This year is especially important. California has serious budget difficulties. While traveling this past week, someone asked me if California was going to default on our debt?! Clearly, California is in trouble and everyone knows it.

Tough decisions are on the table regarding how to fix California including how to fund education, how to save our state universities, and how to continue vital services for those in need. Now, more than ever, we have to remain steadfast in our resolve to elect individuals who will best represent our needs. For CALIFORNIA LIST, we believe that this means electing more women.

A recent study released by the University of California at Davis showed that women are not at the bargaining table in business.

The same is true in politics.

But why worry about having more women at the table? Because, women bring to the table their own personal experience and reflective empathy towards issues that men probably do not always experience. For example, woman’s health issues are different. Women are still the primary caretakers for themselves, their families, and their parents. And now for the first time, women make up a majority of work force.

I believe that having more women working will change the paradigm in the boardroom and by sheer numbers there will be more women at the table in business. But I’m not so sure about politics. Working, having a family, and achieving balance in a woman’s life is a journey.

Nonetheless, no matter how difficult the process, CALIFORNIA LIST remains true to our mission to elect women to state government.

SAN DIEGO CANDIATE FORUM — JOIN US

CALIFORNIA LIST is excited to be partnering with Run Women Run — San Diego’s premiere women’s group, to present a Candidate Forum spotlighting some of the statewide executive candidates along with senate and assembly candidates from San Diego. Thank you to Run Women Run for their hard work in organizing the Candidate Forum.

Visit the Run Women Run website to sign up to attend today. You can also help our candidates raise the vital funds needed to run and win by donating to their campaigns now through our secure website.

CALIFORNIA LIST SALINAS CANDIDATE TRAINING

On Saturday, February 20, CALIFORNIA LIST conducted our candidate training program in Salinas with over 30 women in attendance. Thank you to Susan Markham, Senior Strategist of The Campaign Workshop for conducting the training. A special thank you to Pris Walton and Vinz Koller of the local Monterey area Democratic Clubs for making this such a huge success.

Thank you to Pris Walton, President of the Carmel Area Democratic Women’s Club,  for helping to organize our training.
 
 Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, for District 28, (with Trainer Susan Markham of  The Campaign Workshop) welcomes the participants during breakfast.
 
 (l-r) Salinas City Councilwoman Janet Barnes, Monterey County Supervisor Jane Parker, Founder, CALIFORNIA LIST, Bettina Duval, former Carmel Councilwoman and author Beyond Superwoman, Karin Strasser Kauffman, spoke about running for office at a panel discussion during lunch.

You can make a difference by joining CALIFORNIA LIST. Your contributions will help us to continue our vital work as we build a pipeline of candidates and women policymakers who will represent all of us with an equal voice.  Together we can make a difference.

Across the nation advances in women electeds have virtually flat-lined. The number of congressional women remains a stagnant 20 percent. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, elected women in the United States is ranked 87th in the world, tied with Turkmenistan in that category behind Bolivia, Mauritius, and Greece.

In California, we rank sixteenth in the number of woman compared to other state legislators. Our State legislature has totaled a mere 33 female members for two consecutive election cycles.

Local governments having shrinking numbers of women including the Los Angeles City Council where the loss of Janice Hahn and Jan Perry to term limits may find a council in 2012 comprised solely of men. How can a city of almost four million people, 51 percent being women, effectively represent those citizens without a single female legislator? As we move into the New Year, we must begin again to reverse this downward motion and dream big in 2010.

Recently, I saw a woman jogging ahead of me wearing a T-shirt that read, “Run in feet, Dream in miles,” which seems to me so applicable to the work of the CALIFORNIA LIST - for both our organization and the candidates we work with. Eight years ago we founded the CALIFORNIA LIST. Our growth has been steady, consistent, and strong. Our dream of electing women to California State government has become a reality. Isn’t there so much to do?

This past year, after it became clear who the women candidates running for office were, we understood that our challenge is to find more women to run for office on all levels. In the 2010 Democratic primary, for every woman candidate for office there are at least 3-8 men running. We believe that it has become easier for women to run for office, but we need more women to run. More women candidates in every election will keep them competitive; especially in primaries. This election cycle we have already identified 31 pro-choice, Democratic women who are willing, ready and anxious to cross the finish line and win.

Please visit our website at www.californialist.org/candidates to read about all the candidates we have spotlighted for the 2010 election cycle. Donate online to any of the women candidates campaigns or you can give directly to CALIFORNIA LIST with a membership contribution.

Your contributions will help us to identify, train, and run qualified women candidates.

As I have traveled throughout California over the past eight years, there have been moments of highs and lows, just like a marathon. Sometimes when I was out pitching the importance of electing women, I needed to be reminded why I was out there in the first place. That reminder is you, our supporters, our partners and our legislators, always cheering us on as we continue to run the race in feet and hope that our dream comes true. Thank you! I look forward to continuing our journey together in 2010 and beyond.

UPCOMING PLANS

As we sprint into the New Year are immediate plans include hosting a several events in February and March designed to support both the mission of CALIFORNIA LIST and our 2010 candidates.

• Three Candidate Forums, in San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles to introduce candidates to voters and donors.
• Email and snail mail solicits on behalf of CALIFORNIA LIST and our candidates.
• A series of one-day Candidate Training Sessions designed to identify and prepare future women candidates thinking of entering the election pipeline on any level.

UPCOMING ONE DAY TRAININGS

Salinas
Saturday, February 20; 8:30am to 5:00pm
The Steinbeck Center
One Main Street; Salinas
In partnership with Carmel Area Democratic Women’s Luncheon Club, Democratic Women’s Club of Santa Cruz County, Monterey County Democrats, and Salinas Valley Democratic Club

Baldwin Park
Saturday, February 27, 8:30am to 5:00pm
Baldwin Park Arts & Recreation Center
14403-B East Pacific Avenue; Baldwin Park

If you or anyone you know may be interested in attending an upcoming Candidate Training Session contact lsanow@californialist.org with your preferred attendance location. A registration form will be sent via email to anyone interested in attending either training session.

As you can see, 2010 finds CALIFORNIA LIST lacing up our running shoes to conquer the political hurdles ahead to elect more women in California. Please join or renew your membership today by clicking the link below — your support will help CALIFORNIA LIST and our candidates cross the finish line as winners.

Janice Hahn
Candidate for Lieutenant Governor
State Executive Branch

Councilwoman Janice K. Hahn is a candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Councilwoman Hahn is a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing the District 15 encompassing the Los Angeles communities of Watts, Wilmington, Harbor Gateway, Harbor City, Athens on the Hill, and San Pedro. She was elected in 2001 and is currently serving in her final term having been re-elected in 2005 and 2009.

Councilwoman Hahn has been a champion of gang prevention programs. She initiated the Watts Gang Task Force, which meets weekly and has for the time being ended homicides in the Watts community. She also implemented the Gang Alternatives Program throughout the fifteenth district. Citywide, she pushed Proposition A, which would have increased the annual parcel tax to create a permanent revenue source for gang prevention and intervention programs. The measure fell short of the two thirds required majority vote. Councilwoman Hahn has also worked to improve operations at the Port of Los Angeles and clean up surrounding port communities. She oversees the redevelopment projects in San Pedro and Wilmington which are transforming the waterway. Working with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, she secured passage of the historic Clean Air Action Plan which is removing dirty trucks from the ports and will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Through her position on the Council, Councilwoman Hahn has fought for the rights of nurses, court interpreters, port workers, and other constituencies throughout the city. Hahn led the charge to provide a living wage to workers at the hotels along the Century Boulevard corridor bordering Los Angeles International Airport. Hotel workers had been deprived of tips, health insurance, and other fundamental rights.

Prior to her service as Councilwoman, she was elected in 1997 to represent the District 15 on the Charter Reform Commission, which resulted in area planning commissions, neighborhood councils, and broader mayoral powers, among other new policies. In 1998 she ran as a Democrat for a seat in the United States House of Representatives for California’s 36th District. She was defeated by Republican Steven T. Kuykendall, but received 47% of the vote. Before elected to these local positions, Councilwoman Hahn was a businesswoman. She served as Public Affairs region manager at Southern California Edison, then as Vice President for Prudential Securities in Public Finance, then as Director of Community Outreach for Western Waste Industries, and most recently as Director of Marketing for the Alexander Haagen Company.

Councilwoman Hahn was elected to her posts not only because of her business background, but because of much community activism including serving as President of the Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce, President of the Board of Directors of the Harbor Area Gang Alternative Program, Chairwoman of the South Bay School to Career Alliance, member of the Board of Directors of the Watts/Willowbrook Boys Girls Club, member of the Board of Directors of the South Bay Private Industry Council, member of the Gardena Economic Development Committee, and member of the Harbor Area Advisory Board with Habitat for Humanity.

She is the sister of former Mayor James Hahn, daughter of former County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, and niece of former city Councilman Gordon Hahn.

In California, our summer began with one of the biggest budget battles in the history of California. The mounting deficit wrought massive cuts to many state services. How the cuts will affect us remains to be fully realized, but one thing is clear - those cuts will affect every Californian.

I have not written a newsletter in awhile because I am at a loss for words with the state of our State.  The bottom line is simply that I really have not known what to write.  While the unemployment rate continues to increase, new home “for sale” signs pop up in the neighborhood almost daily, and our local shopping district loses one business after another.  With this kind of economic climate, to encourage equality (equal representation in government) somehow doesn’t appear to be an immediate concern, but it remains of vital significance.

In my heart I understand that Annie’s future, as a Californian, and young women like her remain an important and intricate part of our future.

Reading the Los Angeles Times a few days ago, I learned that California’s jobless rate reached a fresh post-World War II high in July, climbing to 11.9 percent, a sobering reminder that California is in dire straits. Another article in the Los Angeles Times reported that the job losses are highest among men with one in four men in California joining the ranks of the unemployed.  Women are faring better and so far have retained a higher employment rate than men.

This reminds us why equality is a pertinent issue. The loss of a man’s earnings makes it hard for middleclass families to make ends meet because the average female worker earns just 78 percent of what a man earns in a similar occupation. Two income families are a necessity, especially here in California, and in many cases families cannot subsist on the woman’s wages alone.  Lack of equality in pay is not only discriminatory, but today women’s wage deficiencies may mean the further erosion of the middle class family.

This is the relevancy that many miss on the surface of feminist fight for equality.  Women’s rights are important to our families, our economy, and the future of our nation.  Electing women is one way to ensure that the rights of women are protected.  We need more women to run and win.

Where are all the women leaders of tomorrow? California is facing a crisis in the feminist fight for equality.  Only 33 women currently serve on our state legislature and just six women have ever held an Executive Branch office.  Each election cycle we lose more women to term limits and the pipeline of new women leaders has slowed to a trickle.   There are many reasons, but research shows women are choosing not to run because of the daunting hurdles facing our female candidates.  Raising huge amounts of money to run a viable race, making personal sacrifices, and all too often they are forced to defend themselves from gender based biases from their opponents. 

Unfortunately, the pipeline for future women leaders is dwindling on every level.  City councils, supervisory boards, and boards of education are all reporting fewer numbers of women running and winning locally. Watching Rep. Chu being sworn reminded me once again how important it is to elect women at each level of government.

One bright spot this summer was the election of Dr. Judy Chu to Congress. Together with family, friends and staff, we watched Dr. Judy Chu being sworn in as the Congressional representative for California District 32 on Thursday, July 16.  Congratulations to Representative Judy Chu!  And congratulations California - we are fortunate to have such an experienced, dedicated elected official representing our state in Congress, especially during these difficult times. 
 
ON THE HORIZON

With the primary for 2010 less than a year away, CALIFORNIA LIST is busy working to identify, train, and support candidates to help them run and win.  We held our first candidate training in Sacramento on June 18 with a luncheon reception beforehand.  Although in the fight to close the budget gap, many of our elected women and men turned out to greet the candidates who came to the training.  It was a great opportunity for our candidates.

Thank you to all who came to support the women who are beginning their campaigns on the road to Sacramento.

We have four more training seminars planned with the next scheduled to be in East Los Angeles in October.  Please contact CALIFORNIA LIST Administrator Lisa Sanow at  lsanow@californialist.org if you have any suggestions where we should hold the Los Angeles training session.

HELP US BUILD OUR NETWORK FOR WOMEN CANDIDATES

Early in the spring we held five house parties hosted in the homes of members and friends.  We are looking for volunteers who would like to host a party in the spirit of activism.  Renee Brown Holt is coordinating these community gatherings throughout California where we can come together and talk about what we call Pink Collar Politics: 2010 Election Preview. It’s an opportunity to share ideas and meet some of the local elected officials and 2010 candidates.

Would you be willing to host a small get-together and help us begin to identify, support and elect Democratic women to state office? Please contact me at bduval@californialist.org  to receive more information on this exciting and fun opportunity.

Now is the time for action!  An infusion of member support will help the CALIFORNIA LIST rebuild our resources and continue our important work, so please renew as soon as possible. 

Sitting with Rep. Chu’s family, friends and staff, we reminisced about her background. She has long been a fierce public servant and she understands the importance of navigating the electoral pipeline. From my perspective, as an advocate to build the pipeline of future leaders, her story is important.

Rep. Chu began political life in her San Gabriel neighborhoods, but she’s no typical valley girl! During her more than 20 years as a public servant, Rep. Chu has served on the Garvey School District as a Board member, was a three term Mayor of Monterey Park, was elected to the California State Assembly, and was elected to the Board of Equalization where she served as Chair. Rep. Chu has fought to protect working families, end discrimination, save healthcare, protect the environment, protect women, protect consumers, improve education and worked to close special interest tax loopholes. Now she has distinguished herself as the first Chinese American woman to ever serve in Congress winning her seat with 62% of the vote in the March special election. With her background, we can all rest assured that Rep. Chu will bring her passion, commitment, and integrity to represent our State in the Nation’s capitol.

Congratulations Rep. Chu, you are a shining example to the power of the pipeline!

So, where are all the women leaders of tomorrow? California is facing a crisis in the feminist fight for equality. Only 33 women currently serve on our state legislature and just 6 women have ever held an Executive Branch office. Each election cycle we lose more women to term limits and the pipeline of new women leaders has slowed to a trickle. There are many reasons, but research shows women are choosing not to run because of the daunting hurdles facing our female candidates. Raising huge amounts of money to run a viable race, making personal sacrifices, and all too often defending themselves from gender based biases from their opponents.

Unfortunately, the pipeline for future women leaders is dwindling on every level. City councils, supervisory boards, and boards of education are all reporting fewer numbers of women running and winning locally. Watching Rep. Chu being sworn reminded me once again how important it is to elect women at each level of government.

We need more women to run for office. Rep. Chu’s election to serve California in Washington, D.C. confirms the power of the pipeline! Rep. Judy Chu probably never thought she would be working in the House chamber when she first ran for the Garvey School District Board. Today she will cast her first votes as a member of Congress — I encourage women to follow Rep. Chu’s example because when you start small, you can accomplish big things. Congratulations again to Congresswoman Judy Chu!

Debra Bowen
Re-Election Candidate
Secretary of State
State Executive Branch

Debra Bowen currently serves as California’s 30th Secretary of State and is running for re-election. A pioneer in open government reform, election integrity, and personal privacy rights, Debra Bowen became only the sixth woman in California history elected to a statewide constitutional office when she was elected as Secretary of State in November 2006.As the chief elections officer for the largest state in the nation, Secretary Bowen is responsible for overseeing state and federal elections, a role that also requires her to test and certify the voting equipment used in California. Her goal is to ensure that voting machines certified for use in Californians elections are secure, accurate, reliable, and accessible, and every voter’s ballot is counted exactly as it was cast.

In her first year in office, Secretary Bowen commissioned an independent, top-to-bottom review of voting technology, as well as a comprehensive review of the state’s decades-old election auditing standards. Following the top-to-bottom review, Bowen strictly limited the use of direct recording electronic voting machines, and imposed significant security and auditing requirements on systems used in California elections. Secretary Bowen was recognized for her national leadership in election integrity with the 2008 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award^TM, the nation’s most prestigious honor for elected public servants who choose principles over partisanship.

Secretary Bowen is also responsible for helping to carry out election laws and campaign disclosure requirements by maintaining a statewide database of registered voters, certifying the official lists of candidates for each election, tracking and certifying ballot initiatives, compiling election returns, and certifying the election results for all state and federal contests.

Kamala Harris
Candidate for Attorney General
State Executive Branch

Kamala D. Harris, candidate for Attorney General (State Executive Branch), is the District Attorney of San Francisco. A veteran prosecutor, Kamala has dedicated her outstanding legal talents to prosecuting violent crime, combating the sexual exploitation of children and working creatively to improve the quality of life in our communities.

As Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County from 1990 to 1998, Kamala prosecuted hundreds of serious and violent felonies, including homicide, rape and child sexual assault cases. Before being recruited to join the City Attorney’s office, Kamala was the Managing Attorney of the Career Criminal Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s office.

Among her many community activities, Kamala is Co-Chair of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights; President of the Board of Directors of Partners Ending Domestic Abuse; elected member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Bar Association; and founder of an SF Museum of Modern Art mentoring program which has served hundreds of young people from the inner city.

Kamala was born in Oakland and raised in Berkeley. Her parents, both professors, were active in the Civil Rights Movement and instilled in Kamala a strong commitment to justice and public service. That commitment led Kamala to Howard University, America’s oldest black university, and then to Hastings College of the Law. Kamala has been recognized many times for the excellence of her work, but most recently, she earned an award from the County Counsel Association of California for her work granting gay couples equal rights in child adoption cases.

Gloria Romero
Candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction
State Executive Branch

State Senator Gloria Romero was elected to Senate District 24 in 2001, which serves East Los Angeles and the greater San Gabriel Valley. She quickly rose in leadership to become the Democratic Caucus Chair and Majority Leader of the Senate – the first and only woman to ever hold this leadership position in the history of the California Senate.

Gloria has chaired both the Education Committee and the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Education. She is recognized as one of the most influential voices on education policy in California and believes that education is the “civil rights issue” of our time. Gloria understands the transformative power of education, having been raised by a mother with only a 6th grade education, Gloria pursued a higher education and received a PhD in Psychology from the University of California.

She has authored numerous pieces of legislation focused on parole and sentencing reform and as chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee she became the voice for reform of the California prison system.

With a long history in public service, Gloria was elected to the California Assembly in 1998 and served as Majority Whip. In 1995, became the first Latina elected to the Los Angeles community college Board of Trustees — the largest community college district in the nation. Gloria has been the recipient of many awards and most recently was named by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of four “Outstanding Women to Watch in 2008.”

Noreen Evans
Candidate for Senate
District 2 (Napa, Sonoma)

Assemblywoman Noreen Evans is a candidate for Senate in District 2, currently held by Senator Pat Wiggins, servicing the counties of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, and Sonoma. Assemblywoman Evans currently represents the 7th State Assembly District, which includes all of Napa County and portions of Solano and Sonoma Counties.

Assemblywoman Evans has four primary legislative priorities: fighting for families and children, protecting our environment, reforming our legal system, and advocating for California’s wine industry. Now in her third term of office, Assemblywoman Evans serves as Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee. In that capacity, she chaired the Budget Conference Committee which forged compromises leading to the final budget proposal. She also works to support the Assembly Speaker’s efforts to modernize and reform California’s budget process. In addition, Assemblywoman Evans is a member of the Committees on Banking and Finance, Governmental Organization, and Judiciary. She also serves on the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. Representing much of California’s premium wine growing region, Assemblywoman Evans has chaired the Assembly Select Committee on Wine for the past four years, where she serves as a liaison between the wine industry and the Assembly.

As a member of the Law Revision Commission, Evans studies intricate legal problems to resolve deficits in our laws and identifies major policy questions for legislative attention. As a member of the Commission on the Status of Women, she also advises the Governor and the Legislature on inequities in laws, practices and conditions that affect women. As a member of the Coastal Conservancy, she works to protect, preserve and restore California’s beautiful coastline.

Prior to her election to the Assembly in 2004, Assemblywoman Evans served two terms on the Santa Rosa City Council, and three years on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission. An attorney by training, Assemblywoman Evans also practiced law for more than twenty years, focusing on civil litigation and appeals.

Assemblywoman Evans has a Juris Doctor degree from the McGeorge School of Law at the University of Pacific and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from California State University, Sacramento. She lives in Santa Rosa and has three children: Erin, Joel, and Rachel.

Anna Caballero
Candidate for Senate
District 12 (Merced, Salinas)

Assemblymember Anna Caballero is running for Senate District 12 and is currently serving in the assembly representing District 28. Assemblymember Caballero was elected to serve the 28th Assembly District in November of 2006 and is a strong advocate for public safety, affordable housing, quality health care and education.

Now in her second term, Assemblymember Caballero has been re-appointed as chair of the Committee on Local Government, and as a member of the following committees: Accountability and Administrative Review; Budget; Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources; Water, Parks and Wildlife; and, the Select Committee on Renewable Energy. In recognition of her extensive work to prevent youth violence and gang membership, Caballero has also been re-appointed as chair of the Select Committee on Youth Violence Prevention.

Born to a family of copper miners, Assemblymember Caballero graduated from the University of California San Diego magna cum laude with a B.A. in Sociology, and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California Los Angeles. She moved to the Salinas Valley 30 years ago to work for California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA). As an attorney, she represented striking farm workers and fought side by side with unions to prevent plant closures.

Seeing the need for legal representation at a price working families could afford, Caballero and two colleagues founded a law firm, Caballero, Matcham & McCarthy, in 1982. The business received many awards, and she was personally recognized by the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce with the Athena Award for entrepreneurial excellence. Assemblymember Caballero took a leave from her law practice to serve as the executive director of Partners for Peace, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the community together to prevent gang violence, with a focus on literacy, early childhood education, youth employment and empowerment, and providing services to families.

Assemblymember Caballero is also a wife, mother, and grandmother. Her husband, Juan Uranga, is the director of the Center for Community Advocacy in Salinas.

Mary Salas
Candidate for Senate
District 40 (San Diego, Riverside County)

Assemblymember Mary Salas was elected to represent the 79th California State Assembly District in November of 2006. She is running for Senate District 40 which represents San Diego and parts of Riverside County, the seat currently held by Denise Moreno Ducheny who will be termed out in 2010. Senator Ducheny has endorsed Assemblymember Salas in her bid for the Senate seat.

Assemblymember Salas was appointed Chair of the Committee on Veterans Affairs in 2007 and is committed to veteran’s issues having a long military tradition in her family where her father and six uncles all served in the armed forces. In addition to being Chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee, Assemblymember Salas serves on the following standing committees: Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy; Water, Parks and Wildlife; and the Committee on Health. Before serving in the state Assembly, Assemblymember Salas became the first Latina elected to the Chula Vista City Council in 1996. As a Councilwoman, she chaired the University Working Group to establish a higher education center in the region.

Her commitment to improving the quality of life for the people in the district is longstanding. She served for seven years on the California Trade and Commerce Agency, and as board member of the South County Economic Development Council. Assemblymember Salas graduated Magna Cum Laude from San Diego State University and received a Bachelor of Social Work.