Weekly Update – 6.16.18
It’s been another productive week for Your CDP Team. See below for a recap of this week’s activities.
Unity!
On Wednesday, Your CDP Headquarters was the scene of a phenomenal unity rally to celebrate Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom’s leadership of our statewide ticket. CDP Chair Eric C. Bauman hosted the event, which featured remarks from Lt. Governor Newsom, Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon – and a surprise guest, Governor Jerry Brown, who endorsed Lt. Governor Newsom in his remarks.
They were joined onstage by our CDP-endorsed candidates for statewide office – Alex Padilla, Xavier Becerra, Betty Yee, Fiona Ma, Ricardo Lara and Tony Thurmond – as well as CDP Vice Chair Alex Gallardo Rooker, Secretary Jenny Bach, Controller Dan Weitzman, former CDP Chair Sen. John Burton and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Sternberg. Check out the video highlights below:
We’re not gonna lie… Seeing these talented and progressive leaders on stage together was inspiring. This is the most diverse, most talented, and most accomplished Democratic ticket in generations. And we know they are going to lead us to our third consecutive clean sweep of statewide races in November.
And Speaking of Unity…
On Thursday, Chair Bauman was delighted to announce an agreement between Ambassador Eleni Kounalakis and Senator Ed Hernandez to forgo seeking the CDP endorsement at our upcoming Executive Board meeting in July. You can read the full statement here, but we want to highlight Chair Bauman’s praise for Senator Hernandez and Ambassador Kounalakis:
“Ed Hernandez and Eleni Kounalakis have demonstrated extraordinary and thoughtful leadership with this decision. They are putting the unity and integrity of the Party above their own considerations, and that is exactly the kind of leadership Californians expect from Democrats. I am proud that our Party will be represented by these two talented and progressive leaders in the race for Lieutenant Governor.”
London Breed Makes History
Your CDP Team is delighted to congratulate London Breed for becoming the first Black Woman ever elected Mayor of San Francisco. We are very excited to have such a talented and exciting Woman of Color leading one of the most iconic cities in the world. Congratulations, Mayor-Elect Breed!
CDP Post-Primary Endorsement Process
The 2018 CDP Post-Primary Endorsement Process Memo is now available – click here to read.
Per CDP By-Laws, if a CDP-endorsed candidate in the Primary Election advances to the General Election in a race, that endorsement remains in effect (e.g we endorsed Tony Thurmond for SPI, and that endorsement carries over to November).
Otherwise, the post-Primary endorsement process will be held in the manner outlined in the memo for Federal and State offices – U.S. Senate, State Constitutional Office, U.S. House, State Senate and State Assembly.
Please note, the rules vary depending on whether one Democratic candidate advances to the General Election or two Democratic candidates advance to the General Election and neither candidate received the Pre-Primary endorsement.
Yeah, we know it’s a little confusing – if you have questions, contact the CDP Political Department at 916.442.5707 or visit the CDP Endorsements page for more information.
CDP Rules Committee Updates
Bylaw Amendments for Consideration – Several bylaw amendments will be up for consideration at the July 2018 Executive Board Meeting. For a full list of amendments, please click here.
Election of Officers Subcommittee Written Testimony – As a reminder, the CDP Rules Election of Officers Subcommittee welcomes written testimony and comments to update the procedures for the election of Statewide Officers and Regional Directors. The deadline to submit written testmiony is Sunday, June 24, 2018. Click here to access Rules Election of Officers Subcommittee Online Testimony Form.
For more information on CDP Rules Committee, visit the Rules Committee page: www.cadem.org/rulescommittee.
Oh, would you look at that. Another on-time balanced budget 😉
Waaaaaay back in terrible days of George W. Bush’s Great Recession, California had a bit of a budget problem (looking at you Schwarzenegger).
In fact, at one point, the state was just a few days away from running out of money completely. And we had a $60 Billion deficit in a $120 Billion budget.
The Hannitys and O’Reileys and Limbaughs, and the Tea Party, and Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, and the bigots, crooks and sociopaths who run the RNC, they all relished the fact that we were on the brink of tossing kids off CalWorks and and throwing poor students out of college.
Such charming people, these Republicans.
They compared us to Greece, and they predicted we’d fall into the Pacific any day now.
And then Governor Jerry Brown, Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Speaker John A. Perez got to work and proved them wrong.
Not only did they pass a series of reforms to the state budget process that removed Republican chokeholds (like the supermajority requirement to pass a budget), the work they did to restore our finances improved California’s credit rating for the first time in decades.
They passed three consecutive on-time balanced budgets that built up a real reserve and rainy day fund to protect us against the next Recession – all while expanding healthcare for 3 million previously uninsured Californians.
Later, as the economy improved and our finances fully recovered, Governor Jerry Brown, Senate Pro Tem Kevin de Leon and Speaker Toni Atkins passed three more consecutive, on-time and balanced budgets.
The reserve continued to grow and our long-term debt continued to shrink – all while investing in college affordability, green energy, support for our veterans and building more affordable housing.
Right now, Governor Brown is about to sign his eighth consecutive, on-time and balanced budget.
This is an unprecedented accomplishment in California history, and Governor Brown, Senate Pro Tem Atkins and Speaker Rendon should be commended for making California the case-in-point of fiscal responsibility.
But more importantly, they should be celebrated for passing a budget that speaks to our values and our beliefs as Democrats.
You can read the full highlights of the state budget here, but in particular, we want to spotlight some things near and dear to our hearts:
- $78 Billion in funding for California schools
- Nearly $500 Million increase for the CSU/UC
- $1 Billion increase in healthcare spending from voter-approved tobacco taxes
- $300 Million increase in mental health services
- $500 Million increase in CalWORKS/SSI programs to combat extreme poverty
- Nearly $1 Billion increase for affordable housing and reducing homelessness
- Over $5 Billion in public transit, road repairs and other transportation projects.
California is the gold standard when it comes to fiscal responsibility, and this budget proves that when Democrats are in charge, the government works for working people. Take some time next week and call and thank your Assemblymember and Senator for doing a fantastic job on this budget!
We’re gonna miss the hell out of that guy. (And we look forward to his 5th term in 2046).
–CDP Update
