XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.trump, talk.politics.misc   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: democrats@blow.smoke   
      
   In article    
   governor.swill@gmail.com wrote:   
   >   
   > Trump says that it is justly deserved because Californians vote Democrat.   
      
   The California Democratic Party sent mixed signals to racial   
   justice and environmental activists Sunday by refusing to accept   
   further campaign contributions from some fossil fuel companies   
   and pledging to review contributions from law enforcement   
   organizations on a case-by-case basis.   
      
   The move, which has been under consideration for months, was   
   seen as a way for the state Democratic Party — the nation’s   
   largest — to align its rhetoric on racial justice and the   
   environment with its financing sources — in other words, to   
   refrain from raising campaign cash from sources that it clashes   
   with on those political and policy matters. The party’s   
   executive board, meeting virtually Sunday, agreed 192-48 to   
   accept the changes. It will review the rules in two years.   
      
   “The California Democratic Party has taken an important step   
   forward to more clearly fund our important work in line with our   
   democratic values,” state party chair Rusty Hicks said Sunday in   
   a statement after the vote. “We now turn our full attention to   
   engaging 10 million California Democrats to protect our   
   democracy and build a California that works for all of us.”   
      
   While the move sends a strong message, the party has “made a   
   political calculation that they’re going to gain more votes than   
   they would lose as a result of taking money from these places,”   
   said Jessica Levinson, a professor of law at Loyola University   
   in Los Angeles. Democrats hold a vise-grip on political power in   
   California, controlling all statewide offices and comprising a   
   supermajority in the Legislature.   
      
   “You can’t afford to say, ‘We’re above money from X or Y,’ if   
   you feel like you might lose power in the state,” Levinson said.   
      
   However, the party’s leadership was split, with some saying the   
   steps taken were not enough to show the party was willing to   
   give up big money even from sources that are in conflict with   
   the party’s core ideals on climate policy and racial justice.   
   One of the state’s party’s vice chairs, controller Betty Yee,   
   supported the changes as “a balanced, comprehensive approach.”   
      
   Another of the state party’s vice chairs — former San Francisco   
   supervisor and current state Assembly candidate David Campos —   
   voted against the changes, even though he said they “move the   
   party in the right direction.”   
      
   “Unfortunately,” Campos told The Chronicle on Sunday, “they   
   leave the door open for the party to continue to take money from   
   some fossil fuel companies and law enforcement unions opposing   
   criminal justice reform.”   
      
   Other party activists say the agreement is full of loopholes and   
   echoed Campos’ sentiment that it doesn’t go far enough.   
      
   “It’s an absolute joke,” said R.L. Miller, a Ventura County   
   resident who is a member of the Democratic National Committee   
   and of the state party’s executive board. She is a co-founder of   
   Climate Hawks Vote, which asks candidates to not take   
   contributions from fossil fuel companies.   
      
   Miller noted that while the party’s move bans contributions from   
   fossil fuel companies and includes investor-owned utilities   
   Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and Sempra, it allows them from   
   utility Southern California Edison.   
      
   The reason for that divergence, according to a report prepared   
   for executive board members Sunday, is that Southern California   
   Edison “only provides electricity services to customers” and   
   provides “no gas services,” unlike the other two utilities,   
   according to portions of the party’s report obtained by The   
   Chronicle.   
      
   Miller said that some of the energy that Southern California   
   Edison delivers is from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,   
   natural gas, a practice that environmental activists condemn   
   because of its ability to pollute groundwater and release the   
   greenhouse gas methane.   
      
   On law enforcement contributions, the state party said it will   
      
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