May 30, 2006
Press Release

California Young Democrats Commitment to Phil Angelides

Sacramento, CA- The California Young Democrats (CYD) endorsed gubernatorial candidate, California State Treasurer Phil Angelides addressed CYD members on a conference call this evening to kick off the last week of campaigning before the June 6 Primary. California Young Democrats, the official youth-arm of the Democratic Party composed of over 3,000 high school and college students, as well as young professionals and young working families, committed to making 30,000 phone calls to other Young Democrats in the state to encourage young voters to support Angelides.

Angelides told the over 50 members on the call, “CYD’s early endorsement of me is something I’ll never forget. And when I become Governor, I won’t forget either. I’ll never let you down. I’ll make good on my promises.”

CYD came out early and endorsed Angelides in November of 2005. As a former California Democratic Party State Chair, Angelides was one the first to show a real commitment to turning out the youth vote from that position. In addition, Angelides’ strong stance on rolling back Schwarzenegger and the GOP’s tuition hikes, coupled with his strong pro-environment record made him popular candidate among the Young Democrats.

“Phil has been standing up for young people for years,” said Brian VanRiper, CYD Political Director. “Our membership decided it was time for us to do the same for him and are making 30,000 calls to other young voters for Phil. We are giving up their nights, weekends, whenever we can squeeze in a moment to call other young people and encourage them to vote.”

The 30,000 in volunteer peer-to-peer phone calls is the largest peer-to-peer volunteer program California Young Democrats has done in its almost 70 year history. Given the intensity of this election, traditional field programs, such as phone banking could make the difference in the election.

“$13-14 million has been spent on attack ads and lies against me,” Angelides said. “We have to win this on the ground.”

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So tonight after I did my first set of “50 Calls for Phil” and again drank the peer-to-peer kool-aid.

It was so exciting to talk to other young people in my community about why it is so crucial that we get out and vote.

Using Viva (Phil’s online voter database) makes it all that easier. I simply log in, clicked on “call voters”, then “call Young Democrats” (or email Brian and he will set you up).

84 minutes later I was done. Left some messages, had a couple bad numbers, but what was great were the conversations I had.

I talked with a teacher in Elk Grove, who is worried about not being able to afford a house in the community she teaches in.

I talked with a young woman, who is worried about her boyfriend being deported even though he has been for years and has been working and paying taxes.

I talked with a college student, who is worried about how her student loans are going to be affected by Bush’s latest raid on student aid.

All three women had 3 things in common.

They all committed to vote for Phil Angelides because they know he is the candidate that will work hard on the issues that they care about as young people.
They all are equally committed to making sure that Arnold is not re-elected no matter what this November.
They all are interested in learning more about how to be active in politics and their communities through California Young Democrats.

Bottom Line: Sign up for with Viva. Email Brian if you need help. Get us to our goal of 30,000 calls by doing at least 50 calls for Phil AND get the bonus of talking to young people in your area about Young Democrats (it’s a great membership recruiting tool!!) On May 24, many Young Democrats will be calling for Phil and I hope you can join us.

With young people being pushed to the polls, Arnold’s time is definitely up!

Brandon Grassaway, who some of you know, joined the California Young Democrats after evacuating from New Orleans with his mother, sisters and other family members during hurricane Katrina's rampage. Since coming to California, Brandon has been very active with young democrats and this week went home to New Orleans to vote in his first election.

Here's what he told me:

yea i voted yesterday, the political atmosphere, which was always pretty sketchy is especially weird now.

everything kind of falls along racial/economic lines for the most part. coming in i was a big landrieu guy but after being here a few days my feelings about the situation really shifted. even though nagin has a credibility issue a change at this point would do more harm than good to the city, landrieu raised over $6 million for his campaign which turned alot people off in the sense that he would have at least those many favors to pay back before he can do any real work in office, thats pretty much how it works out here and with hurricane season being less than a month away that probably would not fare well for the city. also there was a major shift in the city council in terms of who was controling it and another prevailing emotion was if a change was made alot of people would get neglected (i.e. black people) in terms of re-development of housing, contracts, and things of that nature. ray nagin is also acquainted, even if he is'nt liked, with people on the federal level and familliar with what has been going on in that process post katrina and it would be beneficial for the city for him to stay around for that reason alone something that also turned me off was that in a debate when he was asked about a specific issue he responded "i don't know" after nagin called him on it (you can see it on (wdsu.com) which made me lose alot of the confidence i had in him even though i think mitch landrieu is a great guy i think his talents are more suited for the state level, and that the city is not in a position to make whole sale changes at this point when it is still in a state of flux.

CNN, San Diego Union Trib and others reported the recent border shooting began with a citzen report from the police that they suspected a Black SUV picked up undocument citizens...
And then the driver ends up shot.
I don't know if I just drank too much of my liberal kool-aid this morning, but is this not some slippery slope where a person thinks you look suspicious because you are with suspiciuos people and you end up dead?

Mira Loma High School Sent out this Press Release this weekend:

In the midst of a peaceful protest supporting the rights of those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, students have been met with hostility on their school campus. Students who participated in the Gay-Straight Alliance Club sponsored Day of Silence wore black shirts and badges that explained that they maintained their silence to protest the harassment and discrimination experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students in schools around the nation. An annual event at Mira Loma High School and nationwide, it is usually widely supported by the students and faculty. Students participating in the Day of Silence are excused from speaking in all classes and usually meet no resistance in their aim to further the acceptance of all.

Unfortunately, on Wednesday, April 27, and through the rest of the week, students at Mira Loma High School have been met with loud and decidedly aggressive protesting by local anti-gay Christian groups. During the school day, students who were protesting against the Day of Silence wore black t-shirts with red circles crossing out the word “gay”, and passed out fliers full of anti-gay propaganda with alleged supporting Bible verses and quotes. After school, waving derogatory posters, protesters lined the street in front of the campus, with anti-gay signs citing verses against homosexuality and driving by with trucks covered in bullish rhetoric.

The intimidation of students based on their sexual orientation or on any grounds is wrong, and we do not stand for it. Further, self-proclaimed outside adult “Christian” groups have no right to intimidate and bully high school aged students. Mira Loma Young Democrats and the Mira Loma Gay-Strait Alliance believe that these intimidation tactics by adults against students is immoral and disgusting. One of the wonderful things about Mira Loma is its diversity, and the acceptance of all ideas in a safe environment. We have a variety of different ethnic groups, races, religions, and ideas in our school, which fosters the learning process and encourages peaceful debate and the exchange of ideas in a positive way.

Mira Loma High School Young Democrats supports the acceptance of all groups in our school, which, before this incident was considered to be a peaceful understanding place. We support the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students and their allies and abhor the tactics and message of those who seek to separate our student body. We urge students to unite in the similarities shared and celebrate in diversity in the face of those who wish to separate. Additionally, we thank the faculty and staff for their support in the efforts for unification of the student body. The people protesting do not represent our student body, and we do not wish to be viewed in this context. We support unity, acceptance and a safe learning environment for all students.

This morning, the LA Times came out in support of Pasadena Young Democrat Adam Murray for the 44th AD. "Adam Murray is the best of four challengers for the seat of incumbent Carol Liu, who is out of the race because of term limits. Murray is an up-and-comer with a comprehensive knowledge of the biggest challenges facing the state and his district. A commercial litigator and part-time community college teacher, he is a true policy wonk, but one who also knows how to communicate with both voters and politicians," said the Times.

Check out Adam for yourself and stay in touch with the Pasadena Young Dems to see how you can help Adam win the primary!