BI-PARTISAN SUPPORT AGAINST CLEAN ELECTIONS? IS ANGELIDES AS BAD AS SCHWARZENEGGER? WHERE'S FEINGOLD WHEN WE NEED HIM?

Oh, from time to time you may hear me make a disparaging remark or two about a Democrat. But even the absolute worst, most treacherous Democrats-- not counting Zell Miller or Joe Lieberman, who are in a category of their own-- aren't as bad as the best Republican. And I mean that literally. The most reactionary Dem in the Senate-- at least in terms of voting-- is unquestionably Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who is wrong on almost every single important issue, from Iraq to the Paris Hilton Inheritance Tax. He's the only Senate Democrat to rank less than a 70% rank on Progressive Punch-- and he gets an abysmal 48%! The least reactionary Republican, Lincoln Chafee, is worse than Nelson (44%). And in the House, the contrast is even more marked, with the most reactionary couple of Democrats, Gene Taylor (MS- 48%) and Dan Boren (OK- 50%), significantly better than the two least reactionary Republicans, Rodney Alexander (LA- 33%) and Christopher Shays (CT- 31%).

When I endorsed Phil Angelides over Steve Westley in the Democratic primary for Governor of California, I began by answering the question "Is Arnold really that bad?" That bad and more. Schwarzenegger may not be as bad as George Bush or Dick Cheney, but he is absolutely terrible on substantive issues facing Californians. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that Angelides is absolutely wonderful-- or even worse-- on some. Overall is Angelides better than Schwarzenegger? Of course; there's no comparison. But I want to talk about one issue today on which the two corrupt sell-out political parties both stink.

If you're a Californian you probably know by now that the Clean Elections ballot measure qualified for the November election. It's a public financing initiative based on systems already in place in Arizona, Maine, Connecticut, Portland, Oregon and Albuquerque, New Mexico. As the press release last week from Californian for Clean Elections explained last week, it's "intended to enable elected leaders to focus on the wishes and needs of all its citizens rather than their campaign contributors, and to ensure that elections are about the candidates’ ideas and not about the amount of money they raise. The California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act establishes a system of public financing for candidates who reject private money and sets tougher limits on contributions from corporations, unions and private individuals. It also closes some current campaign finance loopholes and strives to reduce the influence of professional lobbyists. It contains strong enforcement provisions as well."

Whether money is indeed the root of all evil or not, few people would disagree that money is most certainly the root of all evil in electoral politics-- at least they wouldn't disagree in private. But parties of the Right-- which is based on representing the interests of the moneyed class, have always argued for the unfettered ability to... well, in short, buy elections with their money. I mean, if your agenda serves the interests of 5-10% (10% at a stretch) of the population, how you going to get 50.1% of the votes? They have many ways, of course-- from insisting they count the votes with their corrupted blackbox computers to getting into bed with racists and religionist whackjobs-- but money has always been what they have been able to count on to win regardless of policies that adversely effect upwards of 90% of potential voters.

You often hear Democrats-- more likely grassroots Democrats than entrenched, elected Democrats-- fuming about Republicans' ability to gather and spend enormous sums of money. Of course Democratic Insiders (especially in safely blue urban districts) have more to fear from grassroots and populist Democrats than from Republicans and they also have their sources of Big Money. The Republicans may have "worse" and richer special interests, but business-oriented Democrats do just fine in that arena as well-- especially the real whores like Joe Lieberman, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Rahm Emanuel, Al Wynn, Steny Hoyer...

As Marc Cooper put it so well in "Legally Corrupt" last week, "So while naive liberals might now be expecting Phil [Angelides] and the party to throw their weight behind real campaign-finance reform, it's more likely they're about to learn that there really is no difference between the two parties on this issue. The fight around the November clean-money initiative promises to be a monumental battle between the entirety of the political establishment on the one hand, and the CNA and some consumer advocates on the other. We've seen this sort of sordid spectacle before, so why any shock? We saw Democrats gang up with Republicans in the recent past to defeat an energy re-regulation measure, as well as one for statewide universal health care."

Cooper comes very close to the heart of the matter. This is definitely a major "us against them" battle royale but Angelides and Schwarzenegger are on the same side this time. This is a battle of plain folks (grassroots) against the career politicians of the Establishment. They have a lot more in common with each other than they do with us. (And the mass media is on their side.)

Does this mean you shouldn't vote for Angelides? Of course not. He'll make a far, far less toxic governor than Schwarzenegger. Last week Russ Feingold's Progressive Patriots Fund Community endorsed Angelides. Not a rustle of a leaf. But what's $5,000 for someone who knows how to collect dirty, filthy developer money? Feingold should have given it where it could have made a difference, to a candidate like Donna Edwards or Jerry McNerney or Rick Penberthy or John Laesch or Jon Tester... anyone here.

"Phil," wrote Russ, "is running for Governor to increase educational opportunities, provide higher quality health care to more people, and protect taxpayers by fighting corporate corruption. He believes in investing in communities and protecting the environment. I'm proud to say that Phil and I have a great deal in common on the important issues facing our country, and I look forward to helping to elect him as California's next Governor. I urge you to check out Phil's website to learn more about this exceptional candidate. And I urge Russ to read DWT to learn about Angelides stand on Clean Elections. Isn't that a Russ issue?

Oh, one after thought here. It is important to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger with Phil Angelides in November. It's far more important-- far, far more important-- that we pass the Clean Elections Initiative.


UPDATE: THE BEST PIECE I'VE SEEN ON INDEPENDENCE DAY

Nathan Newman covers an alternative idea for Independence Day contemplation-- the real story of Ulysses Grant: why he was truly a great president and how the far right destroyed his historical reputation. Nathan writes about "the legacy of racism, of rightwing smear machines operating on a century-long scale, and the roots of the rightwing corporate takeover of the Republican Party. The piece basically argues that we should honor Grant as really the true founder of our nation based on 'all men being created equal' and should hold pride of place on the 4th of July honoring the true founding of our nation in the wake of the Civil War." I can't recommend it strongly enough.


UPDATE: HAS ANYONE HEARD FROM ANGELIDES YET?

Steve Lopez has a little update in today's L.A. Times. Proposition 89 "would strictly limit campaign contributions by corporations, unions and individuals; put a lid on candidate spending; and establish publicly financed campaigns paid for with a .2% increase in the corporate income tax rate... It has almost everyone in Sacramento in a dither. The California Chamber of Commerce is aghast. The California Taxpayers' Assn. is against. Big Pharma, oil and insurance lobbyists are almost certainly hyperventilating. Legislators aren't exactly leading cheers and neither are the candidates for governor. And I just learned that the powerful California Teachers Assn. has joined the nattering naysayers."

Schwarzenegger is a hideous corporate whore who has degraded the political system in California and turned his administration into a whorehouse. If you expect anything but the worst from Schwarzenegger, you must be insane. On the other hand, we have every right to expect much more from Phil Angelides.