NO on Prop. 11 - ARNOLD'S PLOY TO TURN CA RED!!!!

[diva77]

I am posting an action alert that I received in August:

Gov Arnold's Redistricting Plan to Turn CA Red
http://tenayaca.dailykos.com /

by tenayaca

Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 09:51:57 PM PDT

TRUTH NOW on Proposition 11...
... the fake redistricting reform brought to you by Gov. Schwarzenegger and his wrong-wing Republican gang
Want to live in a Red State? Want to have gridlock on redistricting in addition to the budget? Want to have the Republicans put in charge of "protecting" our coastline?
This is the reality of the so-called "Voters First" proposition being put on the ballot this year by Arnold and his Republican fat cat cronies. The only "voters" who are elevated will be the Republicans who are attempting to circumvent their declining registration statewide by fooling the voters into the idea that Prop 11 is "independent" and "non-partisan." You've got to hand it to them. They come up with such good titles that mean exactly the opposite!!!

Under the guise of "reform," proposition 11 creates a new state bureaucracy with an unlimited budget. This new drain on the state resources would essentially operate as a parallel second set of employees since a redistricting staff already exists in the state legislature. Along with the 14 member Citizens Redistricting Commission (paid $300 per day + expenses to attend a meeting), this new unlimited bureaucracy would include political staffers (civil-service exempt), private contractors, and private attorneys.
If this commission, stacked in the Republicans' favor, does NOT reach agreement, and the rules ensure it will not, redistricting is handed to the California Supreme Court who appoints "special masters" to complete the boundary lines. NOTE that 6 of the 7 justices currently sitting on the court were appointed by Republican governors.
SNIP
We now move to the more interesting part -- the financing of this interesting excursion into the redistricting wonderland. WHO would be funding this?
Turns out that anyone who wants to check into the FUNDERS of any of the propositions OR candidates can do so quite easily through our Secretary of State's website. From the main page, click on "political reform" on the top bar, then find the link for http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov / part way down that page.
I've done this and you would not believe WHO is there!! How about New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the tune of $250,000! And there's T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oil tycoon, for $100,000. And CEO's and Chairs abound. I wonder if the shareholders of these companies know where the profits go. From Williams Sonoma --W. Howard Lester, $250,000; from Guess--Maurice Marciano $25,000; from Trust Company of the West--Robert Day $100,000; from Charles Schwab--$100,000; from the Gap--Donald Fisher $50,000; from PIMCO--William Powers $100,000; from Netflix founder Reed Hastings $147,307.01; from Rick Caruso, RE Development, $100,000; from the LA Chamber of Commerce, $32,500. Then there is the New Majority California PAC (more on this follows) with $175,000. Here's where you check out the donor list: http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov /...
And that's just from under the first listed committee, California Voters First, #1299492, that is supporting the measure. They report $4,826,382.01 received for only the first 6 months of 2008. http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov /...
Additional donors, insurance companies, land developers, etc., are tucked away under what is called the New Majority California PAC (a major donor to Voters First) here:
http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov /...
Homebuilder William Lyon kicked in $8,000; the Irvine Company $8000; Bank of America PAC $5600; Heritage Development $8000; Robert Follman of RA Industries $8000; Robert Grimm of Strategic Financial $8000; Stephen Fry of Fry Steel $8000; Yokohl Ranch $8000; Horowitz Management $8000. (David Horowitz, that is, who is also within Voters First with an additional $5000); Marion Knott Montapert $8000 (another multiple donor with an additional $2000 disclosed within Voters First too); William E. Simon $8000; Syd Liebovitch of Rodeo Realty $5000.
But for those research wonks you really want to go for it, please check out the New Majority California PAC EXPENDITURES here: http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov /...
This is where you find the actual FUNDING of petition gathering by Kimball Petition Management for Voters First (indeed), the Republican Governors Association donations, the contributions to Gov Scharzenegger's committees, various Republican county parties, mailers for Bernard Parks (candidate for LA County supervisor), and $10,000 for KARL ROVE!!!
For those of you who have gotten this far, I have a challenge. Within the California Voters First PAC, Governor Schwarzenegger's Dream Team is listed multiple times for both in-kind and monetary contributions...$280,000 here, $300,000 there...get the idea? Try to figure the total in millions and call his office to ask what each of these contributions represented. I'm curious and have simply run out of time. I also suspect many who were behind Arnold's failed Prop 77 in 2005 are behind this new incarnation.
What I am certain of is that this proposition #11 is as "fair and balanced" as Fox News. This is yet another one of these "by the rich and for the rich" propositions being marketed by the high priced Republican propagandists to harried voters. Democrats living in the Red Zones are particularly vulnerable, since they are hoping this will benefit them. It won't. It also only applies to STATE districts, and NOT to Congressional districts.
Expect the Republicans will be continuously pounding the airwaves with their lies using credible-looking endorsements from credible- sounding "good government" organizations and people.
Don't fall for it. Vote NO on PROP 11 and keep the politicians directly accountable for these critical decisions. As bad as some of them have been in the past, this certainly is not a viable alternative. The Republicans are attempting to circumvent their continuous losses in registration over the last Bush years. Don't let them do it. VOTE NO ON PROP 11

[diva77]

1. kik

[melody]

2. K&R

That will break this state up faster than anything.

[tularetom]

3. Crap like this is what's wrong with the CA initiative and referendum process

It's just too goddamned easy to get a piece a shit like this (or the anti gay marriage crap) onto the ballot and then jazz it up with language geared to fool the simpleminded into voting for it. These provisions were added to the CA constitution by the "progressives" of the early 20th Century but in this media age they are just a target for abuse by the well heeled and backward.

This ones especially insidious because they have gotten the support of legit organizations like the league of women voters and (I believe) the Sierra Club. It's a trick so Ahnuld Schickelgrubere can fill these commissions with yes men who will guarantee repub legislators as far as the eye can see.

[bananas]

4. No , the Sierra Club hasn't taken a position

[tularetom]

5. I sit corrected - that's heartening

Thanks for posting that table.

[davidinalameda]

6. they also didn't take a stance on Prop 8

yet another reason I will never join

they take a stance on Prop 4 but not Prop 8?

why?

[slackmaster]

12. They got the California Taxpayers Association, CA Common Cause, and the AARP as well as NOW

As a recent graduate to Senior Citizen status, I see things quite differently than I did in my 20s or 30s. Out-of-control spending is a serious problem. There is a reason we have hamstrung the legislature with supermajority requirements for tax increases.

[roody]

7. I voted NO.

[diva77]

8. kik to save CA from going red

[slackmaster]

11. 31.4% of the voters cannot possibly make the state turn red

No matter how creatively district boundaries are drawn.

[Auggie]

9. I voted no

It'll be a cold day in hell when I vote for anything supported by Republicans

[slackmaster]

10. I don't care who is supporting or funding it - I'm going to vote Yes

We have a bad problem with entrenched incumbency in this state, and if it takes a bunch of money from Republican interests coming into our economy from other states to get the ball rolling on a possible fix, I'm OK with that.

Gerrymandering the state into as many safe Democratic districts has two bit down sides, and maybe some of us are so married to partisan viewpoints we can't see them. They are:

1. Ideological polarization within our own party, which has made it unresponsive to the needs of voters and a consequent decline in the share of voters registering as Democrats (well under 50%!), and

2. Safe Republican seats formed from whatever is left after formation of the safe Democratic seats.

I'm sorry to have to disagree with so many outspoken people here, but after a great deal of thought and analysis that's how I feel about it.

[roveinjail]

13. will vote yes if other states do the same, but they don't

this is only a california prop (unlike gay marriage) because the republicans have run out of other ideas to increase their number of representatives from CA.
will this ever happen in texas? georgia? hell, no.

[slackmaster]

14. What goes on in other states is another thing I don't care about

That's their business.

We will still allocate our electoral votes in a winner-take-all manner.