Final Thoughts on 2009 California Democratic Convention

by: joeesha

Mon Apr 27, 2009 at 08:48:44 AM PDT

Progressives Flex Their Muscles
Progressives have been flooding into the party since Howard Dean burst onto the scene in 2004. His appearance at the convention Sunday morning drew one of the most enthusiatic responses from the delegates all weekend, demonstrating his influence still moves the party's grassroots. At the last convention, progressives won a fight to endorse Mark Leno over establishment candidate Carole Migden.

This year, led by blogger Brian Leubitz of Calitics, progressive delegates flexed their muscles again, successfully opposing endorsement of props 1-A, 1-D and 1-E.

Crosby Rides Delegate Anger
They also succeeded in channeling their anger at outgoing state Party Chair Art Torres by electing Hilary Crosby as state controller. Unfortunately, that meant punishing the former controller Eric Bradley for Torres' sins.

Delegates have long been angered over Torres inexplicably giving millions of the party's money to former Senate Leader Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and the election of Crosby was their revenge.

Gavin Sprints Into the Future
The race for governor also heated up with Gavin Newsom emerging as the early challenger to whom many perceive as front runner, Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Brown, who has yet to enter the race, had little presence at the convention, other than his speech on Saturday and a "Recession Reception" at the former Governor's Mansion.

Newsom had the most memorable line of the whole convention, asking delegates if they wanted a "stroll down memory lane" with Brown.

And Brown's event played into that assessment. Staged at the governor's mansion, whose last resident was Brown's father, the vibe and music was definitely from the '70s. The only thing missing was Linda Ronstadt and Pet Rocks.

Newsom's posse resembled the youth movement that was so important to Obama's victory, blanketing the convention with water bottles, signs, buttons and tons of volunteers. Newsom's candidacy was a hot topic among the delegates. And Saturday night's Wyclef Jean block party cemented the notion in many delegate's minds that Newsom was young and fresh. (Although most of the delegates over 40 were in bed by the time the party started.)

Remains of the Days
Based on the weekend's events, I'm left with a couple of questions:

Can Newsom keep up the momentum built at the convention. Can he draw away some of the Labor support that seems to be solidly behind a Brown candidacy?

Will progressives move from being a spoiler at the state conventions to an actual place at the table in the state party?  

CDP Convention Coverage - Next Three Days

by: ocprogressive

Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 16:31:11 PM PDT

We anticipate some real tension between the legislators and the grassroots elements of the party about the upcoming ballot initiatives.

Progressives and some major groups including the California Nurses Association and the SEIU are adamantly opposed to the complex package of bills that make the state even less governable. As Brian at Calitics says

When the time came to make a decision on the propositions, it was with a heavy heart that I chose to oppose Prop 1A. I understand the difficult position that the legislators face. Republicans in the Legislature are amusing themselves with death-talk of the California state government.  It really is quite scary stuff. Yet despite the loaded gun pointing to our head, it is imperative that California has a government moving towards a more functioning structure, not in the other direction.

Props 1(A-F) don't solve the structural problems that have been created by the huge cuts to state revenues that we have seen under Schwarzenegger, over $7 billion a year in lost revenue while expenses have held steady, when adjusted for inflation and population growth.

(Through some perverse logic, the tax cuts in the car tax shows up as an expense on the state budget. The car tax expensing and the two billion a year to pay back the money we borrowed to pay for the car tax cut make up almost all of the "increase" in spending that conservative blowhards keep talking about.)

We're looking forward to talking to political junkies and some of the few people who actually understand the state budget.