Courage Campaign… Reborn

I was so happy to see that Paul Song had been elected to a non-profit board I serve on. Friday was our annual meeting and I got to meet him in person. He's done an incredible job as Executive Chairman of another organization, Courage Campaign. He started running Courage when Rick Jacobs, the founder, became Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles. I was thrilled to learn that Paul has expanded the scope of the organization and that the main focus has shifted in a direction which has them spending more time and energy fighting against economic inequality.

During the lunch break, he actually started talking with me about how corporations are financing conservative politicians to run as Democrats. It's a topic DWT is always up for. And Paul started quoting Orinda shithead Steve Glazer-- exactly what we were looking at Thursday: Trying To Redefine What It Means To Be A Democrat… In A Bad Way. Glazer, like many of the worst excuses for Democrats, is a complete whore for Big Business-- but good with gay marriage and other social issues.

One possible addition to the Blue Dog ranks this year might be Steve Glazer, until last year a top advisor to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who later worked as a consultant to the chamber. Glazer, an Orinda city councilman, now seeks an Alameda County seat in the Assembly.

"I am trying to redefine what it means to be a Democrat," Glazer told one reporter.

For sure, Glazer has parted company with the labor unions that support most Democratic campaigns. But that doesn't make him any less liberal on issues from gay rights to gun control and abortion, areas of relatively little interest to business.

This is how Paul put it in a recent letter to Courage Campaign members:

Something weird is going on in California. Maybe you've noticed.

In 2012, millions of Californians voted for common sense when we passed Prop 30. We raised taxes on the wealthiest Californians because schools and safety net services-- like childcare, healthcare, nutrition, and housing-- had been cut to the bone.

Fast forward to 2014 and billions in cuts to the safety net still haven't been restored. Prop 30 funds are earmarked for a rainy-day, even though the economic storm is still pouring down on 25% of Californians who live in poverty. That's more than 9 million people! Fracking is poisoning our water because a corporate friendly bill was jammed through the Legislature, and passing an oil extraction tax is an epic struggle, even though 75% of Californians support one. I could go on and cite a dozen more examples that impact our healthcare, environment, and civil liberties.

So what happened? As voters, we turned out in record numbers and did our part to fix a "broken" California. We voted to fix a crazy budget process through a simple majority vote. We won electoral reforms to reduce the power of political parties and insure top two vote getters-- regardless of party-- move on to the general election. And the best part was that the people voting began to look more like the actual people who live in California, thanks to more diverse participation. TOGETHER WE VOTED FOR A MORE PROGRESSIVE CALIFORNIA.

But instead of listening to what Californians wanted, corporations and Big Business had a different plan-- they changed their tactics and are now gaming the system. And we need your help to stop them.

Big Business special interests don't care about political parties. The Chamber of Commerce now funds as many Democrats as Republicans. And with corporate lobbyists funding more and more so-called "moderate" legislators, corporations like Walmart and Chevron are accepting the state's increasingly progressive demographics while maintaining and even expanding their political influence. Recent scandals involving State Senators Leland Yee and Ron Calderon have only made it clearer that some of our elected officials are the puppets of corporate interests, while other politicians who honestly believe in doing their best for Californians are limited by their colleagues' allegiance to corporate power.

  At Courage, we don't care about political parties either. We care about issues and values, and we will hold elected officials accountable for their actions, their money, and their votes.

  So, what can we do to make sure California is accountable to the people and not Big Business? Courage Campaign has a plan. We're going to expose any elected official that chooses to represent corporations rather than constituents. We will hold legislators accountable by educating our 900,000 members like you, Paul, whenever a corporate stooge is pretending to have your back, while he or she really represents AT&T, PG&E, or the Koch Brothers.

Sign me up for that one!