How I slandered myself -- Final End

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Date Posted: 01:27:12 10/05/03 Sun
Author: Drummond
Subject: How I slandered myself

Some of you may have read "my article" in the recent Anderson Valley Advertiser entitled "20 Reasons to Support the Recall." I first heard about my article at a recent memorial for a lost friend locally, when someone congratulated me on my "great article" about Davis - although he was going to vote "No" against my advice.

My advice? For the record I oppose the recall, though it won't break my heart if Davis goes down, so long as he's replaced by somebody sane (not looking good at this point).

It's my article, but it wasn't my title. Actually, it wasn't an article. It was a free-form list of gripes about Davis made at the request of a participant on the Democratic-Left e-mail discussion list. Last year, I published an article on the Camejo campaign of 2002 in New Politics, a Dissent-lite lefty journal out of Albany, NY. I attacked Davis a little bit in that article. In August of this year, one of the editors asked if I would provide 20 reasons progressives weren't going to bat for Davis in the recall election.

So I posted it as written below. I had some information, and threw it together in the course of 20 minutes, mostly off the top of my head, with some help from articles in the SF Bay Guardian and the LA Weekly. I got a few of the facts wrong actually, and the grammar is horrible. In fact, some of the sentences aren't even sentences. Had I any idea it would be published in the AVA or anywhere else, I would have put in a little more effort.

Someone with a blog about the recall sent me an off-list e-mail asking for permission to post my piece there. I said fine. Who reads these blogs anyway, right?

Apparently, the list got passed around by e-mail, and somehow arrived in Bruce Anderson's office with a new title.

I wrote to him about it. He does support the recall - anything to stir the pot and throw some attention on Camejo. He apologized for not editing the piece to make it publication worthy, but the asshole didn't publish my corrective letter! I guess he thought it was just a personal missive, and he apparently will publish it next week - which is AFTER the recall election.

Wouldn't it be an irony if I actually swayed somebody, and in a close election brought about Reagan the Sequel? Actually, that sounds kind of cool in a way. But I wish it would be as easy to get published when I'm trying!

Eric

20 reasons progressives aren't going to bat for davis

As promised:

1. Instead of seizing portions of the grid and pushing for a repeal of
power deregulation, Davis attempted to "solve" the energy crisis by paying
an exhorbitant price for power that ended up a surplus anyway. The money
went to those companies who all seemed to have flipped switches in concert
to squeeze California consumers for even more, while all of the Municipal
Utilities Districts not dependant on public power outperformed all of the
privatized areas without exception - faced with the same regulations the
private companies all whine about. Davis' lack of leadership, and pandering
to power companies, probably set the state back as much as 10 billion
dollars, aggravating the budget problem. And the contracts lock us into
non-renewable sources of energy against stated policy.

2. He hasn't met a prison he didn't like, and even held out to make sure
there were NO cuts to the prison system in the latest budget crunch
(including a 7% prision guard pay raise this year), as everything else
starving for funds except maybe Caltrans. We already have the highest
incarceration rate of any state, and higher than any country in the world.
The prison guard union loves him consequently, and they may save his ass.
He opposed prop 36, which has actually eased the prison burdern a little bit
by mandating community service and treatment over prison for minor drug
convictions. Also vetoed AB 1440 which would have restored the right of
journalists to interview prisoners face to face, saying, "this bill is
inconsistent with the national trend to reduce, not expand, rights of
prisoners."

3. He doesn't just support "3 strikes and your out." He's a demogogue
about it, and vehemently opposed any moderation of it, including
requirements that the third strike be a violent crime. Riordan actually has
a more sane approach to the issue.

4. Same with the death penalty. Rabid supporter, not just a slight
pandering to the law and order crowd.

5. Vetoed the "Driving while black" inspired legislation that would have
required police to keep track of the ethnic breakdown of their pullovers,
and would have required videotape records of each arrest.

6. Vehemently opposed sunshine law proposals that would essentially have
maintained the freedom of information act in California even if the federal
government weasles out of it.

7. Vetoed a bipartisan internet voting registration bill, and opposed other
measures making it easier to vote.

8. Vetoed a bill making it easier for legal residents to get driver's
licenses on the basis that illegal aliens might get them, and thus
terrorists could get them. He's recently signed a similar bill, probably
out of desperation to bring the Hispanic vote out to save his ass.

9. Vetoed the racial tracking bill that would have mandated businesses and
unions to track the racial makeup of their workforce so that the state could
track the progress of integration and expanded opportunity - despite
safegards protecting the businesses in question from having the information
used against them in discrimination suits.

10. Despite democratic rule of both legislative houses, Davis has appointed
tepid to conservative judges all over the state.

11. Nonviolent protesters now face county-jail sentences of 90 days to one
year and fines up to $1,000. SB 1796 would have capped penalties at $100 and
a maximum of two days in county jail for nonviolent civil disobedience,
including trespassing (not on residential properties), unlawful assembly and
public nuisance. Davis vetoed the bill.

12. Domestic violence is on the rise in California, and only limited
information is available on the effectiveness of court procedures to stop
it. AB 2652 ould have established a Domestic Violence Court Task Force to
assess the day-to-day operations of domestic-violence courts and recommend
improvements. Reason for veto: $100,000 cost.

13. SB 783 would have made corporate officers and directors eligible for
civil penalties of up to $100,000 if they did not notify the state attorney
general or a government agency of fraud within their firm. The measure also
provided employees with a whistle-blower hot line run by the attorney
general. Davis caved to the oil industry and manufacturers organizations who
framed their arguments in terms of the 5th amendment right to remain silent,
and holding people responsible for actions they didn't commit. Well, the
5th would trump the legislation anyway, if the information would tend to
incriminate the potential whistleblower. Also vetoed a measure that would
have protected government whistleblowers!

14. Vetoed a measure that would have made the current anti-SLAPP law more
effective by focusing the law on the protection of political activity rather
than commercial speech. Currently, companies are misusing the law,
originally intended to protect the little guy from frivolous litigation from
the big guy.

15. AB 1972 would have mandated consumer awareness of the health risks of
contaminants found in drinking water. The levels of contaminants are now
made public only when they exceed the maximum contaminant level set by the
Department of Health Services. The measure would have required water systems
to report contaminants that exceed their public-health goals. Davis vetoed
it saying that $75,000 is too high, and the reports might alarm the public.

16. Continues to pretend the voters never passed the medical marijuana law,
and refuses to implement the law at the state level. Vetoed a bill that
would have dedicated money to research re industrial hemp. Vetoed the clean
needle distribution bill. Basically pimping for cops again.

17. Vetoed a bill that would have created a state office of homelessesness
to coordinate services and identify problems with serving homeless people
and making recommendations for policy purposes. 1/2 million was too high a
price for Davis. Also vetoed a bill that would have improved access to
mental health care, reversing a little of what Reagan did. Also vetoed a
bill that would have mandated MediCal pay more for services rendered to low
income people in order to create more of an incentive to serve those
communities - vetoed on the basis that it "discriminates" against the middle
class.

18. Pretty good on the environment actually, but caters to timber companies
so that the Department of Forestry is always filing amicus briefs on behalf
of the logging companies when the latter are faced with lawsuits. Resisted
moves to pesticide regulation in the watersheds of the valley. Vetoed a
measure that would have regulated the handling of radioactive waste.

19. Has set records for vetoes. He faces a democratic legislature, yet
vetoed 275 bills last year. I think the conservatives are making a mistake
with the recall, because he's really the last line of defense for
conservatives.

20. He's a dweeb.

Eric

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