TThhee NNeeww DDeemmooccrraatt A Publication of the Peninsula Democratic Coalition (PDC) September 2016 PDC Annual Picnic Wrap-Up Save the and Thank You Dates By PDC Board Member and 2016 Picnic Chair Cory Wolbach Debate-watch Parties at the DVC All the debate-watch parties will be at Democratic Volunteer Center (DVC) headquarters, 1970 El Camino Real, Mountain View. Presidential debates Monday, September 26 Sunday, October 9 Wednesday, October 19 Vice presidential debate Tuesday, October 4 The PDC Annual Picnic this year was another phenomenal success! In the afternoon on a perfect summer Saturday, August 20th, we gathered at Shoup Park in Los Altos to celebrate being Democrats, to reconnect with friends, and to inspire each other Dan Hoffman is a PDC Hero! as we head into an unusually important election locally and Dan Hoffman is a PDC hero! He offered a nationally. As always, the Picnic served several functions: Fun, matching grant of $1,000 to the PDC if we fundraising, and information. would donate $2,000 towards the new Democratic Volunteer Center in Mountain Fun View. The PDC Board met the challenge and The crowd of over 125 attendees included old and new PDC the new headquarters now has $3,000 to put members, families, community activists and leaders, former and towards rent, supplies, utilities and all those current elected officials, and candidates for office! A great time other expenses that having an office entails. was had by all. Lots of potluck and BBQ’d food was enjoyed, Dan just turned 90. He was honored by both the California along with beer, wine, and non-spirited drinks. State Senate and the California State Assembly for his “decades- Fundraising long service and commitment to justice, equality and fairness for The Picnic is always our biggest fundraiser of the year. This the people of Santa Clara County, the State of California and the year was no exception with over $11,000 raised in total! We United States”. brought in over $700 in tickets, over $2,000 from the silent Dan is a longtime member of the Santa Clara County auction, and over $8,500 from our sponsors. These funds build Democratic Club. He is a faithful attendee at Democratic State the PDC’s financial base, and enable our club to hold future Central Committee meetings. For years he has been the main events, support the Peninsula Young Democrats, support the organizer of the Freedom Train from San Jose to San Francisco Democratic Volunteer Center, and support Democratic celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday and all King did to candidates and causes. further equality in our country. Dan has been a leader in most of Information the progressive causes in the Bay Area. Guest speaker Kimberly Ellis, Executive Director of Emerge CA Dan was born in upstate New York, spent most of his and also a candidate for California Democratic Party Chair, was a childhood in New York City, studied at Columbia (undergrad), huge draw and a wonderful speaker. She shared with us her Haverford College for an MA and Columbia Law School for his thoughtful views and inspiring vision for the future of the LLB. After clerking for a municipal court judge in New York City, Democratic Party in California. Be sure to read her own piece on Dan concluded that New York can be the loneliest place on page 5. (Continued on page 6) (Continued on page 12) The New Democrat 2 September 2016 Heartfelt Thanks President’s Column to All of Our Nicole Fernandez Picnic Sponsors! Dear Democrats, I am a firm believer that those who get involved can change Platinum Level: the world. Many of us have been involved in politics for a good • Jerry Hill , State Senator, SD-13 long time – and for many of you readers, your service to the • Arthur Keller , Candidate, Palo Alto City Council Democratic party outlives me and many other members of our • Carol & Ralph Kuiper club. I am proud to be a part of a club with such a respected • Jean Mordo , Los Altos City Councilmember history. • Gilbert Wong , Cupertino City Councilmember & It is important, however, to know how you fit in to the jigsaw Candidate, Foothill De Anza Community College Board puzzle that is the Democratic party. For many, their involvement with the party means holding elected office, calling on their progressive values to effect positive change through policy. For Gold Level: others, it is being involved in the background, supporting those • Marc Berman , Palo Alto City Councilmember & elected officials who want to enact the change that our local and Candidate, State AD-24 national government needs in order to thrive and provide care for • Anna Eshoo , Congresswoman, CD-18 those who most need it. • Vladimir Ivanovic , Los Altos School Board Member For me, it was exceptionally heartening to see both parts of • Bill & Danielle James , PDC Members our “jigsaw puzzle” out in masses at our annual summer picnic! • R. Michael Kasperzak , Mountain View City Councilmember • Gustav Larsson , Sunnyvale City Councilmember • Pam O’Leary , PDC Board Member • Diane & Joe Rolfe • Joe Simitian & Mary Hughes , Supervisor, Santa Clara County, District 5 • Charles Stone , Belmont City Councilmember • Vicki Veenker , Candidate, AD-24 Silver Level: • Rich Gordon , State Assemblymember, AD-24 • Lorri Holzberg • Doug Kim , Belmont City Councilmember • Liz Kniss , Palo Alto City Councilmember & Candidate for We had so many candidates and elected officials as sponsors and Reelection present at the picnic. Even more than that, we had so many • Amy Pearl Democratic supporters who hold these elected officials • Jim & Emy Thurber accountable to the values that we all have in common. It was a fun afternoon of networking, food, friends and fun. We had the opportunity to learn more about Kimberly Ellis (above left), a Bronze Level: visionary young leader who is running for the chair of the • Margaret Abe Koga , Candidate, Mountain View City California Democratic Party. I hope you'll read the wrap up of the Council picnic in the issue. • Patrick Ahrens , Candidate, Foothill-De Anza Community Thank you all, Democrats, for coming out and celebrating with College District Board us! The PDC is nothing without you, and we thank you for your • Jim Beall , State Senator, SD-15 service and devotion to our party. • Thida Cornes , Candidate, Mountain View City Council On to a successful November 2016! (Continued on page 14) The New Democrat 3 September 2016 Proposition 55; Extends by twelve years the temporary Martin’s personal income tax increases enacted in 2012 on high income earnings. The state needs the money; in general, the people get a EDITORIAL good deal in terms of the goods and services provided by their tax dollars – health care, education, and roads being three examples of projects that could use more. Those with incomes over It has become tradition for this column to provide opinions on $250,000/year should be able to afford it. Vote yes on prop 55. the statewide ballot measures. The task is somewhat more daunting this year as 17 measures will be on the November, Proposition 56; Cigarette Tax to Fund Healthcare. Increases 2016, statewide ballot. A reminder: cigarette tax by $2.00 per pack. It sounds like a large increase in Opinions expressed in this column are those of the a regressive tax – but the California tobacco taxes are among the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the lowest in the country. Tobacco products result in very large PDC or of any other political organization. additional health care costs. On balance, it is a good idea. Vote yes on prop 56. Proposition 51; School Bonds. Funding for K-12 School and Community College Facilities. There are few, if any, investments Proposition 57; Criminal Sentences. This measure would allow that will pay a higher return than those made for education. earlier release from prison for some non-violent crimes. It also Certainly it would be possible – at least in theory – to spend too shifts the responsibility for determining whether a juvenile will be much and thus lower the return; it is also likely that some money tried as an adult from the prosecutor to the judge. Both sensible will be wasted in the process of building new facilities and changes in the right direction for our criminal justice system. Vote modernizing others. However, it is not conceivable that California yes on prop 57. is anywhere close to spending enough, much less too much on education; and there are safeguards to minimize any wasted Proposition 58; English language education. Proposition 227 spending. Vote yes on prop 51. passed in 1998 mandated the use of English in virtually all education. This measure was designed to repeal the sheltered Proposition 52; State Fees on Hospitals. Federal Medi-Cal English immersion requirement provision while requiring school Matching Funds. In 2009, a program was created whereby districts and county offices of education to provide English California hospitals began paying a fee to help the State obtain learners with a structured English immersion program. Ours is a available federal Medicaid funds, at no cost to California multilingual state; while it makes sense to encourage all students taxpayers. This measure seeks to ensure that the fee paid by to learn and speak English, it is counter-productive to insist that hospitals to the State for the purpose of maximizing the available they cannot get instruction in another language during the federal matching funds is used for the intended purpose by learning process. Vote yes on prop 58. requiring a two thirds vote of the legislature to modify the existing law. The State Constitution should not include provisions requiring Proposition 59; Campaign finance: voter instruction.