Sacramento, Tuesday, May 13, 2008 – Karen Bass was sworn in as speaker of the California State Assembly. She is the first African-American woman to hold such a legislative post anywhere in the United States. Speaker Bass says ready to begin tackling the many challenges facing California. Governor Schwarzenegger was scheduled to release his revised budget proposal Wednesday afternoon.
Ms. Bass is a Democrat representing the 47th Assembly District in Los Angeles. The impression of this Green reporter is that Karen is more thoughtful, more honest, and more sincerely progressive than most Big City California Democratic Party pols. The Los Angeles Times published an op-ed by Ms. Bass proposing an "independent" look at the "Third Rail" of California politics: Taxes. Her op-ed includes a concise description of the paradox of California: a state with wealth, resources, and a productive work force that is somehow "a giant in crisis."
Peter Miguel Camejo, our Green Party candidate for Governor spoke "Truth to Power" about the budget way back in 2002, when Democratic Governor Gray Davis was lying through his teeth. Greens have earned the right to a seat at the table and we must seize this opportunity to engage in a little "triangulation" between the better elements of the California legislature and do-nothing, ethically-challenged "Regular" Democrats and Republicans.
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The point is not that Camejo, Greens, or anybody else, has a "magic wand" to make our budget problems go away. The point is that the Green Party was straight with the people of California when Democrats, Republicans, including the phoney "post-partisan" Arnold Schwarzenegger, were all shucking 'n jiving... We have the duty to help save California and promote our key values to save the planet.
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