To me, one of the major benefits of running for State Senate is the ability to put a 250-word ballot statement before the eyes of the 463,000-odd voters in my district. A substantial number of them will read it thoughtfully and with care. I can scarcely imagine a more cost-effective way of getting a message across to voters.
I have found, and some of you have astutely commented upon, the fact that this moment represents a choice of paths for my campaign. Am I, at base, a candidate who favors activism -- or an activist using a candidacy as a means to provoke voters to think differently about their political world? I didn't entirely know.
I now know the answer. While I'd love to win (and will do a great job if I do), as a substantial underdog in the district -- I'm an activist first. As an activist, I'm playing a "long game" -- working towards the transformation of a major part of perhaps the most significantly conservative county in the country.
It follows that I should not hide my light under a bushel and play down my beliefs -- including the challenging ones. This is a chance to get the truth out to people who may not otherwise here it. You'll see the current draft, which I expect to finalize tomorrow, below the fold.
Based on what I had been told by other candidates, I had budgeted $5500 for the statement. Well, campaigns are full of surprises. Because my candidate spans three counties I have to pay for (or forego) statements in each of them. Orange and Los Angeles Counties make up the bulk of the district; combined, they're about $5500 alone. Reaching the 39,000 voters in San Bernardino would cost me another $1500.
I made a fateful decision a few weeks ago to go in with other local candidates on a voter registration and GOTV project focusing on the most under-registered (largely Latino and Asian) areas of my district. My budget is by far the smallest of those involved, but I'll benefit from it as much as they do and it doesn't seem right not to pay my share. That does put me in a tough spot when it comes to paying for the ballot statement, though -- so I'm asking for your help.
If this is the kind of thing that you want voters to read attentively before they go to the polls, then as part of your activism this year I hope that -- if you are able -- you'll help me pay for it. My ActBlue page is here. My campaign website -- I still need web help! -- is here.
After the statement, I'll go into detail on some of the points I raise.
Here's the statement as currently drafted:
I'm State Senate candidate Greg Diamond. I was raised in Orange County, left to earn a Ph.D. and top-ranked law degree – and then came home. My job is fighting workplace sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination by race, age, disability and more. My activism involves fighting against government secrecy and corruption and for fairness, shared prosperity, multiculturalism, the environment, and “the 99%.”
I’ve worked this past year with Occupy Orange County, negotiating with cities and helping organize peaceful, law-abiding protests. Is that statement surprising for a mainstream candidate? It shouldn’t be. Occupy’s grievances against corruption are mostly mainstream. The radicals are the big banks and corrupt politicians who hijacked our government, shipwrecked our economy, commandeered the lifeboats, left the 99% to flounder and drown – and then demanded amnesty.
They have remorselessly abandoned the poor, relentlessly squeezed and crushed the middle class, and recklessly engorged the wealthy. A starved, dysfunctional state government doesn’t hurt them; they want government handouts, not services. Desperation among workers and homeowners boosts their profits. That’s not civic-minded – that’s wrong.
Let’s fight back to reclaim California’s greatness. I favor:
• Prop 30 – the “Millionaire’s Tax” – to help restore California’s public education, health care, parklands, and economic stability.
• Single-payer health care, circumventing wasteful Big Insurance.
• Transparency in government. (I’d broadcast meetings with lobbyists live by Internet.)
• Stopping Prop 32 – perverse, one-sided, fake “reform” that squelches unions’ political contributions while leaving most massive corporate campaign contributions unaffected and unopposed.
Please vote for Greg Diamond. I’m prepared to fight for you!
(Some of you may have criticisms -- and they're welcome -- but please understand that I'm not likely to make
major changes between now and tomorrow, when I'd like to get it submitted well before the Friday deadline. I don't expect to start over from scratch.)
For those of you not in California, Prop 30 is the "millionaire's tax," with progressively stepped-up income tax increases for earned income exceeding $250,000, $350,000, and $500,000 per individual (or double that per couple.) Without it, our state is truly screwed, because we can't raise taxes or fees without a 2/3 vote of both houses of the legislature and the Republicans are steadfastly against that.
Prop 32 is a recycled version of the "Paycheck Protection/Deception" bill that, if it passes here in California, will be heading to your state soon. It effectively eliminates both union political donations and internal political activities by barring both unions and corporations from taking money for political contributions out of people's paychecks. Of course, only unions do this for the most part -- so 90%+ of corporations will go untouched. (Naturally, the lying proponents are selling the bill by talking about the enormous donations by corporations that the bill won't regulate!) This is cynical to the point of being sick -- but it has surface appeal so we need to get the word out.
"Radical transparency" is an idea of my own. Basically, I don't want any lobbyist to tell me or my staff anything that they're not willing to let the public know they're saying! So, to the maximum extent feasible, whenever my staff and I would talk to lobbyists about policy, the conversation would be livestreamed to the Internet -- something that I've gotten quite used to with Occupy General Assemblies. Yes, I'll talk to lobbyists, but when they talk to me, they'll also be talking to the world -- and the world can see what questions I ask them and how (and whether) they answer. I'll be writing more here about this concept in the future.
So that's what I want to tell voters. After the ballot statements, money pretty much goes to some lawn signs (there's a gimmick to those that I won't describe to you just yet) and literature, including (if people go along with it) postcards. The rest of it is free -- videos, blogging, speeches, etc. -- taking my time, effort, and resources.
If you're willing to help out, I'd appreciate it; the bill for the ballot statements is due this week. If you can't help out for any reason, please don't, without guilt. You will be able to, I hope, cultivate your garden as a volunteer wherever you are!
4:18 PM PT: I'm already up $500 for the 75 minutes -- so thank you all! I look forward to getting my material out to voters. I don't think they're used to people like me; maybe it will be good for them!