Category Archives: California Politics

Swing Left news & volunteer opportunities

From Swing Left and Swing Left California 10
[See also our Progressive Dems of Benicia SWING LEFT PAGE.]

Welcome to the latest Swing Left District Dispatch – a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers around the country to compile new, actionable stories from each Swing District, once a month.

District News

Compiled by the Swing Left volunteers of CA-10

District CA-10

  • CA-10 Candidate Josh Harder’s support surging: Josh Harder placed second in the CA-10 primary and is gearing up to face incumbent Rep. Jeff Denham in November. Democratic enthusiasm gave rise to a 12-point surge in Democratic vote share, compared to 2016’s primary. Meanwhile, Rep. Denham’s share of the vote dropped to the second-lowest of any incumbent Congressional candidate in California.
  • GOP party loyalty trumps helping DREAMers: Trump’s immigration policies put GOP incumbent Jeff Denham in a tough spot. Denham ultimately dropped efforts to bring a vote on a bill that would create a path to citizenship for DREAMers, signing onto a GOP-authored immigration bill instead. https://lat.ms/2tzUFVZ
  • Riding the blue wave: Josh Harder is one of ten new additions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” program, highlighting candidate Harder’s strong grass-roots engagement and local support. https://bit.ly/2z8Q9mk

Action Opportunities

District CA-10

[Editor: the following are more distant opportunities.  For closer events, see our PDM Swing Left page.]

  • Saturday, July 14 – 10 AM – 2 PM
    Swing Left Modesto Canvass
    Location: Modesto, CA–venue TBD
    Reach out to [email protected] and/or get more info here! https://bit.ly/2IOoV3T
  • Saturday, July 21 – 10:00 AM
    Canvass for Josh Harder
    Location: Smyrna Community Park- 2650 Fowler Rd, Ceres, CA
    Host Contact Info: [email protected]
  • Sunday, July 22 – 3 – 6 PM
    Swing Left Marin House Party
    Location: Fairfax, CA – venue TBD
    Host Contact Info: [email protected]
    Please RSVP for detailsAdditional Events in the CA-10: https://bit.ly/2ry83u0

Private prison groups receive huge state contracts, fund Dem & Republican state politicians

An email from Andrés Soto, citing an article from Capitol Weekly

GEO Group and CoreCivic In California

Dear Friends:

Andrés Soto

Below is an article that details the contributions GEO group and CoreCivic have been making to California politicians. Note Democrats have been primary recipients since they are the majority.

As private prison groups they have been deeply involved in Trump’s zero tolerance immigration policies by running private prisons, detention facilities etc…

This is an example of how private industry has found a way to make money of of poverty and suffering with the complicity of politicians who say nice words and screw us.

Some highlights:

  • Asm. Rob Bonta has received $1,000.00
  • Sen. Bill Dodd is the favored legislator with $5,900.00
  • Senate Leader Toni Atkins is second only to Dodd!
  • The Women in Power PAC and the Latino PAC have taken this dirty money.
  • Gavin Newsom, Antonio Villaraigosa and John Chiang have all taken their money.

In return, GEO Group and CoreCivic receive state contracts worth $72 million and $23.5 million respectively. Are theses the people we want to represent us?  See below…

Paz,
Andrés


Repost from Capitol Weekly

Private prisons are California political players

BY SCOTT SORIANO POSTED 07.09.2018
So you think privately run prisons are a Republican thing? Perhaps in Texas and Tennessee.But in deep blue California, it is the Democrats who take in the most contributions from for-profit correctional corporations, primarily Florida’s The GEO Group and the Tennessee-based CoreCivic, formerly Corrections Corporation of America.Both The GEO Group and CoreCivic own and operate immigration detention facilities for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, facilities that are at the center of President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.

The California Democratic Party tops the list of recipients with $140,000 from GEO and $20,000 CoreCivic.

California Democrats — the state party, candidates and affiliated PACs — received about $251,000 from GEO Group and CoreCivic thus far during the 2017-18 election cycle. GEO Group contributed $156,000, while CoreCivic gave nearly $95,000. Relative to the dollars contributed to Democrats by tech, developers, unions, gambling and cannabis interests, the money is small. However, private-prison contributions to Democrats are more than double what Republicans received ($100,000).

Favoring Democrats with campaign cash is not surprising. Democrats handily control both houses of the Legislature and all statewide offices, including the governor. Indeed, Republicans, at 25.07%, have dropped to third place in voter registration: They trail Democrats (44.36%) and those who decline to state a party preference (25.51%).

The California Democratic Party tops the list of recipients with $140,000 from GEO and $20,000 CoreCivic. Gavin Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign received $5,000 (Antonio Villaraigosa and John Chiang also got CoreCivic money). Democrats Bill Dodd of Napa, Blanca Rubio of Baldwin Park, Anthony Rendon of Los Angeles, Phil Ting of San Francisco, Ben Allen of Santa Monica, and 16 other Democratic members of the state Legislature accepted contributions from CoreCivic. Dodd also is GEO Group’s favorite California officeholder ($5,900), followed by Senate Leader Toni Atkins, lawmakers Ben Allen and Jim Cooper.

The Democratic-leaning Women in Power PAC took in $5,000 from CoreCivic, while a California Latino PAC received $2,500.

CoreCivic contributed to the campaigns of 12 Republican state legislators, such as Tom Lackey, Catharine Baker, Brian Dahle and Chad Mayes. The GEO Group contributed to the campaigns of Heath Flora, Bill Brough and Brian Maienschein.

The GEO Group has 47 operations in California, mostly inmate reentry and retraining. CoreCivic operates seven facilities in California, mostly county and city jails.

Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy, the pro-corporate PAC that supports both Democrats and Republicans, received $10,000 each from the GEO Group and CoreCivic.

GEO Group and CoreCivic have much business in the state. Outside of the federal government, California is GEO Group’s second biggest client.

For CoreCivic, California ranks third after the feds and Tennessee, the company’s home state. The companies operate modified community correction facilities, which transition inmates to the outside, as well as other inmate reentry programs.

The GEO Group has 47 operations in California, mostly inmate re-entry and retraining, plus ICE facilities in Adelanto and Mesa Verde.

CoreCivic operates seven facilities in California, mostly county and city jails, and an ICE facility in Otay Mesa near San Diego.

“That is a prison. You walk through the halls and the doors clank shut, there are bars on the windows.” — Kamala Harris

In addition to their business with state, city and county governments, the GEO Group and CoreCivic own and operate immigrant detainment centers for ICE. The GEO Group operates Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County and Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield. Under GEO Group, Adelanto has had a rash of detainee suicides, in-custody deaths, and accusations of sexual assault and abuse. Inspectors have also cited the facility for delayed and inadequate medical care, an unexperienced medical staff, and deficiencies in their medical grievance reporting system.

CoreCivic runs Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. Recently, California U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris toured Otay Mesa, visiting mothers detained there. After her tour, Harris told a crowd gathered outside, “I am a career prosecutor, I have visited many prisons and jails. That is a prison. You walk through the halls and the doors clink shut and there are bars on the windows.”

Harris said mothers were being charged to call their children — 85 cents per minute — after being paid $1 a day for work. Later, she told reporters that detainees claimed that they were being drugged against their will. She added, “This is clearly a crime against humanity that is being committed by the United States government,” Harris said.

CoreCivic rejected her allegations.

Neither ICE nor its contractors provide information on the value of their contracts.

The Los Angeles Times reported that inmate per diem is $107-$112 per day. A public information request by the National Immigration Law Center found the minimum detainee population guaranteed for each facility.

Using this data, Capitol Weekly estimates that The GEO Group’s two contacts are worth a minimum of $72 million and CoreCivic’s Otay Mesa contract is at least $23.5 million.

The following are contributions by The GEO Group and CoreCivic to California legislators, candidates for state office, state political parties and PACs.

Total contributions for 2017-18: $371,436

GEO Group 2017-18 total: $218,600

  • California Democratic Party: $140,000
  • California Republican Party: $35,000
  • California for Jobs and a Strong Economy: $10,000
  • Republican Party of San Diego: $10,000
  • Bill Dodd (D): $5,900
  • Toni Atkins (D): $4,200
  • Heath Flora (R): $3,500
  • Ben Allen (D): $3,000
  • Bill Brough (R): $2,000
  • Jim Cooper (D): $2,000
  • Brian Maienschein (R): $1,500
  • Todd Gloria (D): $1,500

Breakdown

Democratic interests: $156,600

  • Democratic state party: $140,000
  • Incumbent candidates: $16,600
  • GOP interests: $52,000
  • GOP state party: $35,000
  • GOP San Diego: $10,000
  • Incumbent candidates: $7,000
  • California for Jobs and a Strong Economy PAC: $10,000

CoreCivic 2017-18 total to date: $152,839

  • California Democratic Party: $20,000
  • California Republican Party: $20,000
  • California for Jobs and a Strong Economy: $10,000
  • Tom Lackey (R): $5,000
  • Gavin Newsom (D): $5,000
  • Women in Power PAC: $5,000
  • Phil Ting (D): $4,566
  • Catharine Baker (R): $4,500
  • Bill Dodd (D): $4,000
  • Josh Newman (D): $4,000
  • Andy Vidak (R): $4,000
  • Antonio Villaraigosa (D): $3,500
  • Anthony Rendon (D): $3,227
  • Blanca Rubio (D): $3,000
  • Brian Dahle (R): $3,000
  • Dante Acosta (R): $3,000
  • Adam Gray (D): $3,000
  • Tim Grayson (D): $3,000
  • California Latino PAC: $2,500
  • John Chiang (D): $2,500
  • Autumn Burke (D): $2,000
  • Ben Allen (D): $2,000
  • Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D): $2,000
  • Chad Mayes (R): $2,000
  • Heath Flora (R): $2,000
  • Jacqui Irwin (D): $2,000
  • Jose Medina (D): $2,000
  • Kevin de Léon (D): $2,000
  • Kevin Kiley (R): $2,000
  • Lorena Gonzalez (D): $2,000
  • Richard D. Roth (D): $2,000
  • Marc Steinorth (R): $2,000
  • Matt Dababneh (D): $2,000
  • Henry Stern (D): $2,000
  • Susan Rubio (D): $2,000
  • Tom Daly (D): $2,000
  • Vince Fong (R): $2,000
  • Scott Wilk (R): $2,000
  • Cristina Garcia (D): $1,000
  • Susan Eggman (D): $1,000
  • Pat Bates (R): $1,000
  • Rob Bonta (D): $1,000

Breakdown

Democratic interests: $94,839.27

  • Democratic Party: $20,000
  • Dem connected PACs: $7,500
  • Democratic governor candidates (Newsom, Villaraigosa, Chiang): $11,000
  • Democratic lieutenant governor (de Léon): $2,000
  • Incumbent candidates and Legislature (27): $52,339.27
  • First-time candidates (1): $2,000

Republican interests: $48,000

  • Republican Party: $20,000
  • Incumbent candidates (11): $28,000
  • Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy: $10,000

Swing Left: Can we save our country?

In an email from Swing Left Contra Costa

What would it take?

Can we save our country?

OK. The news has been pretty bad. But giving up is not the answer.

The midterms are in four months.

With so much in the balance, it would be hard to overstate the importance of this election.

We have some things going for us.

We are closer than ever to our goal of flipping the House. We beat the odds and got a Democrat on the ballot in every California congressional race despite the hazardous top two primary. Volunteers have been working in CA-10 for over a year and are well prepared to spring into action to help candidate Josh Harder unseat incumbent Republican Jeff Denham.  And every day more people are waking up to the extremism of the Trump administration and want to get involved.

What’s next?

CA-10 field operations in Tracy resume July 14th!

  1. Sign up!Voter registration and face to face conversations boost voter turnout.  Swing Left Contra Costa is hosting these upcoming events in Tracy:

Jul 21st:     Door to Door              High Traffic Voter Registration

Aug 18th:  Door to Door             High Traffic Voter Registration

  1. Donate or raise funds for Josh Harder!The campaign needs money. DONATE NOW.To help host a fundraiser or house party, use the CALL TO ACTION LINK or email us at [email protected].

3. Grow the movement! Taking action with others is not only an excellent antidote to despair, but it can also be a lot of fun!  So as you connect with friends, neighbors, and loved ones over the July 4th holiday, please ask them to join you in this fight of a lifetime to save our democracy.  Attending this SWING LEFT TRAINING EVENT (July 21st in Pleasant Hill) might be a way to get started.

Swing Left Contra Costa
[email protected]