ADA Southern California endorses and supports Healthy California in their efforts to guarantee healthcare for ALL Californians.

Are you in LA, the OC, or the IE? Join in this weekend at Town Halls on the Future of Healthcare in California! Come learn more about SB 562, the Healthy California Act, which guarantees healthcare to ALL in the Golden State. In the face of attack on our healthcare, California must lead the way to real solutions that cover everyone, save lives and will save billions with SB562! Details after the jump.

Find out more at https://www.facebook.com/CampaignForAHealthyCalifornia/

ADA SoCal Endorsements for the March 7th Los Angeles Municipal Election

The most important consideration on the Los Angeles Primary ballot this year isn't whether or not Developers need to abide by a neighborhood zoning plan, but whether or not our public schools should be governed by a school board bought and paid for by the Charter School Industry. Democrats were horrified when Donald Trump nominated Charter School and School Voucher activist Betsy DeVos to be the Secretary of Education. But corporatist Democrats have had a miserable record in protecting our public schools and our teachers unions from corporatized charter schools that siphon off our tax dollars for unregulated profit-driven education. Our former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made proliferation of Charter Schools a top priority. And President Obama's Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was in the bag for the Charter School Industry as well.

The Charter School Industry is spending huge amounts of money to make sure that the LA School Board answers to it. Monica Garcia, who is in their pay, is seeking re-election to District 2. Ex-Mayor Republican Richard Riordan has donated $1 million to defeat Steve Zimmer because Zimmer is a strong advocate for good public schools. The Charter School Industry has set up two $5 million Independent expenditure funds to oppose Teachers' Union-endorsed candidates Steve Zimmer and Imelda Padilla. If you can find time between now and election day, please volunteer some time to phone bank for these candidates. [http://utla.net/news/phone-bank-canvass-zimmer-padilla] Los Angeles already has more charter schools than any other city in the country. If we want to protect Public Education in LA, we need to act!

Keith Ellison for DNC Chair

Updated February 25, 2017

Statement on the election of Tom Perez to DNC chair from ADA Southern California President, Clifford J. Tasner.

"Earlier today, when I saw that the DNC had voted not to ban donations from corporate PACs I had a strong feeling that Keith Ellison wasn't going to win the election to be Chair of the DNC. In inserting Tom Perez into the race and in electing him, the DNC once again thumbs its nose at the Left as it continues the losing Democratic strategy of moving to the "center" and courting big corporate donors and expecting that the Progressives who comprise the party's base will still come out for elections with great enthusiasm. You wonder how many more blue legislative offices have to bleed red before it occurs to the party to reverse that equation and instead, offer a full-throated defense of real progressive values and see if maybe the centrists who are frightened by what The Donald and the Republicans have in mind for the country step up and vote for a clear Left alternative.

To Tom Perez' credit, he recognized how split the party is, and named Keith Ellison to be deputy chair of the DNC. I'm going to reserve judgment on whether this is merely a symbolic gesture or a substantive one, until I see how Keith's role plays out. Had Hillary Clinton been committed to courting and inspiring the millions of Democratic voters to her left, she might have done the same thing and named an actual progressive as her vice presidential candidate. And she'd be President now.

But, As David Frum said, "Republicans fear their base; Democrats despise theirs!"

The Left tried to provide the Democrats with an untainted, popular, populist progressive candidate who could have handily trounced Trump's campaign against Washington insiders and we were rebuffed. Now, we tried to provide the Democratic Party apparatus with leadership who could turn the Party's prospects around for the 2018 election. And we were once again taken for granted.

But we on the Left are running for office and running to be delegates of state Democratic Parties. The transformation from a corporate centrist party to a progressive populist one is going to be a slower and a more difficult one than we'd hoped, but we have to keep working toward this. In the meantime, we need to figure out how to elect DNC members who are not so terrified of alienating their corporate donors!"

Fighting Trump

People are finding creative ways to fight Trump; from protesting to calling Senators to oppose the nominees to sending books to the White House for Trump to "read". Our very own ADA So Cal President, Clifford J. Tasner, wrote and produced this song about Trump's appointees. Check it out.