Events This Week

UPDATE: Leighton Woodhouse has written in the comments section that Markos Moulitsas, the founder of Daily Kos, will be talking about the CA-11 race at the event on Thursday. It will be interesting to see his take on the race as he is a influential opinion leader among the netroots. So now there is an added incentive to attend the event.

I want to make sure people know about the following events. All but the second event directly relate to the anti-Pombo effort. The second event is something I’m publicizing because it looks like it will be an awesome program and I think the people on this site might be interested in attending. Read this notice and use the comment section as an open thread.

Tuesday February 14

The Medicare Part D Plan is a huge disaster. Many seniors and disabled persons have been denied drugs they need to stay alive and healthy. Others have been asked to pay huge co-payments – that they don’t have. Meanwhile, the drug companies who sponsored this legislation are raking in the dollars. Congressman Pombo voted for this bad bill. On Valentine’s Day, please join us to ask him to have a heart and help us fix Medicare and win real prescription drug relief.

Don’t Break Our Hearts – POMBO!
TUESDAY, February 14th in STOCKTON
11:00am: Rally & Valentines Party at Pombo’s Office
2495 W. March Lane, Stockton

12:00pm: De-brief and Tailgate Party/Lunch in parking lot
(sponsored by CWA District 9 Locals)
Sponsored by the California Alliance for Retired Americans.

To RSVP, call the Bailey’s @ 209-951-0499 or Jodi Reid @ 415-550-0828

JOIN US IN STOCKTON FROM ONE OF THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
SACRAMENTO ALAMEDA SANTA CLARA MODESTO/MANTECA CONTRA COSTA

SACRAMENTO: Vans leave at 9:30 am from the Target parking lot, Riverside & Broadway, Sacramento.

RSVP toBill Powers, 916-446-4240

ALAMEDA: Vans leave at 9:00am from Ashby BART, Berkeley.

RSVP to Jim Forsyth, 510-581-5169

SANTA CLARA: Vans leave at 9:00 am from South Bay Labor Council, 2102 Almaden, San Jose.

RSVP to Rufus Wesley, 408-578-8113

MODESTO/MANTECA: Vans leave at 9:30am Food Max, Prescott & Briggsmoore, Modesto. 10am at St. Mary’s Church, Louise & Cottage, Manteca
RSVP to Addie Brinkley, 209-545-8680

CONTRA COSTA: Carpools leave at 9:00am from Sam’s Club, 1225 Concord Ave, Concord

RSVP to Ruth Roe, 925-680-8269

Thursday February 16

The Action Caucus and the East Bay Young Democrats present:

Realizing Our Power: Visions for Youth Organizing in the Bay Area

A panel discussion on building a movement that will fight for young people and win.

Thursday, February 16th, from 7 to 9pm
Humanist Hall
390 27th Street
Oakland, California

Our panel:


Markos Moulitsas Zúniga founded and blogs for Daily Kos, a Democratic blog that receives about 20 million unique visits per month. His book, Crashing the Gate, co-authored with MyDD.com's Jerome Armstrong, will be out in March.

Hallie Montoya Tansey is the National Program Director of the League of Young Voters (AKA the League of Pissed Off Voters). She was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM.

Graciela Elizabeth Geyer is the Executive Director of the University of California Students Association. Liz is an alumna of UCLA and a former USCA board member 98-00. Liz also served as the Student of Color Campus Diversity Project Director for the United States Student Association 2000-2002.

Chloë Drew is Campaign Director for Congresswoman Barbara Lee's re-election campaign. She manages the Congresswoman's High School Activists Project that recruits and trains high school students from across the 9th District. Chloe is a founding board member of OaklandVOTE, a non-partisan voter education project dedicated to engaging voters in low turnout communities of Oakland.

Melanie Nutter is the Deputy District Director for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Prior to her current position, she was Executive Director of the San Francisco Democratic Party. Melanie will MC our discussion.

Friday February 17

The Lamorinda Democratic Club is pleased to present three excellent Democratic party candidates that are running in the June primary to defeat the right winged congressman from the 11th congressional district at its February meeting on the 17th.

Pombo, who is in his seventh term in the United States House of Representatives represents parts of San Joaquin, Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties.
In addition to supporting most issues that are in opposition to Democratic party values, Pombo has most recently penned a bill that critically weakens the landmark Endangered Species Act.

Named one of 13 most corrupt members of Congress by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Pombo is a close associate of indicted representative Tom DeLay. A right-wing zealot in charge of the House Resources Committee, he has worked vigorously to overturn environmental laws and destroy our natural heritage.

For more about Pombo click here.

Hear from these fine condidates running in the June primary:

1. Steve Filson: click here for more information.


2. Jerry McNerney: click here for more information.


3. Steve Thomas: click here for more information.

Saturday February 18

There is no announcement about this, but I figured people should know that on Saturday there will be a large meeting with representatives from the stakeholder groups in the Democratic Party concerned with this election. Both Steve Thomas and Jerry McNerney will attend, and Steve Filson will send a representative. The purpose of the meeting, as I understand it, is to lay the groundwork to ensure that whoever wins the primary has a coordinated campaign to run against Pombo. If any readers attend the meeting and have anything to report back about what happened, feel free to send me an e-mail. I won’t be able to attend because I will be out of town.