September 2005
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SFYD Important Dates
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SFYD OCTOBER MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
7:00 PM
TBD Join the Young Dems for our monthly SFYD Meeting on Wednesday, October 12, 2005! As always, we will have a eventfull program with informative and entertaining speakers as we discuss the important issues of our time!
For more information contact SFYD President Owen Stephens (prez@sfyoungdems.org)
Click here to to join SFYD, renew your membership or pay dues!
Membership Meetings are generally held the second Wednesday of each month at 7:00 pm. |
DRINKING LIBERALLY/SFYD FUNDRAISER
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
7:00 PM
Madrone Lounge @ Divisidero & Fell Join your fellow Young Dems and other local progressives for a special Drinking Liberally/SFYD fundraiser on Tuesday, October 18, 2005! Gather from 7:00-9:00 pm at Madrone Lounge for a chance to mingle and chat with local candidates and like-minded San Franciscans.
Contact SFYD President Owen Stevens for more information. |
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President's Column
by Owen Stephens
 Having participated in my fourth SFYD Endorsement process and presiding over my second, I am so proud that on Wednesday, September 14, 2005, our members once again made the best choices for the future of San Francisco and California young people.
In my years with the Young Dems, we have always endorsed a slate of young, energetic and diverse candidates. This has not changed! Unopposed, and among the most effective City Attorneys in the nation, Dennis Herrera will continue to fight for our rights under the law. In Jose Cisneros, we have and will continue to have a competent, enthusiastic Treasurer who loves what he does, and in Assessor Phil Ting, we have and will continue to receive great modern ideas met with a solid commitment to assessing the city's fair share.
For San Francisco we will naturally urge the community in acquiring funding for the improvement and modernization of City College. We are dedicated to ensuring fire and emergency response and making sure our city will always be prepared. Young people are committed to decreasing violence both at home with a ban on hand guns and abroad by opposing military recruiters at our schools, and we endorsed both measures.
On state issues, the YD's made clear their disappointment in the Governor for shackling the people with an expensive, useless special election. We believe he is running scared and are determined to defeat each and every one of his priorities, including the reckless power grab of Props 76 and 77. We strongly support our friends in education and labor. Prop 74 overwhelmingly effects and hurts new teachers just out of college. Prop 75 is nothing more then a political attempt to weaken the Democratic Party.
Finally, the conservative right put Prop 73 on the ballot despite the risk it poses to the health of young women. We support our own, and we passionately oppose this measure!
Leading up to the election, the SFYD Executive Board and I will actively promote the will of our members. We are already determining the best ways to participate and lead voter registration and Get-Out-The-Vote efforts in San Francisco. Our volunteers will hit the ground, and our literature will reach out to young voters through out the community.
Stay tuned to http://www.sfyd.org, and register as a member of SFYD today by linking to http://www.sfyoungdems.org/SFYDSite/membership.htm.
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Reese's World: Perspectives from the Editor
WE’RE YOUNG, WE’RE DEMOCRATS, GET USED TO IT!
by Reese Aaron Isbell
 As I have begun my role as the new Editor of the SFYD Newsletter, I have considered what it means to be a Young Democrat in general. Honestly, I join late in the game—not as a Democrat, but as a self-identified “Young” one. I have otherwise been involved in Democratic politics since my political beginnings in college years ago, but did not make the personal connection with the idea that I was of the upcoming generation in the Party until recently.
So in considering that role, of the new generation for the Party, I smile knowing that our future is oh-so-bright. Now, it may seem that we have been in the doldrums as a Party over the last few years. But the future is bright because we are ready for action as young members of the Party, and we aren’t letting previous let-downs get in the way of what we know is right and what we want to make happen positively for the future of our Party and for the well-being of our nation, state, and locality.
I’m excited about all the new energy emerging throughout the country for the Democratic Party. A Party that takes strong and progressive—even liberal—stances on our issues of the day, without hesitation and regret. We are a new generation that is emerging from the grassroots, and from those growing up into politics and simply goddamn-angry ‘bout the state of affairs in our nation under the Republican hegemony.
And let me tell you, that domination is about to come to an abrupt and timely end. Why do I know this is the case? Because you and I are the new generation of leaders for our nation and our Democratic Party and we are going to make it so. We’re ready to take on the fight, and that’s why we’ve continued the organizing of the presidential election last year and moved into full gear for taking back our country—one precinct at a time.
I will keep my inaugural column as Editor brief and general this month, but I am excited to join this amazing group of Young Democratic activists and honored to take on this role with you. For those of you who do not know me and wish to learn more about me personally, feel free to check out my blog- www.reesesworld.com.
Nuff said. Let’s get out there and continue changing the world.
Reese Aaron Isbell, M.P.P.
Newsletter Editor
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SFYD Endorsements for November 2005
| San Francisco Elected Officials | | Treasurer | | | City Attorney | Dennis Herrera
|  | | | Assessor | Phil Ting
www.PhilTing.com
415-661-2080
945 Taraval Steet, #219
San Francisco 94116 |  | | | | San Francisco Propositions | For descriptions and full legal text of these propositions,
click here. | | A - Community College District General Obligation Bonds info | Yes | | B - Street and Sidewalk Improvement Bond info | No position | | C - Ethics Commission Budget and Outside Counsel info | No position | | D - Appointment of Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors info | No position | | E - Election Date of the Assessor - Recorder and Public Defender info | Yes | | F - Neighborhood Firehouses info | Yes | | G - Access to Underground Parking at Golden Gate Park info | Yes | | H - Firearm Ban info | Yes | | I - No Military Recruiters in Public Schools, Scholarships for Education and Job Training info | Yes | |
California Propositions | | For descriptions of these propositions, click here. | | 73 - Waiting Period and Parental NotificationBefore Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy. | No | 74 - Public School Teachers. Waiting Period forPermanent Status. Dismissal.
| No | | 75 - Public Employee Union Dues. Restrictionson Political Contributions. Employee ConsentRequirement. | No | | 76 - State Spending and School Funding Limits. | No | | 77 - Redistricting. | No | 78 - Discounts on Prescription Drugs.
| No | 79 - Prescription Drug Discounts.State-Negotiated Rebates.
| Yes | | 80 - Electric Service Providers. Regulation. | Yes | |
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Update on YDA Conference
YOUNG DEMOCRATS OF AMERICA PLEDGE TO SUPPORT ACTION CAUCUS AT NATIONAL CONVENTION
by By Nicole Sarabia - Rivera
Did you register to vote? I asked “Yes, but I don’t know why. If we wait for the Democratic Party to do anything for us, we’ll be waiting forever,” stated a young woman celebrating her new American citizen status.
Her frustration with the Democratic Party has been echoed to me many times by others over the past year and it was the topic of numerous conversations I had while attending the recent YDA national convention. The call for reform was even trumpeted at the General Session by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who took Democrats to task for not sticking to the values of the Democratic Party and being "republican lite". He spoke of his belief of why voters are turning to the Republican Party for leadership. He said that because Republicans are honest about their ideological views voters choose them. While Democrats on the other hand, don’t stick to their ideological views and use subterfuge by saying that they support Civil Unions but won’t go all they way and say that constitutional amendments prohibiting same sex marriage is un-American. Because they skirt the issue, whether or not the voter agrees, the voter will not vote for that candidate because they have no faith in a candidate who cannot voice their true beliefs. “Republicans are wrong and strong,” Newsom stated, “while Democrats are right and weak.”
It is obvious to me that reform is critical to the Democratic Party’s survival. After attending the YDA convention, I am proud to report that America’s democratic youth feel the same way and that we are going to do something about it. At the convention, the Action Caucus introduced and lobbied for a resolution that pledged the YDA to activate its members behind 1,000 progressive candidates by the end of 2007. The resolution passed unanimously, both in committee and in general session.
Now that the resolution has been passed by national leaders it is up to local members to continue the work by passing resolutions within their own chapters. Through the process of implementing the 1,000 candidates program, the Action Caucus intends to overhaul the capability and institutional culture of the Young Democrats of America. Their objective is to turn the YDA from a process-oriented to an action-oriented organization, so that Young Democrats can become a permanent and significant force for voter outreach locally, statewide and nationally.
At the very core of a progressive movement is change, San Francisco Young Democrats have taken their first step by passing the Action Caucus resolution at the September 14th general meeting. I urge all SFYD members to join the movement and sign up to be a part of the Action Caucus team at www.actioncaucus.org, together we will affect change.
For more information on the Action Caucus please go to their website www.actioncaucus.org
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SFYD Needs You: Recruitment for Committee Assistance
 Are you interested in event planning? Do you want to have an active voice in the SFYD program agenda? If you’re saying yes, then join the SFYD Program Committee! Contact Nicole Rivera at nicthebrick@gmail.com
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House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
PELOSI AND REID DEMAND END TO CULTURE OF CRONYISM AND CORRUPTION THAT HAS HINDERED RELIEF EFFORTS FOR KATRINA SURVIVORS
 Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid at a news conference this afternoon to discuss how the Republicans’ culture of corruption has contributed to their failed efforts to provide relief to survivors of Hurricane Katrina:
Today, exactly one month after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Leader Reid and I are here to say that after a failed initial response to Katrina, the Bush Administration and Republican Leadership in Congress continue to fail to provide for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The priority of Republicans has been to help their friends at the expense of helping people. They are out of touch with the people of the Gulf Coast region who struggle to find housing, jobs, and schools for their children.
Today, a month after the storm, less than a quarter of the relief money appropriated by Congress has reached the hundreds of thousands of families in need. Shamefully, 100,000 households have received absolutely no assistance from FEMA at all. The needs of the Katrina survivors – health care, housing, economic security and education – are not being met.
Meanwhile, the Katrina response remains plagued by cronyism; cronyism that gives jobs to the friends of the Bush Administration without qualifications for those jobs and cronyism that gives contracts to their corporate friends without bidding. In fact, in the days following Katrina, Republicans teamed up with Halliburton and other contractors to have a ‘Katrina Reconstruction Summit’ in the Hart Senate Building to help government contractors profit from relief funds. Shouldn’t this be under different auspices?
In terms of health care, instead of cutting red tape to help victims get the health care they need, the White House is pursuing a confusing and limited bureaucratic approach that leaves many survivors without access to care at all. Democrats support a bipartisan, simple, and fair solution to cut red tape and allow Medicaid to provide temporary health care coverage to survivors in whatever state they are living in now.
In terms of housing, a full three weeks after Katrina hit, fewer than 13,000 of the 200,000 families in need of housing assistance have received any assistance at all. Victims need housing now. We cannot allow families to continue to live in emergency shelters. Democrats have proposed using emergency housing vouchers to get people in homes immediately, and we support funding for construction and repair of affordable housing in the disaster area to ensure families have homes in the long-term.
In terms of economic security, instead of giving hope to the families of Katrina and now Rita, that have been hard hit in this area, the Bush Administration is making it harder for Hurricane victims to make ends meet. Instead of paying the prevailing wage, which is standard for the region, they have waived that requirement so contractors can pay a lower wage. Poverty was central to some of the tragedy, and instead of alleviating poverty, this Administration, by Presidential decree, has said they can pay a lower wage to these workers to rebuild the area.
Democrats want to give people the opportunities and security they need to rebuild their lives – by requiring federal contractors pay prevailing wage, increasing and extending Unemployment Insurance benefits, and ensuring that the burden does not fall upon hard-hit states by providing 100 percent federal funding.
In terms of education, rather than helping get children back to school, the Bush Administration is using this tragedy to advance its controversial agenda for education vouchers. The Gulf Coast Region is no place for political opportunism or ideological experimentation.
Democrats instead, have proposed a comprehensive plan to get children back to school by providing resources and assistance to school districts and by providing student loans for relief.
One month after Katrina, Republicans are out of touch with the needs of the Hurricane survivors. The American people expect better of us.
Republicans in Washington D.C. are plagued by a culture of corruption. An ethical cloud hangs over the Capitol. The House Republican Leader has been indicted, the Senate Republican Leader is under investigation, the President’s chief political adviser is under investigation, the White House’s chief procurement officer was arrested last week, and the web that entangles the Republicans in the House, the Senate, and in the White House, Jack Abramoff, has been investigated and indicted. This culture or corruption must stop.
Together, America can do better.
Click here to see the full House Democratic Initiative for Katrina Survivors
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On the Mark in Sacramento with Assemblyman Mark Leno
 Dear San Francisco Young Democrats,
It’s official. Ignoring public opinion, Governor Schwarzenegger has chosen to continue with a special election to be held November 8th. In doing so, he has unilaterally forced California’s local governments, already strapped for cash, to spend $70 million for an election Californians don’t need or want. San Francisco will be forced to spend $1.2 million we could otherwise use to hire more police officers, fix our roads and expand our homeless shelters.
Instead of working with the Legislature in good faith to address the complex issues facing the state, the Governor has spent the last year raising campaign dollars to fight teachers, firefighters, police officers, and nurses in his special election. Even while polls show that nearly two-thirds of Californians oppose a special election, the Governor has thrust us into an election that is neither about saving the state money nor improving the quality of life for our citizens. Rather it is about pure political gain on the part of the Governor and the Republican Party.
Now that the Governor has forced this special election, let’s call it what it is: one of the most important calls to action we have seen in recent history. The initiatives the Governor has officially endorsed will give him more power to cut education funding, delay teachers from gaining tenure and put the responsibility of drawing district lines in the hands of a panel of retired judges— you guessed it, appointed by the governor. Also on the ballot is an initiative that will shut workers out from participating in the political process. Let’s take a look at some of the measures he’s put before us.
Proposition 74 will increase the length of time a teacher must spend on probation from two to five years before gaining tenure. Unfortunately, the Governor truly missed the big picture here. This initiative won’t do anything to help our schools. It doesn’t reduce class sizes, buy up-to date textbooks for students or provide quality teacher training. Those are proven reforms that parents and teachers know work. The Governor should put his focus there rather than working to diminish the job security of a profession that is already in need of individuals willing to take on one of the most honorable challenges today— educating the next generation of Californians and for minimal pay.
Proposition 76 will freeze state spending at current levels whenever a budget agreement is not met by the June 30th deadline, giving the governor sole power over city and county funding sources for firefighters, police, health services, and other vital local programs. It will also lower minimum school funding requirements. If passed, it will give the Governor a constitutional incentive not to work with the legislature.
The Governor’s allies, the Small Business Action Committee, are bankrolling Proposition 75, ‘Paycheck Deception.’ It creates unnecessary red tape by requiring public employee unions to get annual written permission from members to use dues for campaign contributions. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that unions cannot use a member's dues for political purposes if the member objects. Union members already have the right to opt out of political contributions at any time. The goal of the initiative is to silence the voices of teachers, firefighters and health care providers who fight for higher public safety standards, better quality health care and decent funding for our schools.
Certainly, the Governor’s Proposition 77 is a clear attempt to gain more legislative and congressional victories for the GOP. Under this proposal, redistricting duties would go to a panel of three retired judges who would try to draw new districts in time for 2006 elections. District lines would be redrawn immediately, not within our constitutionally-guided once-a-decade timeframe, and without census data to guide the process. Let us not forget that this Governor lost every legislative seat he targeted in the last election. This is a governor who wants to win and is willing to do anything to do so.
I am particularly concerned that California voters won't know the real contributors behind 'Paycheck Protection' until after ballot pamphlets are published. Because the Small Business Action Committee is a general purpose committee, it can go on pouring funds into the measure without coming clean about who is bankrolling it.
Also on the ballot is Proposition 73, an anti-choice measure that is nothing more than an attempt to weaken Roe v. Wade. By requiring doctors to notify parents 48 hours before an abortion is performed, we simply delay medical care, putting young women at risk of health complications and place government in the middle of private decisions that should be between doctor and patient.
There are two prescription drug measures on the ballot. The first, Proposition 78 is supported by the drug companies and relies on ‘voluntary discounts’ from the pharmaceutical industry. This flimsy drug discount program does more to protect the pharmaceutical industry’s healthy profit margins than help Californians struggling to pay high drug prices which is why the industry will spend a record $70 million or more to win. Proposition 79 will give significant discounts for seniors, small businesses and families by creating a drug discount program that requires participation by drug manufacturers, or the drug companies will lose the ability to sell drugs to the Medi-Cal program.
Proposition 80 will require electricity providers to be regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission and will hopefully prevent another deregulation disaster. It will repeal failed deregulation policies of the mid-90’s and develop more green power renewable energy.
Mike Murphy, Schwarzenegger's chief political strategist was recently quoted as saying, "the real campaign for these reforms has not even begun."
The Governor is sure to use his limitless supply of campaign dollars to deluge you with deceptive messages on his "reforms." I encourage you to make sure your family, friends, and colleagues are registered to vote and informed about the state and local propositions which will be before you on November 8, 2005.
Our future is at stake.
Yours,
Mark Leno,
Assemblyman, 13th District
P.S. Additionally, should you have questions or thoughts, please feel free to contact me at any time through my District Office at 415-557-3013 or keep updated on the web via: http://www.markleno.com
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Register to Vote Deadline -- October 24th
Make sure you, your family, your friends, your coworkers, your community, everyone is registered to vote by the 24th in order to vote in the November 8th election. San Francisco Voter registration information can be found here: http://www.sfgov.org/site/election_page.asp?id=5919#how
Download a registration form here: http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm
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