SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER

                                     November 2007      

 

President: Ellen Longworth (408)354-0419 ~ 1st V.P & Program: Carol Greenleaf (408)867-5680

~2nd V.P/Membership: Laura Riffle (408)263-0990 ~ Treasurer: Naomi Blais ~

Secretary: Gloria Estes ~ Newsletter Editor/Legislation: Eve Bretzke  

Website: www.svrwf.org,  Address: PO Box 2153, Sunnyvale, CA 94087

 

THIS MONTH’S MEETING INFORMATION

All SVRWF Luncheon and Dinner Meetings are held at the Ramada Inn,

Silicon Valley located at 1217 Wildwood Ave. Sunnyvale, California.

Luncheon Meetings: Social 11:30 AM., Lunch 12:00 PM, Cost $18.00.

Dinner Meetings:    Social 6:30 PM, Dinner 7:00 PM, Cost $25.00

 

Our next luncheon meeting is November 1st, 2007 at 11:30 AM.

Menu Choices:  London Broil or Turkey with all the Trimmings. 

Call Louise Kenny 739-4724 or Alice Wilson 733-6352 for reservations. 

“A reservation made is a reservation paid!”

 

Our guest speakers this month are Ed and Laura Riffle, parents of a deployed soldier in Iraq and Ben Ferguson of Adopt-a-Chaplain, a local non-profit group that sends care packages and support to military chaplains serving in Iraq.  

 

Ed & Laura Riffle will discuss the challenges faced by the families of soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and also share with us a tourist guide to Baghdad.  Their eldest son is currently deployed in Iraq and they frequently travel to Southern California to help out his family.

 

Adopt-a-Chaplain is a non-profit, local group that supports our troops through the chaplains who serve them.  By providing needed items in the form of weekly care packages of comfort foods and toiletries, a chaplain can provide a non-threatening “excuse” for soldiers to drop in for a visit. Chaplains also visit troops at forward operating bases.  With no PX available, the chaplain is a source of goods they would not otherwise receive.  Twice a week, Adopt-a-Chaplain volunteers gather to sort, box and ship items to our chaplains.  Ben Ferguson is co-founder of Adopt-a-Chaplain and will share his experiences of supporting the chaplains.     

 

Bring donations for the Adopt-a-Chaplain care packages (see list of needed items inside newsletter)!

Also, we will be taking donations for the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital in honor of Veterans Day.   

 

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 2007

 

 

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE (10/20/07)

 

I was really pleased to pick up my local newspaper, the Los Gatos Weekly Times, and see that the Honorable State Senator Able Maldonado was holding a town meeting at the city hall in Los Gatos.   He came to speak to residents who live in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga which is part of District #15.  It was front page news in the paper.  Senator Maldonado came to discuss education, health care and high tech. The article went on to express that the senator wanted to hear what bills voters want him to carry to the legislative session in Sacramento. He emphasized going greener and having a cleaner environment in Silicon Valley.  The senator did not have an agenda to bring to the town meting because he wanted the local constituents to come to the meeting and voice their ideas and concern.  He also met with the local officials and community leaders. 

 

Senator Maldonado was elected in 2004 in District 15 which extends from south east Santa Clara County to northern Santa Barbara county, portions of Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, and all of San Louis County are included in his district. He chairs the Senate Agricultural Committee and is running for re-election in 2008.   I am sorry to say I missed his talk but I did standing in line to shake his hand and tell him who I was and where I live.  He thanked me for coming and said if I have anything I would like him to do for me please do not hesitate to contact his office.  He handled me his card and it was a pleasure to meet him. I was especially pleased to see he had a very good turn out. In fact I met of our new members leaving the meeting.  There are more Republicans around here than I thought.

 

If you possibly can attend events like this one, be sure to let our Republican elected officials know we’re out there working for our party.  Did you send an email, a postcard, or call your elected government representatives this month? 

 

Regards,

 

Ellen Longworth,

President, SVRWF

 

 

UPCOMMING EVENTS

 

 

 

Nov.  1            Regular Luncheon Meeting, 11:30 AM Social, 12:00 PM Lunch.  Ed and Laura Riffle / Adopt-A-Chaplain’s Ben Ferguson – Speakers, Ramada Inn Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale

 

Nov. 8             Regular Board Meeting, 10:30 AM, at Ellen Longworth’s. Call (408)354-0419 for more information.  Lunch at 12 noon.

                                   

Nov. 17-18      CFRW – Northern Division Conference, Monterey November 17-18, 2007

 

November        See’s Candy Club Fundraiser!  Order from a beautiful selection of holiday gifts and support your club.  Find order form in back of newsletter. Contact Jane Reed (408) 245-2429 to order. 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 2007

 

LEGISLATION

 

California Update from CRWF and other sources

 

California's Water:  A synopsis of two articles published this month in the CFRW News Legislation Update

Water usage is the third rail of politics in California and for the rest of the West as well. The age-old battle over the use of California's water can be broken up into three main groups that fight over supply: Agriculture, Urban, and the Natural Environment. When California's water is split up into different portions, the biggest portion goes to Agriculture. The farmers and cattle ranchers use most of the water supply to keep their plants growing on their farms and keeping the livestock alive. Without the food these two groups provide the citizens of California, the people would go hungry or would have to grow their own food to eat. The farmers and cattle ranchers are a very important part of the circle of life in California.  The Urban section in this three-way split for water gets the next largest share of the water. Urban water is mainly used for drinking. There are many businesses like the Jelly Belly Factory that use water to make their products. Industries use water as a tool in manufacturing of their products. Water is the life blood of our world. We cannot live without it. The Natural Environment gets the left over water that we do not take out of the Delta system. Because the Natural Environment is the last spot on the list of priorities, it is in need of major restoration and repair. The Environment is also an important part of the circle of life in California. The three sections: Agriculture, Urban and the Natural Environment are all networked together.

 

The main problem is how the millions of people who are living in California share the water supply with the flora and fauna.  A large portion of our water comes from the Sierra Mountains seasonal snow melt. The snow melt runs into the Greater Delta region. The Greater Delta region takes in the Sacramento River, part of the San Joaquin River, Suisun Bay, San Pablo Bay and the San Francisco Bay which goes from Sears Point to San Jose. This area is the heart of our water supply. Like the human heart, it is not the only part of the body; but without it working right, you would die. It is the same situation with the Greater Delta region. If it goes down, California’s water supply goes with it. It is a simple fact of living in California. California's farmland gets most of our water supply as it must, because we need to eat. The urban areas get the next portions of water. At this point in the water supply chain, problems start to show up. Many of the urban homes and farms get their drinking water from wells. Some of these wells cannot be used because of contamination issues. The main urban areas get their water from above ground water reservoirs and below ground aquifers. In wet periods, reservoirs cannot hold all of the seasonal water supply. Many reservoirs are too small for the needs of the people they serve. In dry periods the aquifers cannot supply water as fast as the population needs. No one group is to blame-- Not the farmer or the people next door. These problems happened over years and it will take years to fix them.

 

Assembly Bill 976 - Landlord Property Rights.  Assembly Bill 976 (Calderon, D-58) has been enrolled and is awaiting the Governor's action. CFRW has taken an OPPOSE position on this legislation.  Assembly Bill 976 would take away the advantage of hard working, legal citizens and legal immigrants in favor of a level playing field where illegal persons have the same rights to residency. Landlords should have the right to pick a California citizen or rightful immigrant over an illegal person.  When a citizen or immigrant fills out an application for a rental they will need to give some kind of documentation of their identification, validated by the state they live in or United States federal government. An illegal person will not have a valid identification but most likely forged documentation.

This valid documentation and strong work history are all that is needed for the tenant to prove that they can pay rent on time. These two factors are the biggest ways a smart landlord calculates whether or not they should pick one tenant over the other.  Most rental applications do not even ask if you are an illegal person because it is just assumed that a new tenant would be legal. This is assumed because to get the valid documentation you need, you should be a legal immigrant or citizen. Landlords only care about their bottom lines. They normally do not care about policing their tenants' lives.

The CFRW Legislative Office has provided updates for the on the bills below.

1. AB 1 (Laird D-27): Health Care Coverage – signed into law by Governor

2. AB 8 (Nunez D-46): Universal Health Care for most Californians – VETO by Governor

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 2007

 

3. AB 12 (Beall D-24): The Adult Health Coverage Expansion Pilot Program – signed into law by Governor

4. AB 14 (Laird D-27): Discrimination: Civil Rights Act of 2007 – signed into law by Governor

5. AB 34 (Portantino D-44): Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program – signed into law by Governor

6. AB 43 (Leno D-13): Gender-neutral marriage – VETO by Governor

7. AB 72 (Dymally D-52): Curriculum: Social Science – VETO by Governor

8. AB 81 (Torrico D-20): Child protection and safe surrender – VETO by Governor

9. AB 183 (Coto D-23): High school voter registration – VETO by Governor

10. AB 976 (Calderon D-58): A landlord is prohibited from considering citizenship when choosing a tenant.– signed into law by Governor

11. SB 1 (Cedillo D-22): The California Dream Act – VETO by Governor

12. SB 18 (Perata D-9): Public works labor compliance programs – VETO by Governor

13. SB 20 (Torlakson D-7): Charter Schools.– signed into law by Governor

 

We need to email, call, fax or mail the Governor and restate our OPPOSE positions on the bills that were passed:

 

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol, First Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-2841, fax (916) 445-4633

 

National Update from NRWF and other sources

Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Paul Ryan (R-WI), John Campbell, (R-CA), Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and other members of the Republican Study Committee introduced the Taxpayer Choice Act, “a comprehensive, individual-income-tax reform initiative with two principal aims: 1) eliminating massive future tax increases by repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax; and 2) providing individuals an alternative tax system that is transparent, simple and efficient.”

The House passed H.R. 3056, the Tax Collection Responsibility Act, which removes Internal Revenue Service authorization to contract with private firms for the collection of delinquent income taxes. Even though most House Republicans opposed the bill, Democrats noted that the program paid out $71 million in start-up costs to collect, so far, about $30 million in unpaid incomes taxes. Hey, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) proposed a tax specifically to pay for the Iraq war. “If you don’t like the cost, then shut down the war,” Obey said. Infighting among Democrats commenced, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quickly responding, “Just as I have opposed the war from the outset, I am opposed to a draft and I am opposed to war surtax.” War funding seems to be an enigma for Democrats despite the fact that it is one of the relatively few constitutionally enumerated expenditures. The same cannot be said of such programs as SCHIP.

 

Setting Speaker Pelosi's Record Straight: No Annual Spending Bills Sent to the President, No House Conferees Even Named Congress Has Not Sent A Single Annual Spending Bill To The President For The Fiscal Year That Began October 1; Speaker Pelosi Has Not Even Appointed Conferees To Reconcile Differences Between House And Senate Bills "Speaker Pelosi's false claim that the House is 'on schedule' to send the 12 annual spending bills to the President is belied by the fact that two weeks into the new fiscal year, she has not even appointed a single conferee to begin reconciling differences between the bills the House and Senate have both passed.  Congress should get to work on passing these annual bills one at a time and in a fiscally responsible way that will not lead to higher taxes on hard-working Americans." − White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto, 10/14/07

 

 

 

 

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 2007