[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Chad Jones
President
Valley Grassroots for Democracy

Linda Sutton wrote an article 'Tis the Season of Membership-Stacking-for-Endorsements in California: What Does it Mean to Get the “Democratic Party Endorsement”? about the recent stacking of Democratic club memberships in order to affect endorsements in the current race for the 40th Assembly District. I would like to correct some inaccuracies in Linda's post regarding how it was handled in the club where I'm the president, Valley Grassroots for Democracy. I spoke to Linda yesterday and she said she got her information from "reliable sources" yet she didn't ask the most reliable source--the president (i.e., me)--who was actually dealing with it first hand. I agree that this race has shown us that stacking is a problem and I would like to give the perspective from behind the scenes of a club: how stacking was attempted in our club, what we did about it, and how we plan to go forward.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

New figures released by the Secretary of State show that the number of registered Democrats in key battlegrounds for legislative seats continues to soar while the number of Republicans registrants in these districts is sliding.

This boost in Democratic registration isn't simply a temporary lift propelled by interest in the February presidential primary. In every Assembly district in the state since the cutoff for registration for the February primary, Democratic registration has risen while Republican registration has declined. Overall, Democratic registration has inched up by .6 percent statewide. Meanwhile GOP numbers continue their free-fall, declining by .4 percent, in the period between January 22nd and April 4th.

That one percent swing could be critical in key legislative races around the state. And it's more bad news for the state's Republicans, who already are suffering from a poor candidate recruitment season and lackluster fundraising.

Donors take a hard look at these numbers when making decisions  about what close contests to plunge into with their support; these statistics make it an even more difficult sell for the GOP in what is shaping up to be a favorable Democratic climate because of top of the ticket races. That's especially true in legislative contests, where Independent Expenditures play a major role.

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Carole Lutness
Democratic Candidate
38th Assembly District

A few weeks ago all of the Republican legislators in Sacramento voted against a bill that would have taxed oil companies for the oil they extract from or refine in California. Every other state in the United States taxes oil companies for the oil they extract or refine in their state. Why not California? Laying off the 20,000 teachers in schools throughout the state this summer could be prevented with this one tax.

A few weeks before that, these same Republican legislators voted against closing the “Yacht loophole” which allows billionaires to avoid paying sales tax for their yachts and airplanes if they tuck them away in storage for three months. Why in the world would all of the Republicans vote against correcting such a blatant “let them eat cake” slap to the middle class face?

Why? Because as a group, the Republicans have vowed never to vote for a bill that will raise taxes. The world is crumbling around them and us and yet they will not raise taxes. Instead, they actually like the fact that public services, the infrastructure--roads, public utilities, etc., public school children, the elderly, sick and disabled will be shouldering the entire $16 billion deficit on their backs.