In addition to below, there is
a new posting on UPDATE, dated January 15th. Be sure to visit our new section, And Now?
(accessible from the Home Page). Last postings there on June 9th and November 7, 2007.
ATTENTION EVERYONE! Starting
in February, 2007, most postings are made at this website's new section called "And
Now?" accessible from the home page.
January 9, 2007
Happy New Year, Everyone! I
decided to post in advance of my announced monthly posting date of the 14th because there
has been such a surge in visits to our website since the inauguration speech a few days
ago, it is obvious people are wanting our feedback.
In the immediate days
following Gov. Schwarzenegger's landslide re-election, there was a tremendous drop in
visits to our website, I assumed naturally that there was less interest in what we say
here. I decided to post only once monthly, mainly to keep our recall volunteers together,
for that "just in case."
However, since late November,
the analysis of our website visits and visitors revealed that there remains a great deal
of interest, like before the election. Most noticeably, our website continues to be of
considerable interest to folks who want the best for Gov. Schwarzenegger. If what we say
here continues to influence Governor's actions, I say, "Great!" and we will keep
up the posts.
On March 10, here on Weblog,
we posted the following:
"Governor Schwarzenegger
- you ARE a very powerful man. We the volunteers of Recall campaign call on you to change
your ways - learn to sow happiness. History has never praised leaders who protected the
wealthy. History remembers those who helped the disadvantaged, those who are poor. How
history will remember you - remains YOUR choice. Do the right thing. You can still be
remembered and respected for the right thing you did before leaving the office. Maria and
Susan, help him."
I think these words dug deeply
into Gov.Schwarzenegger's heart. These words together with the story I told over and over
on radio and television when I launched the recall, about the plight of the working
poor without health insurance have left an indelible mark on the governor. Thank you for
remembering my story about one working family I knew whose daughter had to drop out of UC
to support the family when an illness completely bankrupted the family. And about Mr. D.
who kept cutting back on his blood pressure medicine to make it to the next payday. He
subsequently died from a stroke, but I see this fine hardworking man in his daughter's
eyes. I take care of her now.
Thank Goodness that Gov.
Schwarzenegger has made universal health his foremost goal for California. He has
courageously even proposed to cover the children of the undocumented immigrants. I have
many volunteers in the South who have serious concerns about the flow of undocumented
immigrants into their midst. I have come to understand their feelings and I do not think
bigotry drives those feelings. However, children should not bear the punishment for what
actions their parents took. I applaud Gov. Schwarzenegger for his willingness to deal with
the sour faces of his more conservative supporters.You can tell them that an epidemic
spread from an untreated undocumented child may threaten the lives of their precioius
grandchildren.
I have come to believe that
healthcare is a right, not a privilege that comes with money. Too many people are without
an insurance and are forced to get really sick before they get medical attention. The
hardest hit have been the working poor, the number one contingent of my Recall Campaign.
Thank you Governor Schwarzenegger for coming to their aid.
As many of you know, I express
much amazement in a book I wrote on the Recall (Arnold Remade) about how much the
changes we have seen in Gov. Schwarzenegger was brought about by our launch of the Recall.
With the exception of one other thing I am still waiting for, this Universal Health
coverage for our working poor completes the Recall Campaign's program.
Having expressed my praise and
gratitude for this and other lofty goals Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed both in his
Inaugural Speech (Congratulations, by the way, Gov.!!) and his State of the State speech
tonight, it is my duty now to express my concerns, that unless handled right, these lofty
goals will remain just that, goals, or even if they get carried out they will soon fall
apart.
It is proposed that different
segments of our society will share in the "burden" of providing health coverage
to the 6.5 million uninsureds in California. I can see the legislature bog down deciding
who will bear the greatest burden. As more details become clear, I will undoubtedly have
more comments to make. Somehow, I trust that the legislature and the governor sincerely
intent on leaving a legacy will reach some agreement on this matter.
My worry about the universal
health plan (this one is far more realistic and pallatable to the ordinary citizens of
California than the Kuehl Bill, I believe) is the same one I have for all health plans
nationwide. They are all slated to go into the stratosphere because there are some
inherent design flaws that actually started with the Medicare Program, as wonderful as
Medicare is.
Prior to Medicare, we had 50,
60 million households across the country who on many weekends inspected the medical bills
for their properness. These "auditors" were not paid and unlike auditors
currently working for government and private health insurance carriers, these
"auditors" actually knew first hand what services were actually rendered by
providers sending the bills. The doctors and hospitals, knowing that many of the patients
will be bringing the money at their next visit and paying them face to face, did not dare
"try billing" for higher services than they rendered. For an office visit that
lasted 4 minutes, a doctor wouldn't think of slapping the family with a $250 bill. A
hospital bill wouldn't come with a charge of $25 for a plastic bedpan. On the other hand,
when a doctor conscientiously got out of bed for a dear patient suffering in an emergency
room, she knew that when she tendered a bill for $45, she could count on being paid,
graciously, and with much gratitude on the patient's face. She would not face what I faced
as a physician in 1974, when I got out of bed out of courtesy to expedite a care of
an elderly patient at an emergency room, and I billed $45, and the state Medi-Cal program
sent me a check for $2.35. Then when I took 40 minutes to dictate a letter why I should
have been paid more, I received $1.33 on the supplemental check.
A system where the person
paying isn't the person receiving the service leads to abuses and utter ridiculousness. I
can see that the entire American medical care system is headed to an explosion, or worse
-- sub-par services caused by inadequate payments, payments that are inadequate because
most of the money is going to other people than those providing services.
My local hospital in Berkeley
was called Herrick. In 1960, the hospital administration consisted of a 14 by 16 feet
office of the hospital director and an 8 by 16 feet office of his administrative assistant
in the fore-room. Yes, there was a billing office, one room, in the basement, but the rest
of the hospital had patients in them, or had diagnostic equipment in them. Herrick did
well for the community - a first class service, first class doctors.
About two decades later, as
more and more "third party payors" became common place, my hospital who proudly
took care of the poor and the minorities fell on hard times and was enticed to
"merge" with another Berkeley hospital which many doctors called the
"country club." This second hospital, Alta Bates, promised our Herrick
staff that they would keep Herrick running. Afterall, Herrick was located centrally, near
downtown, and was the firefighters' choice for the location of the city emergency room.
Guess what, it was just a few
years later, without even a sense of embarrassment, Alta Bates concluded that the city can
only afford one hospital and despite the protest of most people in Berkeley, Herrick was
closed. Oh, Hollywood often came to make movies there because the new hospital Herrick had
built before the "merger" looked so nice. This was probably before you were
making movies, Governor.
Alta Bates is now, as a result
of a series of other mergers, Alta Bates-Summit Corporation, which is a division of yet
bigger Sutter Health. Even before such mergers, Alta Bates' administration consisted of
thousands of square feet of office space in a skyscraper far away from the hospital
itself. Its chief or some head honcho got into trouble when the newspapers reported that
every junior executive of this "corporation" - a non-profit one, mind you - was
to be given a brand new BMW!
Do you see why we are using
our credit cards to pay our health insurance premiums? But you think I am blaming
business-oriented hospital administrators for all our troubles. No, not at all. This
monster was created in response to the stupid way the Congress and other government
officials set up Medicare, and this led to private insurers copying the flawed designed
for their use.
Just as I was paid something
outrageous like $4.00 for providing caring services to a sick patient at 3 AM (I got home
at 7 AM just in time to shower and go to my hospital rounds), hospitals were also
encountering problems with payments from third party carrier like Medicare and Blue Cross.
It was a survival necessity to hire an office full of clerks, each bunch of twenty
supervised by a junior exec, to write protest letters to the carriers. Then the
well-meaning legislatures, both federal and state, began passing dumb laws on their last
day before recess, and so then to defend against outrageous regulations, hospitals
recruited from other industries expensive hired guns to strategize, lead in lobbying
campaigns, and do other necessary things to keep hospitals from going under. The result is
what you see today, and this process is in continuous evolution, getting worse and worse.
It is vitally important that
we recruit some real geniuses to figure out a real fix. I can assure you that the solution
is not a single payer system. Sorry RoseAnn. Talk to dissatisfied patients of the Kaiser
HMO, like me. Kaiser is touted as the model for a nationalized system. God forbid! (And
I'm not even religious.)
I am sure the governor and the
legislature will figure out a way to make everyone pay something out of their pocket to
make this universal health coverage happen. I hope so. However, I have far less confidence
that such a universal health plan will become your legacy, Governor. It may be lucky to
last through your administration - note I am not predicting our need to recall you in 2008
(Breath a sign of relief, because we are such a well-oiled machinery, I'd hate to be a
target of group like ours!). Maria and Susan, you have got to plan a Phase II - review and
revision of any state-sponsored health services by a blue ribbon committee of geniuses not
beholden to special interests, to correct the flaws in our third party payor system that
lead to spiraling of costs.
Governor Schwarzenegger. I am
beginning to appreciate your great talent and magnetic personality that enable you to
bring about things that men and women not like you are incapable of. I also can see the
important role that your dear wife Maria plays in helping you stick to successful
strategies. I also see that you have surrounded yourself with people who have good hearts
and know politics, like Susan Kennedy. There are others that most people would not
recognize and so they are not mentioned but know that I do appreciate their presence. You
have a good team. It will be important that you avoid the pitfalls that I can see in the
road. I have more comments to make, which will be posted as my time allows in the future,
but I think I should get off my soapbox before someone yanks it out from under me. For
those who patiently read to this point, I have a special treat. Charlie Bright of South
Carolina sent a very funny cartoon to me. It does not relate to California politics, but
it is funny even to Bush supporters if they have any sense of humor, and many of our
volunteers are dying to have an installment of cartoons from Charlie, and so I have
decided to post it below. Thanks, Charlie! Have fun.
Kenneth Matsumura, MD (since
this past Summer, most of the postings are strictly my own opinion) from the Republic of
California
December 14, 2006
Everyone's taking a break. Our
volunteers are keeping busy with different tasks. Mainly we are monitoring for any
indication of troubles ahead. Actually, I think most of us realize that we have such a
well-oiled machinery that we don't want to let it get rusty for possible use in the
future. Many of us have also formed probably life-long friendships and those of us who
live close by are getting together socially cementing our relationships. The rest of us
keep in touch often by e-mail.
What is clear is that if there
is any significant deviation from the new direction that we have coaxed our governor to
take, we will know it quickly, and this time, we won't let it go so far down the hill like
the last time.
I will personally be working
on the formation of a cohesive coalition that can act and vote in a unitary way. Those of
you who are new to this website can review our comments about such a coalition in the
postings of December 2005. Actually, our volunteer force is a microcosm of such a
coalition, and the fact that we were able to act together for so long gives me
encouragement that we can form such a coalition in a even bigger way.
Happy Holidays, and thanks,
Volunteers, for all that you did and accomplished.
November 16, 2006 (Posting
here will now become monthly, before the 15th)
A few days late. We all needed
a break, right? First, my congratulations to the governor and Maria. And you're welcome.
This year was just a taste. We have much work ahead, if we are to continue making
progress. First, let me get something out of the way.
Yielding to much coaxing from
many of our volunteers, I have written a book about our experience and it is hot off the
press: Arnold Remade: How the Fear of His Own Recall Transformed Him & Reshaped
California. You can read more about it on the publisher's website for this
book, at www.ArnoldRemade.com. It is written
giving the governor as much credit as possible for taking our Recall effort seriously.
Indeed, we all know, if he had not, we would have a different governor as of last July.
The fact is Arnold Schwarzenegger took some bold steps, that not anyone would have taken,
even facing all the facts last December. I think the book makes for an interesting reading
and people who have read it find it very inspiring and many are planning to give it as
gift this Holiday Season. It is available through your bookstore who can get it from the
large wholeseller Baker & Taylor. It is also available at the above website.
Now, back to our business.
This website stays up by the consensus decision of our volunteers. Many frankly do not
trust that our "transformed" governor will stay that way. I personally think
that he will, but I have gone along with the preparation for taking the necessary steps
should our governor revert to his old ways. I was disappointed to hear that he still has
interest in redrawing our districts. Regardless of the merit of this idea, it is very
divisive and any goodwill he has generated over this past, carefully conducted year will
evaporate in an instant. Why, ask yourself, Governor, when you are enjoying so much
adulation not only in California, but in New York and elsewhere, would you want to end it
and make us start drawing those viper cartoons again? Charles Bright, the loyal cartoonist
from South Carolina, is still with us. Did you like all those unflattering renditions of
yourself we had to draw here on our website? It must have hurt Maria's heart to no end to
see what we had to say about the old governor, here on our website a year ago. Do not go
back. Anyway, we are telling you, we are well-greased, experienced, and ready to make sure
California goes only forward, not backward. I'm going to try to make this the last time I
talk about our readiness, but what we will do the next time will be quite different. But
that won't be necessary, I am sure.
I do see some troubles ahead.
We are all counting on the economy upping our revenue, but we could face up to five
billion dollars in deficit. Because the governor hates to raise taxes, we are instead
borrowing, borrowing, borrowing. The legacy he will leave California may not be the
wonderfully freshened infrastructure, but an albatross on the young of public debt. I too
would like to avoid new taxes, and so I will have new ideas in terms of improving our
state revenue from an economic upturn.
Well, governor, you and I know
you still have one more thing to do, to complete the planning of the last year. Don't let
me hold you up.
Kenneth Matsumura, MD
October 26, 2006
This will be brief. Much is
happening at our campaign headquarters, as will become evident soon. We are preparing for
the inevitable four years of Schwarzenegger administration, unless a Truman-surprise
happens again.
I think that the left wing
groups in this state needs to reconsider how decisions were made this past year. Every
prediction and warning I made came true. It was like I had the crystal ball. Some of the
volunteers who dropped off after the November 2005 elections also made some tragic
mistakes in their judgment.If we continue like we did, you can bet that the causes we
support will suffer.
Socially progressive causes
must form a coalition of the sort I advocated in December last year with other good
causes. (1) The poor, many of whom have surprisingly conservative social ideas, (2) the
unions, many of whose members also have trouble with ideas of the social progressives, (3)
advocates of strong public education (teachers and parents, whose political spectrum is
also quite broad), (4) advocates of healthcare reforms, must all come together. Together,
we control 68% of the future votes. It is an invincible coalition that can control our
future, regardless of how many Arnies they send. Divide this group, like they are now, and
each group will be taken apart.
For the first time in history,
these members worked side by side, on the recall. On issues they could not completely
agree, they were willing to compromise so that each group can get at least their minimum
goals achieved. If it could happen once, it can happen again. True, it will mean watering
down every group's most extreme goals. But isn't it better to water down your goals than
to have the near opposite happen?
Our analysis, which will be
published and widely circulated shortly, shows that it was only because of the Recall
Campaign that we achieved so much this year. We moved a mountain. While we are now
preparing ahead, don't count on us to keep achieving so much for California.
The coalition that came
together for the recall was of the rank and file members. Most were disgusted that their
groups' leadership did nothing to foster the strong wishes of the rank and file.
"Disgusted" was about as strong as they felt; I heard them.
Rest assured that we are now
taking many innovative steps to prevent back-sliding of all that we achieved this year.
Governor should take note that all the good will that he has generated this year, thanks
to us, can evaporate in a month. Stay with us, Governor. Stay with Susan and Maria and
others who moderated you. I personally respect some of your ideas and concerns; I too am a
fiscal conservative. As you have seen lately, I for one am not taking you to the edge. But
don't go back to the other edge. I have the pulse of the Californians. Stay with us, even
after your re-election.
Treasurer Angelides, we
sincerely wish for your victory on November 7th; keep working until the end. I'm only
sorry you didn't join us last December, but I guess hindsight is cheap.
Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Recall
Founder
September 28, 2006
Our routine, running commentary and advisory on the conduct of the election
campaign follows the entry of September 13, and out of chronological sequence. Because we
are so proud of our achievements described in the entries of September 13th and 28th, they
will remain at the top of the Weblog section for the near future.
Hello, Volunteers! Hurrah!
Congratulations, again!!!! We got global warming! I mean to say, the recall campaign has
successfully gotten our governor to proudly join the battle against global warming, making
California the leader in environmental protection. He signed the legislation which he
worked on with the legislature that will more aggressively seek to reduce carbon dioxide
emission here in California. I know we have volunteers whose causes are still
short-changed and our work is not complete by any means, but I have to say I am breathless
with the transformation we are bringing to California (better breathless this way than
from carbon dioxide, right?). Governor Schwarzenegger, thank you!! Now, be sure to read
our regular weblog entries that begin below the entry of September 13. Kenneth Matsumura,
MD
September 13, 2006 A Time for
Celebration!
Our usual weblog posting
commenting on the conduct of the election campaign will be delayed by a few days in order
to allow our groups to celebrate. We are letting it sink in that our campaign made the
raise in the minimum wage possible. Nothing else did that. There was a clear cause and
effect pattern from the time of our announcement that a recall against Gov. Schwarzenegger
was launched, the feeding frenzy by the media over that announcement, the avalanche of
e-mails from volunteers all across the state promising to gather at least 40 recall
signatures, our near-daily postings about why we were recalling him, including a frequent
mention of how much the veto of the raise in the minimum wage had to do with our launch of
the recall, and finally the Governor's speech on the State of the State, in January, in
which he sounded like it was his idea to raise the minimum wage! Volunteers, all across
the state, who worked long hours; especially our Sacramento chief Jaime Feliciano who
worked incessantly to gather signatures from January to May; the many dedicated volunteers
who kept sending hundreds of signatures each week. This is YOUR payday, today! You made
this happen. You made it possible now for our working poor to buy health insurance, or
adequate nutrition for their children. You did this!!!! Enjoy the good feeling you
deserve to have in your hearts! The working poor got somewhere between 2.5 to 5 billion
dollars a year in raise!!! This governor had starved them for two years! BUT HE DID
LISTEN! Thank you Governor Schwarzenegger.
When I with much anger
couldn't restrain myself from launching the recall, I had no idea that it could have such
a major effect. As those of you who read the blog here know, the governor has not only
listened to us about the working poor, he has joined our fight against global warming, and
has assured continuous water supply to the South by working to fix the delta levees. Thank
you for those things, too, Governor!
Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Recall
Proponent
September 28, 2006
If I weren't seeing the new
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who champions the raise in the minimum wage and proudly fights
global warming, I would be plenty depressed around now. The recall campaign warned early
this year that the predictions of the State Democratic Party, the large unions, the
teachers, and the nurses were dead wrong! Many didn't want to join the recall because they
said, "Why do the hard work of a recall when Angelides or Wesley is a shoo-in."
We said that our studies indicate that we needed to hold the recall election by March or
April because we predicted that the governor would rehabilitate his image by the Summer.
The State Democratic Party and others need new advisors! They only talk to themselves,
slap each other on the back and congratulate themselves. I for one, went up and down the
state and listened to our volunteers who represented a good cross section of the
California voters. The governor has good advisors, who took us seriously and read our
postings avidly. They transformed their platform and remade their candidate in our mirror
image. The Democratic side, at least those in control in Sacramento, were a bunch of
know-it alls. Look where they are now. I say, "they" and not "us"
because I do not feel "they" are "us." Remember, the weblog postings
lately have been my personal views, not necessarily those of our volunteers, but I do not
believe I deviate much from the core postions of our volunteers. I still talk to quite a
few of them regularly and they give me feedbacks.
Let me comment on the recent
Democratic-Angelides campaign ads. One can tell they are completely out of touch with the
reality of the California voters. Trying to associate Governor Schwarzenegger with
President Bush is, for lack of a better word, dumb. Even many liberals don't buy it. An
outside liberal, a visitor from Ireland, said to me, "Is this all that the Democrats
have now against Schwarzenegger?" It is pathetic.
I tell you why also it is
dangerous to hinge political support on anti-Bush sentiments. I was going to say this
around the middle of September before the polls came out corroborating my thinking, but it
would not be surprising to see an increasing support for not running out of Iraq, like we
did disgracefully out of Vietnam. The remembrance of 9-11 can bring a strong reminder as
to who would gain from America's retreat out of Iraq - Islamic extremists who mistreat
women, who don't believe in a diversified world, who don't even believe in modern science
or accepted practice of justice. There's no one who was more disgusted than I with the way
Bush was "elected" in 2000, like those Presidents "confirmed" by
judges in undemocratic South American countries. I was one of the few who flew to
Washington to protest his swearing in. So listen to me when I say don't connect to
anti-Bush sentiments. Most of us are very American and very patriotic. We believe in
protecting the ideals enumerated by our country's founding Fathers.
Trying to embarrass the
governor about a casual comment made in private also makes Angelides forces look
desperate. Also, when there is some question about how those comments were made public,
the Democrats risk looking like the Watergate burglars. Yes, I know the taped comments
were not "stolen."That is besides the point.It is a matter of the public's
perception. Kenneth Matsumura, MD
August 31, 2006 Angelides
Improving His Positions
Those who are avid readers of
weblog here will recall that on July 13th, I presented some friendly advice to the
Treasurer about his positions on issues and how they were likely to be viewed by the
voters who will determine the outcome of the November election. I had misgivings about the
large ten billion dollars 'tax the rich' plan and about his support of the universal
healthcare Kuehl's Bill, based on what our volunteers think. I suggested that he
should say that the economy has taken a surprising upturn which has enabled him to roll
back his tax plan.I also suggested that he should move cautiously on the universal
healthcare plan. In June, his spokesperson had said he supported the Kuehl Bill.
Treasurer Angelides has
adopted a tax 'rebate' plan for the middle class thereby returning some of the tax taken
from the very rich. It is a strategy that worked for Clinton, although if I recall
correctly, Clinton didn't roll out his plan in two steps like Angelides, and therein lies
the problem. Angelides could be seen to have added his second step as a political move.
His advisers will need to prepare Phil for that attack from Arnie.
If I am hearing this
correctly, I understand that Angelides has now withdrawn support of the Kuehl Bill. This
will have taken away an important attack position from Arnie. That is a relief!
Let me tell you what I have
heard repeatedly from my volunteers who worked to recall the governor. Even after the
governor remarkably adopted the Recall Campaign's main demands, many of our volunteers
wanted to keep going to recall him, because of the character issue.
I believe the man who will win
in November will win based on the voters' perception of the candidate's character. The
governor, helped by postings here on this website, has really cleaned up unpopular
positions on various issues. It still amazes me that he is now the foremost champion of
the raise in the minimum wage, when afterall I decided to recall him after he vetoed for
the second time the raise voted by the Democratic legislature. He has stopped ignoring the
deterioration of California's infrastructure, such as the levee which I said threatened
the water supply of Southern California. He is helping California become one of the first
states to adopt measures to stop global warming, in contrast to his Republican buddy in
Washington.He petitioned to prohibit constructing roads into some of California's last
wilderness. He has closest to him the former head of the California Abortion Rights Action
League. This Susan is also expected to guide him on gay rights issues. We can keep listing
the ways in which he has gone down our list of demands and grievances of last December and
met them.
Therefore, with these issues
putting the governor now much more together with the voters, it is a challenge for
Angelides to demonstrate why the voters should vote for him, not Schwarzenegger.
In the previous, recent posts,
I have railed against playing politics as usual and reaching the budget pretty much on
time was just what the doctor ordered. Angelides' recent move to separate himself from a
position taken by a union on a proposition is the kind of things that can assure the
voters that Angelides is not 'bought' by the union or any special interest group. His
recent move, perhaps following our advice, to not back the Kuehl Bill placed him
independent of yet another union to whom he had been seen beholden. However, suspicions
will continue in the minds of voters that Phil is with "special interest
groups." Remember that Schwarzenegger rode successfully on the tide of voters'
disdain of special interest groups. The voters have NOT changed. Angelides' advisor will
need to carefully work on dispelling any notion that he will not act in the best interest
of California because he owes too much to the various special interest groups that are so
powerful in Sacramento. Remember, even in 2006, Sacramento-outsiders are in,
Sacramento-insiders are out!
So back again. Three most
important things in this election. Character. Character. Character. I believe Arnie has
really done a splendid job the whole of this year in being consistent in support of
certain issues that we outlined, while still maintaining fiscal conservatism. Voters who
will decide the next governor are like me, fiscally conservative. Idealists, maybe, but
fiscally conservative, for sure. Angelides will need to assure the voters that he has a
plan to deliver a caring and productive California, without bankrupting it. Angelides will
need to be consistent, lest he will be seen as another politician, who promises to get
elected but renegs quickly. He who shows that he is strong and capable of delivering what
is promised, but fiscally cautious, will win. You can bet that Arnie's people will have
read my post today and when the date of the debate arrives, Arnie will attack Angelides as
being a Sacramento politician. It is incumbent on Angelides' supporters who read here to
prepare him for this attack. Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Recall Founder
August 14, 2006 Lessons
well learned & the Latino Vote
Showing confidence in a
November victory, Schwarzenegger has announced a trip in 2007 to India. It will actually
be a trade mission, which is aimed at bringing more business to California. Those who read
our website avidly will recall that I criticized the governor for spending 90% of his time
making sure that taxes are not raised for his wealthy friends, and failing to do anything
to stimulate the California economy, which by the way, would have benefitted his rich
friends even more.
Apparently, this trip to India
was Maria's idea. She is one smart woman and could have figured out by herself that the
governor needed to do more of these trips, but I wouldn't be surprised if reading our
website resonated with her.
On another topic, the
governor's advertisements are mainly in SoCal. He is concerned about the Latino vote. You
recall when he ran the first time, he used the undocumenteds as his focus. He did build up
a lot of resentment in the Latino community. One such recall volunteer in fact translated
our home page to enable us to reach out to the Spanish speaking community.
On the issue of the Latino
vote, Angelides must be very careful. He appears oblivious to how the issue of illegal
immigration bothers even the most liberal Democrats, who live in SoCal. It's one thing to
back a funding of emergency health care of children of undocumented aliens, but another to
not have some serious but practical solution to the continous flow of aliens across the
southern border. If Angelides were to come up with an innovative approach that meets the
heart of the liberals and the concerns of decent (not just biggoted) citizens in SoCal, he
could seriously for the first time threaten the re-election of Gov. Schwarzenegger.
As for the governor, he lost a
lot of Latino votes when he showed no care for the working poor. His accepting our
criticism has taken a big step towards rehabilitating his image before the Latino
community. We believe his demonstrating that he has had a genuine awakening on this issue
can do much to gain votes in the Latino community.
I started this quest when I
saw the plight of our working poor. They are the backbone of our society. We must work to
reward them for their hardwork and provide them with a health net. More than a
revolutionary universal health care that will re-engineer health care of everyone (which
scares more people than comforts them), we need to extend Medi-Cal to our working poor
with increasing deductibles for those earning more. I personally believe this takes
priority over additional funding to our public schools. Such a program shows a genuine
care for the working poor and will result in many votes for the governor.
Kenneth Matsumura, MD
(My next weblog may be delayed
by as much as a week)
July 23, 2006 An
Opportunity for Angelides - the One Thing Arnie missed
We were not scheduled for
another post here until the end of the month, but we felt it was important enough to add
this note at this time. By the way, weblogs since late June have been by me Ken Matsumura.
While the top leaders of the Recall Campaign and I communicate still quite often, we no
longer have a formal schedule of meetings and we no longer have mechanisms for timely
review by all of posts at this website. Rest assured, however, that postings here reflect
many views I am hearing from my volunteers and I think for that reason my reports are
valuable. For those who are wondering, we point out that we are aware that our weblog is
being followed carefully by people who should care what a large segment of the California
voters are thinking.
Just two days after my last
post here, Schwarzenegger did a line item veto of something that reflected his continued
lack of concern about our injured workers. Let me give you a background on how we came to
support the cause of California's injured workers.
Readers here will not find any
comments from us about the plight of the injured workers in any of our early postings that
explained why we were recalling Schwarzenegger. Our grievances dealt primarily with the
governor's breaking of promises - many of them.
A governor should not be
recalled just because he is voting conservatively or differently than some of us would
vote. We have an election every four years to give our feedback on his voting record. A
recall should be reserved for egregious offenses where the governor was elected on a
platform but which once elected he refuses to implement. This governor promised to make it
a priority to protect public education, and then once elected he robbed the schools of 3
billion dollars.
When we announced our recall
campaign, we heard from many volunteers who wanted a new governor because of the passage
of the "reform" of the Workmen's Compensation Act. The contingent of such
volunteers was large and these volunteers were particularly driven. They were not only the
injured workers and their families who were suffering horribly after the
"reform" put through by both the Democratic legislature and the governor, but
also their caretakers and their attorneys. Probably, they represented voters that numbered
in the millions.
In fact, many of these
volunteers were Republicans, so that we knew that if once we had enough signatures to
qualify the recall on the ballot, we would have the votes to oust Schwarzenegger. We had
the votes of the millions of the poor, for the governor's two cruel vetoes of the raise in
the minimum wage, we had the millions of voters affected by the theft of the public school
money, and the millions of voters angered by the veto of the gay marriage bill that our
legislature so bravely passed last year. Not only could we count on their votes, but we
also knew the emotions were so strong that we could count on them to go and vote. The
votes of those affected by the cruelty afflicted on our injured workers cinched the
"deal," as our study indicated.
Particularly sensitive to
critics tired of one recall after another as if it had become a habit, I was careful to
list only reasons that reflected actions that betrayed the voters. However, prompted by so
many dedicated volunteers representing the injured workers, late in December we began to
talk about it on Update and included the injured workers' cause.
The governor amazingly made
the cause of the poor his first item in his State of the State speech, then soon
thereafter began to return the money to the schools, and he appointed an open lesbian, and
a Democrat!, as his important Chief of Staff. These actions, which embraced our own
platform, successfully pacified our volunteers and assured that the recall campaign would
not secure enough signatures. Our other main concern, the repair of the levees that he
neglected while helping his wealthy friends, became his own battle cry. It was as if he
became the Recall Campaign's candidate.
However, perhaps sensing some
kind of hesitation of mine, he steadfastly ignored our demand that he work on yet another
reform of the Workmen's Compensation Act. Our Assembly Chief Nunez, in the meantime, began
to call public hearings on this issue.
Now, the Democratic candidate
for governor, Phil Angelides, who had been losing support from even our volunteer
Democrats, has finally done something that could cinch his victory. He has embraced the
reform of the revised Workmen's Compensation Act. Our volunteers are mobilizing to support
him and for the first time I see a glimmer of hope that a Democrat will recapture the
governor's mansion in November. We are glad someone has listened. I have heard atrocious
stories from our volunteers, who were injured at work. It is time changes are made.
The governor has a chance to
make these changes in the next few months before the November election, but we believe he
is too beholden to the business interest, and we believe the businesses are too one track
minded to release their man on this issue, to ensure his return to office in 2007. Well
done, Phil. Now, if you would modify the idea of a ten billion dollars tax on the rich and
the businesses, "because the state's tax revenue picture has considerably
brightened," Phil, you have a chance to win.
Our spies tell us that our
website is reviewed more avidly by the Schwarzenegger forces than the state Democrats;
someone should clue-in Phil that he could look into the hearts of the California voters
(not just the dyed in the wool Democrats) by reading here as avidly as Maria and Susan.
Like we said before, many of
our volunteers are willing to accept Schwarzenegger's re-election IF he has sincerely
embraced our platform, but if this is just a political game he is playing, he can be sure
that his second term is no longer than Gray Davis'.
The following Weblog is signed
by Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Founding Proponent of Recall Campaign
July 13, 2006 Is
Schwarzenegger trying to be the candidate for the Recall coalition
There is a lot of ‘tongue
in cheek’ in my posting today, but I did take note of the fact that Schwarzenegger
has petitioned the feds to extend the original Clinton ban on constructing roads into
certain California wilderness. After Bush took over, he allowed roads to be constructed
unless a state specifically petitioned to continue the ban within their state. Clearly,
Schwarzenegger is on the right side on this issue.
Aside from the school funding
issue, in October and again in January, the three issues I hammered on the most were: the
passage of the raise in the minimum wage, the repair of our infrastructure, esp. the delta
levee that threatens SoCal water supply, and the environment. On the KGO statewide
broadcast with Christine Craft, I spent considerable amount of time talking about how
Schwarzenegger had broken his promise about protecting the environment, by appointing
industry lobbyists to key environmental positions. Shortly thereafter, I began to see his
emphasis on the environment, esp. when he declared that California must do something about
the global warming (at least he isn’t denying it is happening). True, his solution to
postpone serious measures for ten years disappointed us, but I was encouraged that he
seemed to be making an effort. Today’s petition to the feds on behalf of our forest
is encouraging, unless I am missing something.
State Democrats listen to
Recall Advice?; passes budget on time.
You will recall that
our June 19 weblog expressed concern that the Democrats delaying the passage of the state
budget could be looked upon by state voters as ‘more of the same’ in Sacramento.
Very soon after our post, the Democrats abandoned efforts to include in the budget
something dear to certain segments of their party and sent the budget to Schwarzenegger
for signing. We breathed a sigh of relief.
We realize that we have
inadvertently guided Schwarzenegger to become a formidable candidate because he is running
on OUR key platform issues. These issues were all posted right here on our website
(UPDATE, then later WEBLOG).
The way he moved to the center
was not as random as some news reporters lacking in acumen have reported; he moved to
center specifically in regards to those issues dear to the Recall volunteers. He clearly
did it because he was scared of a recall, but we really don’t care; what is important
is that after our December 15th posting of the #1 platform issue (the raise in
the minimum wage), Schwarzenegger made THAT his first issue in his State of the State
speech.
He had vetoed the raise on
September 25th and I announced the
launch of the recall on account of it on the 28th. As of January, the raise in
the minimum wage was his battle cry – it became HIS issue. He tried to outdo the
legislature and tried to administrate-in the raise before the slow legislature sent a bill
to him.
Anyway, I point this out for
the umpteenth time (sorry) because I feel some obligation now to send important advisories
to the state Democrats advising Angelides who is really not doing well at this time in the
polls. I think just as it was for Schwarzenegger, there is a tendency of leaders to gather
only those who agree with him and they get very out of touch with the voters. Since I talk
daily with our volunteers who are a good sampling of the voters, what I pass on may be
valuable, as it has been for the governor. Such advisories will be posted here from time
to time. I am going to try to post on the 15th and the 30th of each
month (just so that you don’t have to keep checking back here uselessly for messages).
A Friendly Warning to the
Governor
Back in October when I
announced the launch of the recall, the New York Times wondered if the recallers would be
the Terminator of the Terminator. I think, now, nine months later, we have become not the
Terminator, but the Tamer of the Terminator.
I know we have some hardcore
volunteers who hate his guts, particularly in regards to his “character” issue
(breaking promises, chasing women, etc), but I have to say personally I like the way he
has changed and I appreciate how he has listened to the people. Indeed, had he not
listened, we may have someone else as the governor as of August.
Some of our people will
admonish and say, “Doc, you are really gullible!” Yes, and no. I can say I like
how he responded to us, but I am not saying we are letting our guards down, or dismantling
our organization. I’m not THAT gullible, Gov. Schwarzenegger!
Here is what we are doing. Many of my top lieutenants e-mail me frequently even
now, and with some, I converse almost daily
with them. Our organization is very much together and alive. Actually, some of us LIKE
some of Schwarzenegger’s position more than Angelides’! (Remember, we had a
coalition that reflected a very broad support, not just of the radical left, but even some
Republicans). However, my lieutenants and I always close our e-mails saying we suspect we
will have Recall 2007!
We think Schwarzenegger will
start breaking promises if he ends up beating Phil which we predicted way back in
February. Arnie will think he has a “clear mandate” to do what he wants. He
needs to remember that if he is re-elected, the Recall coalition shaped him
(inadvertently) for victory and that we are watching his moves on the issues most critical
to us.
We do hope he has seen why we
ended up recalling him, but if he is not sincere in his reform of himself, the following
is what is in store:
We were mighty green when we
started way back in October last year. Frankly, I thought I was just registering my
complaint in a way a little more effective than a letter to him. When we were prime time
news for several days, and reached the front pages of newspapers even in Berlin and Singapore,
I found myself creating a statewide volunteer organization from scratch in a matter of
weeks. With a rudimentary legal team, we successfully passed all the hurdles that the
Secretary of Delay McPherson put before us. Indeed, they succeeded to delay us, which was
costly to our effort, but actually we were quite successful, surprisingly. What really
killed our momentum was our District Court of Appeals who in late November (just as we had
received the go ahead to start printing our petition) said in a ruling on another case
that recall petitions needed to come up with six foreign translations representing the
minority groups in our inner cities. That cost us over a month, and made us lose the
important Holiday Season for gathering signatures.
Anyway, I point this out,
because we suspect in 2007, we will have a Democratic Secretary of State, who will of
course need to be careful and be neutral in her action, but we won’t have her
deliberately delaying us.
Also, we will not hear people
saying, why are you recalling the guy when he is going to come up for re-election in 5
months? Also, gone will be the naysayers and overly optimistic state Democrats who told
us, “Oh, Phil is a shoo-in; we don’t want to risk him losing by supporting the
recall.” Phil is NOT a shoo-in and our extensive study in February told us it would
take a combination of luck and Arnie making terrible mistakes, like pinching women in
elevators, to pull down the governor.
Also, most of the large
coalition members, like the unions, the teachers, the nurses, who thought they could get
more by working individually instead of collectively will have learned their lesson. When
the progressive groups don’t form a coalition and vote for each other’s causes,
even if they are not in love with them, the conservatives, who do form coalitions, will
beat us. I said THAT in the middle of December here, and we see examples of this truth in Washington
and now in California.
We also learned, as we were
repeatedly counseled, we cannot count on volunteers to bring in all one million
signatures. We are all very gung-ho at first, but when we stand in the cold, in the rain,
our enthusiasms get dampened. We needed to have raised more money from the start.
Actually, I did begin early, but when Schwarzenegger started to “listen” to our
website and tried to outdo us, he was mighty clever because his quick actions made me have
trouble raising money.
I have been a scholar of large
political movements for 40 years, but I still learned more this time. People’s
attention lasts about a month; one has to get everything done in a month. The next time,
we may not even announce the recall until we have the petition ready to go on our website.
Then we could be done in a short time, or at least we will have gotten a respectable
number of signatures via our volunteers so that then we can hire paid volunteers to go get
the rest of the signatures. It was actually amazing that we got so much television
coverage, at least in Northern California, the second time around, in January. It showed
the interest of the media in Schwarzenegger.
We now know that
Schwarzenegger and the right wing have a lock on the media in SoCAL. We will counter it
the next time, but I will not disclose how we will do so. He will not control our large
votes down there in 2007.
I do not want to hear from the
‘dyed in the wool’ Democrats who will complain about what you are reading here
that I am writing as if Schwarzenegger won already. The Recall Coalition is exactly that,
a coalition. The reason I knew that if we got the recall on the ballot, we’d win is
that we had such a broad support. We have prominent Democrats whose support is dear to us,
but the recall is NOT about promoting the Democrats. This is why we are powerful and this
is why Schwarzenegger fears us. We are letting Schwarzenegger know what is in store for
him if he was not sincere and he betrays us. Personally, I tend to believe in the goodness
of humans and I hope that he has not manipulated us.
In summary, Governor,
should you be re-elected (and you’ve got a long way to go before that happens, as you
know), we will watch you closely. We have a 12,000 strong volunteer organization ready to
go to work very swiftly, with around 11 regions under prominent leadership. I could do all
the legal stuff blindfolded this time. You will not have a Secretary of State who will
play Defensive Back for you. We estimate we will have around $800,000 (based on
discussions we were having for this recall) even in the beginning. We know how best to
work with the media and don’t count on SoCAL media blanking us out the next time. We
will have some major celebrities who will join us. We will have a popular replacement
candidate. We will have our communication system fully operational (we lost three weeks
stumbling this year). It will be a done deal. But of course, it won’t be necessary,
right Governor? I trust so.
An Open Letter to
Phil Angelides
I know the letters you receive are full of
unsolicited advice, so if I add one more, what is the difference, right? I speak to you
with only the good of California in my heart. I would like to see the man win who can do
the most for Californians of all walks of life, the rich and the poor.
I am adding my advice to
the thousand others you have received because I speak with a special qualification. Last
October, with very little prompting from me, over 10,000 concerned Californians came to me
to change the course of California. We did. Remarkably so.
I mention these ten
thousand, caring Californians because they represented a diverse group of people, Many
were wealthy, some were lawyers, more were middle class, teachers, firefighters,
librarians, mail carriers, and many were poorer, aged or disabled, some even on welfare. The coalition of people who stood behind me to
demand the recall of Gov. Schwarzenegger was historic because it was so diverse.
I worked with them for 9
months. I heard them speak with anguish about what troubled them. Many confided in me and
shared negative information about their group so that I knew they were able to see both
sides of any issue. After the privilege accorded me helping them express their anger at
the callus governor, I have a good sense about my fellow Californians. I want to share
with you what I know.
In the beginning, I
tiraded against the governor for not raising taxes on the wealthy. However, as I studied
this further, I learned that our wealthy are already paying some of the highest tax rates
of any state. The wealthy must not be the whipping post or the scapegoat for everything
that goes wrong. The wealthy often contribute proportionately more good to the society
than the less privileged, perhaps because they are blessed with money. The wealthy often
are the engine of our society. Without them, we could be less productive and less well
off. One has to be careful about mistreating them. You will note that in my writing here
on this website, you will not find any proposal to solve all our budget problems by taxing
the rich more.
On the issue of the
budget and taxes, back in March when Recall looked probable, I was preparing what the
position of the Recall Coalition should be. Based on what I know about Californians, I do
not believe they believe raising taxes, on any group, is the way to solve our budget
deficit. Now that tax revenues from the current tax rate is rising, you have an excuse and
an opportunity to rescind your idea of raising 10 billion dollars in new taxes.
Our California taxpayers
have not changed much from a few years ago when they decided to send a complete novice to Sacramento
because ‘business as usual' was not working. This is perhaps the most important
advice I can give you. Don’t make a mistake in thinking that they like politics as
usual, such as deal making with special interest groups. Even if you owe much debt to such
groups because of your years in politics, you cannot help them if you become their mouth
piece. Think somewhat independently, be your own boss, or otherwise voters will not trust
you.
Don’t make the
mistake I made of not appreciating the great difference between the North and the South of
our state. I have always known the great difference, but the difference is even greater.
The media in SoCAL will be feeding to the people mostly negative information about you and
mostly positive information about Schwarzenegger. In this regard, however, you cannot
stumble on questions of vital concern to the Southern Californians, which is illegal
immigration. Your message in SoCAL has to be satisfying to Southern Californians.
Don’t get so lost in praises by Northern Californians; they do not face the same
situation the Southerners face, close to the border. Don’t dismiss the Southern
California’s negative attitude on undocumented as bigotry. Your solution has to be
compassionate not only to the undocumented but also to those affected by a great influx of
aliens at our border.
Be careful in embracing
wholesale the concept of a single-payer health plan. I am not speaking as a physician who
derives much income from healthcare and I tell you that almost none of my friends are
doctors. I do speak with a vast amount of knowledge about our healthcare system,
especially to the segment of the population most neglected, the uninsured, who are mostly
the working poor. You know that this is the group on behalf of whom I launched the recall
campaign.
The system is broken but
there are some precious elements that work that we must preserve and protect. Every
universal health care plan I have seen is an untried experiment, probably too risky to try
full scale. I will be happy to provide consultation to both you and to Schwarzenegger
about how I see the system needs to be fixed; I will not go into details of how I think it
should be fixed. However, I can tell you that
every medical breakthroughs I have come up with dealt with problems that escaped solution
by thousands of brilliant workers in the field; perhaps this is another area that I can
contribute.
In any event, until we
are sure that the solution we propose won’t make things even worse, we need to try
out ideas in smaller populations of people and adopt what worked the best. We have too
much to lose to do otherwise.
I bring up this issue of
single-payer health plan because you are under much pressure from those who helped you
become a candidate to adopt this idea. However, I have talked to enough people to know
that Californians are NOT ready to embrace replacing their private healthcare system with
a brand new untried experiment. Your insistence on a universal
health plan will surely lead to your defeat. I share with you that many of our recall
volunteers will not vote for you on this issue alone; this is amazing since many of them
worked so hard to recall the governor.
PS Phil, it is OK if you don’t take any of
my advice, but don’t be surprise if you see some of this incorporated in Arnold’s
speeches in the future.
June 19, 2006 Democrats will have to be as
clever as Schwarzenegger.
If they want to oust him in November, that is.
The reason he was not recalled by us is that all of his people, the Campaign Manager, his
wife Maria, and his Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy, took in seriously what we wrote here in
December. Remember, Democrat Kennedy took over in December.
Since then, everytime we spoke and advocated
something, we saw it in print, often as headlines, parroted by Schwarzenegger as his own
idea. We inadvertently fashioned him into a winnable candidate.
We represented and reflected most of
Californians, Democrats, Republicans and Greens, and more. That's who were in our Recall
coalition. Schwarzenegger's campaign strategy was to listen to what people were saying (we
said a lot here at this website), and turn himself into someone people can support.
Now it behooves the Democrats, particularly the
Central Committee, to ensure that their gubernatorial candidate's position is one that
majority of Californians can support.
I have traveled up and down California and have
talked to a lot of people. Be warned that most Californians haven't changed much in their
view about their state government when they voted in Schwarzenegger who promised to
"clean up the house" in Sacramento. They do not want politics as usual.
The popularity of the Recall for Schwarzenegger
last October should not mislead the Sacramento Democrats who did not support our Recall
into thinking the voters want to go back to the way it was a few years ago. They chose a
more dyed-in-the wool Democrat, with a lot of IOUs collectable from many decades helping
others, over someone who looked more independent. The risk of losing to Schwarzenegger is
higher and therein lies the challenge.
I see some troubling things which are so public
I don't think my mentioning them here will focus more attention on them. I talk about them
here because there are important Democrats reading our website who, like Maria and Susan
Kennedy listened in December, will take it seriously and bring it to the attention of
those who can modify the strategy of the Democratic Central Committee as they face
November.
First, while the Recall Campaign advocated
annual inflationary adjustments to the raise in the minimum wage, when the legislature saw
that the governor was intent on raising the minimum wage by his own action (despite his
vetoes in 2004 and 2005), they should have passed a raise in the minimum wage promptly in
January (like the governor asked) rather than play politics with poor people's lives and
pass a bill with annual indexing that Schwarzenegger promised to veto again. Now,
Schwarzenegger will raise the wage administratively, without annual indexing, and will be
able to claim that he thought of it.
Second, the legislature could have made it but
missed the deadline for the budget, wanting to use it as a leverage for passing some
favorite legislation, regarding a universal healthcare. Our Campaign Platform of December
15 mentioned the need for a serious improvement in affordable healthcare for Californians;
However, only dyed-in-the wool Democrats and people like Rosanne of the California Nurses
Association are definitely in favor of replacing our current private-based healthcare
system with universal healthcare or some form of socialized medicine.
Missing the budget deadline just reminds people
that Sacramento needs housecleaning and pegging the miss to a controversial megahealth
plan that many feel can bankrupt the state or reduce our mostly excellent healthcare into
rubbles, is simply bad politics.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that
the state workers' union reached an agreement with Schwarzenegger. While we narrowly
defeated the anti-union proposition 95 last November, thanks to our help, the firefighters
say, Californians are worried about the inflationary pressures of the union and we do not
want that matter to be foremost in the minds of the voters when they cast their ballot
next November.
It behooves everyone who has an expensive
program or project or who want to spend a lot of money, to cool his/her heels. I sense
that the voters are fiscally conservative, like me. Because of over-confidence, not based
on talking to Californians up and down the state like I have, Democrats may allow
Schwarenegger to be re-elected, but also cause a legislature to return next year that is a
lot more somber and less progressive. Kenneth Matsumura, MD
June 3, 2006 Please note that we have changed
our lead statement (boxed) at our home page.
We have some concerns at this time. The poor are
sandwiched in the middle of politics and they may once again be shortchanged. As you know,
after we posted that one of our lead demands is the raise in the minimum wage (Dec 15,
2005 UPDATE), the Governor made that item his lead message in his State of the State
Message in January. Despite the fact that he vetoed the raise in September, which prompted
Dr. Matsumura to launch the recall, he has been doing everything possible since
January to institute a raise for the poor who have alread lost 10 billion dollars over the
past two years due to his vetoes. The Democratic controlled legislature wants a raise plus
annual adjustments making future raises automatic. The Governor feels such a
provision to be inflationary and refuses to sign any law with automatic adjustments. The
legislature has proceeded to pass a bill (Lieber) with such adjustments. Clearly, the
governor will now veto it. We would like to see the legislature then pass a bill without
the automatic raise, so that the poor aren't used by the Democrats or the Republicans for
political purposes. Allow the Governor to claim that during his administration he raised
the minimum wage of the poor. The Democrats have other issues that will resonate with the
voters.
The Recall Campaign is not partisan. We have
members of most parties. In fact, we were deliberately NOT supported by the state
Democratic Party. We are tired of politics as usual. Many Californians voted for
Schwarzenegger in the mistaken belief that he would end politics as usual. We want leaders
who will act according to their conscience, not calculated based on votes the action will
capture. Do the right thing. Raise the minimum wage NOW!!!! Our movement is growing. So is
our power.
May 7, 2006 We are receiving many inquiries from
our volunteers about the choice for the Democratic candidate to face Schwarzenegger. As
you know, we cannot afford to lose supporters of either of two leading candidates and
therefore we will not be endorsing either. This position is however not to disappoint
supporters of Wesley who have been particularly hardworking in our campaign. We
must acknowledge that early in the campaign most of the influential members of the state
Democratic Party were supporters of Angelides, but because the Party felt that the Recall
was not in the Party's best interest, we were disappointed to learn that many such members
were blocked from working officially or actively in our campaign. This campaign then
became a truly grassroot one, perhaps one of the largest such efforts this state has ever
seen. We do believe the organization that has formed out of the disdain for our governor
will continue to be an important political force regardless of the outcome of the
recall campaign, but we must refrain in the next 30 days from taking sides. We hope you
understand.
April 29, 2006 We have some real gung-ho
volunteers. Look at what we received from Jaime Feliciano, our Sacramento coordinator:
The governor was fund raising again today in Sacramento at the
Hyatt were he was
gathering funds for his reelection campaign. I was able to collect signatures
from all over the state.
This is getting to be too much fun when you get a crowd that hates what Arnie is
really all about and know what he has done to this state.
There were state workers, teachers, nurses, and janitors there. The message is
getting out there. The Media KXTV 10 in Sac covered the event too.
On May 8th 10,000 Union members are planning on descending on the west steps of
the Capitol Monday at 12:00 noon.
Arnold still has not given the Department of Personnel Administration the
authority to deal in good faith with the Union. Arnold is so disconnected with
reality and has no real concern for State workers. We are planning on going on
strike. The Strike will target every state department and agency. The Union is
going to get real with him in June. No Kidding! The gloves are off. Fat Oil
Companies and Bush will make this a cake walk. Let’s get out there if we can
and make a solid effort all month long to gather as many signatures as we can
and rejuvenate this cause.
I can not be the only one having all the fun. I may have to start paying Dr. Ken
Matsumura a fee for the enjoyment to go after this ego manic joker we have for a
Governor.
Keep up the good work!
Jaime Feliciano
Recall Arnie Campaign
TEACHERS, NURSES, UNION MEMBERS: THIS MAY BE
YOUR LAST CHANCE TO GET RID OF THIS MAN. TALK TO YOUR COLLEAGUES. RE-ORGANIZE YOUR GROUPS
TO REDOUBLE YOUR EFFORTS. THE RECALL IS YOUR MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO GETTING YOUR GRIEVANCES
RESOLVED. TALK TO YOUR GROUPS' OFFICERS. FOUR MORE YEARS OF ARNIE?????
April 25, 2006 Just a comment on our
postings here which have decreased in frequency. It has been the advice of our statewide
campaign manager that as we get close to the Recall election, we should decrease the types
of postings we have been making here as more and more non-volunteers come to read our
website. Besides, it has been extremely busy at the headquarters and it helps that we post
here less frequently. Thank you all for continuing to send in the signed petitions to us.
We are seeing less and less errors as you all gain experience. The most common error is a
failure to write in the county on the right top above the signatures. You have all been
incredibly dedicated. We believe as we predicted earlier that everything will hinge on
continued success of our fundraising drive, to bring the signatures that will take us over
the top.
April 15, 2006 We have been quietly
watching this man, analyzing his moves. What is troubling is that we conclude that his
moves have been merely calculating, mainly to thwart the Recall effort. His moves to the
left are not genuine. Their purpose is only for show and that they are meaningful only to
the extent that he is fearful of the recall.
Our careful study shows that he has no fear of
the unions afterall, nor of the teachers. He is likely to go after them if there is no
other impartial force defending them, like the Recall. The fact that they have
scrupulously kept a clean record in not helping with the Recall, our study also indicates,
will not keep him from turning on them when he has finished nursing his wounds. Therefore,
should the Recall fall short by just a handful of signatures from qualifying, there will
be a tragic footnote in history books about their blunder in not joining the Recall in
full force.
Let the record also show, however, that our
analysis of the recall signatures indicates that it is the ordinary citizens of
California, not any special interest like the nurses, the unions, or the teachers, who are
disgusted with this pretender of a human kind. There is a hardcore of Californians who are
not as gullible as some to be fooled by his moves who stand ready to work to oust him from
public life. We form a formidable force that can swing any election, like we did in
November. He and his campaign manager are right to be concerned only about us.
Keep sending us those signatures. Forget that we
are buried in them or that we have hardly any time to write at this website. Remember, we
have until June 20! That is still many months! Redouble your efforts! California counts on
you.
April 7, 2006 Many of you have read or
heard that Gov. Schwarzenegger has called for a conference on global warming. Aside from
the delta levee, the environment was another main topic of discussion on Christine Craft's
interview with Dr. Matsumura on statewide KGO program in January. Dr. Matsumura pointed
out that the environment was another area where Gov. Schwarzenegger has broken his
promise. Instead of protecting the environment, he had appointed lobbyists for the
pollution industries to sensitive boards controlling the environment. Although the
governor's interest in global warming is admirable, we just don't know how sincere he is.
We do believe that both Maria Shriver and Susan Kennedy are both having major influences,
but for how long? Back in December, when it appeared that the Governor was signaling his
intent to accede to virtually ALL the demands of the Recall Campaign (see the December
15th demands on UPDATE, plus the December 20th entry), we asked if the Recall should
continue. THose volunteers who took the time to write all said that the recall was not for
any specific program we disagreed with, but because he had forfeited the right to be the
guardian of Californians' health and welfare by breaking so many promises.The issue was
his character and still is.
April 3, 2006 We are so busy at the
headquarters that we are falling behind, but not seriously. The Mercury News published an
article in which the columnist stated that in a "recent poll" it was
"learned" that 76% of Californians actually "like" Schwarzenegger and
58% of Democrats like Schwarzenegger! On the other hand, I had heard that
another poll showed very few Californians "approved" of Schwarzenegger's
handling of the governorship. Well, Arnold, if the polls are correct, you can still
return to the movies and make your millions IF YOU DO IT NOW! I have to check the date of
the Mercury News article. Was it April 1st?
We have heard from a few volunteers confused
because they thought that the deadline for gathering signature was in March and here we
have posted we have until June 21. The March deadline, had we made it, would have enabled
us to hold the recall election together with the June Primaries. Schwarzenegger and his
Republican Sec of Delay made it certain that we could not meet the March deadline.
Schwarzenegger loves "special" elections. We have analyzed the cost of such a
special recall election and, as reported to you earlier, the cost is only $1.22 per
Californian. Since the working poor have been deprived of 10 billion dollars in the past
two years from his veto of the raise in the minimum wage. Injured workers have lost
billions under Schwarzenegger. Public school children have lost billions also. It would be
an insult for us to deny them a special election that will cost us $50 million dollars.
March 25, 2006 How time flies when we are
engaged in productive activities! We are pleased that probably due to the work we did at
the beginning of the month to assist Southern California activities, we are seeing more
and more petitions from the South. We are however very impressed with some of our regulars
who send in dozens of sheets on a weekly basis. It represents hours of dedicated work
hitting the pavement. On behalf of the Californians suffering under Schwarzenegger, thank
you!
THis week brought more news reminding us why we
are doing this recall. I think many of you caught the news reporting on the study that
showed that California ranked towards the bottom of all the states in the proportion of
high school seniors who go onto college. THis is not surprising since California spending
on our pupils ranks 48th in the nation. Is this a disgrace?
Schwarzenegger is fully responsible for our
sorry state. He got elected on a promise to put public education high on his list of
priorities. We didn't know until he got (mis)elected that he placed wealthy taxpayers even
higher on his list of priorities. He is a disgrace and no amount of "sorries"
can ever take back the harm he has done.
Arnie, what are you going to do to remedy the
sorry state of public education? We also haven't heard from you about how you plan to
remedy the oppressive situation facing our injured worker!
March 20, 2006 Thanks for all the good work of
our volunteers, from San Diego to Mendocino! Here's a treat from Charlie Bright!
March 14, 2006 We are amazed that now we
are receiving more petitions from new volunteers than those who registered. This is good,
because we would like to reach the strength of 20,000 volunteers. Towards this end, we
would like you to write a letter to any California friends who have been concerned about
what Gov. Schwarzenegger has been doing.
We have begun to focus our attention to the
recall election campaign. Californians will also vote for a replacement candidate in the
event that Gov. Schwarzenegger is successfully recalled. The replacement candidate
selected by the electorate will take office soon after the recall election.
We have received numberous letters lately about
how we regard our prospect of getting the majority of voters to vote to oust the Governor.
We believe this recall election will be quite different from so many other elections.
Usually, about forty five per cent of the people are for something, and forty five per
cent are strongly against something.The election is decided by the 10 per cent who are
regarded as undecide until a week or so before the election. If the recall election is
like the usual, we would lose. Those who are on the fence until the last minutes will vote
conservatively always.
We believe that the upcoming recall election
will be different from the usual. Rarely in our history have we seen so many groups so
badly affected by any one as much as by Gov. Schwarzenegger. The feelings within
these groups are also not mild, but very polarized. Feelings within these groups cross
party lines. As you know, we have quite a few Republicans signing to recall this man.
We have added up the number of voters each such
group represents and conclude that we have the votes to carry the election for recall. The
groups that we are talking about include the nurses, the teachers, workers who belong to
unions, the poor who were deprived of $5 billion dollars thanks to the Governor, and
others. We venture a guess that the election will be landslide.
Therefore, please do not let up in your
gathering of signatures! We need a new governor THIS SUMMER!
March 10, 2006 The Aftermath of
Schwarzenegger: grief, destroyed families and battered bodies. A Message from Kenneth
Matsumura, MD, Chair, Recall Campaign
Gov. Schwarzenegger rode into power using his
movie image of an All-powerful Terminator who can solve any problem instantly. Eager to
get elected, he even misled the electorate into thinking that he will transform the state
with its myriad of problems. He made promises if it was expedient. A thought-actor, he may
even have thought he could perform miracles as in his movies.
Running a state turned out to be more than he
could have imagined; people were looking at him, expecting him to do his Terminator thing.
He began to do things, anything that would not betray his confusion, certainly not his
heartfelt indecisiveness. What resulted is tragic.
He ended up destroying lives, destroying
happiness; he sowed grief everywhere he rampaged. He will become the governor who
accumulated the most amount of grassroots signatures for recall in the history of
California.
One more expedient thing he did was to push for
putting corporate bottomline ahead of the welfare of workers who get injured. The state is
now littered with battered bodies of workers who can't get medicine or therapy - they lie
in bed in excruciating pain, their arms and legs frozen for lack of proper physical
therapy. Corporate executives go home, have lavish parties, laugh and play, marveling at
how they were able to declare such great dividends for their shareholders. Perhaps one of
these vice presidents will be touring one of his factories when a conveyor belt mishap
mangles his hand - he will get a taste of his own medicine. He will learn how little the
state now values his right hand.
Governor Schwarzenegger - you ARE a very
powerful man. We the volunteers of Recall call on you to change your ways - learn to sow
happiness. History has never praised leaders who protected the wealthy. History remembers
those who helped the disadvantaged, those who are poor. How history will remember you -
remains YOUR choice. Do the right thing. You can still be remembered and respected for the
right thing you did before leaving the office. Maria and Susan, help him.
February 28, 2006 Advisory to All
Volunteers collecting signatures
First, thank you! No, that should be THANK
YOU!!!! Every day, more petitions come in than the day before. We are delighted that we
are getting several dozen sheets at a time from volunteers that did not register with us.
THis means we have far more than the 10,000 volunteers we started with in January.
Now, we would like to ask everyone to review his/her collection procedures;
1. Please be sure to always put the county name
at the top right above the signers.
2. Please tell signers to write out fully the
city name, and not use abbreviations.
3. Please double check to fill in every part of
the circulator's declaration.
4. Please avoid confrontation with anyone who
disagrees with you. Just avoid them.
5. Please use only white paper to print the
petition on and keep the back blank.
Although we have been pushing to ask you to get
the signatures in by sometime in March, legally, we have until June 20th to gather the
1,038,000 signatures. We just need to get a new governor while the 2006 legislature is in
full steam in the Summer so that we can begin reversing the horrible changes this
dysfunctional governor made to California VERY SOON (sic), not February a whole year
away!
February 10, 2006
Just four months ago, we didn't exist. Today,
our headquarters is a busy hub that deals with over 10,000 volunteers in every county of
this Great State of California. We are picking up our pace of processing the many
petitions that are coming in. We are having to return very few of the petitions. Some have
signatures of residents of more than one county (each sheet can contain only one county
residents), and a few were missing either the city name or the street address. Just one
had the signature of the circulator missing. The error rate is about 0.3%. We saw one
disturbing problem. Someone had copied the instructions onto the back of the petition,
which will disqualify the petition. We will be promptly notifying the volunteer because we
fear many such petitions are being distributed by that volunteer. Two sheets came in
having been copied crooked. We are beginning to see more and more large manila envelopes
containing many, many sheets of signed petitions. We are very, very far from our goal, but
it is a good beginning. Our volunteers are developing their spiel that works and becoming
more efficient.
We have encountered some previously gung ho
volunteers who tell us that we've won and they are just going to wait for November. We
have the following message.
LOOK
AT THE POLL NUMBERS!
Schwarzenegger — 40%
Schwarzenegger
— 39%
Angelides — 44%
Westly — 46%
Rasmussen Poll 1/26/06
Schwarzenegger — 41%
Schwarzenegger — 39%
Angelides — 39%
Westly — 40%
This… only 3 months after his “defeat!”
DO YOU WANT ARNIE FOR FOUR MORE YEARS?
Imagine his poll numbers if he gets 10 more months to fool the public!
SUPPORT THE RECALL. GET RID OF
HIM WHILE YOU STILL CAN!
February 5, 2006 Update & Advisory to
our Volunteers
Well, Maria, we have good news for you! Your
husband is coming home real soon. No more late nights at the Capitol! Our campaign has
successfully entered the signature gathering phase. More of our volunteers can be seen
across the state, and more are coming. We are successfully getting permission to table at
some very fine places, with large traffic.
Many of our volunteers, involved in many causes,
initially volunteered to get 40 signatures mainly from friends, neighbors and co-workers.
They had responded to our call for 30,000 volunteers to do just that - we would then have
enough signatures to qualify. However, when we peaked at 10,000 volunteers, we had to see
if we could convert their IOU's to much harder tasks - more time consuming, more difficult
- soliciting strangers which is not something most people like to do.
Our call for more people to table was answered
more slowly, but now we are hearing from more and more willing to do the hard thing,
because THEY CANNOT STAND THIS MAN! AND better, we are now hearing from new volunteers who
say they want to go collect signatures in the streets!
This weekend was our official launch of the
signature drive. We started with a press announcement. Our press conference was jammed
full of media people. In fact, we had to make a quick change from meeting the press in our
board room that could hold perhaps 25 people to our 2500 square feet hall on the second
floor, at Dr. Matsumura's biotech foundation building.
Jeff, our statewide campaign manager flipped
through the channels Saturday morning and found that EVERY network had a news item on the
recall! Bay Area is our crucial terrritory where there are easily two million signatures
to be had if only we can reach them. More people we can reach, fewer will fall through the
cracks.
We found out that like Arnie and other movie
stars, Dr. Matsumura has apparently also a "fan" website. We just became aware
of it last night, as it showed up on a Yahoo search on "Kenneth Matsumura."
The url is kennethmatsumura.com . We should point out that this website has
absolutely no connection with Dr.Matsumura and that Dr.Matsumura has not authorized this
website, which could be a nice, helpful website, or a Trojan Horse.
We did find that it has its own search engine.
The latest news about the recall covered by various news sources and TV stations are
found, and other news relevant to the recall are also found there.
We learned from this and other search engines
that news is traveling outside the Bay Area, which was our intent. It is essential that
more Californians learn about this Recall effort. The Oakland Tribune article appeared in
all its sister publications including in Oroville. The local TV station in Chico also
broadcast the news. Judging by how it was last October when the recall launch was
announced, news filters out for a period of about 2 weeks. The hit on our website has
dramatically risen and so has the number of volunteers writing us. Most importantly, we
are getting a lot of people wanting to table to get rid of this creature from Outer Space!
THis weekend's was just our first phase in our media campaign and perhaps soon, people
will begin getting sick of the recall news.
Actually, our strategy is not dependent so much
on gathering signatures from tabling; we continue to look for more volunteers who can
simply circulate the petitions amongst their friends and co-workers. However, tabling
serves two purposes: it makes Recall more visible and keeps it constantly in the minds of
people, as they read how the poll numbers for Arnie is rising, just three months after his
"defeat." We need to alert people that if they think a Democrat is a shoo-in in
November, they had better think again. The second purpose of the table is to find more
people willing to take our petition and circulate it or, better, people who would copy our
petition and find even more people willing to circulate. The number of signatures a table
secures is far less important than the number of petitions the table propagates to new
circulators.
The visibility of the tables make more people
visit our website. Therefore, we ask all volunteers to consider at least a few hours
doing tabling. You just need to ask a local supermarket for permission to plunk down your
old cardtable, attach a large, handprinted sign, preferably in more than one direction,
and have clipboards, the petitions in all the languages required under the law for
your county, and pens. Your sign should prominently display our website: RECALL
2006.COM. We know that tablers for other causes often just plunk down a table
without asking permission and they seem to get away, but we cannot advise you to do so.
Tabling and soliciting signature are easier for
some than others. However, Dr. Matsumura can tell you, it is addictive. The
"high" one gets when someone smiles and grabs your pen appreciatively is
something everyone should experience. It is fun and your having fun shows and translates
to exuding confidence that we ARE going to have a new governor this Summer. That
confidence translates into more people willingly signing.
Always smile broadly at walkers-by; immediately,
their hearts open more to you. Then say, "Do you want to help us get a new governor
this Summer?" This is the approach that works the best. It beats asking if they want
to sign a recall petition. The concept of a new governor by this Summer is refreshing to
many who can't stand Arnie and is amusing to those who have not heard about the recall! It
boldly answers before the question is asked, why not wait until November. Because we want
a new governor THIS Summer, not wait a whole year, until January of 2007!
If they say, "yes, but that's not possible
is it?" You tell them that if they would sign this recall petition, and some 10,000
volunteers across the state are gathering signatures as we speak, we will put the recall
question on the ballot, and we could have a new governor by July.
Here are Dr. Matsumura's own experience in
gathering signature in the manner described. At Highland county hospital, of 51 people
approached, 47 signed, one more would have signed but was late to work. On the downtown
street of Berkeley on Friday at noon, of 15 people approached, 6 kept walking, some
totally ignoring him, a couple saying they were in a hurry. 4 shook their heads. 5 stopped
and signed. 1 of them took more petitions to circulate. All of this took place inside 5
minutes. At a block away from a busy intersection in San Francisco, where new volunteers
were accosting strangers, Dr. Matsumura collected 10 signatures for every 40 people
encountered. Two women expressed disbelief that we could get a new governor so soon.
Hearing that this was a well-organized effort, they were willing to sign. We believe that
at protest marches and rallies, the percentage of those willing to sign is higher.
We also wanted to share our strategy with you.
We are not sure that we can attain the 30,000 volunteers. Therefore, underway is work by
Dr. Matsumura to capture a huge block of signatures with a single agreement. More on that
later. Because the percentage of people who would favor a recall is high in certain
precincts, we will be distributing petitions with a message. The message will alert the
liberals to the high danger of relying on a belief that Schwarzenegger will be ousted in
November. He is already polling better than any Democrat, and this is only three months
after the November debacle. He has another 9 months to fool the public even more cleverly
in making them think he is what he isn't. We need volunteers willing to walk the
precincts. In order to hit as many Democrats in an hour, we will not even make you walk up
any steps to people's homes. For those who are shy about accosting strangers, this
activity may suit you. The stroll will definitely lower your cholesterol, trim inches off
your waist, and make you believe in yourself! Write us at volunteer@saveCALnow.com
January 26, 2006 Here is a wonderful political
cartoon from Charlie Bright:
January 24, 2006 Welcome to the new
Weblog. Today, an essay from Kenneth Matsumura, Founding Recall Proponent, on "Why I
am so passionate about recalling Governor Schwarzenegger."
I have friends who are liberal, who still ask
me, "hey why are you so passionate about this recall; this dummy is up for
re-election anyway this year." Most who ask me such questions are
well-off; they are not liberal for their own gain; they are trying to change the society
for sake of others. Getting rid of Schwarzenegger won't make much difference to their own
lives, and perhaps therein lies their slower tempo.
As the news media noted, I launched the recall
campaign on behalf of the poor and on behalf of our school children. While most of my
professional time had been spent inventing breakthrough medical devices and drugs in
the fields of liver, diabetes, heart attacks and cancer, I have always devoted a few half
days a week doctoring to the poor.
I have patients who are working poor. Usually,
both the mom and the dad work, and they have children, some in college. Unlike those on
welfare, they usually can't afford to see me and so I see them for free, or if they insist
on paying, at my minimum charge. I look forward to the times they might bring me a coupon
from the International House of Pancake for the "all you can eat," of things
that neither they nor I should be eating, but heck what is life for.
Unfortunately, now that 'do good, ethical
advocates' have "cleaned up" our physician sample shelves that used to hold
plenty of the latest medications, I have not been able to give my patients months and
months worth of the best blood pressure medicines. I prescribe older medicines that are
less expensive because patents on them expired. Even then, I see my working poor patients
cutting dosages on their own to stretch to their next paycheck.
They often miss their appointments because they
are too proud to come see me for free, and they make excuses that they had to work
"overtime" when I call them to inquire. Not infrequently, the next time I see
them, they are in the Intensive Care, after a paralyzing stroke. The family has to declare
bankruptcy and they are on welfare, their lead daughter forced to quit UC Berkeley to
support the parents and siblings.
Had Schwarzenegger not vetoed the raise in the
minimum wage in 2004, the family could have had $3400 more per year, enough for a minimal
insurance that could have paid for a catastrophic illness; they would not have bankrupted,
and we the taxpayers would not be supporting this otherwise able family with thousands of
dollars in subsidies.
Back in September 2005, when I launched the
recall campaign, some said to me, Schwarzenegger is up for re-election in November 2006,
why put in so much work to gain 6 months? I said to myself, they think Schwarzenegger
isn't going to be re-elected to continue his oppressive rule and they think the
legislature will continue to be liberal to re-enact progressive legislation that the new
Democratic governor can sign. And people thought - I - was an eternal optimist!
I wanted to tell my well-meaning liberal
friends, ask my working poor patients to go another year without their blood pressure
pills; ask them to risk a household calamity for just another year. Afterall, a year
passes quickly.
I am passionate about the Recall; I want all the
progressive legislation re-enacted in the Summer of 2006 so that our working poor who are
barely hanging on, don't have to wait yet another year, or another four years, if the
November election goes sour as I fear.
Recall is a lot of work, but getting rid of
Schwarzenegger, after he has "rehabilitated" himself, in the Fall of 2006, will
be even harder work. Get rid of him while we can.
If you don't recall him this coming Summer, what
are you going to tell your children who won't have many of their classes, or many of their
schools, when the Fall comes? The work was too hard, and so we decide they could do
without some of their teachers? For how long? Just another year, another four years?
Nevermind, that Schwarzenegger says he wants now
to pass the raise in the minimum wage... and, to return some of the money he stole from
the children. Why do you think he is saying that now? Look at our Campaign platform we
published here on Update on December 15th. He is only going along with our major
demands because he is scared of the Recall. What would he like to do otherwise? Some said,
"but he isn't the devil." Ask some of my working poor patients.
The following are old postings that started when
the Recall Campaign began:
October 3, 2005
We have received a considerable and front-page
coverage in the East Bay newspapers. This is important as our easiest signatures can be
found in the East Bay Area and San Francisco. Here, a signature gatherer will not need to
spend much time convincing someone to sign. They are so angry at Schwarzenegger that they
actually line up and wait to sign. By getting a good press coverage in the home base of
our campaign, we will increase our volunteer pool.
We would like to begin organizing at college
campuses. Please write us at volunteer@savecalnow.com
with the subject line CAMPUS for ideas and suggestions. Those who may be interested in
traveling to college campuses to give speeches should also contact us.
Today, we received a $10 donation all the way
from Dallas. By the way, we have fixed our left side navigation problem. The donation link
now goes to the volunteer page where the Paypal button is.
October 5, 2005
Thanks, all, for all those volunteer letters.
While we await approval on the final wording of the petition, after which we will print it
and distribute it to all those who volunteered, we have a lot of work to do. As those who
wrote us have been asked to do, please continue to spread the word and find more people
willing to volunteer. I WOULD LIKE TO FORMALIZE THIS PROCEDURE. Soon, I will be asking
those of you who wrote us to send us a list of e-mail and/or phone numbers of friends and
others who can help our effort. Most of you who wrote said not only that you know people
who would sign, but that you knew others who can work with you. We are creating many, many
teams of people who can work together well. Here's the idea: The top volunteer contacts
friends and co-workers. Some of them are willing only to sign the petition. If some of the
others are willing to volunteer some time, the top volunteer would ask such volunteers to
do what the top volunteer is doing, i.e., contacting their friends, relatives,
and others, some of whom would be willing to volunteer. Those willing to volunteer would
then be asked to also contact their friends, relatives, and others. Everyone involved
would keep e-mail addresses of those who volunteer and eventually these lists would be
turned into our headquarters so that we can add them to our mailing list, for alerts and
advisories. I haven't taken a careful count yet, but I believe we are already in the
thousands of volunteers, and this is only day 6. These volunteers are spread widely
throughout California, although the heaviest contingents are in Northern California - SF
Bay Area and Sacramento area, where the press coverage has been the most extensive. Many
of you are busy right now helping with the fight against the evil initiatives. Thank you
for doing that, and your current work will not interfere with our campaign which will get
busier from late November through January. Many of you are students who will be going home
for the holidays. I would like to ask you to begin forming teams in your home town to work
for the cause during your Holidays. Remember, the work you are doing WILL transform
California for decades to come. Thanks again, all. KM
October 7, 2005
Well folks, we did it! Two volunteers who
recently joined our ranks and Dr. Matsumura legally served the governor this morning. Go
to the Press page on this website and look for the release with today's date. The
governor's staff member was slick... tried to get us to take the petition document to the
mailroom! <G> We know better. A large, competent law firm is advising us. We were
prepared with our professional legal processor who did her thing and we have satisfied
another requirement in the election code. Actually, the procedure, up to our getting
approval on the final petition that we can distribute, is fraught with tricky turns. Being
advised on how to go about by a Republican Secretary of State does not make us
comfortable, although we must say the staffer today at the Secretary of State was very
courteous and professional. We believe the staff at such a place doesn't change with a
change of the top person, last one only a few months ago being a Democrat. We will be
publishing the Intention to Recall in a daily soon, to satisfy yet another requirement.
Any error while following the prescribed road will force us to back step some, but it is
inevitable that we will be done with this soon. We are in the process of printing a sample
petition for approval by the Secretary.
We want to thank Jaime Feliciano, who works for
the state of California as a researcher, and Dee Fraites, who works at the College of
Marin in Kentfield, in student affairs. They both played important roles today.
When the three arrived at the Governor's office,
the world's media were waiting with glaring lights. The media were barred from the office
itself where the document was served, but when the three came out, the cameras rolled. Dee
said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, now you can take part in Arnold Schwarzenegger's new
movie, "The Terminated!"
Press coverage now includes the Washington Post,
the Reuter wire service, ABC, Fox, and NBC. Dr. Matsumura gave interviews to the New York
TImes, the Bloomberg Business News, and the CNN. Our website is now receiving more hits
than ever from volunteers from all over California. One volunteer is well connected with a
Northern California university and its town. Plans are underway to mobilize their whole
community.
One of the recommendations we have for our
volunteers who have websites, esp. political ones, is to link to us, to increase our
visibility. This snowball is rolling down the hill, and is getting larger and larger. Look
out, Arnold!
October 8, 2005 10 AM
To our new, rapidly growing volunteer force. The
home page of our website has a new message to you! We have also modified one of the
paragraphs on our home page covering the topic of Schwarzenegger's failure to come up with
solutions to California's crisis.
October 9, 2005
The Sunday edition of the New York TImes has an
article that is a booster for our morale and we wanted to pass it on to you. The url is http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/national/09recall.html
As you know our campaign has been completely
grassroots and will always remain that way, but it is still nice to read that organized
groups may want to help us. Art Torres, chairman of the state Democratic Party, is quoted
as saying, "People are very interested in it. This is one way for people to express
frustration and anger with the governor's policies...there was a lot of excitement (about
the recall announcement among members of the party's executive board)." Mr. Torres
predicted that Democrats would help circulate the petitions for signatures.
We believe that this dysfunctional governor who
has been ineffectual in dealing with the crises facing Californians for over two years now
has something to worry about.
October 11, 2005 2 AM
Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh. I have been reading
and answering e-mails from volunteers for 6 hours! I can't believe how many people are
coming to us. They are all feeling so strong about this. We do not have a wishy-washy
group. We have just added the following paragraph to the home page. It is the essence of
the letter we send all volunteers initially.
Volunteers: Please check the Update
section every few days for announcements. We are getting a lot of inquiries as to how to
get petitions to sign or circulate. The Secretary of State must approve the final form and
we are in the process of submitting a printable form that precisely meets their
specification. Online signatures and downloadables are not acceptable for our purpose.
There is much work to be done before we begin distributing petitions. Volunteers are
pouring e-mails into our mailbox. The first work we are asking the volunteers to consider
doing is to find more friends, co-workers, and relatives who feel as fervently as they do,
who can help us. We then ask those who are recruited to go and find yet more volunteers.
Some of the volunteers will be hosting a series of parties to find more volunteers and to
make this task fun. For those who are new to this type of political activities, you are
going to meet the finest people and make new friends, some of whom will be lifelong. There
is so much fervor in those volunteering, that we predict we will create a very powerful
force in California even long after our dysfunctional governor is gone. We will all be so
proud of how we saved California! This is a historic, people's uprising! KM
October 12, 2005
I have been on a number of radio
shows to spread our message, including on Christine Craft's 3- 6 PM Talkcity 1240 AM
Sacramento (She worked hard to fight the Davis Recall). Many volunteers sign on when they
hear the message. I will be on NBC program in the late morning Thursday, out of San Jose.
Right now, as we await the final printing of the recall petition, our work is to let
everyone know that the recall campaign is on and that we are looking for more volunteers
(not that I'm not already spending most of my time communicating with our rapidly
increasing volunteer force). This is as grassroots as they come, folks. I am hearing
almost exclusively from individuals. Many belong to groups that have suffered badly under
Arnold, like fire fighters, teachers, and nurses. We are now suggesting that perhaps they
would like to talk to their profession's headquarters, about joining us. It will be the
most effective way to stop the terrible degradation in programs they care the most about.
I also wanted to pass on a clever
idea. One Berkeley activist (J. Summer) just could not wait until we distributed the
petitions. Knowing that we want to increase the number of volunteers, he took it upon
himself to xerox the NY Times article from October 9th, I guess crediting the source, and
he augmented our website address, recall2006.com, and started to leaflet people near the
university and the downtown transit station. He's very smart to do so, because in
Berkeley, probably every other person will be willing to volunteer. That could be 50,000!
October 13, 2005
One good news after another! Now,
someone powerful, experienced and with a whole lot of contacts, has volunteered to help
look after the entire north coast - our beautiful North Coast, one of my favorite places -
that could be destroyed if our dysfunctional governor keeps doing anti-conservation things
such as appointing a pro-polluting industry lobbyist to the chair of the state's Air
Resources Board! I am most proud of the volunteers who never before been politically
active who felt they have to do this at this time - a real grassroots campaign, right? I
am also very impressed with the caliber of many volunteers - with history of public
service for decades. They come with experience, with contacts, and most of all sincerity.
I am hearing good ideas from
volunteers. As you know I have asked enrolled volunteers who received our letter to
periodically check in with me, with subject line that starts with "2" so that I
can scan for those messages. One volunteer is sending out a number of e-mails with the
request that each recipient think of forwarding that e-mail to more friends. We don't have
the petition yet, and so our job now is to keep finding more volunteers. I feel the
excitement and hope in our volunteers.
Some volunteers have started
printing up little cards with our website address and e-mail address to pass out, in
search for more volunteers. Good idea!
Another thing I would recommend.
Although the media have picked up our story pretty extensively (I was on NBC TV this
morning for an interview), there are some big papers which have been totally silent. You
may want to inquire with the news editors why they have not had any articles about this
campaign. Since the New York Times and the Washington Post have had large articles on us,
they cannot say the news is too "iffy" or "unimportant."
More importantly, though, is to see
if you can send urls of press articles, such as from the New York TImes, to your local
home town newspapers, you know the kind that you might find also at a laundry mat, often
distributed for free. They do a lot of public service, providing information of community
interest. Very important is to have newspapers at universities and colleges mention our
campaign. So all you student volunteers... can you work on it? Be sure the article
includes our website Recall2006.com (saveCALnow.com also works). Do keep in mind that some
news editors are pro-Arnold, and will delay publishing anything that would be damaging to
him. km
October 14, 2005 12:30 AM
Amazing! Companies who gather
signatures have approached us to carry our petition for free while they are gathering
signatures for other liberal causes. Apparently, their workers want to work on it.
One volunteer teacher reports that
even she is amazed that in their conservative Republican district, every teacher has
agreed to sign our petition when it becomes available.
We have one family who is making it
their whole family project! This man has made us miserable for long enough; it is time to
have fun at his expense! This is a Total Recall!
Arnie, why don't you resign now,
and spare us all the troubles? Actually, I would like to see this historic uprising
complete its process. We can have a powerful force who can become the guardian of our
beautiful state for decades to come. The coalition involves not the typical party-line mix
- our coalition is made up of people from all walks of life, Democrats and Republicans,
who want the best for our students, who want fairness at the workplace, and who want a
serious, mature governor, who can provide us with creative solutions that can save our
state. km
PS. Our phone line is flooded and
it is very difficult to return calls because phone calls, unlike e-mails take a lot of
time. Please know that we are recording every call for distribution of the petition and we
are grateful for your response.
October 16, 2005
We are putting out a call for a law
firm, preferably in Sacramento, who, on a pro bono basis, can help us deal with the
office of the Secretary of State. As you remember, Schwarzenegger appointed Bruce
McPherson (R) to head the office. If this is not handled well, it can delay
our printing of the petition for a few weeks. This coming week we satisfy the requirement
for the publishing of the Recall Intent in a general circulation newspaper. If you
are such a law firm or can connect us with such a law firm, please send an e-mail to volunteer@saveCALnow.com using in the subject
field the prefix, "99-" We are trying to beef up our legal team.
We are looking into opening an
office in Sacramento, which will eventually become our headquarters. What better place to
keep an eye on this man. Who knows what he is planning for next year, until he is booted
out of the office that he has shamelessly tarnished. If anyone knows such a space cheap
(we don't waste people's money like you know who!), please advise by writing volunteer@saveCALnow.com using in the subject field
the prefix, "88-"
Soon, we will be putting out a call
from this UPDATE page to all the volunteers who wrote us in the past two weeks, for
another barrage of e-mails reporting to us how successfully they have been in finding more
volunteers, and how many they may be, so that we can begin our headcount 0R if they
are still working on it, reporting to us what progress they intend to make in the next few
weeks. We would like to hear of any activity you have been engaging in on the campaign's
behalf (like sending forwardable e-mails, distributing copies of the New York Times
article with request for volunteers, planning social gatherings for the purpose of finding
more volunteers and donors). Remember, when the petition is finally printed, probably in
November, we want to have a pretty good network of volunteers who can get this done. We
still keep being asked if we can make the petition downloadable. Our understanding is,
this is not like a Moveon petition just to show a large number of people feeling strong on
a topic, this is a legal petition, sort of like a ballot, and it has to be printed in a
certain manner, in a certain format, with certification by the signature gatherer
attesting to the signatures. Therefore, we will have to distribute the petition. Remember,
if you write us for the second time, ever, please use the prefix "2-" in your
subject line.
Finally, we are asking if you would
like us to send you leaflets you can distribute in friendly downtown or campus areas, or
place on your tables soliciting support against the evil initiatives. The leafleting
should be done only where most people receiving them could be considered friendly to our
cause. If you desire such leaflets, please write us at volunteer@saveCALnow.com using in the subject
field, the prefix, "77-."
Visualize our new governor in July
2006, serious, mature, kind, and just, with CREATIVE solutions for our crises that will be
a win-win for ALL Californians.
October 17, 2005
After four decades of working on
project, both scientific and business, I have learned to prepare for the worst always, but
it is always pleasant when things proceed smoothly. I have finally received confirmation
from the Secretary of State's office that the petition we submitted met the law, and we
had a sufficient number of verified signatures to qualify. As required by law, both the
Daily News which publishes papers in the East Bay (SF) and on the Peninsula and the
Oakland Tribune will publish the Notice of Intent tomorrow (the law requires we publish in
one general circulation newspaper - the duplication at our cost is to be sure). As of this
moment, the Governor has not submitted his response, as stipulated by code within seven
days. We had already been counseled by good attorneys, but we are taking steps to add
additional legal power to our team. We will soon be submitting the final form for
publication of the petition.
I should remark that so far I have
received only very professional and courteous treatment by the staff members at the
Secretary of State in the past 10 days that I have met or spoken to on the telephone.
I am happy that our sorting of
names and addresses of volunteers should complete within a few more days. We will then
know where we have plenty of volunteers and where we need to find more. I am also happy to
tell you that our offer yesterday to any volunteer for leaflets has been accepted by a
number of volunteers, and our campaign goes into a very public mode this week. Not
surprisingly, the volunteers of the Berkeley Campus have gotten an early start, to
mobilize students for work in the very pro-recall East Bay. I think our campaign cannot be
going any better. Let me hear of any progress our volunteers elsewhere are making at this
time. Use the "2-" prefix on your subject line. km
October 19, 2005
Today's update is so incredible
that it also appears on the home page, in the boxed paragraph. Just three weeks into the
campaign, we already have experienced and/or fervent people who have taken on helping
coordinate entire geographic regions - the whole North Coast, now Sacramento, Placer, and
El Dorado counties, the whole city of Riverside, the entire San Francisco Bay, east,
west, north and south, and whole university campuses. We have people with sufficient
human power claiming many sub-regions of Southern California, as well. This is indeed a
historic uprising that will change California for a long time to come. Using Dee
Fraites' favorite words, "carry on" good people!!!
October 21, 2005
We are now preparing to submit the
final form of the petition for approval by the Secretary of State, for printing. We
published, oh boy did we, the recall statement as required by law in (more than) one
general circulation paper (not in the two bay area newspapers who haven't mentioned our
campaign - makes you wonder how slanted their news have been, huh?). East (San
Francisco) Bay campaign to find more volunteers has begun (as if we needed more! However,
we believe easily 2/3 of our needed signatures will be gathered easily in the Bay Area,
and so we do not want to be short on volunteers here.) Monday, group leaders will
meet at our headquarters in Berkeley. Media have been calling and calling for photo
opportunities, and so we are going to make that happen at our meeting. As we reviewed who
have volunteered, it is a remarkable cross section of our society. This is not a protest
of just one segment of Californians - not only the poor and the students, on whose behalf
the campaign was launched, but the middle class, the upper middle-class,
businesses, and even the wealthy who cannot keep watching the state economically
deteriorate - ALL Californians.
Three weeks ago, it was just a
dream that our volunteer force would reach 30,000. But the volunteers keep coming, and it
would not be a surprise that we will reach 100,000!
Today, we mailed by priority rate
(two days delivery) small samplings of our trial leaflets. Those who wrote volunteer@savecalnow.com with the subject
heading, "77- " will receive them by Saturday. Please try them out and we will
see if the number of volunteers increase in those regions distributing the leaflets. If
successful, we will ship more to you. Let us "carry on!"
October 22, 2005
We are pleased to inform everyone
that the last step has been taken, as required under the law before petitions are
approved for printing by the Secretary of State's office. We sent in the final
"camera-ready" petition and the proof that the Notice of Intent to Recall the
Governor was published in a general circulation newspaper. It would not be surprising that
one or two "corrections" will be needed in the submitted petition (such as
margin dimension, or ?, despite our efforts to make it perfect the first time), in which
case, we will be so notified, and another "camera-ready" will be sent to the
Secretary of State.
We are hearing from more and more
volunteers that they have successfully recruited "x" number of new volunteers,
or that they have organized a committee, issued notices in their associations' newsletter
about our seeking volunteers, etc. We do need to keep a tally of our best estimate
as to the number of volunteers that will pour onto our streets when the petition is made
available, and so please write us keeping us current on your progress. Thanks, all!
October 26, 2005
We can't believe it has been four
days! since we last posted an update. You can see, as Arnie's people would put it, we have
been up to "no good." You will be seeing some of those "no good"
things in due time. While we await the Secretary of State's comment to our final
"camera-ready" petition before it goes to press, we thought we'd provide some
entertainment. As you know, we get a lot of e-mails from people all around the world.
Reuters service has been writing articles that have gone global, including the East Coast
( why is it that far away and distinguished newspapers like the Washington Post and the
New York TImes write large articles about this recall, but major west coast newspapers
stay muzzled....er ... mum? You wonder how else the news we read by which we vote is
slanted!). Well, anyway, one person who wrote us is from Washington State and she sent the
following poem, which was "provoked" by our website and is an
"adjustment" to Emma Lazarus' words:
"Give me your tired your poor,
You huddled masses yearning to
breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming
shore.
Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tossed to me,
and I will keep them in their
place."
Then we are receiving some
wonderful cartoons by a professional political cartoonist, all the way from Garden City
Beach, South Carolina, Charles C. Bright. The first one he sent is below. We are going to
find a way to place it in a more prominent position on the home page, perhaps, but we did
not want to delay sharing it with you any longer. He sent another that had us rolling on
the floor laughing. If we could get one of our more "proper" advisors to permit
it, we would like to share it with the general audience. If not, we will certainly send
them to our student groups. Thanks Charles!
October 27, 2005
We would like to pass on some
pointers to those distributing our leaflets soliciting volunteers. It would be most
productive if you will have a clipboard with a piece of paper so that you can get
someone's commitment right there and then and you can write their contact information. So
you would approach your prospective volunteers with something like, "would you like
to get rid of the governor?" If they smile, and look interested, you can show
them the leaflet, and say, " in just three weeks, we have already over 10,000
volunteers across the state - we are wanting to reach the strength of 30,000 volunteers,
which will assure that we will get enough signatures to recall Schwarzenegger. Will you
help get a few signatures for us?" If they have stood there while you spoke, a third
of them will volunteer. The feelings in the streets are very strong! Those of you who are
interested in handing out our leaflets at supermarkets and university campuses, please
write us at volunteer@saveCALnow.com with
the subject line 77- . We see some strong interests at CSU Sonoma, and in the whole
town of Chico. We have a large number of volunteers in Sacramento. Hmmm, we wonder why?
Do you have friends who would sign
but aren't registered to vote? Quick, call your county registrar of voters and get the
registration forms. Remember, only those who are registered can vote.
Because our advisers are warning us
that uninitiated volunteers collecting signatures can make a lot of mistakes and we could
have many signatures invalidated, we are going to start giving pointers early, so that you
will read different things enough time and you will internalize all the things you will
want to be careful about (sic <g>).
It is exciting to get people to
sign, and sometimes, a whole pile of people will sign one after the other. This is the
time to be most careful. First, YOU as a petition circulator must witness every
signature. You cannot pass the petition down the aisle or down a long table. At the end of
every petition form is something YOU will be asked to certify, that you witnessed every
signature on the form.
When a lot of people sign almost
simultaneously, you will be excited, and you may easily miss people signing in the wrong
place, not PRINTING their names as well as signing, not writing their addresses legibly.
Please stop and check every entry, before the signers leave your side. The address they
need to print is where they reside now! Not where they registered from originally.
Petition is close to being printed.
Isn't it exciting? Yes, we are actually going to get rid of this yukky man!
October 29, 2005
We have received the following
communication from the Campaign's official cartoonist in South Carolina, Charlie Bright.
He wrote, in part,
My deepest respects and regards for you and all
the other valiant volunteers. You are "the front line" and our best hope of once
again making America responsible for the welfare of all its citizens. You are not
alone. We stand with you. In this battle, we are all Californians."
Charlie, We shall do it! We thank you, Wesley
Brown in Georgia, for your donation and your notes of encouragement. We have heard also on
the East Coast from a widow of an attorney that worked for Robert Kennedy. They are all
rooting for us! It is time that the tide turned. And this time, we are going to
COUNT our votes. No more Floridas and Ohios for us. We are fully awake. No more sleeping
dogs!
We are happy to report that a Democratic Party
group in a major Central Coast city has voted to help our effort. We have a nascent but a
strong effort beginning at Sonoma State, and we have a good core group at Berkeley.
Riverside started sometime ago. We will be assisting volunteers at Long Beach and East Los
Angeles College, as well as UC San Diego. We actually have many, many months to collect
the signatures, as if we needed that many! (The law allows us 160 days - and the clock
hasn't started yet, because we haven't printed our petition - you see why we are not
rushing to print our petitions, before our volunteer network is complete?! The poor
Republican Secretary of State this week inadvertently helped us in this regards!)
This is an important period for us. We need to
keep adding more volunteers. You realize that once we reach our goal of 30,000 volunteers,
we could finish gathering 1.5 million signatures in one weekend (only 50 signatures per
volunteer)! We do not want to make this a drawn out process of weeks of work with just
10,000 volunteers, which is our strength today.
Our message is propagating well all over the
state, the country, and even the world. Reuters took several hundred pictures of our work
at our headquarters, we gave a lengthy interview with the Washington Post (Mercury News,
SF Chronicle, and LA TImes, we welcome you!), and a major television network will cover
our story as a part of a prime time program. In our experience, more people hear about our
campaign, more volunteer!
J. Summer of Berkeley has called our attention
to an informative website that holds valuable information about the history of California
gubernatorial recalls. The link url is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_California_Recall
(One word of caution - apparently, errors can creep into this volunteer-written
resource)
October 30, 2005
Happy Trick-or-treating tomorrow! The following
statement was issued today by Dr. Kenneth Matsumura, Founding Proponent of the Recall
Arnie Campaign:
NINE DAYS MORATORIUM ON HEADQUARTERS-LED CAMPAIGN
"In less than ten days, Californians will
go to the polls to vote on issues that will affect California for decades. When I
announced that I was launching a campaign to recall Arnold Schwarzenegger, I received a
call from a wife of a firefighter captain telling us that firefighters felt that the
recall gave them just that boost they felt was needed to turn the tide on one of the
initiatives of concern to them. Many calls that followed echoed this sentiment.
The launch of the recall by me on behalf of the
poor and the students of California probably did call further attention to the
deficiencies of Arnold Schwarzenegger, giving him less credibility to tout "his"
initiatives.
However, as I pointed out to the media
repeatedly (and I say this under penalty of perjury), the Recall was not launched in
connection with any initiative. The Recall was not suggested or encouraged or funded by
any organized labor or professional association, or the state Democratic Party. Although
as a matter of courtesy, I have faxed advance information about our launch to some of the
groups who have been protesting against Schwarzenegger, I have not received a word in
communication from any such groups. We operate entirely independent of such groups and
independent of the campaigns against the so-called "evil" initiatives.
The Recall Campaign is concerned with the
character, integrity, broken-promises and performance or lack thereof of this
"Governator." The Evil Initiatives, although backed by this dysfunctional
governor, deal with issues such as crippling California's education (Proposition 74, 76),
emasculating the ability of unions to protect workers where protection is needed (75),
giving a small body of black robed men (yes mostly men, not women), who don't reflect the
rich and diverse racial and ethnic mix of California, incredible powers to decide who will
represent us in Sacramento (77), and giving dictatorial powers to Schwarzenegger over
budget that will make a life or death difference to important programs that have protected
our schools, children, the elderly, the sick and the poor (77). Therefore, the Recall
Campaign serves to remove a bad man from Sacramento, and the Campaigns against the Evil
Initiatives seek to prevent bad laws from becoming laws.
In order to ensure that our Recall Campaign not
subtract any energies from the fight against the Evil Initiatives, the Campaign
headquarters is declaring a moratorium until November 9th on encouraging solicitation
(leafleting) in public places for volunteers (exception of ongoing work on college
campuses). Because we run a decentralized campaign, the headquarters does not dictate how
field campaigns run their programs. We
will continue to urge our volunteers to spread the word about our campaign to their
friends and their co-workers urging them to volunteer.
Although we will fulfill any obligations already
made to the media, we are voluntarily restricting any new commitments that can flood the
airwaves and the print media with the Recall stories. The Recall Campaign has seven months
to tell its story. The important story now is not the Recall; it is the issues presented
in the upcoming election. Let us all focus on getting the voters to the polls on November
8th."
November 2, 2005
A Hispanic volunteer in Los Angeles wrote us
asking why the Los Angeles Times has not reported anything about our Recall Campaign and
how the news about the Recall has penetrated poorly in the Latino Community there.
Univision coverage was fairly extensive in Northern California, and we had assumed the
same for Southern California.
The Hispanic volunteer is a certified translator
for the County of Los Angeles. We have asked him to translate our Home Page of the website
into Spanish, and we hope to present a bilingual face soon. We know there is much
discontent with Schwarzenegger in the Hispanic community statewide.
Perhaps reciprocally, almost 90% of the few hate
mails we have received have originated in Southern California and have disturbing
anti-Latino overtones. When the economy gets tough, history has repeatedly seen
scapegoating on racial or ethnic minorities, such as during Hitler Germany.
We believe Schwarzenegger's major failure has
been in not paying attention to doing more for the state's economy. It is as if
Schwarzenegger wears horse blinders and can only see one thing - the avoidance of taxation
of the wealthy; he does not seem to realize that stimulating the economy could bring
wealth to the entire state, and in that manner avoid increasing taxes.
Unlike the rest of the United States, California
was particularly hard hit in its technology sector. As a new governor, he had
opportunities to rescue the technology sector - certainly, the legislature would have
cooperated. By rescuing, we don't mean tax breaks - that kind of thinking is for
old fashioned economists or for people who live in an imaginary world in Washington. We
must work with sophisticated tools in the sophisticated world of the 21st Century. The
Update Section of our website is not the place to present a complex economic treatise, but
it is enough to say that this miracle-promising terminator has been impotent in erasing
the feeling of 'not having enough pie to go around,' the feeling that is driving the
regretful ethnic hatred.
On other matters, we are happy to report that
there is considerable behind-the-scene work underway to ensure that this Recall Movement
is built on a solid and uncollapsible foundation. We are quite optimistic for its future.
We will complete the legal preparation this month, to allow us to move on towards the
collection of the million signatures.
During this preparative period, our network of
volunteers is gelling well as we begin to work in many areas with trusted, experienced and
capable individuals who will oversee activities in their districts. Volunteers scattered
across the state should expect to begin being contacted by district coordinators. We are
also encouraging reporting-in to the central headquarters by volunteers about how many
additional volunteers they have been successful in finding - please use in the subject
field of the e-mail, "2-."
November 4, 2005
One clever volunteer Lorri H. reported that when
she received a call asking her to vote against the Evil Initiatives, Lorri was able to
tell the caller about the Recall and in fact got her e-mail address. Lorri is an example
of someone who is "thinking about the Recall" all the time! Thanks, Lorri, for
the suggestion. (By the way, the website address we are mentioning is Recall2006.com,
which is easier to remember.)
We have started to form cozy sub-groups within
various geographic locations. Some of you have written asking to link up with other
volunteers in your cities. This is our response to that request. We are making small
groups of 4 to 10 people, small enough that everyone can significantly bond and work
together. Eventually, of course, each sub-group will be in communication with other
sub-groups in their cities. Generally, though we are not linking any volunteers who have
already developed their larger networks of volunteers (e.g., their Democratic club). One
trouble we realize we are having is that so many have not told us in their e-mails where
they live. These e-mailers are receiving over the next week a request from us for their
addresses so that we can mail the petitions to them. We are still ascertaining whether we
can have a downloadable petition that can be printed on a legal sheet of paper, but
advisers are telling us this can be very risky, because forms which don't meet precisely
the legal requirements (printed crooked, or on a wrong kind of paper) may be disqualified.
We still think this is the way to go where only one person signs, also certifying him or
herself as the legal circulator. These are the kinds of legal issues we are working on
this month before we release the petition for circulation. By the way, we are still
looking for lawyers familiar with election codes who can volunteer their time with us.
November 6, 2006
Although my one "proper" advisor
wouldn't take responsibility, I decided to go ahead with the unveiling of the political
cartoon Charlie sent us a few weeks ago. It's very appropriate when you consider what this
"governor" has been doing to us for two whole years. (If someone complains, I
will take it down, and so enjoy it while it is here.) km
Thanks, Charlie, for the laugh!
November 7, 2005
On the Eve of the election that can cripple our
cause for our children, for those who can't and shouldn't have to fight for their
survival, my heart is heavy remembering so many of these fights I have been in... for so
many decades. Tomorrow, I will walk the precincts; my better half just returned from phone
banking... and I am wondering... how many battles, until the war is won.
It is time for a series of decisive victories so
that those who don't understand...that we cannot be happy until those less fortunate than
us are also happy... are driven into hiding...feeling only shame. We have sacrificed $110
million dollars, I heard, to defeat the Evil Initiatives. Do you know how much comfort and
happiness $110 million dollars could have bought for our brothers and sisters in need?
Why, did we have to waste so much money? It's because we've allowed the minority
opposition to think they are the majority!!!! The enlightened people outnumber the
backward people two to one! But do we vote? Do we bother to register to vote? It is time
for a change.
I call on all my brothers and sisters who
believe in a Kind and Just America to go to the polls tomorrow, and then I call on them to
call five people they know to make sure they go and vote, then for each to call five more!
This is the FIVE MORE Strategy. Let us deliver a knock out punch tomorrow so that the
unenlightened ones will never again bother or dare to make us have to fight like this
again. Let the whole world know that California embraces the FUTURE, not the PAST!
THEN we can BUILD on this first victory; after a
well-deserved rest, we come back and wrap up our signature gathering in a record time,
with a roar that will be heard around the world. As Charlie Bright spoke to us, "as
California goes, so goes the rest of the country" Let the unenlightened ones, the
fear and hate mongers know, America has once again found the beacon; we are the country we
taught our children we are. We WILL fulfill our destiny.
Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Founding Proponent
November 9, 2005
The following statement was released to the
media:
To
borrow the disgraced governor's own words,
"the People have spoken." Californians
have gone to the polling places in record numbers Tuesday to say, "NO!" All of Schwarzenegger
initiatives are failing, and the voters' outrage against Proposition 74 through 77 is
helping defeat the anti-abortion Proposition 73, for a complete sweep against the
conservative agenda.
Legal
due diligence is proceeding to prepare for the printing of the Recall Petition served on
the governor last month. In the meantime, the Recall Campaign has now a network of over
10,000 volunteers statewide ready to circulate the petition. The volunteers include
ordinary people distressed seeing the deterioration of public services in their
communities as well as veteran political leaders like Democratic central committee or
state Democratic executive board members.
In
September, only five weeks ago, many of the initiatives were expected to pass, according
to the polls at that time. The Recall Schwarzenegger Campaign, which launched on September
28, believes that it helped "turn the tide," to borrow the words of one wife of
a firefighter captain who telephoned the Campaign headquarters. The wide-spread media
coverage that included the New York Times and the Washington Post helped mar the image of
Schwarzenegger as the invincible 'Terminator" and underscored the claim of Dr.
Kenneth Matsumura that the recall was necessary because the poor are suffering desperately
under Schwarzenegger.
The
Recall proponent Dr. Matsumura said that he is seeing a historic grassroots uprising as a
flood of volunteers log onto the Recall2006.com website. "We will end
Schwarzenegger's rampage so that the 2006 legislature can re-enact all bills the governor
vetoed in the past two years. Only then can we finally rescue our cities, and re- build
the morale of public workers who guard our welfare and safety."
Dr.
Matsumura also blamed Schwarzenegger for failing to restore the California economy, in
particular the technology sector that was devastated after the collapse of the
Internet-fueled speculation. "Our new governor, in July 2006, will give us creative
win-win solutions for all that will enrich the poor without making the rich poorer."
And
folks, HURRAH!!!!!!!!! Well done! Rest up, and report back for a record breaking signature
gathering in December!
November
9, 2005
A
few words from Kenneth Matsumura, MD, Founding Proponent:
"Congratulations
to all the workers who worked for months to make this happen! What I said the other night
here, about "us" outnumbering "them" by 2 to 1 if only we would work
as hard as the other side to get the voters to turn out, was reflected in last night's
election results. This is just the start. As long as we keep this idiot governor at the
helm, he will be forcing us into battles over and over again. We must rest up and come
back to finish the job that was begun last night.
Yesterday,
I visited perhaps 187 homes of inconsistent Democratic voters in the San Francisco area,
all with 44 steps up to the front door, and perhaps I helped turn out a handful of votes
for our cause. Most of you have stories like that to share. We just have to keep working
like that until the world is safe. Now, I'm going to go eat like a horse."
November
10, 2005
We
want to share with you a nice article that appears in the Sacramento News & Review
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2005-11-03/news2.asp
You can meet Jaime Feliciano in the article. He
took a great picture.You remember he accompanied Dr. Matsumura when they served the
governor with the Notice of Intent to Recall him. Jaime is our point man in Sacramento. We
are getting more and more publicity and perhaps that is why volunteers keep pouring into
our website! Lately, we are getting a lot who already have a network of many volunteers.
We are having more success starting to link some of our volunteers together. This is still
in the very early stage, but the progress is expected to escalate.
Our press release yesterday brought more media
attention. We were mentioned even in the prime time evening news of a major network in
Germany. We were of course mentioned by CBS Evening News Sunday.
November 11, 2005
All this ploy - "Oh, it's all my fault...
I'm sorry... I'm going to mend my ways..." - is getting tiresome and offensive! He
caused our side to waste over $110 million. Did he add, "Oh, I'm going to mend my
ways AND restore the 2 billion dollars to the schools?>" This is a wounded
viper, and is most dangerous. He is trying to get us to lower our guard so that he can
strike again, this time mortally. Watch out! He knows we are about to recall him and
he is trying to diffuse the public's anger. Too late! Our armada of volunteers will hit
the streets in just a few weeks, knocking on neighbors' doors, tabling at the corner
market, and pulling out the petition amongst friends at a party.
At this time, we must begin creating nuclei of
our most dedicated volunteers in all urban centers. West Los Angeles is beginning.
Sacramento, too. We would like to hear from those volunteers who can devote some extra
time, beyond collecting 50 signatures, to meet and to organize. Please write recallgroups@yahoo.com. Those who already have
their own groups of ten or more volunteers should continue working on their own efforts,
but those who have so far found two or three people and would like to combine effort with
others to find more volunteers should write us.
November 12, 2005
What is Arnie so afraid of... so that he has now
withdrawn his suit against the nurses, and even flirts with teachers about the education
budget???? RECALL!!!!!!
Recall turned the tide against the Evil
Initiatives. Now, Maria probably reads these UPDATES more avidly than our most dedicated
volunteers! Hi, Maria! <g> She is warning him. This Recall is no joke. Recall
forces are enmassing troops of 10,000! Watch out, Arnie. Try to take the steam out of
their Jaguanaut!
We must keep up the pressure folks. While we are
recalling him, we will probably gain a lot of concessions. Remember, we now know he is
WEAK without his steroids!
Some important points. It is likely that June
Primaries will see some ugly conservative initiatives, again. If the Democratic candidates
for governor do not excite the electorate OR if one candidate overtakes all the other,
then Democrats will stay home and all conservative initiatives will PASS!!! What a
horrible thought! However, you know that if Arnold is on the Recall ticket, Democrats will
turn out in large numbers and the initiatives will fail! We must get this signature
gathering done quickly. We are working to get our petition out in December.
November 16, 2005
We are happy to tell you that our dysfunctional
governor was served again, this afternoon, by Dr. Matsumura and lead Sacramento volunteer
Jaime Feliciano. They served Arnold with signatures of additional proponents, this time
some from Southern California (including a teacher) and key volunteers in the Bay
Area who joined the Campaign after we served the first Recall petition. Since only
proponents can deal with various county registrars of voters, our Campaign will now be in
much better shape during the signature counting phase. We are also finalizing the list of
15 proponents who have consented to be listed on the statewide petition that will
circulate. For many, they said it is a badge of honor to be listed. We describe these
processes, in case some of you are wondering, "what in the heck are they all doing.
Get the darn petition printed!"
We have some wonderful cartoons from Charlie
Bright, but our website software has had some undiagnosed problem in allowing posting of
them. We will soon get them posted.
November 16, 2005
Early in the campaign, when Dr. Matsumura was
asked by the media why he had launched the campaign to recall Schwarzenegger, Dr.
Matsumura said, amongst other things, that Arnold had failed the voters in not doing
anything worthwhile for the California economy, particularly the technology sector which
was devastated from the collapse of the Internet speculation. Had Arnold brought in some
creative ideas when he took office, instead of talking about whipping the union bosses,
California wouldn't be facing a tax hike to rescue it today. Yesterday we received reports
that he has approached China about buying some of California's technology for cleaning the
environment. About time, but not in time. Someone who can't think of these things on their
own shouldn't be the governor of California's economy. We need someone smarter and caring
about how to protect consumer's pocketbook while taking good care of the poor.
November 16, 2005
In response to a frequently asked question,
"What's next after our important victory last week," we have posted a new
message as our primary message on our home page. Please re-visit our home page. Thank you.
November 20, 2005
Well, folks. We do get wise with the passage of
time. A volunteer asked why we don't make our newest posting here readable at the top, so
that one doesn't have to scroll all the way down each time! Dah.... why not? So, some of
you have already noticed and are not reading this. For most who probably have visited the
cellar, please take the speedy elevator back up.
November 28, 2005
While we have a huge number of experienced political
activists volunteering, we have an unusual number of first timers. We would like to take opportunities here on UPDATE
to talk about how signed petitions can be disqualified.
By mentioning things to watch out for, just a few at a time, we hope to
minimize the loss of signatures due to errors during collection.
Errors occur especially when there is a large number
of signers at one time when your supervision is difficult. During the collection of
proponent signatures to qualify the Recall for a statewide petition, we ended up unable to
use a whole sheet of signatures because the first signer on the sheet made an error that
was copied by all other signers who used the first line as an example. The error was not caught by the individual
collecting signatures until the large group of signers had left. Those gathering signature
must witness and inspect each signature for completeness and legibility. Signature itself
often is not "legible," but the signer must print his or her name and the
residence address legibly. People will often abbreviate city names, such as SF for San
Francisco, Berk for Berkeley, Oak for Oakland. Those abbreviations may be obvious to those
in the neighborhood, but may lead to disqualification.
Some signers will sign where a name is supposed to
be printed, and vice versa. Some signatures look like printing, and some people print
illegibly. The signature gatherer must take the time to review the spelling of the printed
name for clarity.
Each sheet of petition wil specify that all the
signers on that sheet live in ONE county. One cannot have signatures of residents from
DIFFERENT counties on one sheet! THis is tricky, particularly if one is collecting
signatures at a mixed gathering of residents in neighboring counties. You must have
separate sheet for each county.
Unlike other petitions you may have participated in,
one cannot "pass the petition down the row." The signature gatherer will be
required to certify under penalty of perjury that he or she witnessed every signature.
THerefore, one cannot post a petition on a bulletin board at work.
Well, enough "lesson" for one day. The
work of gathering petition can be fun and can make one feel good, but it will be indeed
very sad if many signatures are disqualified. Please forgive us if we go over these
matters repeatedly.
Well, for entertainment, we have received yet
another wonderful cartoon from Charlie Bright. During the last days of the battle against
the Evil Initiatives, a few weeks ago, our dysfunctional governor was dogged everywhere he
went in praise of "his" initiatives by Warren Beatty and his wife Annette
Bening. This Hollywood couple brought "celebrity" power to match
Schwarzenegger's waning attraction. More importantly, media gave the battle against the
initiatives more coverage because of the pubic's interest in Hollywood figures.
On the CBS's Evening News on Sunday before the
election, their planned coverage about our Recall was mostly bumped by a coverage of
Beatty and Bening out in the public denigrating the Evil Initiatives. We did not mind
because at that time, as you recall (see below for statement by Dr. Matsumura on October
30), we had decided to voluntary reduce our public "profile" in order not to
distract from the important battle against the initiatives. However, we were impressed how
the press behaved and the important role this couple played in defeating the initiatives.
Beatty, of course, have been a loyal Democrat from way back, having worked hard for Bobby
Kennedy's Presidential run, not to mention so many others since. Therefore, we were
pleased when Charlie came up with the following cartoon (Beatty's academic regalia is
probably from the time he spoke this year before a graduating class at the University of
California, Berkeley lamenting on how off-course California had gone).
November 26, 2006
Over the past few months, we have heard from so
many injured workers and those who take care of them. As many of you know, with the push
of Schwarzenegger, lots of modifications were made in the way those who are injured at
work are treated. Certainly, it has saved employers some money, but overall evaluation
reveals that terrible injustices have been done to those covered under workperson's comp
insurances. The dysfunctional governor insists that he is not willing to correct these
injustices (is that any surprise?). It appears that we have found yet another reason why
California cannot afford to keep this man (is he a man or a cold-unfeeling machine?) at
the helm any longer.
In order to reduce the number of nurses and
teachers volunteering to recall him, he has recently offered concessions after the
election debacle, he apparently doesn't realize the powers of injured workers and people
who look after them. Is the threat of the recall the only things that will keep him in
line? Why else did he so quickly concede to the nurses and make conciliatory gestures to
teachers? Is the big stick the only thing he listens to? Big Stick = Power of the Recall.
(P.S., Arnold, we have even more nurses and teachers ready to gather signatures than
before - you just can't fool people insincerely offering candies!)
Folks, those of you who volunteered to table,
please see if you have any cardtables we can use, and a folding chair or two. We will also
need some clipboards and cheap ballpoint pens. Headquarters can provide them to you, but
you could save us some money if we are not shipping these things to your city. Those who
found additional volunteers - please re-contact them and give them heads up. Our army of
volunteers is about to roll!
November 24, 2005 Thanksgiving Day
We hope you all had a wonderful turkey day, but
more importantly, did you get sufficient nourishment for the work ahead ? (wink)
Thanks to hard work by Rebecca F. the Spanish
translation of the Home page is ready to go up. However, we will need more volunteers who
are bilingual to deal with e-mails in Spanish. Please write us at volunteer@savecalnow.com.
November 23, 2005
We've made further progress towards printing the
petition. Our estimate that it will be early December holds. While at the Secretary of
State's office recently, we learned that there are quite a few initiatives, some very
conservative, gathering signatures to get on the June ballot. Since a recall election in
June as a part of the usually scheduled June Primaries will bring a lot of liberals to the
polls, the recall will have a beneficial spillover-effect to defeat any conservative
initiatives on the June ballot.
Like we said first, we cannot rest on but a
single victory. The other side is working even harder now. If we go with a wishful
thinking that everything will be OK now, we will be in for a rude awakening next year.
Maria will be happy to read our assessment that if Schwarzenegger doesn't go to a recall
election in June, he will probably be a formidable target by next November. He will be
helped by the increasing state tax revenue (no thanks to Arnie!) which will enable him to
make less cuts in important social programs. Voters' memory is short. Just as Davis was
voted out mainly because the economy took a plunge (he had little to do with it),
Schwarzenegger is likely to benefit from any economic recovery. People will forget what a
schmuck he has been.
Well, rest up folks, this Thanksgiving Day. For
our volunteers, it may be our last "rest" for months to come. Let us thank all
the hardworking volunteers who made infinite number of phone calls and walked miles and
miles to gather votes against the Evil Initiatives.
We would like to share the following sent by
Charlie as his commentary to Schwarzenegger's recent, "duh, I didn't meant to do it,
honest, I'll be good now..."
November 21, 2005
As we mentioned before, Charles Bright of South
Carolina, a professional political cartoonist, has contributed quite a few more cartoons
to encourage our effort. We had some software difficulty in uploading them to you, which
is now resolved. Over the next week, we will share them with you.
Charlie wrote us the day after our recent
election:
Congratulations to you and all your wonderfully hard
working volunteers! The warm glowing victory light from California's golden hills is
now clearly visible across the entire country. This morning dawned an especially beautiful
awakening, not only for California but as well for the rest of the country. All Americans
are now basking in the warmth of your great victory against the oligarchist right.
Your impressive battle victory there has also bolstered our morale, and
renewed our commitment of continuing to keep you and your heroic volunteers supplied with
the necessary tools and support. We realize, as I'm sure that you do, that it is
imperative that we not only defeat the enemy in the next election, but we must publicly
rebuke the oligarchists by disgracefully kicking them out of office. History and the
rightful retribution of a misled and long abused American people demand a public
example be made of them, lest they 'spin control' themselves out of accountability. Those
'Elmer Gantry' false prophets have preyed for so long on our weak, our old, our poor, even
our young and naively unsophisticated, as well as our trusting but intellectually
handicapped of whom it is our responsibility to defend and protect.
We are all so very proud and grateful to you and all your brave and
tireless warriors.
Charles C. Bright, South Carolina
Sunday November 20, 2005
STOP!!!! <g> Don't scroll down to read the
latest! In response to a smart volunteer, we have changed the format of the UPDATE section
so that the most recent postings are at the top. For those of you who have not been
following updates here, we encourage you to read below as you may learn considerable
information about our future plans, our reactions to the recent election, etc. You
certainly don't want to miss some of the clever political cartoons given us by our
Official Cartoonist Charles Bright, of South Carolina. We also quote his letters to us
because his thoughts reflect the fact that the rest of the country is watching us, to see
if we can turn the tide against Evil here. We mustn't forget that our recent victory is
but a small one in a series of victories we will need to achieve, if we are ever to become
really secure in making progress towards a kind and just world. (Please read the lead
paragraph on the home page about why we must move on to recall this dysfunctional
governor, despite our recent victory. We will revise it frequently.)
Our postings here have become a little less
frequent because there is a lot of activity behind the scene viz-a-viz the Secretary of
State's office where we have an application for permission to print the petition. We
believe we are on the final stretch both in terms of the Secretary's office and in terms
of our preparation to make the printed petition available to you, with sound advice on how
to collect them.
We are receiving a lot of volunteer letters that
indicate that we did not do enough to encourage reading the updates here. Please do stay
in touch with this section as we will pass on vital information particularly in the weeks
ahead. Let all your contacts also know this. Thank you. And now, below are older update
information since October.
