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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Latino Leaders Endorse Obama

In a stunning blow to Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton - and her surrogate in Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - the Mexican American Political Association has endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President.

On the heels of the endorsement of the Illinois Senator by labor leader Maria Elena Durazo Clinton's prospects of gaining significant support amongst California's Latinos appears to be fading.

Motivating the decision has been the campaign tactics of the Clintons in South Carolina and elsewhere that some have criticized as being race baiting.

MAPA's National President Nativo Lopez issued the following statement:

“Something nasty in the national campaigns reared its head over the past two weeks, which motivated us to consider another endorsement for a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party primary elections. We have observed with utter disgust the use of racially divisive and polarizing tactics employed by the Clintons, both Hillary and Bill, against Senator Barack Obama, not the first presidential candidate of African American origin. This is something that we would have expected from Republican candidates, but instead it surfaced from the bowels of the center-right institutional currents of the Democratic Party. The tactics are absolutely deplorable and clearly demonstrate what the Clintons think of all people of color."

Lopez' full statement can be viewed here.

Losing support of both the African American and Latino communities in Los Angeles could have a chilling effect on Clinton's prospects in California. It would have a greater impact and reflect poorly on politicians in the state such as Mayor Villaraigosa, Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who've been working hard on behalf of the Clintons.


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Thursday, January 10, 2008

PTA Moms Against Measure S

Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!

Today, parents of Beckford Ave. Elementary school will be receiving their monthly newsletter. Inside, they'll find the following editorial by a PTA parent urging ALL PTA members to vote No on Measure S.

Rock the Vote Beckford!
By Debbie Lopez

It's another campaign year and another chance for Beckford parents to get involved in the future of not only our country, but locally as well. On February 5th, the Beckford Auditorium will once again be a polling place for the upcoming Presidential Primary election.

Are you registered to vote yet?

The last day to register for the Feb. 5th election is January 22nd. Registering is easy! Just visit: http://www.sos.ca.gov/

"NO on Measure S"
PTAs may be asked to help secure the passage of a school bond or local parcel tax election or to participate in campaigns to pass or defeat other election ballot measures.

One of the Purposes of the PTA is "to secure adequate laws for the care and protection of children and youth." It is by educating its members — and through them, the general public — on the impact of issues affecting children and youth, that PTAs can best influence the course of action of those who make policy decisions, thereby achieving the Purposes of the PTA. Measure S (the "Cell Phone Tax 'Reduction'"), as written, applies an unfair tax to voters, as we will be charged 9%, while telemarketers (grrr… who call you as you sit down to dinner) will only be charged 5%.

This places an unfair burden on families who rely on cell phones to keep in touch with (and keep tabs on!) their children. The Northridge West Neighborhood Council voted to take a position AGAINST Measure S. The Neighborhood Council agreed with the COURT OF APPEAL OF CALIFORNIA, SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT, DIVISION TWO, who ruled that the current cell phone tax the city is collecting is a violation of Prop. 218, passed by California voters in 1996. By voting NO, the current tax goes away. A YES vote enables City Hall to tax you for using the internet, wireless networks, text messaging, instant messaging, VoIP and similar services.

As a high-performing school, Beckford is not eligible to receive funding (such as Title 1 funds) that we so desperately need. Our Valley neighborhoods contribute a substantial amount in tax revenue each year to the City's General Fund. That is where the money from Prop S. will be going. There is nothing in the wording of Measure S. that specifically binds these funds to things like additional police and fire units. Voters can't ever really be sure exactly where and HOW those General Fund dollars are going to be spent. Unfortunately, we don't see too much of it coming back into the Valley in the way of help for our schools.

If it were not for the generosity, the hard work, the endless hours of volunteering, the commitment, the love and support of our Beckford families, we would not have the funding for many of the wonderful educational programs here at Beckford. Perhaps it's time to take a stand, Valley Families.

How about we just vote NO on Measure S, and instead make a donation to the Bell Fund, or take your sweetie on a date to our "Ace of Hearts" fundraising gala? Money wisely spent, and guaranteed to be used for the betterment of our school and our children's education. PLEASE COME TO OUR PTA ASSOCIATION MEETING ON JAN. 22 AND LEARN MORE!!

Beckford PTA will be encouraging ALL Valley PTAs to join us in voting NO on S. Additionally, in lieu of dumping tea into the L.A. River, we are also asking that at the same time members are voting NO, to send a donation to their PTAs instead of Measure S taxes to the City's General Fund. This way, members can be assured that their hard-earned dollars are going directly to schools instead of lining the coffers of the "Bermuda Triangle" that is the General Fund.

We wil be speaking at the montly PTA President's Meeting later this month, and asking our PTA Council to please circulate the above editorial to each of the schools in the area, and to send it home in their newsletters.

NO ON S AND SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS! PLEASE VOTE NO AND SEND A DONATION TO YOUR LOCAL PTA. OUR SCHOOLS NEED THE MONEY MORE THAN THE CITY, AND WE'LL SPEND IT MORE WISELY, TOO!


Debbie Lopez is a community activist, PTA leader and mom in the North Valley.

Los Angeles Politics

Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!

The place to to read about Los Angeles Politics is Mayor Sam's Sister City. Mayor Sam blogs about Los Angeles Politics everyday along with Zuma Dogg, Joe Mailander and Red Spot.

Want to read about Mayor Villaraigosa? Check out Mayor Sam.

Is Mayor Villaraigosa having an affair? You can read about it at Mayor Sam.

Sometimes we talk about Presidential Politics including Ron Paul. Check us out at Mayor Sam's Sister City, the blog that covers Los Angeles Politics.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Measure S Phone Tax Scam Update

Check Out All The Great Stories at Mayor Sam's Sister City at http://mayorsam.blogspot.com/!

Lots of phone tax stuff here - and the battle to kill Measure S (for Shady!) is well underway.

First off can you kill a phone tax? Yes, the Federal Government did. And they found that the income lost from the phone tax was more than made up for by revenue increases as a result of the tax going back into the economy.

How about this - a liberal is opposed to the phone tax!

When is a Mayoral aide not campaigning for the phone tax on the City dime? When he's campaigning for the tax.

Pasadena also has a phony phone tax on the ballot, it's called Measure D. The good folks fighting that battle have a web site here.

The Daily News agrees - the phone tax "sucks!"

Make sure you email, fax or snail mail all the Mayor Sam blog reports about the phone tax to your friends. They need to know and they need to know to not be deceived by the "reduction" title.

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Monday, January 07, 2008

Tony's HotSheet for Monday

latinopoliticsblog.com questions the strategic wisdom of the Hillary Clinton campaign having Mayor Villaraigosa tag along in New Hampshire. More importantly - the blog drives home - why isn't the Mayor at home solving problems instead of playing Presidential politics out of state?

Like many LA denizens, bloger Los Angelista finds lot of reasons to hate LA - including gangs, traffic and Mayor Villaraigosa - but every reason to love her own neighborhood.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Police Protective League Backs Mayor's Phone Tax

The Police Protective League has decided to join with and not fight the Mayor in efforts to stick it to the taxpayers and support the phone tax increase. A whopping $250,000 donation is coming to the Mayor's Yes on S campaign from the union. Wonder what kind of backslapping secured this support?

There was a time when the League was one of the no-nonsense public employee unions in Los Angeles back in the day when our favorite former motorcycle cop turned Clowncilman ran the show. But hey - he's descended into liberalism himself so why bother. Maybe Mayor Sam isn't going to be so likely to support the PPL in their fight against the Police Commissions mandate for certain officers to turn over financial records or their battle with Bitter Bernie on work schedules.