{"article":{"id":17342,"heading":""Buy Back the Government" Telethon(hosted by Critical Resistance)","author":"chuckE","created":"2002-06-26 16:33:09","modified":"2002-06-26 16:33:09","last_modified":"Wed, 26 Jun 2002 23:33:09","article":"
Please circulate...and JOIN US!
THURSDAY, JUNE 27 @ 11AM
STATE CAPITOL(See carpool info below)
ORGANIZERS TO LAUNCH \"BUY BACK THE GOVERNMENT\"
TELETHON
LEGISLATORS FUND $595 MILLION DELANO PRISON DESPITE
DECLINING PRISON POPULATION, BUDGET CRISIS & PUBLIC
OPINION
SACRAMENTO, CA - Setting a goal of $2.3 million - the
same amount California's prison guards' contributed to
state legislative races -- grassroots organizers will
hold a \"Buy Back the Government\" Telethon in front of
the State Capitol on Thursday, June 27 at 11 am.
Organizers will set up a phone bank to accept calls
from contributors on the north side of the
State Capitol and will accept on site donations as
well. As a premium, each donor to the campaign will
receive a laminated picture of the Governor or a
legislator so everyone, not just the California
Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), can
have the Governor in his or her pocket. And school
children, weathering severe cuts to next year's
education budget, will set up a lemonade stand to
raise their \"Buy Back the Government\" donations.
Earlier this month, despite a $23 billion deficit, a
declining prison population and a statewide poll
finding that Californians strongly favor a freeze on
state prison building, the joint budget conference
committee funded the controversial $595 million Delano
prison plan.
\"Our goal of $2.3 million may seem unrealistic to
some, but we've learned what it costs to win in
Sacramento,\" said Dorsey Nunn, M.C. for the Telethon.
\"It's telling that in the midst of the worst budget
crisis in a decade, the prison guards get a 34%
raise, a $595 million new prison and the Corrections'
budget is going up, not down,\" commented Rose Braz,
Director of Critical Resistance, noting that the
Governor's May Revision to the Budget provides for a
$185.9 million increase to the state's $5 billion
prison budget.
\"You really do get a lot of bang for your buck in
Sacramento when you're the number one contributor to
state legislative races,\" continued Braz, commenting
that the guards contributed an additional $251,000 to
the Governor only weeks after he granted the guards a
pay hike of as much as $1 billion dollars.
The Delano prison will siphon $124 million from the
general fund per year to operate and repay the debt
for the next 25 years. Every major newspaper across
the state, including the Los Angles Times, San
Francisco Chronicle and Orange County Register
editorialized against construction of the prison.
A statewide poll of likely voters recently found that
Californians strongly favor a freeze on state prison
construction and cuts to state prisons, over any other
state program, to address the budget crisis.
The poll of 600 likely voters also found that 76% of
those surveyed supported requiring voter approval of
new prison construction. The legislature did not seek
voter approval before authorizing the contentious
Delano prison. In 1990 and again in 1996 voters turned
down proposed prison bonds 2-1. The poll was
conducted by Fairbanks, Maslin. Of those surveyed, 71%
described themselves as conservative or moderate.
Groundbreaking for the prison was set for February
2001, but has been delayed by the mounting opposition.
Opposition to the Delano prison plan has come from a
coalition of over 80 organizations including: the
Central Labor Council of Alameda County; the San
Francisco Board of Education; Service Employees Union
International (SEIU) Local 250; the Delano Center on
Race, Poverty and the Environment; American Federation
of Teachers (AFT)- University Council; Hotel
Employees & Restaurant Employees, Locals 2 and 2850;
California State Employees Association, Civil Service
Division Council (SEIU Local 1000); NAACP chapters;
and the statewide University of California Students
Association.
JOIN US!
CARPOOLS WILL LEAVE FROM MACARTHUR BART AT 8:30 AM.
for more infomration Call: 510-444-0484
Critical Resistance
1212 Broadway, Suite 1400
Oakland, CA 94612
(510)444-0484
fax: (510)444-2177
http:\/\/www.criticalresistance.org<\/a>
rose@criticalresistance.org<\/a>
\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"510-548-0268","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"For just $2.3 million, the people of the state of California can buy back the government from the\r\npro-prison\/anti-education lobby. Join us in an informative day of fund raising to "Buy Back the Government", and find out how you too can have Governor Davis in your back pocket.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2002\/06\/17342.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}