Please Join us for our Club Meeting, Thursday, June 24th, 6:00pm (Via Zoom)
GENERAL MEETING (VIA ZOOM)
June 24, 2021
Please Note: Registration To Join the Meeting is Required.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtf-ytqz8sH9ZqLrBotSeeLHOWqv8wedY0
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
AGENDA
6:00pm Meeting Room opens
6:15pm Meeting Called to order
1. Quorum Check – Janette Shelton, Vice President – Memberships
2. President’s Welcome
3. Comments from elected officials and Party leaders – 3 minutes each
4. Additions or Deletions to the Agenda
5. PROGRAMS:
A. NEVER AGAIN CALIFORNIA REPORT – Rose Ann Sharp and coalition partners. Presentation on National promotion of “Red Flag” laws and on California’s plans for registration of “ghost guns” (30 minutes). Reference Materials: Rose Ann Sharp bio, GVRO- NeverAgainCA PowerPoint, GVRO Numbers for San Diego PowerPoint, Giffords Law Center Seeking Help Brochure
B. CALIFORNIA REDISTRICTING COMMISSION Report – A Commissioner from the CRC will provide information on their efforts to accomplish Congressional and State Legislative redistricting following the 2020 US Census (30 minutes).
C. UPDATE ON STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE NOW STORED AT SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION – Alice McNally and Associates will report on the hazards of the nuclear waste now stored at SONGS and the urgency of adopting new standards for safe storage and transportation of the waste (25 minutes).
D. JUNE IS PRIDE MONTH – a Report from a spokesperson of an LGBQT organization will provide an update on progress and current issues (25 minutes).
7. REPORTS
A. Treasurer’s Report: Phil Currier, Treasurer
B. Membership Report: Janette Shelton, Vice President – Memberships
C. Future Programs Report: Marisa Hildebrand-CrIqui, Vice President – Programs
D. Communications Report – Ken Burtt, Executive Vice President and Communications Director
E. Members’ Comments for the Good of the Order
8.15pm ADJOURNMENT to next regular meeting on September 23, 2021, at 6pm.
There will be no regular meetings in July or August. There is the possibility of a special meeting during these months to allow for consideration of endorsements for candidates or ballot measures for possible upcoming special elections.
Check our website, www.torreypinesdems.org, for further information
Reminder: If you would like to become a member of the Torrey Pines Democratic Club, please go to: torreypinesdems.org/Members to sign up.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE (June 17th, 2021)
Greetings Members,
Recalls: Governor and San Dieguito Union High School District
Non-election years are normally quiet, politically speaking. But not this year. For only the second time in California’s history, an incumbent Governor probably will be subjected to a recall election. The date for that election has not yet been set. The recall petition, bearing more than 2.1 million signatures, is still being processed. Under a recent State law, when a petition to recall the Governor is submitted with a sufficient number of signatures certified, a 30-day period is allowed for those signing the recall petition to request their signature be removed. That period just closed earlier this month and elections officials are still reviewing whether a sufficient number of signers remain to force the recall. Once that is determined, and if the petition has a sufficient of certified signatures, the Lieutenant Governor will set the date for the recall election. We don’t yet know when that date will be. But Governor, and the candidates seeking to replace him, are acting as if there will eventually be a recall election.
The San Dieguito Union High School District, which serves the Torrey Pines Club area, is facing the prospects of the recall of one of its Trustees and a special election to fill another vacant seat. Area 4 Trustee Michael Allman is the target of the recall effort. Allman was elected in November 2020 in a hotly contested election. Allman took office in January and a recall movement quickly developed. Supporters of the recall supporters have submitted a notice of intention to circulate a recall petition. However, the Registrar of Voters found some flaw in the form of the notice and have rejected it. State law is very precise about the form of a recall petition. Recall supporters may decide to try again.
Meanwhile, the District Board recently appointed Ty Humes to the Area 5 seat vacated when long term Trustee Kristin Gibson resigned earlier this year. But the Board’s appointment has now been nullified under a State law that allows voters to force a special election by petition. A week ago, the San Diego County Superintendent of Schools notified the District that a petition bearing enough valid signatures has been filed to force the special election. On June 16th, the Board met in special session to set the date for the election, but the date has not yet been announced.
While the smoke has not yet cleared on the SDUDSD special elections front, the San Diego County Democratic Party has declared these elections to be of “strategic importance”. As a consequence, the North Coastal Area Caucus is planning to hold endorsement elections for one or both of these races in mid-July.
Torrey Pines Democratic Club Summer Meeting Schedule
Last week, the Executive Board confirmed that, in accordance with tradition, the regular Club meetings for July and August will not be scheduled. Our next regular Club meeting will be on September 23rd. Please mark your calendars accordingly.
Also, hold the date of Sunday, August 15th, for a special social event in the San Dieguito County Park. Plans are under way for a “family friendly” event on that date. If you haven’t been there, the County Park is quite special. It’s easy to get to, at the intersection of Highland Drive and the Lomas Santa Fe Drive. You won’t to miss this event! Plans are being made for several of our representatives to attend and share thoughts with us, is a relaxed, shady setting. It will be a time when Members and their families can enjoy a day in the park. There are wonderful hiking trails, play areas, and areas for games and activities. Ample parking is available. Watch for details in the coming month.
Because of the recall elections still being decided for the Governor’s office and SDUHSD seats, there is a possibility for a “special called” Club meeting in July or August to consider endorsements. We are waiting for elections dates to be determined.
The Executive Board has agreed it will continue its monthly meeting schedule through the summer months, due to the workload ahead.
Club Officer Elections Will Be Held at the September 23rd Meeting
Under the amended bylaws, our Club has four elective offices: President, Executive Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Each are elected to two-year terms, with a three-term limit in each office. We encourage any Member who is or may be interested in being nominated for one of these offices to send an email expressing your interest to our Nominations Committee Chair, Marisa Hildebrand-Criqui at marisacriqui@gmail.com. Details on the election procedures will be made available at least two weeks prior to the date of the election.
Programs for the June 24th Regular Club Meeting
We have four programs scheduled for our regular Club meeting next Thursday, June 24th, beginning at 6pm on Zoom. See our website, www.torreypinesdems.org, for a registration link and details, including the meeting agenda.
Our first program will be on the subject of “ghost guns” regulations and “red flag” laws. Rose Ann Sharp of Never Again California will be the main speaker and will introduce a few from her gun safety advocates’ coalition.
Second, a member of the California Redistricting Commission (CRC) will address our Club on the importance and procedures for California’s redistricting of our Congressional seats and state legislative districts, among others. This is a once-a-decade process used to re-apportion electoral districts, based on the 2020 Annual Census. You won’t want to miss the presentation. The CRC is already at work holding public meetings to take your input on where you think these district lines should be drawn. The new districts will be used in the 2022 Mid-year elections.
Third, our colleague and TPDC member Alice McNally will speak about the exiting threat of nuclear waste radiation leakage into the environment at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The current operators’ plans for storage of spent fuel rods and other contaminated waste materials onsite, as well as the eventual relocation of the waste to permanent site storage elsewhere, are inadequate and pose severe hazards to all of us in the surrounding communities in the event of accidental releases. You’ll want to know how you can help convince our federal and state elected representatives to provide greater protections.
Finally, in recognition of the month of June as “Pride Month” we will hear from representatives of the GBLTQ+ north coast community about the progress being made in gaining equal protection and rights, and the emerging increase in the incidence of “hate crimes” and violence against its members.
A New Federal Holiday Has Been Added to Our Calendar
Today, June 17th, President Joe Biden signed S. 475, the “Juneteenth National Independence Day Act,” which designates Juneteenth National Independence Day as a legal public holiday. For those who haven’t yet caught up with the history of the “Juneteenth” day of celebration, it is the day on which many of our Black citizens celebrate their “independence” from slavery. The holiday honors that day on June 19th, 1865, in which 2,000 Union army troops entered the town of Galveston, Texas, to announce that slavery was no longer legal, and all former slaves were now free, under federal law. This was followed soon after by the ratification of the XIII Amendment to the US Constitution in December 1865.
Happy Juneteenth National Independence Day, everyone. Let’s all celebrate that day, and reflect upon the work that still remains, under the Preamble to our national Constitution, to “… form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility … ”
Wayne Dernetz
Wayne Dernetz, President (interim)
President’s Message (June 11th, 2021)
Dear Colleagues,
“To Recall, or Not to Recall”
The big news in California politics these days is the upcoming vote on the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom. In a recent front page report, the Los Angeles Times headline suggested “Californians have recall fever” (LA Times, June 11, 2021 edition, p. 1). That’s not quite right. It seems the remedy of recall has now been politicized and is being more used frequently by the party out of power against the elected officials of the party in power. Another adaptation under our heavily polarized political climate, perhaps.
The citizen’s right of recall California’s elected officials has been protected by the State Constitution since the passage of Proposition 8 in 1911 during the State’s “Progressive Era,” a time of political backlash against the corruption and control of the Legislature by the business oligarchs of the day. Today, the recall provisions are found in Article II, Sections 13-20.
Since then, according to the Secretary of State [1], the recall has been attempted against the Governor 55 times over the past 110 years. It has been qualified by a sufficient of signatures only once before—in 2003, against Governor Gray Davis. That is also the first and only successful recall of a governor, to date.
The recall against Governor Newsom has now been qualified for the ballot for only the second time. Widely circulating reports in the news media have revealed that this recall petition drive, and the ensuing campaign, has been financed by out-of-state, wealthy Republican advocates, in an effort to “shake up” the Democrats’ dominance in State government. Newsom has affirmed he will run a vigorous campaign to defeat the attempted recall, and he has the full backing of the California Democratic Party and elected officials.
The Gray Davis recall has often been referred to as the “California Circus” with more than 110 candidates, mostly Republican candidates, running for the Governor’s office, in the event it became vacant. That is, of course, how Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger became Governor with only a plurality of votes. As of this writing, there have already been more than 80 candidates, mostly all Republicans, who have filed their “Notice of Intention” to campaign for the seat, if it becomes vacated.
Under recently adopted procedures for the recall of a governor, the recall ballot will consist of two questions: first, Shall the (incumbent) Governor be recalled? Yes or no; and second, If the incumbent is recalled, who shall be elected to the unexpired term? Here, there will be a complete list of all candidates to choose from. The candidate receiving the most votes will be elected. Note, however, that if the majority of voters vote “No” on the recall, the votes for the candidates vying for the seat will not be counted, and the incumbent Governor will continue in office until the end of the term (in this case, until January, 2023). If successful in defeating the recall attempt, Governor Newsom will almost certainly seek reelection to a second term in 2022.
According to the latest polling, it seems Governor Newsom has a very good chance of defeating the recall attempt. in a May, 2021 statewide poll [2] conducted by the California Public Policy Institute, only 40% of California voters support the recall, while 57% oppose the recall. These ratios holding steady since early this year. Still, there is a long way to go and nothing can be taken for certain. A date for the election has not been set. It is up to the Lieutenant Governor to set the date for the election. Because of the high cost of the election, recently estimated to be $215 million, it is likely to be set for the November 2, 2021 general election date, in which local governments may schedule their elections, and the Legislature may add ballot measures. All will be revealed in the coming weeks.
What is certain? Both the State and County Democratic Parties are gearing up to fight against the recall. It is sure to be hotly contested, particularly in San Diego County, the home of two of the leading Republican candidates, former San Diego City Mayor Kevin Faulconer, and John “The Bear” Cox, who ran and was defeated by Newsom in the 2018 election. Their campaigns will be heavily subsidized to the legal limit with direct Republican contributions, and supporting campaigns run by well-funded Republican PACs.
Programs for Our June 24th General Meeting
We have four great programs lined up for the June 24th general membership meeting via Zoom. First up will be Rose Ann Sharp of Never Again California, and her coalition partners, to provide a briefing on latest efforts to strengthen gun safety regulations and close some loopholes. The topics will be strengthening “Red Flag” laws allowing dispossession of legally owned guns from people exhibiting dangerous tendencies, and the regulation of so-called “ghost guns, which are legally sold in easily-assembled kits without registration at the present time. Ghost guns are turning up in more and more crime scenes and presently are untraceable.
Second, we’ll hear for a member of the California Redistricting Commission, who represents the San Diego area in re-mapping congressional districts and state legislative districts for the 2022 elections, based on the 2020 Census data. Congressional re-districting will be of greatest interest due to the loss of one of California’s 55 CDs. There will be opportunity for Q&A.
Then, TPDC member Alice (“Ali”) McNally and her colleagues working for our safety on the very critical radioactive waste issue from the de-commissioned San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). You’ll want to hear the latest updates and the extreme risks of release of highly toxic radioactive waste into the environment due to the pending storage and transportation plans of the SONGS operators. Those plans are currently under review by the U.S. Nuclear Energy Commission.
Finally, in recognition of June as “Pride Month,” we will hear from local spokespersons on the progress being made in their fight for equality and justice, and the growing threats of hate crimes and attacks.
So mark the date and time now, and be sure to register for the Zoom Club meeting on Thursday, June 24th, at 6pm. Go to our website, torreypinesdems.org/members for more details.
Wayne Dernetz
Wayne Dernetz,
President (Interim)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1911_California_Proposition_8