CA new SoS McPherson's transition team announced...

Kim Alexander had this on her site:

Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Bruce McPherson names transition team
Bruce McPherson, who is Governor Schwarzenegger's nominee for Secretary of State to replace Kevin Shelley, announced his transition team yesterday. On Wednesday, McPherson will appear before the Senate Rules Committee, where he is expected to respond to the committee members' questions about his plans for the Office of Secretary of State. The hearing begins at 1:30 p.m. at the State Capitol in Room 112.

The following is excerpted from a news release issued yesterday by the transition office. Transition team members include:

Senator Dede Alpert -- represented the San Diego region in the California State Legislature from 1991 through 2004.

Cynthia Bryant -- currently serving as the Chief Deputy Legislative Affairs Secretary for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Bruce Cain -- the Robson Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley as well as the Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies.

Bradley Clark -- Registrar of Voters for Alameda County.

Ernest Hawkins -- a private practice election consultant who served for twenty-three years as the Director of Voter Registration for Sacramento County.

Thomas Knox -- a partner at the law firm of Knox, Lemmon & Anapolsky, LLP. where he specializes in administrative, political, corporate, commercial, real estate, and environmental law.

Robert Lapsley -- former Undersecretary of State for Secretary of State Bill Jones.

David Lesher -- the Director of New America's California Program, which has the goal of improving public debate by sponsoring a range of research, writing, and public education events.

Beth Miller Malek -- a partner in Wilson-Miller Communications, Inc., a public affairs consulting firm based in Sacramento.

Steven Merksamer -- a senior government law partner in the firm of Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor, LLP.

Adan Ortega, Jr. -- Senior Communications Management Advisor with the firm of GCG Rose & Kindel.

Chris Reynolds -- has fifteen years of experience working in California State government. He currently serves as legislative director for the California Bay-Delta Authority.

Jack Ripsteen -- a retired attorney specializing in probate, estate planning and real estate law.

Kevin Starr -- California State Librarian Emeritus and author of several books on California, including the six-volume "Americans and the California Dream."

Robert Stern -- President of the Center for Governmental Studies.

William Wood -- Acting California Corporations Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Corporations.

(# 5:15 PM)

http://calvoter.org/news/blog/index.html

...two of the biggest CA election problem areas.

Ojai Person, where are we with the nomination? Has he been confirmed? Should we still be doing calls, letters on confirmation?

I have a good line about McPherson: After Florida and Ohio, Republican Secretaries of State are guilty until proven innocent--and ones appointed by a Republican governor to replace an elected Democrat are even moreso.

This is Not good news

Again from Kim Alexander.

Thursday, March 17, 2005
McPherson confirmation update, opening statement
Today's Assembly Rules Committee hearing on Bruce McPherson's appointment was less contentious than expected. The committee is continuing its hearing on March 29, after their Spring recess when the Legislature reconvenes. That meeting may be rather short and a committee vote will likely take place that day.

Meanwhile, over in the Senate, McPherson's appointment was unanimously approved today on the Senate floor. The Senate Rules Committee plans to make a transcript of Wednesday's hearing, as well as McPherson's written answers to the committee's questions, available to the public soon.

In the meantime, Bruce McPherson's transition team forwarded me a copy of the opening statement he made at the beginning of both Rules committee hearings.

(# 5:03 PM)
McPherson confirmation hearings
Yesterday the Senate Rules Committee voted 5-0 in support of confirming Bruce McPherson as the next Secretary of State. The Senate is in session this morning and is likely to take up the appointment on the Senate floor before it adjourns today.

Over in the Assembly, the Rules Committee will soon begin its hearing on the McPherson appointment. It begins when the Assembly floor session ends, in room 126 of the State Capitol. The Assembly makes an audio feed of its hearing available online. You can also check the California Channel's archive for a video of yesterday's Senate Rules hearing.

The Senate hearing was rather collegial, as expected. The Assembly hearing is expected to be more contentious. There are several articles about yesterday's hearing available on the Rough & Tumble web site. The Sacramento Bee story reported this comment from Bruce McPherson regarding the paper trail: "I believe it's absolutely necessary in retaining confidence in our election systems."

Other interesting news comes courtesy of the Los Angeles Daily News, where Troy Anderson reports today that the vote counting software used to count the City of Los Angeles' recent mayoral election was modified before the election and was not recertified before use. The Daily News reports that the Secretary of State's office is looking into it.

(# 10:28 AM)

http://calvoter.org/news/blog/index.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x345181

(She got this report from a friend who watched the hearing on cable:)

I watched most of the
assembly committee hearing with McPherson on the
California channel today, and have some reservations
about him, that you don't seem to have, so I hope I'm
wrong to be concerned. 1st, he inferred that dre's are
a requirement of hava(they're not right?) and we need
to get going quickly on them, so we can get the hava
money.

2nd,he stated that he beleives Californians are
confident in the integrity of our state's
elections(I'm not, so he's wrong) and seemed to infer
that the paper trail, though necessary to implement
because it's currently Ca. law, aren't really that
important. At least that's the gist of what I got from
some of his statements.

3rd, one of the Democratic
assemblymen asked him if he were going to keep his
"transition team" working with him. When Mcpherson
said yes, he felt very comfortable with his team, the
assemblymen expressed grave concern about some of the
members of that team being highly partisan, and wanted
his concern to be put on the record.

Anyway, I felt
pretty uncomfortable about him

and report what we have learned for the next phase of the confirmation process.

1. The public is being railroaded--just as with the Recall. No time to get informed, no time to digest who this guy and his transition team is, nor what happened to Shelley, nor why, nor to provide public input and bring public pressure to bear.

2. The Senate gave unanimous consent. If the Assembly does the same, McPherson has carte blanche to weaken Shelley's reforms, to bend the rules for Schwarz (on having an expensive special election on redistricting before large portions of the vote become verifiable), on McCormack/Diebold's agenda (paperless), and god knows what else.

3. Due to one Assembly member missing the date switch for confirmation (from 3/16 to 3/7), the Assembly vote was postponed until after Easter (to 3/29). That's not a lot of time, but it's something.

4. Our goal? To insure that the Assembly vote is not unanimous? And/or to get serious doubts expressed? Get the public's concerns voiced? Put some brakes on McPherson, and this whole Schwarz/Diebold agenda?


------

Note: Re: The rush to confirm McPherson. The argument that he must get confirmed quickly so he can get to work is B.S.. The Sec of State's office has plenty of competent people, and a custodian could run it--keeping all current time-lines and procedures. The rush to get McPherson in there is a rush to GET THINGS CHANGED, to get Schwarz's and this transition team's agenda implemented.

I'm afraid you are right!

Thank goodness for this delay. We must make good use of it. Looking into the transition team may be a good start.

they should be demanding arnold name a democrat to fill the SoS seat as the VOTERS CHOSE a democrat for that job. the legislature has absolute authority to reject any and all SoS nominees until arnold does the right thing.

sorry bunch of sad ass cowards is what the legislature dems are.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

...bunch of cowards"). I mean, what all does it take to stand up for our right to vote? Not much, it would seem. Such a basic thing. But then...

...um, we saw similar "cowardice" (if that's what it was) in Congress with the vote on Iraq...

...following Paul Wellstone's plane crash, the anthrax attacks, the disgusting personal attack on Max Cleland in Georgia (seemingly successful--success compliments of Diebold)...

...and now, Kevin Shelley, his life and career in ruins, for what? Probably for opposing Diebold, and sticking up for our right to vote...

What I'm getting at is that these people are in the line of fire. We are not. (Maybe we will be, but not now.) They have good reason to be fearful--of loss of job, status, power to do any good; loss of reputation; utter ruin.

I can see the bind they're put in.

Fear is one thing. I think fear of the Bush Cartel is quite legitimate. And if you are in a position of public power, you are their target, ESPECIALLY if you are honest. And fear corrodes judgement and can create great confusion.

So, I find it hard to judge them in terms of cowardice vs. courage. My feelings spit out, "Coward!" My mind says, "Hey, wait a minute!"

Corruption, however, is a different matter. I look at that very harshly. (This is why I give Kerry the benefit of the doubt--I don't think he is corrupt. Confused; compromised; possibly lied to by DNC; possibly fearful, with him and his family being the biggest targets on earth, and a lot of other things--but not venal and corrupt, not motivated by personal gain.)

Anyway, I think corruption is far more at work here (in Calif.) than cowardice, although cowardice may play some part.

will be losing anything for standing up to arnold on behalf of the democrats who voted these legislators into office. That is why i vote for democrats, to represent my views.

look where kerry got for being nice to fascists.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/howarddean2008.htm

Well, how can we know? This political system is so corrupted that staying in office is not just a matter between a particular politician and the voters (as we saw with Kevin Shelley, and with Gray Davis, not to mention Max Cleland, Al Gore, John Kerry, and others who have been deprived of office by nefarious means, including smears and electoral fraud--or those like Bush, Cheney, Delay, Hagel. Schwarzenegger, and so many more, who get into office by nefarious means). In fact, the voters are the least part of it (which is the core problem, of course).

US-based global corporations, and their lapdog news monopolies, are so powerful that they literally dictate who can run and who can win--AND who can be ruined, at the drop of the hat, when they get uppity (--or whose top-of-the-line campaign airplane, with two first-rate pilots, veers away from the airport runway for no reason and crashes into the countryside, with the FBI showing up out of nowhere and spending hours at the site before the FCC arrives, in violation of all protocol, and immediately puts out a story, while the plane is still burning, that it was the "weather," and no one in the news monopolies questions it, and there is no public hearing, ever).

(I've just read "American Assassination: The Strange Death of Senator Paul Wellstone," by Jim Fetzer and Four Arrows.)

What I'm saying is that we peons who live outside the bubble of power, cannot really know what kinds of fears and pressures our politicians are dealing with, and how to judge a matter like cowardice vs. courage. (I'm thinking, too, of someone like Tom Daschle, who got anthraxed, or Bill Clinton, who got severely hamstrung by an utterly unfair "Star Chamber" investigation of his personal life.)

Fear can corrode judgment. It DIDN'T corrode Paul Wellstone's judgment, so--in my opinion--they had to get rid of him some other way. (He had pledged to lead the fight in the Senate against the Iraq war resolution, was a very strong, well-focused, populist politician, and was well-positioned to win the Democratic presidential nomination.) And something similar happened with Kevin Shelley. Fear did not corrode his judgment of Diebold, so, when they decided to make their move on California, they had to get rid of him. As with Clinton, they dug and they dug and they dug and they dug, and lo and behold, they found a flaw or two, and made something out of nothing, with big headlines, and the man--being a rare honest politician who didn't have big money backing, and thus could not afford a defense, resigned.

And what we have to look at, in Shelley's case, is the DEMOCRATS who colluded in that stinking Diebold campaign. It's not cowardice. It's corruption. Or, rather, it's very hard to judge cowardice--but corruption sticks out like a sore thumb (in some cases).

Our democracy has been under assault for some decades. We didn't arrive at our current situation overnight, with Bush. But here we are, in this Byzantine BushWorld of poisonings and backstabbings and Dark Lords running an empire against the plain will of the American people, and we just cannot expect politicians to stand up, like White Knights, in this filthy, treacherous scene, and suddenly start acting as if we have a democracy, and charging forth as champions of the people.

Yes, I suppose we can go ahead and judge them in those terms. They have failed White Knighthood. But what does it gain us--other than expressing what we WOULD LIKE TO HAVE HAPPEN?

It doesn't gain us any strategy points, or any advantage, to judge someone as a coward. But it DOES help strategy to look for signs of corruption, investigate it, and determine what forces are at work, how to build a coalition (and with whom), where does the public still have some vestige of power, and what kinds of public pressure and action can be effective toward our goal: verifiable elections.

We can't address any of the other problems until we HAVE verifiable elections. Think of it as a battle in a war. You've got enemies on top of a hill with machine guns. They are raining fire down upon you and decimating your troops. You have the forces to win the battle, but you MUST take that hill first. What does it matter, in that situation, that some of your officers and troops are cowards? It is JUST PART OF THE SITUATION. You cannot replace them. You cannot court-martial them. There is no time. You are under fire. So you gather those who are still trustworthy and TAKE THE DAMNED HILL.

Reckonings come later. Medals and courtmartials come later.

It's a different matter, though, if, in the midst of battle, you find that one of your own is sending signals to the enemy. In the rules of war, a traitor would likely be shot--but most certainly must be neutralized somehow. But identifying the traitor is the first and most important step in neutralization. (Why is the enemy firing with such accuracy?)

And that's as far as the war analogy gets us. It is not an exact parallel, but close enough. We, the people, are under fire. The enemy are few, but they have a strategic advantage on a high hill of power and unlimited funds. Some of our people are cowards. What do we do? Some are traitors (corrupt). What do we do? And we MUST take that hill, or all is lost.

Well, perhaps a better way to address this dire situation would be to CHANGE politics altogether--so that warlike metaphors just don't apply.

The Venezuelans did it--they went out in the streets in the tens of thousands, surrounded the presidential palace, and stopped the US-backed kidnapping and killing of Huge Chavez by their sheer numbers, by their PRESENCE.

And in the movie "Witness," the neighboring Amish farmers--hearing an alarm bell rung--drop whatever they're doing and go running across the fields to the farm where the bad guy is about to kill our hero and stop the killing by their mere presence and number. They have no weapons. But they are WITNESSES.

That's what we REALLY want to have happen--not for yet another White Knight to stand up and get shot down--but for ALL OF US to act in concert, with strength in numbers, and by our presence and by our witness, to stop this fascist coup.

Thank you for your post, msongs! It was refreshing. Cowards, yeah, no question about it. And it got me to thinking all this other: How do we INFLUENCE this situation? How can we strengthen both politicians and citizens? What is it that we need to DO? How can we win?

N/T

See the other thread for more information:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x345181

*Repost
For whatever it’s worth, tonight’s 10:00 news on KTVU channel 2 will have a story about a possible “conspiracy” to steal Californians' right to have our votes counted. The brief promo showed video of touchscreen voting machines and stated that many people feel that the system is “rigged.”

Bruce Cain will be interviewed. TV reporter, Randy Sandobil questions whether or not Californians will feel that the millions of dollars to fix the problem is worth it. (???)

Are they actually going to address this fiasco? I hope so!

(Sorry to have posted this twice, but I really wanted to be sure DU people saw it. I’m new to blogging and managed to pretty much bury it the first time.)

If our state legislature knows that this information is common knowledge, they may be more likely to act in good faith.

I've gotten some comments about him from peeps up there

I hope he won’t be just another yes-man for Arnold.

but much of what he says about the redistricting effort doesn't add up. How could he be so naive as to think and to state that der Grope wants more moderates elected, and that that is the basis of his redistricting effort?

He also said very little that was negative about the recall, and he said a lot.

Either this man is clueless or is dishonest. It doesn't add up.

And my comments are general and anecdotal.

Re:

"...der Grope wants more moderates elected,..."

I've got a buddy who'd tell you that's exactly what Arnie wants. And running the middle is exactly what Arnie's done...a lot of.

There's no affinity lost among Christians.

I look at him trying to pull a Bill Clinton.

None of this is an endorsement...for Arnie (or Bill). I'm not saying that vote rigging is not in play.

But more moderates? Left and Right? You bet Arnie'd like that. What am I missing. :shrug:

Promos for the news segment showed footage of touchscreen voting machines. Questions were posed as to whether or not the system was rigged, whether or not there was a conspiracy to take away voters’ right to have their votes count.

The story appeared to be about blackbox voting fraud. It wasn’t. Instead KTVU aired a right-leaning piece about Arnold’s desire to hold a special election to redraw congressional districts in California.

Bruce Cain’s appearance: he agreed with Arnold that there had been a conspiracy between Dems and Reps, after the last Census, to redraw districts in a way that allowed the existing representatives to keep their seats.

The closest the reporter came to giving air time to the opposing side was a brief interview with Don Perata (Oakland) in which Perata agreed that the districts should be given another look – AFTER the next Census.

So the story about blackbox voting machines’ part in the overthrow of our democracy continues to go untold, at least on KTVU.
How disappointing.

Thanks to the work of YurBud, PeacePatriot, OjaiPerson on this

There are four people on this list who are flat out clear and present threats to AVVPAT in Calif
They are the first 4 people listed


ADAN ORTEGA Jr.

UNACCEPTABLE

Present:
Senior Communications Management Advisor with GCG Rose & Kindel
DIEBOLD is a Client of the firm !!!!!
Past:
Chief Deputy of State for Secretary of State Bill Jones
VP of External Affairs for Metropolitan Water District of So. Calif ( 8 years)
see link below
http://www.rosekindel.com/clientlist.shtml

info@rosekindel.com

LOS ANGELES
Wilshire Grand Hotel
900 Wilshire Bvd., Suite 1030
Los Angeles, California 90017
Tel (213) 624-1030
Fax (213) 624-0123

SACRAMENTO
Capitol Place
915 "L" Street, Suite 1210
Sacramento, California 95814
Tel (916) 441-1034
Fax (916) 444-9362


BETH MILLER MALEK

Beth Miller-Malek
Wilson Miller Communications
1415 L Street, Suite 430
Sacramento, CA 95814
bmiller@wilsonmillercom.com

UNACCEPTABLE

Present:
Partner, Wilson-Miller Communications, Inc.
A Major Fund Raiser for Schwarzenegger
Worked extensively on the Workman’s Comp Reforms
Initiative
Past:
Chief Assistant Secretary of State, Calif, senior Advisor to
Former SoS Bill Jones, implemented the Open Primary system
Deputy Director of Communications & Chief Deputy Press Secretary for Gov. Pete Wilson


CYNTHIA BRYANT
UNACCEPTABLE

Presently: Part of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Team
Chief Deputy Legislative Affairs Secretary
Past:
Policy Director Senate Republican Caucus
Legal Counsel for both:
Assembly Republican Caucus –specialized in the Political Reform Act
Assembly Rules Committee


STEVEN MERKSAMER
Lawyer
UNACCEPTABLE

Speciality: Litigating Redistricting and Reapportionment
For Government Entities
Present:
Senior Partner, Nielsen, Merksamer , Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor, LLP
Client: Citizens to Save California,
A Coalition of business groups and others who are UNDERWRITING
Efforts to place Schwarzenegger’s political agenda on the ballot in the special election.
Member ,Board of Directors of the California Chamber of Commerce
Past: Redistricting Work for State of Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission
Florida: defending against constitutional and Voting Rights Act challenges to redistricting plans
Chief of Staff to Gov. George Deukmejian ( 5 years)
Special Assistant Attorney General of the State of California senior Counselor & policy advisor
President Reagan’s Administration of Justice Task Force & National Commission on Presidential Scholars
Steven Merksamer
SMerksamer@NMGovLaw.com
http://www.nmgovlaw.com /



BRADLEY CLARK

Present:
Registrar of Voters, Alameda County ( 10 years)
Past:
Assistant Registrar of Voters , Monterey County
Elections Analyst, staff of Calif Sec. of State March Fong Eu
Past President of Calif Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California SoS Advisory Committee on Voting Systems ( 6 years
Bradley Clark
Registrar of Voters
County of Alameda
1225 Fallon Street G-1
Oakland, CA 94612-4283
(510) 272-6933
Fax Number: 510 272-6982
brad.clark@acgov.org


BRUCE CAIN

Present:
Robson Professor of Political Science UC Berkeley
Director of the Institute of Governmental Studies
Written extensively on redistricting issues and
Governmental reform
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Well liked by Liberals in the Bay Area
Bruce Cain
University of California, Berkeley
Instit. of Governmental Studies
111 Moses Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-2370
94720-2370
(510) 642-1739
(510) 642-1474
bruce@cain.berkeley.edu
vita:
http://www.polisci.berkeley.edu/Faculty/bio/permanent/C... /


CHRIS REYNOLDS

Present:
Legislative Director, California Bay-Delta Authority
Past:
Legislative Director, under SoS Bill Jones, and Senior Policy Consultant (2995-1998)
Legislative Director, for the California Air Resources Board, under Pete Wilson

And the Calif EPA
Chris Reynolds
California Bay-Delta Authority
650 Capitol Mall, 5th Floor
Sacramento, Ca. 95814

christopherr@calwater.ca.gov
(916) 445-0134


DAVID LESHER


Present:
Director of New America’s California Project
Past:
Visiting Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of Calif
Editor –in-Chief California Journal,
Covered Politics for the L.A. Times (15 years)


ERNEST HAWKINS

Present:
Private Practice Election Consultant
Board of Directors, National Ass. Of County Recorders, Election Officials, & Clerks
Chair, Board of Directors for the Election Center
Past:
Director of Voter Registration, Sacramento County ( 23 years)
Chair of the Election Legislation Committee of Clerks & Elected
Officials (20 years

JACK RIPSTEEN

Present:
Retired

Past:
Attorney,
Specialized in probate, estate planning and real estate law.
Taught R.E. Law at Merritt College (30 years)
Commissioner, Calif State Parks & Recreation Commission ( 6 years0

KEVIN STARR

Present:
Calif State Librarian Emeritus
Professor of History, USC
Contributing Editor, L.A. Times

Past:
Pulitzer Prize Nomination

Author:
“Americans & the California Dream” 6 volumes
Starr, Kevin
University Professor
History
History Department,
175 Social Science Building,
University of Southern California,
3520 Trousdale Parkway,
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0034
213-821-2595
kstarr@usc.edu
his webpage with vita:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/history/Faculty/f-files/Sta...

ROBERT LAPSLEY

Past:
Former Undersecretary of State for SoS Bill Jones
Appointed by George Bush, to State Dept., as Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to Spain, George Argyros


ROBERT STERN

Present:
President, Center for Governmental Studies

Past:
Election Council, SoS, 1973, 1974
First General Counsel, Fair Practices Commission ( 9 years)

Robert Stern
President
Center for Governmental Studies
http://www.cgs.org/index.php

Contact:

Center for Governmental Studies
10951 West Pico Boulevard, Suite 120
Los Angeles, CA 90064-2184
Phone: (310) 470-6590 Fax: (310) 475-3752
rstern@cgs.org

Their board:
http://www.cgs.org/about/board.html
Who gives them money:
http://www.cgs.org/about/funders.html


DEDE ALPERT


Past:
1991 thru 2004
Calif State Legislature-
3 terms in Assembly
2 terms Senate
San Diego
Chair of Senate Appropriations Committee &
Joint Committee on the Master Plan for Education
Chaired Education Committees of both Houses

Dede Alpert
14165 STEEPLE CHASE ROW (home address)
SAN DIEGO, CA 92130
Phone: (858) 794-0083

THOMAS KNOX
Lawyer

Present:
Partner, Law firm of Knox, Lemmon & Anapolsky, LLP
Speciality:
Administrative, political, corporate, commercial, real estate, &
Environmental law
Past:
California State Fair Political Practices Commission


Thomas Knox
****corporate lawyers--any chance of conflict of interest?
Knox Lemmon & Anapolsky, LLP
One Capitol Mall, 7th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone 916.498.9911
Facsimile 916.498.9991
contact@klalawfirm.com

TONY HILL

Present:
Founder, Access Unlimited, consulting firm


Past:

UC Santa Cruz
Calif Child Care Resource & Referral Network
County of Santa Cruz
Oracle
AT&T

WILLIAM WOOD

Present:
Acting California Corporations Commissioner
Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Corporations
On the following Advisory Boards:
Calif Industrial Development Finance Advisory Commission
A Gov. Schwarzenegger Appointment

Past:
Chief Counsel, SoS

Developed the legal structure to implement Proposition 42, the Voting Modernization Bond Act, which allocated $200 for the modernization of California’s voting equipment.
Directed the SoS legal defense before the U.S. Supreme Court of California’s Open Primary
California District Attorneys Association, senior staff
District Attorney, Sacramento County



sources;

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mcpherson17mar17,1,5323507.story

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/shelley/story/12583497p-13438140c.html

http://yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_19027.shtml

because he doesn't seem at all worried about Arnold and is all for the redistricting...