THE VOORHIS VOICE

A Liberal Voice of the Inland Empire                                    May 2009
claremontdemocrats@yahoo.com                               www.claremontdems.org
Editor Laura Ditte Lo

                         MEETINGS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

Our monthly luncheon meeting will be held at noon on Friday, May 8 at the El
Ranchero Mexican Restaurant, 984 W. Foothill Blvd. El Ranchero is on the south
side of Foothill. The buffet menu contains a choice of meat and non-meat
entrees (no pork) rice, beans, green salad, chips and salsa. Beverages are
included. Restaurant staff is available to help those who need assistance with
the buffet. John Cobb, an eminent theologian, an Emeritus Professor of the
Claremont School of Theology and the Claremont Graduate School, will be the
speaker at the May monthly luncheon of the Democratic Club of Claremont. 
Professor Cobb, whose latest book is The American Empire and the Commonwealth
of God, will be delivering a talk entitled "Religion and Economics".

The luncheon will be held at El Ranchero on Foothill Boulevard in Claremont -
it begins at noon on May 8; food is served first ($10 per person); Professor
Cobb will begin his presentation at 1:00. Please attend.

All are welcome to attend, enjoy the speaker, and engage in lively discussion.
The cost is $10.00 including tax and gratuities.

May 19 Statewide Special Election, May 12 last day to request an absentee
ballot.

The next General Membership Meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 25 at 7:30, in
Porter Hall (Pilgrim Place). The DCC will honor our veterans by hosting a panel
of speakers, all veterans, speaking on the topic of military service and the
foreign policies of the Democratic Party. The panel will include veterans of WW
II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Iraq War. From Indian Hill Blvd.,
in Claremont, take Sixth St. west 2 blocks.  Porter Hall is straight ahead; it
has 3 arches.  The public and your friends are invited.  Attendance is free. 
Refreshments will be served. The agenda will include the following items:

ARTICLE IX EXPENDITURES

B. EXPENDITURES

All expenditures must be approved by the Executive Committee, except prior
approval is not required for the Treasurer and/or President for an amount
totaling $250.00 or less, provided expenditure is necessary for the benefit of
the club and is not excessive. No motion to spend club funds shall be in order
at a general membership meeting without prior approval by the Executive
Committee and advance notice to the membership. No expenditure may be made to
support a non-Democratic candidate for public office.

Proposal for General Meeting time change from 7:30 pm to 7:00 pm.

The Democratic Club of Claremont Executive Meeting will be held on Saturday
June 6, 9:30 at Scrooby Lounge, Pilgrim's Place.

              SPECIAL ELECTION MAY 19 LACDP AND STATE POSITIONS

PROP 1A STATE BUDGET                       LACDP-NEUTRAL  STATE PARTY-SUPPORT
PROP 1B EDUCATION FUNDING, PAYMENT PLAN    LACDP-SUPPORT  STATE PARTY-SUPPORT
PROP 1C LOTTERY MODERNIZATION ACT          LACDP-SUPPORT  STATE PARTY-SUPPORT
PROP 1D PROTECTS CHILDRENSS SERVICES       LACDP-OPPOSE   STATE PARTY-SUPPORT
PROP 1E MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES             LACDP-OPPOSE   STATE PARTY-SUPPORT
PROP 1F ELECTED OFFICIALUS SALARIES        LACDP-SUPPORT  STATE PARTY-SUPPORT

*Please refer to Ivan Light's article for commentary

                  VOLUNTEERS SUPPORT A SUCCESSFUL EARTH DAY

The Democratic Club of Claremont joined with many other local organizations in
celebrating Earth Day on Sunday, April 26. Organized by Sustainable Claremont
and other groups, the event drew many visitors who strolled throughout the
Village, and especially along Second Street and in the Packing House. Our booth
attracted at least 300 visitors who each took a biodegradable cup of planted
California poppy seeds and the printed directions on growing and transplanting
them. While many people, especially children, chose to plant their own seeds,
the majority of visitors took already-planted containers.

We also registered voters and distributed membership forms and current editions
of our "Voorhis Voice" newsletter to interested visitors. Posters in our booth
highlighted our schedule (days and times) of our monthly luncheons and general
meetings.  The featured poster, using data from the League of Conservation
Voters web site, gave the 2007 and 2008 voting records of our elected
California officials, under the heading, "Democrats Support Environmental
Legislation". We hope to have pictures of our booth and posters on our web
site, www.claremontdems.org.

So many thanks go to those Club volunteers who worked in both planning and
staffing for this successful venture: Jim Stripling, Anne Koegel, Beverly
Sloane, Lois Thompson, Rhodes Thompson, and Loretta Arenas. Also, the Monroes
(Gabe, Murray, Marlena, Jack, and Carolee).

                  STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION, APRIL 24-26
                                 Ivan Light

At the California State Democratic Convention in Sacramento, approximately
1,200 delegates met to elect new leadership, review the condition of the
California Democratic Party, the state of California, and the world, and to
debate the ballot propositions.

Art Torres retired as Chair of the California Democratic Party after 13 years
of leadership. Delegates elected John Burton, 76, to replace Torres. The two
men set quite a different tone on the podium. Torres is friendly, smiling,
slightly rotund, and carefully attired. John Burton showed up in a clean
bowling shirt and never smiled. He is thin, angry, laconic, and all business.
Burton is from the liberal wing of the CDP. He spoke earnestly about the
Party's mission to relieve the suffering of those who are weak and voiceless.
One had the distinct impression that Burton is a pit bull for the liberals.

Delegates elected Hilary Crosby to replace Eric Bradley as comptroller. Hilary
Crosby is a CPA by profession. Some delegates complained that Eric Bradley had
moved $6 million of party money in irregular ways. There was no imputation of
malfeasance or corruption on Bradley's part, but Hilary ran on a platform of
fiscal transparency and narrowly won.

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, spoke for twelve minutes, recounting the
successes of the Obama administration in 100 days. She was right: it is truly
an amazing and inspiring record. However, Pelosi never mentioned "Iraq" at all.
This is unsurprising because she had the legal authority to shut down that
ignominious war in January, 2007, but failed to act.

Barbara Boxer invited delegates to get on board her re-election campaign.
Boxer announced that the U.S. will have universal, affordable health care by
the end of this year. Delegates greeted this announcement with massive
applause.

Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco, announced his candidacy for Governor of
California in 2009. Schwarzenegger is termed out. Newsom stressed his many
accomplishments as Mayor of San Francisco, especially the municipal health care
plan that provides universal care for San Francisco residents. San Francisco is
the only U.S. City to offer universal health care to residents. Jerry Brown is
the only other announced Democratic candidate for Governor.

Current Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean received a
standing ovation. He is seen as the architect of the 50 state strategy that won
the White House in 2009. Dean pointed out that in the 2008 election, voters 35
years of age and younger outnumbered voters 65 years of age and older. The 2008
election was the first national election in which younger voters outnumbered
older voters. Sixty-one percent of younger voters preferred Obama. Without
younger voters, Obama would not have been elected. But the bad news is the
younger voters are preponderantly registered as "decline to state," not as
Democrats. Younger voters like Obama, but they are not yet firmly Democratic.
Our task is to educate these younger voters so they become firm Democrats, said
Dean.

The Los Angeles Times article (April 27, 2009, p. 3) stressed the emotional
debates over the propositions 1A through 1F. True, the delegates were badly
split; the debate was emotional. On the one hand, Democratic elected officials
pleaded for passage of all six, especially 1A, on the grounds that without 1A,
California will lose 27 billion dollars of revenue. This loss would have
devastating impacts on virtually all services of the state government. But,
delegates expressed repugnance and profound dissatisfaction with having to
accept propositions that three rogue Republicans forced upon the Democratic
Party as their price for allowing California to have a budget. Rescinding the
2/3rd budget rule is a top priority for the CDP in 2010, but success in that
project will not produce a state budget in 2009. There was general agreement
that the propositions 1A to 1F represent bad government. Proposition 1A
received 58 percent of the delegates' vote where 60 percent is required for
adoption. So, the California Democratic Party takes "no position" on this key
proposition. The Republican Party opposes all six. The prognosis for these
propositions is poor, and the expectation is that the State of California will
experience a budget crisis of massive proportions when voters reject them too.

Six members of the Democratic Club of Claremont attended the State Democratic
Convention in Sacramento. They were Garland Byrum, Bob Gerecke, Ivan Light,
Rudi Mann, Zephyr Tate-Mann, and Ted Radamaker. Delegates attend at their own
expense. If you would like to be a delegate next year, please inform Zephyr
Tate-Mann. Hopefuls attend an early caucus at which delegates are elected by
whoever shows up at the meeting. Usually if a person shows up, he or she is
elected. Equal numbers of men and women are elected.

                                   REQUIEM
                         J Carolee Monroe, Producer

The ending of our Democratic Club of Claremont's two cable television programs
should not go unnoticed.J For more than three years we produced programs that
challenged viewers with stimulating content about then-current issues and
topics. We later developed programs that focused on the personal histories of
local residents. Our programs were informative, interesting, and entertaining.
Production ended because of legislation in California that allowed cable
television companies to stop providing communities with public access services.
These services included the public access channel itself, along with
professional mentoring, a studio, and videotaping equipment. The end, and even
more so the life, of our productions needs to be recalled because they
captured, through intelligent dialogue, the perspectives of concerned and
engaged individuals.

The typical format of a program was an interview with either of our two regular
hosts. Ivan Light, then Vice-President for Education, was the original host.
When we began taping two programs each month, Merrill Ring substituted so
frequently that Ivan and Merrill shared the position. Merrill, besides being
the then-Treasurer of our Club, was an active leader/member of our Issues
Committee. With the Issues Committee planning topics for our Club to delve into
while Ivan was arranging for speakers for our monthly luncheons and general
meetings, we were provided the opportunities to be informed and educated about
current subjects by politicians, labor leaders, authors, professors, and other
knowledgeable speakers. Our original program, "Claremont Democratic Forum",
maintained, throughout production, its focus on political issues and their
implication to our community, region, state, nation, and world. With the City
of Claremont's centennial year, we began our second program, "Democrats: People
and Ideas", which featured the lives of local activists. Behind the scenes,
Howard Steller was our Director while Jack Monroe and this author were
Camerapersons. Altogether more than fifty half-hour programs were taped and
aired. Some programs are now available on our Club website,
www.claremontdems.org, as arranged by Ned Freed, our Webmaster, while a few are
on YouTube. The remaining tapes may be in the possession of either host or
guest but no complete archive exists.

The events preceding the demise of our public access programming demonstrate
that media, as we know it, is in flux. The age of old style media, that is, the
journalism of local/regional daily newspapers with sections of content
including a thick classified, the weekly photo magazine, "Life", along with
several radio stations, and, if one went to the movies, "Movietone News", has
ended. Media evolved to include television with UHF and VHF channels and weekly
news magazines. Later, we experienced the advent and rise of cable and
satellite television and talk radio. Current developments include media
consolidation, the web, blogs, hand-held communication devices, and digital
television. These are transforming not only how news and commentary are
reported but by whom.

It is an ironic that, although digital television will permit five times as
many channels as were available with analog, California legislators made it
probable that our programming would cease. We Claremont residents, although
mostly Democrats, are represented in the United States Congress, the California
State Senate, and the California State Assembly by Republicans. Our point of
view, the learned opinions of local Democrats, no longer has a media outlet
beyond our "Voorhis Voice" monthly newsletter. Other differing community
opinions and perspectives have also lost a possible means of communication. It
becomes even more important that net neutrality, which maintains a level
playing field on the Internet, be continued.

The encouragement of Bob Gerecke, Past-President of our Club, needs to be
acknowledged. He provided the names of many of the local activists, along with
their diverse accomplishments, for our programs. Finally, Gene Boutilier, a
Club member and activist, knows, in detail, the background of the legislation
that permitted our programming to end.

                       PLEASE SUPPORT OUR WORK IN 2009

Circle your choice:

     Lifetime $250     Patron $100 or more     Contributing $50

     Family $35        Individual $25          Student/Limited Income $5

Name: __________________________________________________________________________

Street Address:_________________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip _______________________________________________________________

Telephone______________________   Email_________________________________________

Occupation_______________________________   Employer____________________________

   Please complete both sides of this form and mail it with your check to:
             Democratic Club, PO Box 1201, Claremont, CA  91711

                                     OR

                 Access our website:  www.claremontdems.org
       Select:  Get Involved > Join Us   (Complete the form.  Then...)
      Select:  Get Involved > Donate to the Club (This will take you to
      the Act Blue website where you can pay your annual dues online.)

             Our  Email address is claremontdemocrats@yahoo.com

P.S. - Part of your dues and contributions may be contributed to Federal and
State candidates.  Individual contributions will be deposited into the club's
Federal account, subject to the Federal Elections Campaign Act.  Non-individual
contributions and contributions of individuals who so request will be deposited
into the club's State account.  Contributions are limited under State law.  No
anonymous contributions of more than $50 will be accepted.  Federal law
requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, address,
occupation and employer of each individual contributor.  Political
contributions are not tax-deductible.  FPPC #841491.  FEC #C00404319.

              SUPPORT OUR NEW PRESIDENT AND STRONGER CONGRESS!

               HOW MANY HOURS WILL YOU VOLUNTEER THIS YEAR? ___

                 PLEASE CHECK OR PRIORITIZE YOUR INTERESTS:

__ Wherever I'm needed most!

__ Start or join an outreach team in my own neighborhood

__ Produce neighborhood contact lists from the online voter list

__ Maintain the club's database of members and other contacts

__ Work a shift at our Sunday morning table at the Farmer's Market for Voter
   Registration

__ Work a shift at a weekend table in Montclair Plaza for Voter Registration

__ Help to decorate our booth or parade vehicle on July 4th

__ Work a 2-hour shift in our July 4th booth

__ Ride our "float" in the parade on July 4th (mount at 3:45 pm)

__ Help to decorate our booth at the Village Venture on October 24

__ Work a 2-hour shift in our Village Venture booth

__ Bring candidate and ballot literature to an outreach table, booth or
   neighborhood team

__ Provide news or commentary for our monthly newsletter

__ Help to fold and label our monthly newsletter for mailing

__ Edit or assist in editing our newsletter

__ Write an occasional letter to the editor of a newspaper

__ Provide news or commentary for our website

__ Improve and maintain our website

__ Operate equipment/assist in video productions for Internet distribution

__ Catalog our TV program DVD's and other items

__ Look up a voter's polling place

__ Give a voter a ride to the polling place

__ Give a member a ride to the club luncheon or meeting

__ Loan furniture or equipment to our campaign HQ

__ Work a shift at our campaign Headquarters

__ Deliver yard signs promoting our candidates or ballot measures

__ Call or write other Democrats, inviting them to vote or to get active

__ Other:______________________________________________________________________ 

           Executive Committee of the Democratic Club of Claremont

  President:               Zephyr Tate-Mann   626-5566   Mann5566@verizon.net
  VP Organization:         Gar Byrum   621-9730   garlandbyrum@aol.com
  VP-Education:            Merrill Ring   626-8467   mring@earthlink.net
  Corresponding Secretary: Carolee Monroe   626-8122   jackncarolee@verizon.net
  Treasurer:               Debi Evans   626-3411   Debi4change@aol.com
  Ex-Officio:              Bob Gerecke   626-2858   gerecke@surfside.net
  Peace & Justice Liaison: Lois Thompson   621-2061  Rhodesth@verizon.net
  Publicity:               Ted Radamaker   593-5364   Tedrad@uia.net
  Webmaster:               Ned Freed   625-7933   ned@mrochek.com
  Recording Secretary:     Carol Whitson   629-7994   cwhitson@roadrunner.com
  Membership Chairman:     Mike Davis   931-2568   Mddc52@gmail.com
  DCC Photographer:        Darcel Woods
  Newsletter Editor:       Laura Ditte Lo 621-7827 dittelaura@gmail.com