VOTER - League of Women Voters San Jose/Santa Clara

Dr. Larry Gerston, our September speaker, specializes on the public policy process at the national and state levels. He has written eleven books, focusing on a "hands on," user-friendly approach to politics.

Gerston's most recent book, Not So Golden After All: The Rise and Fall of California, assesses California's politics in the context of a complicated, contentious socio-economic environment. Copies of the book will be available for sale at the luncheon.

Among his other books about California, Gerston has written California Politics and Government: A Practical Approach (with Terry Christensen), now in its eleventh edition (2011) and the best-selling text in its category. Previously, Gerston and Christensen teamed up to write Recall! California's Political Earthquake (2004), winner of the prestigious CHOICE award.

Along with his academic responsibilities, Professor Gerston appears regularly as the political analyst at NBC Bay Area television. He has also appeared on NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, CNN, PBS, and BBC. More than 100 of his op-ed columns have been published in leading newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, and Los Angeles Times.

Won't you join us on:

Thursday, September 20

11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Bella Mia Restaurant

58 South First Street, San Jose, CA

Lunch choices include walnut and chicken salad, turkey croissant sandwich, margherita sandwich (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar), eggplant parmesan, and linguini picatta with or without chicken. The cost is $15, payable at the door. Please RSVP, with menu choice, to Marie Arnold by Monday, September 17.

President's Message

Labor Day has always signaled for me a major shift in tempo: the end of lazy and carefree days and a return to a more active schedule, a return to business. So it is for the League. The day after Labor Day, the League Board met and mapped out a busy schedule of projects and programs.

But first, many thanks go to Sharon and Frank Sweeney for hosting our League members at our end-of-summer, August social gathering in their lovely and delightful backyard. Our members enjoyed too hearing from Pat Schowalter, League member from Los Altos-Mountain View who's been following the development of the Valley Habitat Conservation Plan and did an excellent and thorough presentation.

Our website, thanks to Pat Reardon, shows our busy September and October calendar! The League is being called upon by many groups to explain the 11 State ballot initiatives and 4 local measures, and also to moderate Candidate Forums. We have over 20 such events scheduled (our calendar only reflects public events) - and the requests keep pouring in, keeping our League volunteers busy! If you are interested and able to help, please let either Carol Lathrop, Sandy Mory or Shelly Saini know. Speakers and presenters are especially needed and training and background materials are available - plus helping to be timers, greeters, or assisting as needed - all are jobs we need help with! I urge you to be engaged and involved with us this fall.

Also keeping very busy for elections are Stacy Shepherd and Janet Hagquist, who are making sure that election materials on Smart Voter affecting our League are updated. Many thanks! Stacy comes to our league from Santa Barbara with Smart Voter experience and was able to pick up the reins from long-time volunteer Laura Grybos. SmartVoter is one of the most significant contributions that League provides voters. Our own Carol Watts continues to be major factor for its success!

In addition to nonpartisan information for voters, the League is also called upon to study issues, and be advocates for good government. We do this through Action and Advocacy. Be sure to check out our League member page for our positions on each of the ballot measures. There's a wealth of information on the State League website. I urge you to explore and learn!

Staying in tune with politics, learn more about political issues facing California with our Lunch with League speaker on September 20, SJSU political professor Larry Gerstner. See you there!

Gloria

We're on TV

Watch LWV Presents: Insights and Perspectives

LWV-SJ/SC has ventured into television. We are producing a bi-monthly program called LWV Presents: Insights and Perspectives. It will be broadcast every Saturday on CreaTV's Comcast Channel 15 (this may be different in some homes - check your viewer's guide) at 2:30 p.m. Since we shoot two episodes a month, each show will be shown twice within that month.

September programs:

Host Gloria Chun Hoo interviews Santa Clara County ROV Barry Garner and our own Carol Watts on voting issues and SmartVoter
Host Rosaleen Zisch interviews Liang Lee of the Santa Clara Valley Water District and Nancy Hobbs, a League member and member of the monitoring committee, on the upcoming parcel tax.

In October, the ballot measures will be analyzed by our Speaker's Bureau team over the course of two programs.

A link will be available on our website in the near future so those who are not Comcast subscribers can watch.

Many thanks to the CreaTV committee who have worked hard since June getting this off the ground: Co-Chairs Jim and Carol Lathrop, Gloria Chun Hoo, Shelly Saini, Rosaleen Zisch, Peter Szego, and Cecilie Schulze. Special thanks to Emma Salo who spent many hours providing us with technical assistance.

Initiative/Referendum Study

This year, we will vote on 10 state initiatives and a referendum covering everything from insurance rates to the death penalty. It's a lot of information to study, but we have it much easier than voters in 1914 who had to cast a vote on a record 48 state measures! Then again, we have it harder than voters in the 1960's who were faced with only 9 measures in the entire decade.

Originally developed as a reform tool to wrest control from special interests like the railroads, many critics feel that the initiative/referendum process has morphed into a tool of special interests - have enough money, sponsor an initiative.

The Initiative/Referendum study group met on Saturday, 9/8, to discuss the scope of the study. A lively discussion ensued. We are lucky to have Peter Szego, legislative guru, on our study. We'll be meeting monthly. Our first assignment is to read the LWVC background material. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, October 9 at the home of Virginia Holtz.

It's not too late to participate. Contact Mary Collins, study co-chair, to learn more.

Voter Service Needs You!

You will be receiving an appeal in the mail to volunteer to help with one or more of our many voter service activities. Interest is high in this presidential election year and the state ballot with its 11 propositions has brought many requests for our Speakers Bureau. We are also working with the ROV to register voters as well as school groups, the Muslim community, and others. And our candidate forum volunteers are working hard to fill all of the many requests for their services.

Please consider volunteering a couple hours of your time for this, our most essential, League activity.

Contact Shelly Saini, Voter Service chair, to volunteer or to get more information.

Vote with the League

The League of Women Voters recommends the following for the November 6th election:

PROP 30 Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act - YES
PROP 31 Government Performance and Accountability Act - NO
PROP 32 Special Exemptions Act - NO
PROP 34 SAFE California Act - YES
PROP 40 Referendum on Redistricting - YES

For a more in depth analysis of the League recommendations, go to the LWVC website.

Smart Voter

By mid-September, Smart Voter, the League's popular election website, will list names of all certified candidates running for office in November. The League never supports or opposes candidates or political parties. Instead, on Smart Voter we offer all candidates an opportunity to post their campaign messages at no cost. When people go to Smart Voter and enter their voting address, their personal ballot appears. The additional information posted by candidates helps voters make their own informed choices. Additionally, as information becomes available, background information on all state and local propositions will be included on Smart Voter. An individual's polling place location is also provided.

Vote by mail (formerly called absentee voting) ballots will be mailed early in October. Therefore, voters will be looking earlier for useful information to help them make their decisions.

Membership

Thank you to the following members for their donations to the League:

Marilyn Kupcho, Dawna Hawksworth.

It's with great sadness that we announce the death of Christy Kinney. Christy was a long-time member of our League and she'll be greatly missed. Her great laugh and boundless enthusiasm made any project in which she was involved fun. She served on the spring fundraiser committee for many years and also organized several fundraisers at JJ's Blues (where participants could see Christy's photographs of jazz legends on the walls). An avid photographer, she worked many years for the Santa Clara Weekly. Our condolences to her family and her many friends.

Ione Larson, a former LWV President, also died recently. Ione started LWVSJ/SC's first venture into television. To read more about Ione and those early days of our League, go here to read Bobbie Fischler's memories.

2012-2013 Board

At the September Board meeting, new member Stacy Shepherd was appointed to the Board. Stacy will be our League's team leader on SmartVoter. We are delighted to welcome her to our League.

Is This Another Year of the Woman?

After the last election, the number of women in Congress dropped to 16.8

percent, and the number of women in state legislatures declined by nearly 80

seats, the sharpest drop since researchers began tracking these numbers

nearly four decades ago. Internationally, the U.S. Congress ranks below 95

other countries in gender parity, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Will 2012 be the next Year of the Woman? Why is the U.S. continuing to lag

so far behind in gender parity in state legislatures and Congress? Why does

it matter and what difference do women elected officials make?

Date: Monday, September 24th, 2010

Location: Adobe Systems, 345 Park Ave, San Jose

Pricing: $10 Members & Non Members

Timing: 6:30 p.m. Check In; 7:00 p.m. A Commonwealth Club program in association with The 2012 Project

Tickets can be purchased on line at the Commonwealth Club website.

ROV Outreach

Santa Clara County's Registrar of Voters, Barry Garner, announced that he will host three Meet & Greet public meetings from September 19th - 29th. These meetings will allow the county's citizens to learn more about the voter registration and election process in preparation for the upcoming November 6th Presidential Election.

South County

Wednesday, September 19th, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Temple Emmanuel Church, 16705 Butterfield Blvd, Morgan Hill

North County

Thursday, September 20th, 10:00 am to 12:00 noon

Palo Alto Church of Christ, Main Auditorium, 3373 Middlefield Rd, Palo Alto

San Jose

Saturday, September 29th, 10:00 am to 12:00 noon

Registrar of Voters' Office, Auditorium, 1555 Berger Dr, Building 2, San Jose

In addition to questions and answers, the meetings will include a presentation about the Registrar's Office explaining the variety of activities that go into conducting an election. The event will highlight the steps taken to keep the voter registration records accurate and the ballot counting secure.

For more information, call Toll Free: (866) 430-VOTE [8683]

Calendar

Information on many of these events is available in this newsletter. See our online calendar for more information.

Sept. 18 Santa Clara Council Candidate Forum
Sept. 20 Lunch with League
Sept. 22 Watershed Summit - see Aug. Voter
Sept. 23 Pros/Cons - Saratoga Library
Sept. 25 National Voter Registration Day
Sept. 29 Pros/Cons - AAUW - Camden Community Center
Oct. 4 Santa Clara School District Forum
Oct. 6 Pros/Cons - Gilroy Library
Oct. 13 Gilroy Mayor and City Council Candidate Forum
Oct. 18 Lunch with League
Oct. 22 Last Day to Register to Vote
Oct. 23 Pros/Cons - Milpitas Library
Nov. 6 Election Day
Nov. 15 Lunch with League
Dec. 4 Holiday Party (Details TBA)
Feb. 27 Initiative/Referendum Consensus Meeting

Events may be added before the next Voter. Visit our website for current listings.

Address / Email Change

To keep our records current please send any changes to your address, email address, or phone number, to our Dues Secretary, Sandy Remmers, at randsremmers@gmail.com. The only updates she receives are on the renewal form which is only sent once a year.

The Voter

The LWV-SJ/SC Voter is distributed monthly. Article deadline is the 20th of the month. If you have questions or comments, contact Cecilie Schulze, the Voter Editor.

Join Our League

Visit our website to join our League.

___________________________________________________________________

Democracy is not a spectator sport! Educate! Advocate!

_________________________________________________________