Table of Contents
Dates
With Alice
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MARCH GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Monday, March 14, 2005
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
LGBT Community Center
1800 Market Street @ Octavia
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March Co-Chairs' Report
The Wrong Revolution
  There are good revolutions, and there are not-so-good revolutions. Right now, there is an absolutely horrific revolution going on in Washington, D.C., and it is spreading to Sacramento. This revolution – orchestrated by the right-wing of the Republican party – threatens to undermine the values and goals for which we as Democrats have worked for the past seventy-five years: equality, social justice, fairness for workers, and a belief in the ability of government to solve problems and improve the human condition. Alice B. Toklas is committed to combating this revolution, which will be fought throughout California in the next few years.
For the past several decades, Republicans in Washington have aggressively pushed their agenda of cutting taxes, reducing government health and welfare programs, and privatizing government. Their goal and message have been straightforward: government is bad and must be drastically downsized, whatever the impact on the environment, labor standards, consumer protection, and the poor. This push has resulted in some of the worst pieces of legislation in recent history including the 2001 tax cuts, the welfare law of the late 1990s, and ongoing cuts to health care. The Republicans are now continuing their crusade and are getting more aggressive. They are attempting to privatize social security, to prevent consumers and workers from obtaining relief from the courts when they have been injured, and to prevent workers from organizing.
We in California have been fortunate. Although the right has been active here, we have had a Democratic Legislature that has passed progressive legislation while killing regressive legislation. That could change, however, if current efforts by the Governor and the Republican Party prevail. The Republicans have indicated that they will place several initiatives on the ballot this fall and Spring 2006 that could change the face of California for many years to come and that could make it a very inhospitable place for Democrats and our values. Indeed, their goal is to turn California from an anchor blue state into a red state:
Redistricting: The Governor has proposed taking away redistricting (for Congressional and state legislative seats) from the Legislature and giving it to a panel of retired judges. The plan would require that districts be compact and, to the extent possible, coextensive with local political boundaries. While this may sound reasonable in light of widely reported redistricting abuses across the country, the purpose of the plan is to eliminate the Democratic majority in the Legislature and the California Congressional delegation. Democrats are the majority party in California, but our strength is very concentrated in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Republicans, by contrast, have a much broader geographical reach throughout most of Southern California and the Central Valley. The proposed redistricting plan almost certainly would result in a loss of Democratic seats. The Governor’s plan, if it is to be implemented fairly, must apply nationally. Why should California Democrats give up the power to redistrict while Republicans in Texas, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere continue to impose some of the most one-sided gerrymanders in U.S. history? The redistricting battle is key to Democratic success going forward.
Capping Contingency Fees in Lawsuits: Similar to federal “tort reform” efforts, this initiative has two anti-Democratic goals. First, by prohibiting plaintiff attorneys from receiving more than 20% of a plaintiff’s recovery, the law effectively would prevent all but the most catastrophically injured persons from getting a lawyer and thus deny many people of limited means access to the courts. Second, this law, like federal efforts, is intended to devastate one of the Democratic Party’s most reliable and loyal funding bases: trial lawyers. If trial lawyers lose income, their contributions to the Democratic Party will go down accordingly, and the party will be weakened. The Republicans are keenly aware of this effect.
Union Check-Off Requirement: This initiative would require unions to get individual members’ permission to spend their dues money on political activities. It is intended to reduce the ability of unions to influence political discourse and also intended to dry up a key source of funding for the Democratic Party.
Privatization of Public Pensions: This measure, which would convert public employees’ defined-benefit pensions into 401(k)-style defined contribution programs, is the California equivalent of privatizing social security. It would take away a safety net from many low and moderate-income public employees and leave their financial fate in the hands of the markets.
Ban on Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships: We are likely, in June 2006, to face an initiative seeking to amend the state constitution to ban not just same-sex marriage, but civil unions and domestic partnerships as well. In other words, California’s entire domestic partnership regime would be repealed. Passage of this initiative would be a very significant blow to the national movement for LGBT equality. It is bad enough to have same-sex relationships banned in conservative states; it is quite another thing for a state like California to do so, and to do so for domestic partnerships as well. This initiative is one of the most significant political threats that our community has faced in decades.
The Alice B. Toklas club has always been a key part of the Democratic Party coalition in San Francisco and California. The next few years will be a test of the party – whether it can be a dynamic and creative force capable of beating back the Republican revolution. Alice will be there for the party and will play a strong and aggressive role in this effort. Thank you for being part of Alice as we work to defeat these destructive state and national measures from the Republican right wing. Your strength is our strength.
Laura Spanjian and Scott Wiener
Co-Chairs
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Reese's World - Perspectives From the Editor
Little Ditty ‘Bout Queers and Gavin
 Dear Gavin:
At the rock concert that was City Hall on the morning of the anniversary of your bold decision to allow equal rights for same-sex couples, your rockin’ oratory shook the same-old political establishment from its doldrums, and shook me all night long. In fact, we’ve all been shaken, and quite stirred, throughout the year by your landmark decision. National, state, and even some local politicos are all shook up and simply don’t know what to make of you. But now they know, we’re talkin’ bout a revolution with the sound of a wedding bell. And we, the LGBT community, have our Queer eyes fixed on you, straight guy. Our eyes adore you. You’re just too good to be true. We can’t take our eyes off you. We’re here; we’re Queer; get used to us being around.
And so, here and now, we are together forever, and we will always love you! The search is over; you were with us all the while. And we’re gonna keep on lovin’ you, wherever you may go, even if you take it on a run for national office one day. And there ain’t no office high enough, as you keep on going higher and higher. We’ll be there, right by your side, step-by-step, ready to seek out the promise of a new day with you. Because that’s what friends are for. We’ll come together, anytime, over you.
Now, honestly, who would have thought it would have been you? Causing such a commotion. After all these years of waiting for a guy like you, someone who would meet us with open arms, someone to tell it like it is, who would have figured you would be the one? Wow, out of the blue, Gavin, what a big surprise. You of all people to take us to the point of no return. Now you know, you were never seen as the most liberal member of our Board of Supervisors. Nor did you come from the most liberal of districts. But it’s not unusual to find love and happiness in the strangest of places. And you must be our lucky star cause you shine on us wherever you are. And you give our love a good name.
After an up and down year of highs and lows, you’ve always been a steady anchor on which we appreciate being hung. Your strength and fortitude in the wake of questions from the media and the politicians, and your consistent, persistent, insistent, sho-nuff total representin’ message on behalf of our equal rights, have shown us your true colors and we’ve got you under our skin. Now you can’t shake our love, you just can’t shake our love. And as you rolled out the welcome mat and rocked City Hall on our anniversary, you also rocked me like a Herb Caen. And so here I am, stung by your courage. And that’s the way, Gavin, Gavin, I like it.
But, please forgive me because, unfortunately, my words simply cannot express how you really got a hold on me. My words get in the way of what I'm trying to say. And so I'll wrap it up and offer my apologies. But I do have one last thought to express so as not to repress: In the future, someday, somewhere, should I ever make it happen and take that united leap with another man, who won't go breakin' my heart; and as we're goin' to that rotunda of love, I will make sure to say a little prayer and a special thank you to you, a thank you for letting me be myself, Gavin.
Peace out, and keep on rockin’!
Sincerely yours,
Reese Aaron Isbell, M.P.P.
Editor
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Quotes from Mayor Newsom on Anniversary at City Hall
 "I've never felt more resolved. I've never felt more passion. I've never felt a greater sense of purpose, but beyond anything else, an obligation to finish this job... We will not back up. I have no regrets."
"Don't believe these folks who talk about tradition. They sit there and defend inequality because it's tradition... Tradition doesn't make something right. Don't give up the fight. Don't feel discouraged. Don't listen to the president of the United States... Shame on you, George Bush."
"This door is open and nothing the president of the United States can do will ever shut this door... It's no longer acceptable for politicians to come to you every election cycle and to ask for your money and to ask for your support and then say it's too much, too soon."
"Civil unions are not good enough. Civil unions are not marriage. Marriage is marriage."
See also:
"One Year Later: Joy, gratitude mark anniversary of San Francisco's gay marriages"
"San Francisco mayor defiant on anniversary of city's gay weddings"
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Democratic National Committee News
A Message from Governor Howard Dean
Editor's Note: Governor Dean was elected Chair of the Democratic National Committee in February and sent the following to Democrats nationwide. His full acceptance speech upon election is also linked below.
 You run this party.
On Saturday, I was honored when your representatives on the Democratic National Committee elected me Chairman. And I can't wait to get started. But when they voted, it wasn't about me — they were voting for a plan for the future of our party.
That plan came from people like you — from conversations I had with ordinary Democrats across the country. When those 447 people voted in Washington this weekend, they united around that plan.
Now I'm asking you to do the same. Those 447 people were a good start, but make no mistake — I know that this is also your party. And our plan to reform the party can only become a reality with your endorsement.
Please read our plan — and commit to making it a reality:
http://www.democrats.org/plan
Your representatives in the DNC mandated bottom-up reform — growing the Democratic Party in your neighborhood and every other community in America. They voted to compete in every state for every level of office. And they demanded a Democratic Party that stands up for itself and for an agenda that reflects our values.
They didn't elect me because they think I can accomplish these things. They elected me because I believe that only you can.
Every single one of us must take responsibility for building our party. It's not enough to simply vote for Democrats — in order to win, every one of us must deliver our message and values into our own community.
That means changing the way we do business, and that's what this plan is about:
http://www.democrats.org/plan
The Republicans' biggest victory has been to convince many Democrats that we can only win by abandoning our values and doing what they say.
It's one of their favorite tactics — just watch how right-wing pundits talk endlessly about the internal politics of our party. They try to divide Democrats by ideology just as they divide all Americans by race or gender or faith.
But there is no crisis of ideology in the Democratic Party, only a crisis of confidence. Bill Clinton once described the Democratic Party's problems in the era of George W. Bush, saying that in uncertain times people would rather have a leader who is strong and wrong than weak and right.
He's exactly right. And we become both weak and wrong when we abandon our core values for short-term political gain. But when we Democrats talk straight and stand up for ourselves, we have a huge advantage: We are both strong and right.
We will only turn that advantage into victory if we make a concrete plan and work hard to execute it. Declare your support and offer feedback now on the plan to build an organization that will help us win everywhere, and win with pride:
http://www.democrats.org/plan
Millions of Americans became Democrats last year. They sensed that they live in a society where ordinary people's problems and interests don't matter to our government. They chose the Democratic Party because we represent commonsense reform.
And millions more will become Democrats this year as we protect the Democratic Party's greatest achievement. We will not allow George Bush to phase out Social Security — a Democratic policy that cured an epidemic of poverty among seniors and provides the guarantee of retirement with dignity.
Most importantly, millions of Democrats have become true stakeholders in our party. With grassroots action and small-dollar donations, you have taken our party's future into your own hands.
The stakes are too high to wait for others to lead. Every one of us has a personal responsibility for the future of our party — and the future of our country.
This isn't my chairmanship — it is ours. So let's get to work together.
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
LINKS:
---Gov. Dean's Acceptance Speech
---New DNC Elected Officers, including Bay Area Congressman Mike Honda
---Gov. Dean's Transition Team
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Women's History Month Spotlight
2005 Theme: "Women Change America"
From the National Women's History Project:
The 2005, Women's History Month theme, "Women Change America," honors and recognizes the role of American women in transforming culture, history and politics as leaders, writers, scientists, educators, politicians, artists, historians, and informed citizens. "Women Change America" also celebrates the myriad ways in which the spirit, courage, and contributions of American women have added to the vitality, richness, and diversity of American life.
LINKS
---Women's History Facts
---The League of Women Voters turns 85: A lifetime of making democracy work
From the Center for American Women in Politics:
---Women in Elective Office Fact Sheets
---Women in the 109th Congress (2005-2007)
---Women in Statewide Elected Office (2005)
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Alice
Membership Form
Alice B Toklas LGBT Democratic Club
1800 Market Street PMB#18
San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel: 415-707-2010
www.alicebtoklas.org
Alice Reports Editor: Reese Aaron Isbell, M.P.P.
General Membership Meeting 2nd Monday of each month
Month of March:
Monday, March 14, 2005
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
LGBT Community Center
1800 Market Street @ Octavia
You can now join online www.alicebtoklas.org/abt/joinonline.asp,
or fill out the application below
Membership Application
Yes, I want to join the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club!
__$35 Regular
__$100 Supporter
__$250 Sponsor
__$500 Champion
__$20 Special Needs
__Other
__I am renewing my membership __I
will be a new member
__I am a registered Democrat
Name ______________________________________________________________
Address _____________________________________________________________
City ____________________________________State: ______Zip: _____________
Phone: Day __________________________Eve: _____________________________
Email: _________________________________________
Please send checks payable to “Alice B. Toklas
LGBT Democratic Club” and mail to:
Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club
1800 Market Street, PMB#18
San Francisco, CA 94102
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