The PPIC is out with a new poll. They are a generally well regarding polling outfit here in CA. The top-lines that are getting all of the headlines are their numbers on the initiatives on the May 19th special election. Yes, folks, there is an election in a few weeks, due to the disaster that is our state budget.

According to the PPIC, all of the initiatives, which were placed on the ballot by the legislature are going down, except for the one that would eliminate pay raises for legislators when there is a budget deficit.

Here are the specific numbers via Dave at Calitics:

Proposition 1A: About four in 10 support the measure (39% yes, 46% no, 15% undecided) to change the budget process by increasing the state "rainy day" fund. Less than half say the measure would be very (7%) or somewhat (38%) effective in helping California avoid future state budget deficits.

Proposition 1B: They are divided (44% yes, 41% no, 15% undecided) on the initiative that would require future supplemental payments to local school districts and community colleges to address recent budget cuts.

Proposition 1C: Half oppose (37% yes, 50% no, 11% undecided) the measure to modernize the lottery and allow for $5 billion in borrowing from future lottery profits to help balance next year's state budget.

Proposition 1D: Nearly half support (48% yes, 36% no, 16% undecided) the proposition to temporarily transfer funds from early childhood education to help balance the state budget.

Proposition 1E: Nearly half favor (47% yes, 37% no, 16% undecided) the measure to transfer money from mental health services to the general fund to help balance the state budget.

Proposition 1F: An overwhelming majority (81% yes, 13% no, 6% undecided) support the initiative that would block pay increases to state elected officials in years of budget deficit.

Anything under 55-60% at this point in the game before the campaigns heat up are in danger territory. Being below 50% is in seriously big trouble and likely to go down.

CTA just put $2 million into Prop 1B, but that may not be enough to save it, particularly because 1B has a poison pill. If Prop 1A does not pass, then Prop 1B is rendered meaningless. Prop 1A has a lot more opponents than any of the other initiatives from both side of the aisle.

It is hard to conceive at this point that Prop 1A passes, given that the biggest proponents are the legislature and the governor. Their terrible approval ratings do not make them good messengers. A lot depends on how the union endorsements shake out, since they bring both cash and good messengers: teachers, nurses, cops and firefighters anybody?

If these all fail then the budget deficit will swell again, but the question is are the solutions in the initiatives worse than original problem. There are no easy answers here.

These ballot numbers are getting the lion share of the attention, but the poll also includes new figures on marriage equality. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly nothing much has changed.

49% are opposed to marriage equality, 44% are in favor. While the issue has been in the news due to the court case, legal arguing is unlikely to sway public opinions.

Only hard work contacting voters and a sustained campaign will change hearts and minds.

Pop quiz hot shot: when someone gets two options, and picks option A, does that mean that there was never a choice to begin with?

I know, I know, that question really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But then again neither does the response by the Chamber of Commerce to our email on the Employee Free Choice Act and Robert's blog post on Calitics about it. Here is the Chamber:

Language lesson for Calitics, the word option means "The power or freedom to choose." The Employee Free Choice Act gives no choice "if a majority of them sign cards," there will not be an election.

Yes, that's right. Workers would get to choose how or if they would like to unionize under the Employee Free Choice Act.

Option A 50% of workers sign a card saying yes I would like to join a union.

Option B the workers request a secret election.

If they choose Option A and 50% of the workers sign the cards, then they do not do Option B.

The Chamber is confused, because quite often workers have to do both A and B under the current law and that is what is wrong with current labor law, among other things.

Why do they do both you ask....well, often workers will sign the cards, but the bosses will not want to accept the fact that their workers want to join a union. The bosses decide at that point that they want a secret election. Those usually take months to set up, giving the employers time to hire union busting consultants, spend work time threatening their workers that if they vote to unionize then they will go out of business and all too often, fire workers who are helping organize a union.

The Employee Free Choice Act puts the decision making power into the hands of the employees, thus the name of the act. The end result is that workers will be able to more easily form a union when they want one. That power shift away from the corporations that make up the Chamber of Commerce is what scares the pants off of them and causes them to make up illogical arguments.

The wonderful Marta, one of our facilitators was kind enough to upload her photos from this weekend onto our Flickr photostream. There are some absolutely wonderful shots of Camp Courage Fresno. I've noticed that a number of campers/facilitators have already made the photos their facebook profile pictures.

Enjoy!



And here is the local NBC affiliate's story from Saturday night on Camp Courage Fresno.

This weekend in Fresno we collectively changed lives. Everyone was Respected, Empowered and Included.

Fresno, thank you for welcoming us into your community. We learned so much from you and are so grateful that you got so much out of the weekend. We did too. As Mike Bonin said in an email to the Camp Courage team this morning: "It is changing those creating it as much as it is changing those who are attending it."

The best way for those who were not there to get a feeling for Camp Courage Fresno is to hear directly from the participants and the facilitators. By and large the wonderful participants were from the Central Valley. The incredible trainers and facilitators came from all over CA (and even one person from NM) and were either Camp Courage or Camp Obama alumni.

The testimonials from the Campers are humbling and inspiring:

Camp Courage was definitely one of the greatest experiences of my life thus far. To reiterate what another participant said, it feels so good to finally be PROUD to live in Fresno.

One sentence conveys so much:

this was the best thing that has happend to me in my life and i will continue this movement in my life thank you

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