Brian Leubitz Posts

In the history of the Congress, there have been few leaders like Nancy Pelosi. Besides the obvious, her history-making role as the first female Speaker, she has been a powerhouse in many other ways. She leads a caucus with a wide range of opinions, yet she emerged from one of the most progressive districts in the country. Through sheer strength of will she was able to be the guiding force to pass health care reform.

Chris Norby concedes tightest Assembly race - photo credit: Chris Prevatt
by Brian Leubitz
With the concession of Chris Norby to Sharon Quirk, the Democratic supermajority in the Assembly was finalized. The Democrats will hold 54 of the 80 seats there. In the Senate,...

During the bubble, many large institutions got a little greedy with their investments. They wanted lots of return, but no risk. And that's what Wall Street was selling in some of their shadier business "growth areas." One such shady areas of Wall Street was the interest rate swap market.  And the University of California system got sucked in:
Over the last decade, the UC Board of Regents has engaged in risky deals with Wall Street banks called interest rate swaps...

Funny video reveals some very worrisome outcomes
This chap is pretty chatty for a SuperPac Billionaire, bue he does like to hide now and again. However, from his tweets and this new video, he's spilling some serious beans. And guess what, we should trust him and his big business friends, they know what is best for us!

Note: Brian Leubitz, the editor of this blog, works for the No on 32 campaign. Please like the campaign on facebook or...

This bill will help not only many LGBT families, but is a step in the right direction for the modern general blended family. We should be welcoming of people who are willing to step up to be in the life of a child.

Scmhorgasboard of data

by Brian Leubitz

I don't have time to go through the entirety of the data, but I suggest you take a look at some of the numbers in the latest PPIC poll.

Here's the link to the Press Release and the full report.

Just in time for November election, SOS allows online voter registration

by Brian Leubitz

It is a good day for democracy in California. Legislation that allowed for online registration was enacted last year and today online voter reg kicked off.  The first Californians to register online did so even before the official announcement:

California's new one-click, online voter registration went live early Wednesday, but before Secretary of State Debra Bowen could officially make that announcement at an 11:30 a.m. news conference, 3,000 new voters already had used the system to register.

That response, Bowen said, was triggered only by "a few tweets" from some county elections officials who spread the news via Twitter earlier in the morning. ...

"This is great news for democracy," she said. "One of the main reasons people don't register to vote is because they are never asked to do so. Now, someone can ask them with an email that includes a link to online registration."(VCStar)

Online registration requires that your signature be on file with the DMV, but is otherwise smooth sailing.

Register online today at RegistertoVote.ca.gov. The deadline to vote in the November 6 election is Oct. 22, so get those e-forms in right away.

Ad shows that funders of Prop 32 give themselves exemptions

Today, the NO on Proposition 32 campaign released its first TV advertisement of the campaign, highlighting the fact that the same powerful corporate special interests that are funding Proposition 32 are exempt from its carefully-crafted provisions. Watch the ad:

This is simple, Prop 32 claims it will stop campaign spending by special interests, but it exempts those who are funding the campaign. Those special interests will have free reign to give themselves more tax breaks, while the middle class pays the price. Prop 32 is just not what it seems.

But a quick breakdown on what Prop 32 would do. The supporters claim it will get corporate and labor money out of politics, but that isn't even remotely close to being the case. With the rise of independent expenditures, huge amounts of money are tossed about without going to candidates. Yet, Prop 32 doesn't even touch those.

But what it is really about is "paycheck deception." Back in 1998 and 2005, Californians voted down similar measures, but here it is again. Prop 32 goes even further by completely banning paycheck deductions for political purposes, even with express permission. For corporations, that isn't a big deal at all. After all, their money comes from their corporate treasury.  For labor, while political paycheck deductions are already completely voluntary, they are very important. Long story short, Prop 32 is just another means to silence working Californians, while allowing the SuperPAC Billionaires free rein over our governance.

And the fact that the American Future Fund (AFF) a SuperPAC with ties to Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers contributed $4million to support Prop 32 makes this all the more clear. How can you argue that you are trying to create political reform when one of your largest donors is an anonymous SuperPAC?

Share the video with your networks and get the word out about the deceptive Proposition 32.

Note: Brian Leubitz, the editor of this blog, works for the No on 32 campaign. Please like the campaign on facebook or follow on twitter.

American Future Fund (AFF) creates $4Mil Yes on 32 Committee

by Brian Leubitz

While the Yes on 32 team would have Californians believe that Prop 32 is just a good ol' political reform measure, any notion of that should go by the boards now:

Look what just arrived in the Friday-afternoon-news-dump: A $4 million contribution to Prop 32 ... So what's the connection between the donor - the Des Moines, Iowa-based American Future Fund - and the billionaire conservative financiers the Koch brothers? Because of opaque campaign finance laws, tracing the money is a challenge. Politico makes the case here. (SF Chronicle)

If you follow that Politico link you will see that AFF is connected to the Center to Protect Patient Rights, a Koch-funded "nonprofit" that gives out money to other groups that do much of the dirty work.

What we now have in Prop 32 is not only a deceptive measure, but one that is being supported by the very folks that want to obliterate all campaign finance regulations.  This clearly puts the lie to this being about anything other than an anti-labor scheme. More than ever this is the time that we need to roll up our sleeves and make sure our neighbors understand what this tricky measure really is.

You can start today by sharing the Chronicle story with your friends on facebook and twitter. But more important is that direct communication with friends and co-workers that is the most persuasive. There are just over seven weeks remaining, and we need to make them count.

Note: Brian Leubitz, the editor of this blog, works for the No on 32 campaign. Please like the campaign on facebook or follow on twitter.

Amazon will begin to charge sales tax Saturday

by Brian Leubitz

I've mentioned before that online purchases aren't supposed to be tax-free. Purchasers are supposed to pay use tax, but it turns out that few people actually do that. After the big hubub last year with Amazon threatening California affiliates, they agreed to start collecting taxes in 2012.  And guess what, that date is tomorrow, September 15.

A deal inked last year between Amazon and Sacramento means that, for most items shipped from the online retailer's warehouses, sales tax will be collected at checkout starting tomorrow. But, as CNET reported earlier this week, that doesn't apply to hundreds of thousands of items "fulfilled" by Amazon from its warehouses on behalf of other sellers.

That means a New York camera shop could have inventory located in an Amazon warehouse outside of San Francisco, and provide next-day -- or even same-day -- tax-free delivery to northern California customers.

"You can assume we'll have ways of finding out who's holding stocks of goods in California," a representative of the State Board of Equalization, which collects California sales taxes, told CNET. "We have enforcement authority to obtain information in a variety of ways. We'll be approaching them with respect to their tax obligations." (CNET)

It won't bring the deficit down overnight, but everything helps these days. The marketplace sellers, while substantial, are relatively small, but those too will also come in line.