Newsletter from the Fresno County Dems Sept. 21, 2021

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Newsletter: September 21, 2021
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** In This Newsletter:
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Recall Loses but Fresno Narrowly Disappoints (#Recall)
Condemnation of Texas Abortion Ban and Bounty (#Texas)
Fresno (#March) March for Reproductive Rights (#March)

Help a Local Food Bank (#Food-Bank)

Kingsburg Recall Still Ongoing (#Jewel)

Student-led Effort to Re-name Polk Elementary (#Polk)

Clean Shared Mobility Network Community Meetings (#Mobility-Net)

“Committed to Social Justice” Freedom Fund Gala (#SLO-NAACP)

Clovis Democratic Club Annual Patriotic Picnic (#Clovis-Dems)
Erratum (#Erratum)
Democratic Party Website and HQ (#Dem-HQ)

The election is over and the Republican-led recall effort has been defeated. Governor Newsom won by a massive margin. While the Republican strategy depended on their base’s traditionally stronger showing in off-cycle elections, California’s new inclusive vote-by-mail laws seem to have helped a broader swath of the population participate.

The attempt to sneak in Larry Elder despite only 7% of Californians voting for him did not work. However, it still took our state more than $276 million to find this out, without mentioning the time during which the government was almost paralyzed by the campaigning.

However, as of now the count for Fresno County indicates a majority here voted to recall the Governor and pave the way for Elder and his lot to gain the Governor’s seat. By a margin of 2,000 votes, Fresno County stood with the disastrous movement risking our state’s health and safety. This time sanity won without us, but it shows how much work we still need to do in our hometown.

The recall process we just went through also shows some of the weaknesses of California’s unique direct-democracy governance by ballot box. Now, recall reform is on the docket for the state legislature, but these procedural issues still take yet more time away from the people we elected to help decrease housing costs and fight the devastating effects of pollution-caused climate change.

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Condemnation of Texas Abortion Ban and Bounty

The Fresno County Democratic Party Central Committee has officially condemned the legislature of Texas for passing the horrendous law that bans nearly any medically possible abortion, as well as condemning the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to intervene and stop the law from entering into immediate effect.

The abortion ban applies before most women even learn they are pregnant, has virtually no exemptions and is deliberately designed to overturn Roe v. Wade’s 40-year history that defines women’s bodily autonomy as a constitutional right.

In a stroke of even greater insanity, this new Texas law also attacks the fundamental principles of our country’s legal system by granting bounties for those who identify people who help women with an abortion. Completely uninvolved persons can sue anyone from a doctor performing a procedure to a person driving a woman to the office, with the state covering the legal fees of the accuser but not the defendant. This preposterous tactic threatens the basic principle of judicial standing.

This most recent lash Texas has delivered once again underscores that the “right side of history” cannot ever take our achievements for granted. History has no inherent trajectory, only a constant struggle between those who wish for progress and those who wish to regress. With a Trump-packed judicial system from the appellate circuits all the way to the lifetime seats on the Supreme Court, the next few decades of the fight are going to be a lot fiercer.

The resolution unanimously passed by the Fresno County Democratic Central Committee on September 1, 2021 can be viewed at:
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Text “food” to 202-858-0303 (tel:202-858-0303) for a list of food banks in your area.

Governor Newsom has pushed back the recall effort aimed at his seat, but Kingsburg Republicans are still raising money in their effort to recall City Council Member Jewel Hurtado. However, Democrats are fighting back. The group People Opposed to the Hurtado Recall is coordinating efforts to resist the Republican strategy to use recalls whenever they fail in the standard elections. Hurtado is now fundraising to defeat this Republican-led recall and save the city from paying $90,000 for a special election.

The effort to kick Hurtado out of office intensified months ago when the Council member advocated raising a Pride flag on town property to show support for LGBTQ+ residents of Kingsburg. The recall paperwork filed against her claims Hurtado has ​​”demonstrated a Marxist/socialist agenda in her activities and actions.”

All Democrats are urged to get involved. If you don’t live in Kingsburg, you can still help. Contributions are always welcome and can be given via the following link:

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America is ever so slowly coming to a long overdo awakening where we can recognize the darkness of the path we traveled to get to today. Elsewhere, statues to Confederate glory are coming down and here in Fresno residents are speaking up about the names our schools bear.

James K. Polk Elementary is the most recent candidate for a fresh start. As President, Polk won his fame conquering western territory during the Mexican-American War and promoting the expansion of White settlers through native nations in the combination of subsidies and ethnic cleansing that made up Manifest Destiny.

Polk Elementary was explicitly named to celebrate these policies, with documents attesting to the “courage and bravery of the early pioneers who settled the West.” When the students at the school that bore his name learned Polk’s actual impact, some of them decided this was not the foundation they wanted to stand on.

When a student wanted to organize a campaign to ask for support from his classmates, the administration allowed him one poster. When he hung up that poster, it was ripped down by another student’s parents. Central Unified School District has announced it will form a committee to look into the issue

It is hard to believe that anyone in Fresno County today has specific strong feelings in favor of President Polk, who has largely fallen out of the public memory. Rather, this is the traditional backlash many people exert when they are asked to make any change to things they learned before, no matter how innocuous. This reflexive, mindless conservatism, when allowed unchecked, cements instincts far more dangerous than the implication of a single name on a school sign-board.

Our collective past is of a terrifying country, full of mistakes we must strive to repair. That is the entire point of progressivism, that the only moral action can be to constantly push forward toward a future where we behave better than we did yesterday.

The cultural refusal to recognize the ethnic cleansing and periodic genocide that allowed for our nation’s expansion across the continent hacks away at our platform to criticize other such campaigns. The People’s Republic of China routinely hides behind our hypocrisy when our leaders point to their bludgeoning administration of Xinjiang and Tibet.

We need to face our collective past with open eyes and perhaps name fewer government buildings after historical political leaders.

Every third Tuesday, the network meets to discuss improving electric vehicle charging access and other transportation improvements and solutions needed to help cut our region’s contribution to damaging the atmosphere while making people’s lives easier.

All meetings are 5:30 p.m.–7 p.m. Agendas will be provided prior to the meetings. Upcoming meeting dates: Oct. 19, Nov. 16 and Dec. 21.

Meetings will be held virtually until CDC-compliant in-person meetings can be held.

For any question, e-mail [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

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The Clean Shared Mobility Network is supported by the California Strategic Growth Council’s Transformative Climate Communities program with funds from California Climate Investments—cap-and-trade dollars at work.

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Live Streaming

Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021 • 5 p.m.–7 p.m.

This event will feature Keynote Speaker Rep. Maxine Waters, to be introduced by Rep. Salud Carbajal. Rep. Waters has represented California’s 43rd Congressional district since 1991 and is the most senior of the 12 Black women currently serving in Congress.

Highlights of the Online Event:

Awards Ceremony • Silent Auction • Entertainment

Visit naacpslocty.org/Gala to download information on the following:

• Be a major event sponsor

• Advertise in the event program

• Be a food donor

• Donate a silent auction item

• Purchase tickets Online at bit.ly/3kDoyhG (case sensitive): $700 for group of 10, $75 general admission

Event webpage: naacpslocty.org/Gala

[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

805-619-5354 (tel:805-619-5354)

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Regarding our recent press release on vaccination policy at the City of Fresno, note the following correction: Vaccinated employees at the City of Fresno have a sticker reflecting that they are vaccinated and the non-vaccinated do not have a sticker.

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News and events will alway arise faster than this newsletter can come out. That is why the Fresno County Democratic Party website is the best place to get regular updates on upcoming events in the area, as well as information on ways to get involved. There is also information on scheduled meetings from the many Democratic clubs in Fresno County, so you can find one that most suits you and your interests.

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The Democratic Party HQ (1033 U St ([link removed]) .) is open 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Monday–Friday. Call 559-495-0606 (tel:559-495-0606) or e-mail [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Re%3A%20Newsletter-9-21-21%20) for information or to volunteer.

Support your local Democratic Party by making a donation viaActBlue ([link removed]) or by mailing a check to Fresno County Democratic Party, P.O. Box 5795, Fresno, CA 93755.


Our newsletter is prepared by Francis Horan.

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