Gov Davis, Energy Cos. & Election Roundup

On election day, March 5, 2002, while the press and voters were concentrating on the election, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis appointed former president of Southern California Edison to the Public Utilities Commission, which the Consumer Watchdog website describes as not just letting the "fox guard the chicken coop--it's offering the fox a chicken dinner." See:http://www.ftcr.org/ftcr/st/st002271.php3 and http://www.ftcr.org/ftcr/st/st002286.php3

While Democrat Gray Davis could get away with pretending to be the "lesser evil" in his first run for governor in 1998 against Republican Dan Lungren, now that he has his reactionary four-year record for all to consider that easily makes him the worst governor in California's history, his playing that insulting, reactionary, downward spiral "lesser evil" game this time in the governor's race against Republican Bill Simon should be rejected by everyone. Gray Davis has turned out to be even more evil than his predecessor, Republican Pete Wilson, with Davis' refusal to grant parole to people sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

In addition, he has totally sold out to the utility companies, bailing them out at taxpayer expense and thus there is no money for education or other social services and California schools remain in 48th place. Meanwhile, Gray Davis is busy promoting privatization of the schools with his appointment of Republican Donald Fisher to the State Board of Education so as to force San Francisco to continue to allow Fisher's Edison Charter Schools to run a privatized school in the San Francisco School District, all with the active encouragement of the good Democrat and pal of Gray Davis, election-frauding San Francisco "mayor" Willie Brown. Gray Davis' appointees on that same State Board of Education approved lifelong Democrat and now "decline to state" Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's charter for a military school, after the Oakland School Board and Alameda County Board of Education rejected this militarization of the public schools. It is very clear that Gray Davis opposes the public schools and public education. In fact, he prefers prisons for workingclass youth, as demonstrated by his support of the anti-workingclass and racist "juvenile crime" Proposition 21, which was opposed by his own party.

His support of the prison-industrial complex is in conjunction with his opposition to Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative, as it is the drug wars that are the basis for the growth of this lucrative source of campaign funds for Gray Davis and a strong base of fascist support for Gray Davis among the prison guards and the police. He gains more support from that fascist base with his constant support of the death penalty.

Democrat Gray Davis is a proud admirer of that viciously reactionary Republican former governor of California and US president, Ronald Reagan, and proudly opened the Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley in October 1999.

KICK THE HABIT! Stop playing the reactionary "lesser evil" game for it only results in a profoundly evil politician and your vote is never taken seriously if you allow this game to continue. The Democrat and Republican Parties are the twin parties of capitalism and thus have nothing to offer the workingclass, those of us who sell our labor for less than $70,000 per year. Either find someone other than the Democrat-Republicans to vote for, or skip the governor's race, and the same is true for all other positions, at all levels.

CHANGE YOUR PARTY REGISTRATION NOW. If you are fed up with the Democrat-Republicans, change your party to another party or "decline to state" and to avoid all the harassing phone calls at election time, do not put your phone number on your voter registration card as that is an optional item. You do not have to have a phone in order to vote. If you are not a Democrat-Republican, you will also get very little election mail, which I am sure most people will appreciate. The phone calls and slick mailers have become a deluge and you will have peace of mind not only in voting your conscience, but also in not having this intrusion into your home with phone calls and election trash mailers.

These Democrat-Republicans are not only anti-workingclass by definition, they are all by definition pro-war, and especially pro-war against the Palestinians and against Iraq. Voting only for candidates who oppose US funding to Israel must be on your litmus test for candidates, and that will automatically eliminate all Democrat-Republicans at all levels of government. Every penny spent on these blood for oil wars is money robbed from our social services, education and healthcare budgets. The basic issue is war and peace, and if any candidate continues to support funding Israel and/or supports funding bombing of Afghanistan and/or Iraq, do not vote for them.

The message to all the candidates must be loud and clear: We vote our hopes, not our fears; we vote for peace; we support all liberation struggles including the Palestinian liberation struggle; we oppose all blood for oil wars; and we demand a national health care system guaranteeing everyone full healthcare from cradle to grave, affordable housing for everyone; cheap, reliable and plentiful public transportation, and excellent public school education for everyone from age 3 through and including college. This must all be paid for by raising the progressive income tax by the state and federal governments on the rich, those who make over $200,000 per year and eliminating all income taxes paid by those who make less than $70,000 per year, as well as by eliminating the military and prison budgets and cutting the police budgets to the minimum needed to direct traffic. Street crime will be eliminated when we all have decent paying jobs and have our social needs met. Most importantly, the profit motive must be eliminated and we must have a planned economy whereby the wealth, which labor creates by definition, is shared equitably by everyone.

We have made some progress and a look at the March 5, 2002 results will demonstrate our achievements and goals to be realized.

In the California governor's primary of March 5, 2002, some 5 million Californians voted in a state of 24 million adults. In San Francisco in that election, some 118,000 adults voted in a city of some 600,000 adults. This low voter turnout is certainly a rejection of both the Democrat-Republicans and the winner-take-all system which makes the American election system the most anti-democratic in the world among parliamentary democracies. Any party whose candidate for a legislative body at any level that receives at least 5% of the vote should be represented on that legislative body. That would necessitate larger districts at all levels, and eliminating the very undemocratic concession to the slaveholders, the US Senate, and its imitators, all the state senates.

In San Francisco, we finally stopped most of the election fraud of the Willie Brown-John Burton machine and in so doing, were able to pass legislation opposed by Willie Brown and his real estate developer, Chamber of Commerce cronies. We also defeated one of the candidates promoted by Willie Brown and John Burton, namely John Burton's incompetent, foul-mouthed (like her father and Willie Brown) daughter, Kim Burton, who certainly should never have been appointed by Willie Brown to run the public defender office one year ago so she could run as an incumbent.

In the primarily tenant 13th Assembly District, tenant candidate, former supervisor Harry Britt, barely lost to supervisor Mark Leno, the Willie Brown appointee and mouthpiece of commercial real estate owner and bankroller of the Democratic Party, Walter Shorenstein. Britt's loss is due to the fact that he is a Democrat, and a large section of the pro-tenant progressive community of San Francisco is committed to never voting for Democrat-Republicans. Britt in fact ran on a platform of saving the Democratic Party, which of course is against the progressive agenda. What is on the agenda is putting both the Democratic and Republican Parties into the dustbin of history as soon as possible and that means not voting for any Democrat-Republican.

The Democratic Party has as its national chair, Ed Rendell, the district attorney who framed Mumia Abu-Jamal. This outrage should be sufficient reason to never vote for the Democrats. See: http://www.aspenlinx.com/mumia/newstuff/rendell2.htm

While we all should continue to vote on the propositions, we must also vote with our feet and march in as many peace demonstrations as possible, preferably with lots of large pictures of dead Palestinians and Iraqis, especially of children, for that is what the warmongering policies of the Democrat-Republicans have promoted. The next peace march in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. is April 20, 2002. In San Francisco, we gather at 11 a.m. at Dolores Park on April 20, march at noon to the Civic Center where a rally will commence at 1 p.m. For more information, call 415/821-6545, send E-mail to answer [at] actionsfbay.org, go to 2489 Mission, #24, San Francisco, 94110 or see http://www.internationalanswer.org or http://www.iacenter.org The second website also lists the San Diego and Los Angeles contact information.