[GPSCC-chat] Brown's Veto of Bills Important to Latino Californians

[alexcathy at aol.com]

Dear Green Friends, 

BREAKING NEWS: GOVERNOR JERRY BROWN,
DEMOCRATIC PARTY MACHINE HACK,
 VETOES BILLS IMPORTANT TO WORKING-CLASS LATINOS

 Last night, after cogitating over this legislation until the very last minute, California's Democratic Governor Jerry Brownvetoed three bills that were very important to working-class Latinos in California.   

 AB 1081, otherwise known as the "TRUST Act" would have curbed deportations by ending collaboration between police and Immigration and Customs Officials.

 AB 889, otherwise known as the "DOMESTIC WORKERS BILL OF RIGHTS" would have granted overtime and vacation time to nearly 200,000 domestic workers in California. California law excludes these workers from basic labor protections that apply to just about every other job in our state. But these arevery low-wage working class people and 93% of them are women. 

 AB 2346 would have required farmers to provide their workers with safe heat standards. Well, what with drought and global warming kicking-in, Mr. Brown has to take great care not to offend the interests of California's Big Agribusiness.  

 Borrowing the cynical tactics of his president, Mr. Brown did sign AB 2819, which will grant driver's licenses to young immigrants applying for deferred action, i.e., undocumented immigrants who came to the United States before they were 16, and who are now 30 or younger and meet certain other criteria. In other words, Governor Brown, like President Obama,has painstakingly sliced off the most sympathetic group of "illegals" for relief, thus risking almost nothing politically just like the gutless, cowardly, little Democratic Party Machine Hack that he is.  And of course, the clueless MSM is reporting this as a "win" for immigration rights. 

 Published by The Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2012
Brown Acts on Driver's License, Deportation Bills
By Patrick McGreevy and Anthony York, Los Angeles Times


SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new law that will allow hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses and vetoed another that would have restricted sheriffs from helping federal authorities detain undocumented Californians for potential deportation.

. . .

The immigration bills sparked the most controversy.

The driver's license measure will make illegal immigrants eligible to drive legally in California if they qualify for a new federal work permit program. That Obama administration protocol allows illegal immigrants who came to the United States before they were 16, and who are now 30 or younger and meet certain other criteria, to obtain work permits.

"Gov. Brown believes the federal government should pursue comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship," said Brown spokesman Gil Duran. "President Obama has recognized the unique status of these students, and making them eligible to apply for driver's licenses is an obvious next step."

Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), the measure's author, had been crusading for such a law sincea broader measure he pushed through the Legislature in 2003 prompted a voter backlash. The earlier bill was signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis, who was ousted from office soon afterward. Before it tookeffect, lawmakers repealed it.

Read Original Article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brown-bills-20121001,0,4581699.story
 The other thing that annoys me is that if you read Brown's veto messages, you will find textbook examplesof classic, orthodox, elite "liberal" condescending bull****.

 Thus, for example in his veto message for AB 1081 Brown writes:
"Comprehensive immigration reform -- including a path to citizenship -- would provide tremendous economic benefits and is long overdue."
  Yeah, right. Like John Kerry on the Iraq War, Jerry Brown was for it before he was against it. 

Read Veto Message: here

In his veto message for AB 889 Brown writes:
"Domestic workers work in the homes of ill, elderly, or disabled people. They often share duties and responsiblites with the familyand friends of the patient-employer. Those employed in this noble endeavor, like anyone who works for a living, deserve fair pay and safe working conditions. Seeking to improve the circumstances of these workers however, raises a number of unanswered questions."  	
  Blah... Blah... Blah.  And some of his best friends are domestic workers.  From this point on, Our "liberal" Democratic Governor proceeds to parrot the racist Republican Chamber of Commerce rap. 

Read Veto Message: here

[FLAME ON] 

 As Wes Rolley likes to say, there are many paths to the Green Party.  I find Brown's veto of the Domestic Workers Rights Bill particularly galling because historically many working-class African-American women, including close members of my family, did this kind of work in the homes of "White people." 

In the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed to exclude agricultural workers and domestic workers from the great New Deal labor rights legislation to appease powerful Southern Democrats who werepart of his big coalition. Today, some Black Nationalist intellectuals in my community have argued this "proves" F.D.R.(like all "White people") was a "racist" in the 1930s.  But wait!  Here we are 70 years later and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown operates under theexact same amoral political calculus, not to appease any part of his coalition, but to appease California's 1% like Brown's Republican opponent, Meg Whitman, who threw her own longtime maid under the 2010 campaign bus.  Meanwhile, our so-called liberal and so-called Black Nationalist intellectuals in Los Angeles are too deeply connected to the Democratic Party Machine to even comment. 

We Green should say California in 2012 is not Alabama, Arizona, or Jim Crow America in the 1930s. California can address these problems through good state and local legislation that is good for our economy and our society with leaders and activists who are not "owned" by corporate money. 

I know there are many points of view within the California GP and I respect that, but I do believe state and local Greensshould run on these issues over the next several years, making sure that our statements are translated into Spanish and sent to the Spanish-language newspapers. Personally, I do not want to hear long, self-righteous rants about how the original Palestinians are being treated in Palestine so long as we tolerate this outrageous treatment of the original Californians in California.      

[FLAME OFF] 

 Alex Walker
L.A. Greens
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