Money trumps all in elections - RIP Proposition 49

The California Supreme Court has spoken - As of now, they will not allow an advisory measure asking our legislature to ask Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment overturning the Citizen's United decision. You know, the one that said corporations are people and money is speech.  This measure was sponsored by former Secretary of State candidate and former head of Common Cause, Derek Cressman, a true reformer.

The reasoning of the Court is that the law is unclear if such advisory measures are allowed under State law. (Note: Election Code section 9603 specifically allows advisory measures in local elections.) They may revisit the issue in time for 2016 election, but for now, Proposition 49 is dead.

Only one justice dissented, the Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye. She noted that a similar advisory measure was passed in 1892 that called for the direct election of U.S. Senators, something we all take for granted now. Cantil-Sakauye is, interestingly enough, a Republican appointed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So, does this mean we will have even more Corporate Democrats in the Legislature as time goes on? Cynics would say the answer is obvious. Who else can afford to run without their own Daddy Warbucks to foot the bill?

Local Press picks up Gavin Newsom talk on California pot legalization

Hot off the press: Today's Marin Independent Journal prints front page article on yesterday's talk by our Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom on legalizing marijuana. There will probably be a ballot measure in 2016, if they can get the right mix of regulations, enforcement and so on. Wouldn't I love to work on that one! (And yes, I inhaled, way back in my misspent youth.)

Here is the quote from me they used and pic of me shaking Gavin's hand:

        Dotty LeMieux, a veteran Marin political campaign manager and consultant who  attended   Tuesday's luncheon, said, "Gavin is known for taking strong, controversial stands. I think he senses a change in the wind, that California is ready, or getting ready, to make a change."  Read more.
 
The question on everybody's mind? Is he running for Governor or Senator next?

Is California ready for legalized pot?

Today I put on my lawyer clothes and ventured out to hear our Lieutenant Governor, the effervescent Gavin Newsom, former Mayor of San Francisco who started the ball rolling on same sex marriage. Never one to shy from a controversy Gavin spent about 45 minutes regaling a group of lawyers from the Marin County Bar Association with all the reasons marijuana should be legalized, taxed and regulated in our State.

Your blogger with Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom

From the fact that it's as easy to find as a six pack already to the statistics that show enforcement on all drug violations fall disproportionately on minorities, he was riveting, and convincing, to listen to. Facts and figures at his fingerrtips, this man had done his homework.

Marijuana is listed as a schedule one drug at the Federal level, putting it on the same level with heroin and above cocaine and meth amphetamine. I'm not sure how that came to be, but I think it's a holdover from the days of "Reefer Madness" when people really beleived it was a killer weeed and gateway to hard drugs and a life of depravity.

Watch on YouTube from 1937

 Smoke pot and go to jail? Or smoke pot, support your local economy?

Campaign Training in Modesto

This weekend the Campaign Slut, aka me, drove the 103 miles from Marin to Modesto California to do a training with the  Women's Democratic Club of Stanislaus County. This is a fairly red part of the State, Central Valley agriculture hit hard by the drought. Represented in Congress by Jeff Denham, a right wing Republican who has had a lock on the District for 4 years.  Last cycle, a former astronaut Jose Hernandez was the challenger, this year it's Michael Eggman, local farmer and bee keeper.

The very energetic group of active Democratic women, and a few good men, group was eager to learn how best to help their candidate, and, of course, there were varying levels of campaign sophistication and experience in the room (some elected officials, some candidates, one woman who is very active with the Brady campaign).  I did a power point that was fairly general (I think I bored a lot of people, sorry!), then hit a specific bit of campaign advice which I would have imparted to the candidate if he was there:

    "Dude," I wanted to say, in my slutty snarky way, "When you head a section of your
     website,'Why I am running,' you need to be specific. Answer that all important question on
     every voter's mind: 'What can you do for me?' It's great to want to clean up Congress,
     work for bi-partisan co-operation and all that 'Can't we all just get along?' stuff, but how
     will you accomplish this lofty goal, and how will this help the Central Valley and your
     constituency?"

Of course, if he was there, I would have said this in a very adult way, with no snark whatsoever. In fact, I found some specifics on another website, for the Democratic candidate for Assembly, Harinder Grewal,  who discussed some very specific issues which provided a good example of how to answer the question..

In this mostly red area of our State, which has been targeted by those with the purse strings, notably the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or D Triple C, or just D Trip). the right message delivered with the right materials to the right set of voters (in this case, low propensity turnout Democrats and Independents) can make all the difference.

The right message will answer that all important question on every voter's mind.

Your Candidate Statement

For some people, those 200 words on the ballot will be all they read about your campaign. So make the most of them.

As noted in an earlier post, not all jurisdictions have the same requirements for how you organize those 200 words, so be sure you know the local rules first. Then proceed to answer the question on every voter's mind: What can you do for me?

Are you proposing new jobs, more business, less development? Whatever your issues are, list them succinctly and coherently in a few short paragraphs. State your qualifications. Are you the incumbent? If so, how have you improved the City or District? Are you looking to move up the political food chain? If so, how will what you have done in your current job help improve the lives of voters in the new one? Below is an example of a Planning Commissioner running for City Council. He mentions what he's done and specifics of what he'll do. His website is listed at the end.

Are you running against an incumbent? While you are not allowed to mention any opponents by name or description, you can say things like "For a long time, this District has been at an impasse. My skills (doing x, y z) will help move us forward. Then say how.

Be sure you list any high profile endorsers and mention your website.

Consistency is Crucial in Campaigns

Is your campaign look, feel and messaging consistent in all media? That is, does your sign have your logo and the same color theme as your website? Do your email blasts to supporters and volunteers use the same look, maybe coupled with a picture of you that is the same as on the website and in your materials?

Does your mail continue the theme with logo, photos and messaging?

Make sure you are consistent in all things to do with your campaign, and you won't confuse the voters, or worse, send mixed messages or give the impression your campaign is sloppy or seat of the pants, not well organized and thoughtful.

Below are some examples of a successful coordinated campaign in signs, website and messaging:

Richard Benson's sign for Assessor in Marin County, California

Benson mail mock up

Benson logo at top of home page

Is it time for uniformity in ballot statement rules?

Did you know that the rules for how you prepare your ballot statement is different all over the state? In California at least. The Election Code only prescribes that:

       ELE §13307. (a) (1) Each candidate for nonpartisan elective office in any local agency, 
       including any city, county, city and county, or district, may prepare a candidate’s statement 
       on an appropriate form provided by the elections official. The statement may include the 
       name, age, and occupation of the candidate and a brief description, of no more than 200 
       words, of the candidate’s education and qualifications expressed by the candidate himself 
       or herself. However, the governing body of the local agency may authorize an increase 
       in the limitations on words for the statement from 200 to 400 words. The statement shall 
       not include the party affiliation of the candidate, nor membership or activity in partisan 
       political organizations. 

This means different counties apply different standards above and beyond this, which sometimes come into conflict with the law. For instance, in Santa Clara you must indent paragraphs but not have spaces between them. You also cannot have more than 22 lines. Other counties format the statements themselves and don't worry about the lines. In Marin County, you may not indent and you must have no more than 4 paragraphs. If you have more, they simply run a few together.

Most Counties prohibit italics, all CAPS, highlighting and bullet points.  But even within counties, different standards prevail depending on the election and the official administering it, from what I gathered looking over some recent published statements.

This can be confusing to a novice, or even experienced, candidate, who try to submit a carefully worded statement only to find he has run afoul of some arcane rule or another.

I think it might be time for some uniform rules for all Counties to follow. Until then, know the rules in your County well ahead of time, then craft your statement accordingly.