SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER

                                   October 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 Luncheons 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 October 4th, 2007 at 11:30 AM.

Menu Choices:  Artichoke Salad w/ Shrimp or California

Chicken w/Avocado, Jack Cheese, & Salsa. 

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

“A reservation made is a reservation paid!”

 

Our guest speaker this month will be Dr. Thomas Moore, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.  His topic will be “Why We Shouldn’t Worry About Global Warming.”  Thomas Gale Moore is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution specializing in international trade, deregulation, and privatization.  His current research focuses on global warming, environmental issues, regulatory issues, and privatization in former communist countries.  Moore was appointed to several Presidential Councils including the Council of Economic Advisers under Ronald Reagan.  Moore is the author of Climate of Fear: Why We Shouldn’t Worry about Global Warming (Cato Institute), The Kyoto Protocol versus Global Warming (Hoover Essays), and Global Warming: a Boon to Animals (Hoover Essays).  Before coming to Hoover, Moore was an associate and then professor of economics at Michigan State University and has taught at UC California and the Stanford School of Business.  Moore enlisted in the US Navy after attending MIT for over a year.  After four years serving during the Korean War, Moore received his B.A. degree from George Washington University and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.    

 

Let’s welcome Dr. Thomas Moore to our meeting October 4th and listen to him speak.  Bring a friend!

 

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2007

 

 

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

 

CALL TO ACTION! 

Ward Connerly as well as our National President Beverly Davis of the NRWF has the right idea of how to fix our big problems in this country and state.  They both say each and every member of the RWF should be sending emails, making phone calls, and sending postcards to all government representatives about the issues we face today.  We expect these people to know everything and do the right thing. Of course that would work in a perfect world but it is just a dream.

 

Day to day we must keep up wit local developments, state and national things that our government is doing to us!  How often have you read the paper or listened to the TV to find out a very important issue has been voted down or how some very weird law has been passed.  There are already so many good laws on the books that are ignored everyday.  Some of our elected representatives feel so important that they must introduce new bills and new laws with complicated wording to mislead the public. 

 

As for subjects you can write our representatives about, just go to your monthly newsletter and you will find top issues to write or call about.  We will print a current list of the people you need to address.  They pay attention to the citizen who keeps on reminding them of why they are in office.  Please begin today.  We all have busy lives but you can find a few minutes to join in this campaign! 

 

Be sure to attend our next meeting October 4^th to hear ours speaker Mr. Thomas Moore, a Hoover Fellow.  He will talk about “Global Warming”.  Also, I will give a report on my trip to the National Republican Women Federated Conference in Palm Spring.

 

Regards,

 

Ellen Longworth,

President, SVRWF

 

 

 

UPCOMMING EVENTS

 

 

 

Oct.  4             Regular Luncheon Meeting, 11:30 AM Social, 12:00 PM Lunch, Dr. Thomas Moore – Speaker, Ramada Inn Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale

 

Oct.  11           Regular Board Meeting, 9:30 AM,  JoAnn Barr’s home, (408)739-9294 for more information.

                                   

Oct. 19-21       CFRW Biennial Convention, Crowned Plaza, Foster City October 19 – 21^, 2007

 

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

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2007

 

LEGISLATION

 

California Update from CRWF and other sources

 

Budget Watch:  The Final Budget  This year’s state budget was two months overdue. That meant it was a constant

topic of media coverage, but you are easily forgiven if you did not pay attention to the painstaking details of the final deal.  If you are curious about how it finally turned out after all the banter, the Legislative Analyst’s 

office has produced a summary at this link: www.lao.ca.gov/2007/major_features/major_features_2007.aspx

As you look at it, think about this. The Governor sold his plan as having a “zero deficit.”  Yet, his Department of Finance Director, Mike Genest, said he expects $6.1 billion of red ink in the 2008-09 fiscal year.  Truly, the balanced 

budget is only good for this year.

 

CRFW Legislation Report  Three of the 403 bills tracked by CFRW Analysts have passed and are now in the hands of the Governor for his action. This brings to sixteen the number of bills that have passed both houses. Thirteen have been previously acted on by the Governor by his signing of twelve and his veto of one. Two of these bills originated in the Senate and the third came from the Assembly. All were authored by Democrats. SB 112 (Scott, D-21, Pasadena) deals with defining a "beginning teacher" for the purpose of certification. This bill was enrolled on August 27th. AB 1079 (Richardson, D-55, Long Beach) would require the Department of Justice to form a task force to review California's crime laboratory system. It went to the Governor on August 29th.  SB 278 (Lowenthal, D-24, Long Beach) is a rewrite of AB 2023 (Leslie, R-4, Roseville) which the Governor vetoed last year. This bill was submitted to the Governor on August 27th. This legislation deals with reasons for excusing absences of students and would amend the Education Code to include, as an excused absence, a student's attendance at an education conference on the legislative or judicial process, provided that the absence was authorized by a student's parent and approved by the local school principal.

The Governor gave as a reason for his 2006 veto, the absence of local school district approval of excused absences for these types of events. SB 278 addresses that concern. Although always subject to interpretation, if SB 278 is signed into law by the Governor it just might remove some of the roadblocks we encounter when recruiting students to attend our Advocacy Workshop held in Sacramento each spring.  AB 900, the "prison deal", passed both houses with bipartisan support and was signed by the Governor on May 3, 2007. This authorized the issuance of $7.4 billion in lease revenue bonds in two phases to support the construction of 53,000 new beds at existing prisons, re-entry centers, health care related facilities and local jails. Shortly after AB 900 was chaptered, eleven Senate Republicans sent a letter to Senator Romero insisting that the ROCA policy be lifted since the Legislature had addressed prison overcrowding concerns. Senator Romero responded to that request by pointing out that she did not support AB 900 and that its enaction had failed to abate the overcrowding crisis. She continues to use the ROCA file and defers passage of critical public safety bills until January of 2008.

 

Back-door gun control in CA   Gun-control advocates claimed victory in California as a “microstamping” bill passed the state’s assembly. The measure, known as the “Crime Gun Identification Act” (AB 1471), would require all new models of semiautomatic pistols sold in California after 2010 to be microscopically engraved with an identification number, which would be transferred onto the cartridge casing when fired.

 

CFRW OPPOSED Bills go to Governor  CFRW has taken OPPOSE positions on each of these bills.  Call or fax the Governor now at (916) 445-2841, fax (916) 445-4633:

 

1. AB 1 (Laird D-27): Health Care Coverage - OPPOSE

2. AB 8 (Nunez D-46): Universal Health Care for most Californians - OPPOSE

3. AB 12 (Beall D-24): The Adult Health Coverage Expansion Pilot Program - OPPOSE

4. AB 14 (Laird D-27): Discrimination: Civil Rights Act of 2007 - OPPOSE

5. AB 34 (Portantino D-44 ): Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program - OPPOSE

6. AB 43 (Leno D-13 ): Gender-neutral marriage - OPPOSE

7. AB 72 (Dymally D-52): Curriculum: Social Science - OPPOSE

8. AB 81 (Torrico D-20): Child protection and safe surrender- OPPOSE

9. AB 183 (Coto D-23): High school voter registration - OPPOSE

10. AB 976 (Calderon D-58):A landlord can not pick the citizen over an illegal immigrant when choosing a tenant. - OPPOSE

11. SB 1 (Cedillo D-22): The California Dream Act - OPPOSE

12. SB 18 (Perata D-9): Public works labor compliance programs - OPPOSE

13. SB 20 (Torlakson D-7): Charter Schools- OPPOSE

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2007

 

National Update from NRWF and other sources

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced the Charlie Norwood CLEAR Act (H.R. 3494), which would allow state law-enforcement authorities to assist in enforcing federal immigration laws with greater ease.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) introduced H.Res. 641, marking the 220th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Monday, 17 September.

The Senate approved last week Tom Coburn’s amendment to withhold all appropriations to the UN “until the secretary of state certifies that the United Nations [and subsidiaries] is fully and publicly transparent about all of its spending, including procurement purposes.” The U.S. currently sends about $5.3 billion per year to the UN.

CRP Convention News

Summary of Action Taken On Ballot Measures At Fall 2007 CRP Convention 

The membership of the California Republican Party voted to take the following actions during its bi-annual convention in Indian Wells: 

 

Tribal gaming compacts - The CRP opposed attempts by several labor unions to reverse, via referendum, the tribal gaming compacts supported by Governor Schwarzenegger and Republican legislators.  

 

Electoral College Reform - The CRP endorsed a proposed initiative to allocate California's Electoral College votes by Congressional District, as opposed to winner-take-all-statewide.  

 

Term Limits Extension - The CRP opposed an initiative supported by Democrats to extend the number of terms a legislator may serve in any one chamber of the legislature.

 

Redistricting - The CRP endorsed an initiative, the Citizens Fair District Initiative, to eliminate the conflict of interest that exists when legislators draw their own district lines.

 

Nuclear Energy - The CRP endorsed the California Energy Independence and Zero Carbon Dioxide Emission Electrical Generation Act of 2008.

 

Private Property Rights - The CRP endorsed the California Property Owners & Farmland Protection Act, and opposed ACA 8 and the "Homeowners and Private Property Protection Act" (sponsored by the League of California Cities).

 

Community Colleges -The CRP opposed the proposed constitutional amendment called the "Community Colleges Funding Initiative."

 

Transportation Funding - The CRP took no position on the "Transportation Funding Initiative."

 

 

 

 

 

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2007

 

California Republican Party Endorses Eminent Domain Reform Ballot Measure Endorsement Makes Passage of competing ACA 8 Measure Unlikely

 

September 10, 2007

 

The California Republican Party endorsed the "California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act," a comprehensive eminent domain reform measure slated to appear on the June 2008 ballot.

 

"The Republican Party has been a faithful and consistent ally of private property rights," says Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and ballot proponent. "Today, Republicans sent a strong message to the California Legislature that private property protections should apply to all Californians and all the time."

 

The California Republican Party (CRP) held their annual convention September 5-7 in Indian Wells.  During this time, the CRP endorsed three separate resolutions reaffirming the need for comprehensive eminent domain reform. A resolution asking the Party to endorse the "California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act" was introduced by Senator Tom McClintock.  Two separate measures, introduced by Assemblywoman Mimi Walters and former Senator Jim Nielsen were passed opposing Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8 and AB 887 (De La Torre), a competing measure sponsored by the League of California Cities and opposed by leading organizations representing homeowners, small business, family farms and faith based institutions.

 

ACA 8, a Constitutional Amendment, requires support from two-thirds of the State Legislature to become law. Without Republican support, ACA 8 will not appear on the June 2008 ballot and the League will have to resort to qualifying their measure by signature gathering. The version circulating for signatures has substantially less offerings than ACA 8 for property owners who lose their property due to eminent domain. 

 

"With the Republican Party clearly on record opposing ACA 8, it will stiffen the resolve of the Republicans in the Assembly to stand united against this Trojan horse," said Senator Tom McClintock. "The Republican Party has reaffirmed its commitment to the American Dream of home ownership and the security of private property rights."

 

The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act is sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the California Farm Bureau Federation and the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights.  The CPOFPA is a landmark constitutional amendment that will restore true property rights protections to all Californians.  The measure prohibits government from seizing private property from unwilling sellers and giving it to another private entity, while maintaining government's use of eminent domain for legitimate public projects. Having secured the financing required to qualify the measure, the Act will appear on the June 2008 ballot. For information on how to acquire petitions or campaign information, visit www.yesonpropertyrights.com.

 

 

 

SILICON VALLEY REPUBLICAN WOMEN FEDERATED NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2007