Date: Friday, May 31 – Sunday, June 02, 2019 Address: 747 Howard St. Ticket(s) Required: No
Hilton San Francisco Union Square – 333 O’Farrell St., San Francisco, CA 94102
Moscone Center – 747 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94103
Mar 26
The President Has Not Been Exonerated- In addition to demanding the release of the Mueller report, Congress must examine actions by William Barr that call into question the AG’s objectivity. By John NicholsTwitter
https://www.thenation.com/article/mueller-barr-exoneration-trump-nadler/
Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s 22-month investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by the president and those around him was summed up by House Judiciary Committee member Jamie Raskin. “I don’t want to read the Cliff notes version of Macbeth,” observed Raskin. “I want to read Macbeth itself.”
In other words, Barr’s interpretation of the Mueller report is just that: an interpretation. It’s not the real thing
It is suspect, as such. And it is suspect because of the past partisanships and positionings of its author regarding the issues that arise from presidential obstructions of justice. Unfortunately, as former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams observed Monday, relying on Barr’s summary is “like having your brother summarize your report card to your parents.”
Trump partisans may imagine that to be a harsh critique. It’s not.
On Sunday, Barr released a subjective statement on the findings from Mueller’s investigation, which featured two takeaways. First, the attorney general wrote that the narrowly focused Mueller project “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” Second, “the report sets out evidence on both sides of the [obstruction of justice] question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction. The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’”
Trump’s response to Barr’s response to Mueller’s report took the all-too-predictable form a caps-lock tweet: “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION.”
That’s false. “President Trump is wrong. This report does not amount to a so-called total exoneration,” says Nadler. “It is unconscionable that President Trump would try to spin the special counsel’s findings as if his conduct was remotely acceptable.”
Based in part upon Barr’s statement, the president is peddling a fantasy that serves his political ends. Congress cannot permit this lie to obstruct accountability. This is why Barr must release the full Mueller report, as well as testify before the Judiciary Committee.
That second part of the equation is essential. Barr, who has a history of taking a dim view of efforts to hold presidents to account, wrote a memo last year (before Trump nominated him to replace Jeff Sessions) in which he complained about the Mueller inquiry and a “fatally misconceived” theory of how President Trump might have obstructed justice. Now, as the man Trump tapped to serve as attorney general, Barr is giving Trump a pass.
That’s an issue that cannot be allowed to get lost amid all the wrangling and pontificating over this report. As former White House counsel John Dean noted on Sunday, “Having re-read William Barr’s June 2018 Memo critiquing Mueller’s obstruction investigation and now his summary of Mueller’s Report, it is clear that Richard Nixon would not have been forced to resign his office if Barr had been Attorney General. Barr wants a POTUS above the law.”
Nadler, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chair Adam B. Schiff, and Committee on Oversight and Reform chair Elijah E. Cummings have responded appropriately. “After reading the Attorney General’s four-page summary of the Special Counsel’s findings, we reiterate our call for the release of the Special Counsel’s full and complete report and all underlying documents. We also call for Attorney General Barr to come forward to testify before the House Judiciary Committee without delay,” they announced on Sunday. “Far from the ‘total exoneration’ claimed by the President, the Mueller report expressly does not exonerate the President. Instead, it ‘sets out evidence on both sides of the question’ of obstruction—including the evidence that President Trump attempted to obstruct justice.”
The key committee chairs are right: “It is unacceptable that, after Special Counsel Mueller spent 22 months meticulously uncovering this evidence, Attorney General Barr made a decision not to charge the President in under 48 hours. The Attorney General did so without even interviewing the President. His unsolicited, open memorandum to the Department of Justice, suggesting that the obstruction investigation was ‘fatally misconceived,’ calls into question his objectivity on this point in particular.”
Nov 27
Help the Homeless this Holiday Season
The Chino Valley Democratic Club has agreed to partner with Senator Connie Leyva SD20 to collect clothing and sundry items to help the homeless in the region. Club members are encouraged to bring clothing items, socks, canned food, and blankets to the Holiday Potluck Party event on Dec. 10. Location available on request.
The receiving organizaton, T.O.U.C.H Ministries of Ontario, is recognized by Senator Leyva as “non-profit of the year”. T.O.U.C.H. Ministries provides hot meals and backpacks with food, clothes, hygiene items and other important items to homeless persons. The ministry also focuses on providing services to seniors, at-risk youth, recently released inmates and the working poor. Contact Marian at chinovalleydems@gmail.org or 909-591-1864 for more info.
Nov 22
Congratulations to our local Chino Valley Democratic Club endorsed winners!
Congressional District 35- Norma Torres
Congressional District 39- Gil Cisneros
CA Assembly District 52- Freddie Rodriguez
CA State Senate 20- Connie LeyvaChino Valley Unified School District, Member, Governing Board– Christine Gagnier
City of Chino, Member, City Council, District 1- Paul Rodriguez
City of Montclair, City Council- Trisha Martinez
Feb 20
Our Team in Action!
Josh Newman SD29 RE-ELECTED 2020-2024
Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez re-elected to AD52 2021-2025
Governor Newsom with New State Party Chair Rusty Hicks!
Our Dream Team!
Encounter at Governor’s annual party.
Former President Barack Obama, center, waves to the crowd after speaking at a campaign rally to support Democratic California congressional candidates, Josh Harder, T.J. Cox, Gil Cisneros, Katie Porter, Harley Rouda, Mike Levin, from left, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The reason our School Board is so dysfunctional.
Welcome
Progressives, Independents, and Democrats!
Congratulations Governor Newsom!
Come to our monthly meetings.
We support Chino, Chino Hills, and South Ontario in Assembly Districts 53 and 59, State Senate Districts 22 and 32, and Congressional Districts 35 and 40
Our Facebook for Chino Valley Democrats LINK
Don and Jan Bridge and ACT Union Pres and VP
Registering voters at the Summer Concerts in the Park
Congratulations Christina Gagnier, Chino Valley Unified School Dist. Board!
President of our Club, Marian Arguello receives a special CHINO Woman of the Year award from Assembly representative Freddie Rodriguez (AD52) !
CA State Senator Susan Rubio SD22
Our club in action!
The Arguellos posing for their fans!
American Cancer Society Relay for Life Volunteers in the Community- 2019
Rally demanding CD39 Republican Ed Royce address Healthcare!
We regfister voters and recruit club members at the Summer Concerts in the Park!
Jan 30
Why SB-1 Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 is needed
Text of this bipartisan approved bill here at this link: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1
The recall against our State Senator SD29 is unwarranted considering the following. In fact, he promoted a Constitutional amendment to assure the monies allocated would be spent on only the road repair projects.
Read on:
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Over the next 10 years, the state faces a $59 billion shortfall to adequately maintain the existing state highway system in order to keep it in a basic state of good repair.
(b) Similarly, cities and counties face a $78 billion shortfall over the next decade to adequately maintain the existing network of local streets and roads.
(c) Statewide taxes and fees dedicated to the maintenance of the system have not been increased in more than 20 years, with those revenues losing more than 55 percent of their purchasing power, while costs to maintain the system have steadily increased and much of the underlying infrastructure has aged past its expected useful life.
(d) California motorists are spending $17 billion annually in extra maintenance and car repair bills, which is more than $700 per driver, due to the state’s poorly maintained roads.
(e) Failing to act now to address this growing problem means that more drastic measures will be required to maintain our system in the future, essentially passing the burden on to future generations instead of doing our job today.
(f) A funding program will help address a portion of the maintenance backlog on the state’s road system and will stop the growth of the problem.
(g) Modestly increasing various fees can spread the cost of road repairs broadly to all users and beneficiaries of the road network without overburdening any one group.
(h) Improving the condition of the state’s road system will have a positive impact on the economy as it lowers the transportation costs of doing business, reduces congestion impacts for employees, and protects property values in the state.
(i) The federal government estimates that increased spending on infrastructure creates more than 13,000 jobs per $1 billion spent.
(j) Well-maintained roads benefit all users, not just drivers, as roads are used for all modes of transport, whether motor vehicles, transit, bicycles, or pedestrians.
(k) Well-maintained roads additionally provide significant health benefits and prevent injuries and death due to crashes caused by poorly maintained infrastructure.
(l) A comprehensive, reasonable transportation funding package will do all of the following:
(1) Ensure these transportation needs are addressed.
(2) Fairly distribute the economic impact of increased funding.
(3) Restore the gas tax rate previously reduced by the State Board of Equalization pursuant to the gas tax swap.
(4) Direct increased revenue to the state’s highest transportation needs.
(m) This act presents a balance of new revenues and reasonable reforms to ensure efficiency, accountability, and performance from each dollar invested to improve California’s transportation system. The revenues designated in this act are intended to address both state and local transportation infrastructure needs as follows:
(1) The revenues estimated to be available for allocation under the act to local agencies are estimated over the next 10 years to be as follows:
(A) Fifteen billion dollars ($15,000,000,000) to local street and road maintenance.
(B) Seven billion five hundred million dollars ($7,500,000,000) for transit operations and capital.
(C) Two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) for the local partnership program.
(D) One billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) for the Active Transportation Program.
(E) Eight hundred twenty-five million dollars ($825,000,000) for the regional share of the State Transportation Improvement Program.
(F) Two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000) for local planning grants.
(2) The revenues estimated to be available for allocation under the act to the state are estimated over the next 10 years to be as follows:
(A) Fifteen billion dollars ($15,000,000,000) for state highway maintenance and rehabilitation.
(B) Four billion dollars ($4,000,000,000) for highway bridge and culvert maintenance and rehabilitation.
(C) Three billion dollars ($3,000,000,000) for high priority freight corridors.
(D) Two billion five hundred million dollars ($2,500,000,000) for congested corridor relief.
(E) Eight hundred million dollars ($800,000,000) for parks programs, off-highway vehicle programs, boating programs, and agricultural programs.
(F) Two hundred seventy-five million dollars ($275,000,000) for the interregional share of the State Transportation Improvement Program.
(G) Two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000) for freeway service patrols.
(H) Seventy million dollars ($70,000,000) for transportation research at the University of California and the California State University.
(n) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Department of Transportation meet the following preliminary performance outcomes for additional state highway investments by the end of 2027, in accordance with applicable state and federal standards:
(1) Not less than 98 percent of pavement on the state highway system in good or fair condition.
(2) Not less than 90 percent level of service achieved for maintenance of potholes, spalls, and cracks.
(3) Not less than 90 percent of culverts in good or fair condition.
(4) Not less than 90 percent of the transportation management system units in good condition.
(5) Fix not less than an additional 500 bridges.
(o) Further, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Department of Transportation leverage funding provided by this act for trade corridors and other highly congested travel corridors in order to obtain matching funds from federal and other sources to maximize improvements in the state’s high-priority freight corridors and in the most congested commute corridors.
(p) Constitutionally protecting the funds raised by this act ensures that these funds are to be used only for transportation purposes necessary to repair roads and bridges, expand the economy, and protect natural resources.
(q) This act advances greenhouse gas reduction objectives and other environmental goals by focusing on “fix-it-first” projects, investments in transit and active transportation, and supporting Senate Bill 375 (Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008) and transportation plans.
SEC. 2.
This act shall be known, and may be cited as, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
Oct 06
Time Magazine: California Just Became a ‘Sanctuary State.’ Here’s What That Means
http://time.com/4960233/california-sanctuary-state-donald-trump/
Thank you Gov. Brown!
California Just Became a ‘Sanctuary State.’ Here’s What That Means
Oct 05, 2017
California Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday signed a so-called “sanctuary state” bill that will limit cooperation between local officials and federal immigration enforcement. The measure is one of the most high-profile ways that Democrats in the state have sought to push back against the Republican agenda, as President Donald Trump has taken a hard line on immigration and other issues that are significant to Golden State lawmakers.
“These are uncertain times for undocumented Californians and their families, and this bill strikes a balance that will protect public safety, while bringing a measure of comfort to those families who are now living in fear every day,” Brown said in statement, according to the Associated Press.
Brown’s decision to sign the bill will almost certainly draw the ire of the President, who has threatened to withhold funds from sanctuary cities — a move that inspired several jurisdictions in California to sue his administration. Though there is not a set definition of what makes any place a “sanctuary” for immigrants, laws described that typically aim to limit the deportation of undocumented residents.
While other states have passed laws that shore up protections for immigrants, the California bill, formally known as SB54, has been described as the most comprehensive in the country. Measures range from treating schools, courthouses and hospitals as “safe zones” to restricting the ability of local police to detain people on behalf of federal immigration agents. The law does nothing to curtail the ability of federal agents to come into the state and deport people or carry out raids, but it does make such actions more difficult for agencies with limited resources.
An estimated 10 million immigrants live in California, more than the entire population of states such as Michigan, and about 25% of them are thought to be undocumented. The author of the bill, state Senate Leader Kevin de Leon, has positioned it as a safety measure to ensure undocumented residents are unafraid to report crimes to the police or send their kids to school. De Leon said at a press conference that the new law “will put a large kink in Trump’s perverse and inhumane deportation machine,” according to the AP.
The main criticisms of SB54 have also been about safety, as organizations such as the California State Sheriffs’ Association have argued that dangerous criminals might slip through the cracks if local authorities are limited in their ability to interact with federal officials. Before signing the bill, Gov. Brown negotiated changes meant to assuage some of those concerns, such as allowing for cooperation in cases that involve particular crimes.
Though Trump could attempt to deny federal funding to California over the bill, he would face legal hurdles in doing so and such an action would very likely lead to a lawsuit. As the new President took office, lawmakers in the state retained former Attorney General Eric Holder’s law firm to help advise them on the legal limits of resistance. And the state has already sued the federal government over issues ranging from energy efficiency standards to the decision to end DACA, a program that has shielded young immigrants from deportation.
We want you to join us at our next meeting, Monday April 8, 2024 at 7:00 pm!
The Chino Valley Democratic Club will meet on Monday, April 8, at 7 p.m., in a hybrid in-person/ Zoom online meeting. The Club recommends participants contact chinovalleydemocrats21@gmail.com for the location or go to the Zoom link https://tinyurl.com/f47tjtj4 and join at the designated date and time, Monday, April 8 at 7:00 pm. It is recommended participants join the meeting 10-15 minutes before the meeting starts.
In honor of Earth day, (April 22. 2024), our guest speaker will be RL Miller, founder of “Climate Hawks Vote” dedicated to build grassroots political power for the climate movement. She will address how the Inflation Reduction Act benefits our climate and consumers in the move to a cleaner energy environment.
Local issues in the Chino Valley covering civic and school district will also be discussed..
The Public is invited to join the online Zoom or the in-person meeting. Participants will be placed on mute until designated Q& A time is allotted. Club membership is also available on request.
For more information write chinovalleydemocrats21@gmail.com
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