Tuesday, November 13, 2007

CA Dems Start To Turn On Feinstein

The spotlight on Dianne Feinstein in the last couple of weeks has not just drawn the ire of this NY blogger but a coalition of the CA Democratic Party.

The Courage Campaign is seeking to censure the conservative Democrat at the upcoming state party executive meeting. Many progressives consider her an old-fashioned DINO and her support for Mukasey as AG and to give the telecom companies retroactive immunity for their complicit crimes of spying on customers for the Bush Administration. She should definitely be held accountable for her actions and this is a good first step before running someone against her in the next primary.

From The Huffington Post:

"Dianne Feinstein does not listen to the people of California," said Rick Jacobs, president of the Courage Campaign, a progressive organization in California. "She supports George Bush's agenda time after time."

Feinstein's office did not respond to messages seeking comment.

East Bay For Democracy, a chartered Democratic Club outside San Francisco, will introduce the censure motion on Saturday at the state party's executive board meeting in Anaheim. The Governing Board of the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party and the Progressive Democrats of America are also backing the measure.

In addition to her move to back Mukasey, critics have lashed out at her decision last month to vote to confirm Judge Leslie Southwick to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Southwick's opponents charged that his record on the bench in Mississippi demonstrated that he was both racist and homophobic. The Congressional Black Caucus, Human Rights Campaign and People for the American Way opposed his nomination.


It is tough to say if the state party will approve the measure, since there are always those old timers in state party organizations that do not want to 'upset the balance of things' per say. What is known is that she deserves this censure because she does not represent her constituents and hardly resembles an elected official that stands up for the principles of most Democrats.