another deceptive initiative is making the rounds to the A.G.'s office for "title and summary" and then most likely to the super-market or Wal-Marts for signature gathering and then on the now infamous June 2008 ballot.

This time, it's an attempt to steal the Presidential election. Yup, through the backdoor again because they know they're not going to win the White House by blasting through the front door in 2008. Too much failed neoconservative ideology for the American people, and they know it.

So what's the latest ploy? An initiative to split California's electoral votes rather than use the long-standing system where the majority vote-getter takes the state's full complement of electoral votes, which in this super-sized state is 55, or more than 10% of the 538 nationwide. The plan is to give electoral votes to the candidate who carries the most votes by congressional district. So, for example, if the Republican presidential nominee wins in say, Jerry Lewis district, or John Doolittle (to name a couple of the more dubious Reps), the nominee gets to count that vote in his electoral pocket. If this were the way all votes were counted---in Texas, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, etc. it would make more sense and certainly be more fair. But that's not a phrase in the neocon lexicon. It's all about winning, at any price, as we've already seen this decade and if the Reps can walk away with 20 of California's electoral votes, that's as good as going home with Ohio...and perhaps the White House.

The Initiative process continues to be compromised by the big Corporate supporters and ultra-partisan powers that have taken control of the Republican Party. We've seen several other potential initiatives emerging for the June, 2008 ballot---that's the one between the Presidential primary and the November Presidential election. The June primay will not have the appeal or interest and thus everyone expects will be the sleeper with folks not paying attention or suffering voter fatigue with three elections to be held within 10 months of each other. That's why the corporations and Republicans are trying to invoke these stealth initiatives for low-turnout elections, which traditionally bring out the most conservative voters. Nevermind that the results will be potentially cataclysmic to this state and its priorities, values and principles.

With enough money, the right-wing thinks they can buy just about anything.
It will be up to us, the people, to prove them wrong. Let's hope we're up to it.

We'll be following this cheap-trick very closely in the weeks and months ahead and will be asking all those who believe in real Democracy to join us in fighting against these dishonest and undemocratic ploys by the groups of coporate-fed lackies who want to destroy our state and our democratic way of life.