Home
About Us
FAQs
Join Us
Events Calendar
Contact Us
Officers
Mission
Bylaws
Membership Meetings
Photo Gallery
About Us (PDF)
What We Do (PDF)
Get a SF4D Bumper Sticker
Our Neighbors
Democracy Action (SF)
East Bay for Democracy
San Mateo County DFA
Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley
DFA Marin
Sacramento for Democracy
Wellstone Renewal Club
Coalition Groups
Labor
SEIU
AFSCME
Latinos for America
Seniors for America
Asian
Pacific Americans
Out for Democracy
Voice for Veterans
Other Groups
CA Clean Money
Campaign
The MMOB
Moveon.org
Courage Campaign
Act for Change
Emerge Program
Center for American Progress
Rapid Response Network
Resources & Media
DFA Store
Air America Radio
Buzzflash
Media Matters
Claim vs. Fact Database
Daily Kos
Eschaton
Bartcop
Alternet
Local Resources
S.F. Usual Suspects
Beyond Chron
The Public Press
San Francisco Sentinel
SFist.com
LeftinSF.com
SFSchools.org
State Resources
Calitics
Rough & Tumble
Around the Capitol
|
All San Francisco for Democracy Events are listed on our calendar...we look forward to seeing you. General Election Endorsements
Endorsements for the June 8 Election On April 27, 2010, San Francisco for Democracy PAC and Federal Action voted on their endorsements for the June 8 election. Since there were endorsements for many offices and political parties, a combined endorsement slate follows (a voter guide for printing is here): Democratic Party Endorsements SF4DPAC endorsements for November Election San Francisco for Democracy PAC met on September 10, 2009 to formulate its endorsements for the Nov 3 city ballot:
City Ballot Measures SF4DPAC endorses for the May Special Election On April 20, 2009, members of the San Francisco for Democracy PAC met to vote on endorsements for the May 19 Special Election. This is a very difficult issue, as the state is in terrible financial condition and unless immediate revenue is found, layoffs and project suspensions will redouble. Nevertheless, we found that we could not endorse having a gun held to our head by the Yacht Party minority; Prop 1A makes unacceptable structural changes to the budgeting process and increases the Governor's power to unilaterally slash budgets, while 1C - 1E, the only measures with any immediate impact, take money away from already severely underfunded education, children's services and mental health programs, and will likely still fall far short of making up the gap. 1F is an insult to the intelligence of California voters placed on the ballot by Abel Maldonado, one more cudgel for the tyrannical minority to beat the majority over the head with. 1F will not stop Democrats from trying to change the fact that California education is last in the nation, nor will it release Republicans from their fealty to the Norquist "no taxes" pledge. State Ballot Measures SF4D sends delegates to State Dem Convention As of January 11, there are a total of six members of our club on the California Democratic Party Central Committee. In AD 12, Outreach Director Susan Pfeifer and longtime member (now Supervisor!) Eric Mar were elected as part of State Senator Leland Yee's slate, while in AD 13 President Tim Durning and member Brian Leubitz were elected, and Vice President Tom Brown was appointed, to represent Assemblyman Tom Ammiano's District. Additionally, SFDCCC chair Aaron Peskin appointed Luke Klipp, our Political Director, to represent that local body at the state level. Congratulations, all! And just in case you're wondering, SF4D is still a nonpartisan club. Several ways you can fight Prop 8 As we all know, lawsuits have been filed by the ACLU and others, but there are also several things we can do as individuals to fight this despicable attempt to code discrimination into the state constitution:
Another nifty voter guide For anyone still making those last-minute decisions, the Courage Campaign has put out a swell guide to the state ballot measures that not only explains their own endorsements, but compares them to those of other progressive groups around the state. Check it out here. People have been looking for a solution to the problem of redistricting by legislature for a long time. The perceived need is so great that whenever a new proposal comes out, reform groups like Common Cause seem to jump on board without a thought as to the actual plausibility or fairness of the proposed reform. Prop 11 would give Republicans and Democrats an equal say in redistricting despite the fact that one party greatly outnumbers the other among the electorate, would give third parties no say whatever, and would do little to ensure reasonable distribution across racial and gender lines. And the effect of having potential commissioners self-select are hard to predict - could this be a situation where interested parties somehow remunerate voters to sit on the commission? If none of this gives you pause, take a look at the funders of this "reform":
Vote NO on Prop 11. Supe elections: a sharp astroturf to the Right Having lost control of the SFDCCC to people who actually care about the future of San Francisco, downtown Republicans are trying to overtake the Board of Supervisors by using our popular but soulless mayor, as well as deceptionary techniques and smears worthy of John McCain. The latest example? The "San Francisco Democratic Club." Go ahead, try and find it on the Google, or in a list of registered Democratic clubs. It isn't one, and its membership is a closely guarded secret. But that didn't keep it from sending out a mailer to parts of the city last week that is almost identical in appearance to the official Democratic Party endorsement flyer, and urges voters to support each of the downtown and developer-friendly candidates for Supervisor, as well as NO votes on props H (the ludicrous "Protect our right to vote!") and K, and a YES vote on V and several of the Mayor's powergrab measures. While we were notified of this directly by voters in the Outer Sunset, BeyondChron additionally reports that this same "Club" has also been making calls to voters in the Richmond district falsely identifying itself as the Democratic Party, and urging a vote for downtown candidate Sue Lee. Meanwhile, a somewhat more legitimate group of disaffected BRT opponents has also recently formed in the Richmond, calling itself the "Richmond Reform Democratic Club." Unfortunately, the candidates and measures it supports are virtually identical, and its outreach funding is coming from much the same sources: the Committee on Jobs, PG&E, and BOMA. Behind much of this is a shadowy, Republican-led group called the Coalition for Responsible Growth, which is funnelling tens of thousands of dollars into defeating progressive candidates in districts 1, 3, and 11, as well as the PG&E-feared Prop H. The CRG's aim, as stated in a recent letter from chairman John Keogan, is to take "S.F. on a sharp turn to the right," and it has held private, invitation-only funders for the pro-downtown candidates, so that nobody knows who is being promised what. It has spent over $80,000 on scurrilous advertising to defeat progressive businessowner David Chiu in district 3 alone. It would truly be tragic to send progressive coalitions to Washington and Sacramento, while at the same time San Francisco returns to the regressive politics of the past. At stake are tenants' rights, affordable housing, innumerable greening projects, health care, education, and the ability of local businesses to survive competition from international corporations. Please volunteer to help keep San Francisco a progressive city. Prop 2: The low cost of being humane Here's a summary of what's at issue, and what it will cost: Despite a heavily funded opposition, as of September 30 Proposition 2 is leading in the polls by a 72-10 margin. You can help ensure its passage at www.HumaneCalifornia.org. Yeah, you heard about it. The Religious Right is sponsoring six hour "relay fasts" in support of the heinous Prop 8. Well, our side is not about to be outdone, comadrejas. Pledge yourself to fast at CaliPAC's "Relay Fast for Equality," and a dollar will go to the official No on 8 Campaign for every relay minute you fast. From your credit card. Saweeeeeet! The bulky dark guy will explain it all to you: SF4DPAC Makes Remaining Endorsements The San Francisco Democracy PAC met on September 24 to finalize its endorsements for ballot measures. Here are the results: State Ballot Measures Our customary Voter Guide, complete with our reasoning on each endorsement, is here. SF4DPAC Makes Local Candidate Endorsements At its August 20 general membership meeting, San Francisco for Democracy PAC made its endorsements for local races. Many tough decisions had to be made, as there were a large number of excellent candidates to choose from in many of the races, especially District 9, where our own Eric Storey is running for Supervisor. The results were as follows (click candidate name for website): S. F. Supervisor
S. F. Board of Education
S. F. City College Board
Please feel welcome to peruse the rest of our candidate questionnaires and videos; also feel free to leave questions and comments on the forum (you will need to create a login if you don't already have one). Democracy for America Endorses Mark Leno BURLINGTON, VT – DemocracyForAmerica.com, our nation's largest progressive political action organization, announced Monday that it has endorsed Mark Leno's campaign for the California State Senate. Historic Grassroots Victory at State Dem Convention
An historic turn-around vote took place at the annual California Democratic Party convention in San Jose this year which has resulted in a “no endorsement” position for the CDP in the race for State Senate, District 3. Here’s what happened: on Saturday, the local endorsing caucus had given the nod to incumbent Carole Migden for re-election in the upcoming primary. As an incumbent, Senator Migden only needed to get 50% plus one of the local delegate votes, while a challenger, such as our endorsed candidate Assemblymember Mark Leno, would have needed to get 60% of the vote. Senator Migden won the local endorsement vote by 55%, but many grassroots activists questioned the legitimacy of that vote given reports that a good number of those voting in the local caucus had just recently been appointed as delegates by Senators who lived in other districts. Although this practice is within party rules, the idea that the endorsement process can be manipulated by out-of-district Senators merely to protect an incumbent against a primary challenger seems contrary to democratic principles. Many of us believe we need to replace the culture of incumbency with a culture of activism in order to truly return ownership of our democracy to the people. Immediately after the endorsing caucus results were announced, Leno supporters began the difficult process of obtaining delegate signatures on an official petition to remove Carole Migden from the next day’s consent calendar. To the surprise of us Leno volunteers, we were able to obtain more than twice as many signatures as the 300 required by the 11:00 pm deadline. On the convention floor on Sunday morning…after the speech by President Clinton…both the Migden and Leno campaigns were given the opportunity to speak, followed by a vote of the entire membership. The results of that floor vote were equally surprising: 742 of the state-wide delegates in attendance voted against ratifying the Migden endorsement, out of a total of 1,040 votes cast. A subsequent vote was taken to see if the same group of delegates would endorse Mark Leno for SD 3, and although he did not receive the 75% threshold needed for an endorsement, he did get a comfortable 60% of the 979 votes cast. On Thursday, March 20, SF4D PAC held a general membership meeting for the sake of hearing arguments and making endorsements for the June 3 State Primary. By far the biggest controversy was over local development measures F and G; supporters of measure G worry that development of the Bayview area will be delayed still further, while F supporters are concerned that too few of the area's current residents will be able to afford to stay in the Bayview. See our video debate here. The endorsement results were as follows: California Assembly
California Senate
State Ballot Measures
SF Ballot Measures
For more information on the various propositions and candidates, go here. PAC Makes February Endorsements Members of the SF4D state PAC made its endorsements for the February primary right along the lines recommended by the PAC Coordinators. The results are as follows (click on the proposition number for a detailed discussion):
Thanks to everyone who participated in this bold electronic experiment! PAC Makes November Endorsements SF for Democracy PAC members met on September 19 to discuss and vote on local ballot propositions and candidates for the November 6, 2007 local election. Proposition J – which would endorse a public/private partnership to provide free Wi Fi service for the residents of San Francisco—turned out to be one of the most controversial initiatives, as members, while supporting Wi Fi generally, could not agree on whether this would amount to an endorsement of another plan similar to the Mayor's flawed Eartlink deal. Also, we'd rather have good Wi Fi than rush it. Our final vote: No on Prop J. SFFDPAC also took the controversial step of endorsing Safety Network Partnership program director Quintin Mecke over mayoral incumbent Gavin Newsom. Mr Mecke joined the race at the last minute because he believes the Mayor could be doing much more about homicide, housing, and the homeless, and should not be getting a free pass on this election. We agree. SF Ballot Propositions
SF Candidates
Much thanks go to Political Director Erich Albrecht and all the coordinators who worked so hard to complete this endorsements process. Download SF4D 2007 voter guide here. Candidate questionnaires are here. PAC Opposes Recall of Peskin and McGoldrick At its first membership meeting on July 25, 2007, the newly formed SFFD PAC voted to oppose the recall of Supervisors Aaron Peskin (District 3) and Jake McGoldrick (District 1). After some discussion, the PAC members concluded that the recall efforts directed at these duly elected supervisors cannot be justified based on evidence of corrupt behavior, incompetence or malfeasance. Instead, it appears that in both cases a small group of special interests have launched recall campaigns to voice their policy disagreements with these supervisors. Earlier that evening, the general membership of San Francisco for Democracy voted to urge the Board of Supervisors to place a charter amendment on the February 2008 ballot that would reform our recall provisions. While citizens should have recourse to remove elected officials for egregious behavior, a recall campaign based on narrow policy disagreements or supported by wealthy special interests seems to subvert the intent of the voters. Other jurisdictions have tougher standards for qualifying a recall election than San Francisco and the members felt it’s time to consider making needed changes in our city charter. If passed by the voters in February, the following amendments to the recall provisions in our city charter would mitigate against future abuses: 1. Increase the number of required signatures from 10% to 20% of eligible voters living in the district If the recall campaigns directed against these supervisors do qualify for the ballot, members of the San Francisco for Democracy PAC will work to defeat these inappropriate and abusive recalls. SF for Democracy Announces 2006 Endorsements San Francisco for Democracy has completed its endorsements for the November 7th election.
Our outreach flyer for the local propositions is here; and for the state propositions here (and here's a two- sided half-sheet version.) Many thanks are due to Mimi LaPointe and all the members of S.F. for Democracy's Political Affairs Committee for all their hard work in the candidate and proposition review process. November 2006 Election Endorsements: State initiatives ll 14 of the state-wide ballot initiatives were also discussed and voted on for possible endorsements at our August 15th General Membership Meeting held in the Mission District police station. Members voted "YES" on the infrastructure bonds (propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and 1E) as well as Propositions 84, 87, 88 and 89; "NO" on Propositions 83, 85 and 90; and "No Recommendation" on Proposition 86, the tax on cigarettes. We've created a two-sided guide to all these state initiatives which you can download here. (Here's a 2-sided half-sheet version -- great for flyering.) You can also read the complete minutes to this meeting here June 2006 CA Election Endorsements and Officer Elections SF for Democracy discussed, and was courted by, candidates and propositions for the upcoming June 6 California elections at our General Membership meeting Tuesday, April 18, in the Mission Police Station Community Room. Press release of the full results of SF for Democracy's endorsement vote for the June 6 CA election are linked and can be viewed here. We voted to support California propositions 81 & 82; in San Francisco, we're supporting Prop. B (eviction disclosure) and opposing Prop. D (Laguna Honda), with no recommendation on Props. A and C. (Download our flyer here). We also completed our yearly officer elections in record time. 2006-2007 officers elected for San Francisco for Democracy are:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Quote of the Day:
Working Groups SF for Democracy's Five Strategic Issues
 Play Whack-a-Murdoch Boom Boom (a very funny video) Join our Yahoo group (discussion, etc.) No Longer New ! Air America radio in the Bay Area...960 on your AM dial (or on the web here). |
||||||||||||
|
©2010 San Francisco For Democracy |