San Diego Young Dems say Farewell to W at the W!

The San Diego County Young Democrats hosted a huge party to celebrate the inauguration of President Barack Obama last night.

The event was titled “Farewell to W at the W,” and it was held at the W Hotel, in Downtown San Diego. Over 1500 people attended, making it easily the largest inauguration celebration in San Diego.

Photos of the event are posted on the Young Democrats Flickr group page. There are hundreds of photos from the night uploaded, and more are on their way. DiscoverSD.com also has some photos up at their gallery.

By any measure, the event was a home run success. Local television aired promotions for the event, both on the ABC and CBS affiliates, as well as a live promotion the morning of the event on Fox.

By having attendees RSVP online, and by heavily promoting the event, the Young Democrats were able to capture contact information of more than 2500 new people for their general distribution list. These new names will be invited to participate in Democratic social events, political actions, and public service opportunities.

Numerous television stations covered the event. Not only were the cameras covering the excitement and celebrations, but numerous Young Democrats were on camera, explaining that Obama’s message of hope had real significance to them. Event organizers kept on message, and explained that change can happen right here in San Diego through participation with the Young Democrats and other progressive political organizations.

The crowed swelled throughout the night, and gathered at 9 p.m. for a replay of President Obama’s inauguration address. Before the video played, organizers introduced the Young Democrats. The young, fashionable crowd shouted and cheered when organizers announced that in November, local Democrats captured six of eight City Council seats.

UPDATE: Shindy.tv produced a 10 minute clip showcasing the event. It's shared here as well. A number of the board members from the Young Democrats are featured, as well as many happy party-goers.

Monday - Quick Hits

Trade Unions set to appeal court decision on City of Vista's charter case. NCTimes

Mayor Sanders has decided that parks and libraries are to have their budgets trimmed, while he increases city spending 13%. UT

I'm shocked! Possible conflict of interest among city advisory board members. UT

City council to consider pay raise for mayor and themselves again. UT

San Diego City College to receive the Recycler-of-the year award from city council. UT

Democrats gathered statewide to select their delegates to the Democratic Convention in Denver late this summer. NCTimes

Please don't eat your young

The Democrats in Washington, D.C. are about to complete their first year as the majority of both chambers. In addition, next year's election they could take back the White House and win enough seats in the Senate to stop a Republican fillerbuster. The House could even get closer to over-riding a Presidential veto, but that is still far off.

In Sacramento, the Democrats could take the additional seats needed to have a 2/3 membership in both chambers and make the Republicans useless for good.

However, the Democrats are going to follow the lead of the Republicans and eat their young. The Republicans are about to eject Mayor Jerry Sanders, because he has finally seen the light and supports gay marriage, they are ejecting Assemblymember George Plescia, because he supports Carl Demaio for coming out of the closet (yes, he is gay), Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for supporting health care reform and Mayor Rudy Giuliani over a woman's right to choice.

The Democratic Party and activists should first focus on finding where they can agree and pass legislation, then to fight about their differences. Remember, the Republicans will have enough to fight Democrats over.

Don't eat your young and just elect more of your Democrats!

Only Half the Story....

On Saturday the UT had a front page story about attorney Bill Lerach and the influence he wielded within the Democratic Party. Lerach "who plead guilty to conspiracy in a scheme to pay kickback to recruit plaintiffs for 150 class-action lawsuits against U.S. Companies." Has agreed to forfeit over $7 million in unlawful gains, pay a $250,000 fine and will accept a prison sentence of up to two years.[Link]

The obvious focus of the story was on how Lerach, who was a large contributor to the Democratic Party had tremendous influence among elected Democratic officials like Bill Clinton and Gray Davis. Such much influence in fact,that it force the high-technology industry of Silicon Valley to become political players themselves.[Link]

In typical UT fashion, they only tell half the story regarding Lerach. During his career as a lawyer, Lerach was the consummate champion on behalf of the shareholder against corporate malfeasance. He represented both public and private pension funds in numerous cases surrounding corporate securities fraud. For this he won for his clients billions of dollars in awards and settlements, from such model corporate citizens as; Enron, WorldCom and AOL/Time Warner.

In the end, Bill Lerach will pay his penalties and end up doing time in prison for his wrongdoing he committed. Something that Ken Lay never did.

Republican Conference Announces They Are Out Of Step With Mainstrean America

Republican Western States Leadership Conference is being held this week in San Diego. As with either political party, this conference, like most political party conferences is a place where the party has a whole bunch of speeches, strategy sessions and a campaign school about how much greater their party is then the other one.

The point of this posting is at this conference it seems the extremes of the Republican Party got another major dose of reality. Republican Stephen M. Kinney, a pollster with Public Opinion Strategies told the crowd that the Republican Party is no longer in line with mainstream America. He said across the board, except in one area mainstream American views the Democratic Party in a greater light, including holding down government spending. The only area where mainstream America has a higher regard for Republicans, this is a kicker, get this, morality. Yes, total shocker...

Even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's gets that his own party is out of touch with reality, which is why he is doing this whole post partisan political thing and beating them up. Read the Sacramento Bee article about his speech a few weeks back.

So, the next time you see a Republican, please give them a big hug, because they really do need it!