Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Party Like It's 1975

Pride Kick-off Reception - July 16th

San Diego Democrats for Equality's Pride Kick-Off Reception has become a "must be there" event over the years. This year's party, as we celebrate our 40th anniversary as a chartered Democratic club, will be even more so.

Join us as we kick-off San Diego LGBT Pride with fabulous food, drink (no-host bar), elbow rubbing with officeholders/candidates and camaraderie at the 2015 event on July 16th. Once again, Great Maple has incredible treats planned for us and we expect a host of Democratic officeholders/officials eager to celebrate our anniversary and our Pride together.

Thursday, July 16th, 5:30-7:00 PM

Great Maple - 1451 WASHINGTON STREET

SAN DIEGO, CA 92103

Cost: FREE Patron level members (member and one guest) (RSVP HERE)

FREE Sponsoring level members (member only) (RSVP HERE)

$15 Sustaining level member Purchase Tickets HERE

$30 General/Limited Income Club Members Purchase Tickets HERE

$35 non-Members Purchase Tickets HERE

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Join/Renew Now - Ensure Representation

Each Statewide election year, the California Democratic Party organizes meetings to determine the endorsements it makes in critical races throughout the State. The next series of these meetings will be in January 2016. In addition to County/District delegates and representatives of officeholders, the State Party allocates votes at these meetings to Democratic Club representatives. For every 20 members a Club has in a given Assembly District as of July 1, 2015, that Club will receive one delegate to the endorsement meeting.

San Diego Democrats for Equality is working to ensure that our community has the maximum representation possible when these meetings help to determine the direction and future of the Democratic Party. If you are not a member of Dems for Equality, please consider joining - this month. If you've let your membership lapse, please renew - this month. Together, we can make sure that your voice for equality and progressive politics is heard

The Club depends on membership dues to keep the lights on and promote our candidates and issues to the community. A large number of community members depend on our Voters Guide to help them make an intelligent choice when marking their ballots so your membership renewal is critical to ensure those Guides get into those hands. At the risk of sounding like a Public Television pledge drive, if you depend on our endorsements, Voters Guide, newsletters, social media posts and programs, you should be a member!

If your membership has lapsed or if you know your membership is soon to expire, please re-up now. You might also consider upgrading your membership to a higher level.

Dems for Equality would like to welcome back Christine Kehoe and Julie Warren who renewed at the Sponsor level and Miyo Reff and Mitchell Reff who renewed at the Sustaining level. Thanks also to Salvador Arechiga and Jeff Wergeles who we also welcome back for another year.

You can find out more about the Club's membership levels and benefits online HERE. You can also join/renew with a credit card there. If you would prefer to use a check, send the check, made out to Democrats for Equality to:

San Diego Democrats for Equality

PO Box 33050

San Diego CA 92163

Note that in order to comply with Federal and State election laws, please include your full address and your job title/employer with your check. Telephone number and email address would be nice too!

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Endorsement Meeting June 30th

NOTE:

SCOTUS may hand down it's marriage equality decision on June 30. Because multiple candidates have agreed to participate and are preparing for the Club's endorsement meeting, we WILL be conducting our meeting on Tuesday, June 30. Come celebrate with us by participating in the democratic process.

2016 begins now. In the past we have allowed ourselves to get bogged down in unproductive contests between progressives vying for a "safe seat". While we are distracted by these shiny prizes, we allow Republicans to take the more competitive races. When you add in the 50%+1 Primary system that both San Diego City and County utilize that allow a ridiculously small number of people to elect someone to office without even competing in a general election, we can't afford to be distracted this election season.

On Tuesday, June 30th, we will consider endorsements in the 78th Assembly District race as well as the 3rd and 9th San Diego City Council Districts. These are all some of those safe Democratic districts that we shouldn't need to expend a large amount of time and money to keep that way. We also plan to endorse in the Presidential race - for a different reason. Even in Presidential election cycles with huge competition, the race rarely (if ever) stays competitive all the way to the California Primary in June. We'd like to have our voices heard this year before the race is decided.

We will have a representative from the Clinton and Sanders campaigns to address the meeting. If you are aware of someone to knowledgeably speak on behalf of Lincoln Chafee or Martin O'Malley, let us know HERE. We have invited all announced candidates to take part in our process in the other races we will be considering. We have also extended the invitation to potential candidates who have not yet announced upon their request.

To be considered for endorsement, all local candidates (not Statewide or National) must complete and submit our candidate questionnaire. It will be scored by our Vice President for Political Action and while questionnaires completed by candidates will not be sent out prior to the meeting, they will be made available for review by members at the endorsement meeting.

The meeting will also have a candidate forum, Q & A time and debate time for each contested race. The Club will decide whether to endorse (majority vote) and who to endorse (60% majority). The percentage is determined based on the number of members present, not the number of members voting. The vote will be by secret ballot if requested by any member.

If you are not already a member of Dems for Equality, you may not vote to endorse a candidate at the June 30th meeting (you can still join and vote in the next round of endorsements). Our rules require voters to have been members for at least 25 days before the endorsement meeting on June 30th with one exception. Former members whose membership lapsed 65 days or less before the meeting (membership expirations between April 27, 2015 and June 29, 2015) can renew before or at the endorsement meeting and vote at that same meeting.

The June 30th meeting will take place at Joyce Beers Uptown Community Center, 3900 Vermont Street (in Hillcrest) San Diego, CA 92103. Social at 6:30 PM, Endorsement Meeting at 7 PM.

Having your voice heard regarding candidate endorsements is one of the primary privileges of membership in San Diego Democrats for Equality. If you're not at the table, you're on the menu. You can still take part in future endorsement meetings. Join, rejoin or renew and make sure you make a difference in 2016. You can join/renew online HERE.

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Pride is Coming

Dems for Equality will be stepping out with Pride next month. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of our chartering as a Democratic Club we want to make a big splash to highlight all the accomplishments that have gotten our community to where it is today.

We've invited officeholders, other Democratic Clubs and Party officials to march with us in the Pride Parade on Saturday, July 18th. Now, we're asking you! We've got a great story to tell and we need your help telling it. Dust off your walking shoes and start training. (It's actually a reasonably short walk and even if you don't normally get started early in the day, the energy from the crowd will give you the push you need).

We've also got some surprises for our booth at the Festival this year. We need help staffing: answering questions, registering voters and just letting the community know we're here to keep the momentum going. If you can help at the reception, march in the parade or taking a shift or two in the booth, Please let us know HERE.

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A Statement from Francine Busby

San Diego Democrats for Equality has not taken a position on TPP/TAA/Fast Track, but other Party organizations and office holders have. Last week we published a statement from Rep. Scott Peters regarding his vote. In the interest of equal time and access, we include County Party Chair Francine Busby's statement on the issue.

June 12, 2015

Although we are happy with the overall result of today's votes on trade, we are disappointed in Democratic Representatives Susan Davis and Scott Peters," said Francine Busby, Chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party. "Unfortunately, they voted to abandon their responsibility to debate and oversee trade agreements with the full participation of Congress and the public. Secretive agreements like this are simply inconsistent with our democratic process.

It is especially disheartening that Reps. Davis and Peters sided with the big corporations that would benefit, without assurances that there are measures in the bill to protect the hundreds of thousands workers whose jobs may be lost. If the fast-track trade legislation comes up for another vote, we urge them to reconsider their positions and do the right thing.

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Say No To ALEC

The Clearly Not So Smart-ALEC

Ever wonder how really bad legislation suddenly pops up in State legislatures all around the country? It's not a coincidence when right-wing legislators in multiple States decide to restrict voting rights for active duty military personnel, or vote to privatize State prisons, etc.

There is a shadowy organization made up of tea party Republican legislators, wealthy right-wing contributors and large, multinational corporations who draft "model legislation" for use around the Country to restrict voting rights to the right people; to prevent effective election reform; to stop health care reform; to restrict worker's rights; and a host of other anti-human proposals. The name of this organization is the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC.

ALEC depends on secrecy. It's member corporations and wealthy donors don't want their reputation tarnished by public acknowledgement of their participation. And, God knows, many officeholders/candidates who kiss-up to this group and carry their bills, don't want the public to know who is pulling the strings.

So, Guess What? ALEC is coming to San Diego and we're going public on this subversive organization.

San Diego's Mayor will be on the inside taking his marching orders from ALEC. We're going to be outside making sure the public knows who ALEC is, how ALEC is trying to limited San Diego citizen's rights, and which local politicians are in their (very deep) pockets with anti-LGBT, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-minority and anti-worker "models".

Where: OUTSIDE the Manchester Grand Hyatt (where else?)

When: July 22, 2015 Time: TBD

More info: Click HERE

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