DNC Questionnaire (received 5-26-08 7:58 PM)
Mayme Hubert, member of the Rural Caucus, Officer of the Progressive Caucus
21 Convent Court
San Rafael, CA 94901
h. 415.457.3914 c. 415.497.0661
CDP Region 2 Director
Founder and Secretary Progressive Caucus
Founder and Treasurer of Take Back Red California
Statement: Progressive government promotes the welfare of all the people, not only corporations and the wealthy. Progressive government is transparent which increases access for the governed as well as responsibility and accountability by office holders to their constituents.
Progressive E-Board Coalition
DNC Candidate Questionnaire
If you are an incumbent DNC member, what have you done as a DNC member to
promote the progressive agenda on the following issues:
A) Ending the US occupation of Iraq
B) Eliminating Poverty
C) Universal Single-Payer Healthcare
D) Election Integrity (protecting each vote to ensure it is counted as cast)
E) Preventing a US attack on Iran
F) Preserving a free and open Internet
G) Impeaching or indicting Bush and Cheney
H) Redirecting California's resources to support education, not incarceration
I) Protecting LGBT Rights and Promoting Marriage Equality
J) Promoting public financing of elections
K) Abolishing the death penalty
L) Promoting alternative energy/energy independence
If you are not an incumbent, what have you done to address the issues enumerated above?
A) Ending the US occupation of Iraq
I have marched, participated in civil disobedience (arrested), signed petitions, sent letters, emails, and faxes as many of us have. Since 2005, the majority of my work is through Take Back Red California, which I co-founded with John Warren. TBRC has sent funds and volunteers to Democratic Congressional candidates who strongly favor ending the occupation. The candidates in 2006 and again in 2008 are:
B) Eliminating Poverty
As Chair of the Marin County Human Rights Commission I was a leader in the successful Campaign for a Living Wage in Marin County, which the Board of Supervisors passed.
I am keenly interested in developing affordable housing and am a founding member of Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative (2003) which is a mix of environmentalists and affordable housing advocates. We work with cities and the county of Marin to identify sites for green affordable housing and with reluctant neighbors to build community support. Now, more than ever, the most effective environmental dollars are spent on affordable housing.
With respect to issues C) through L) many of these have been the focus of Progressive Caucus programs at E-Boards and Conventions. Our committees have authored position papers on single payer and Iraq withdrawal. The power to achieve these positive goals, and I agree with each one, resides in the US Congress and/or the California Legislature. Single-payer, Election Integrity, Net Neutrality, and a sane foreign policy cannot be realized without a change in the composition of the US Congress. Redirecting California’s resources, public financing of elections and Clean Money, and abolishing the death penalty cannot be realized without a change in the State Legislature. Marriage equality and alternative energy/energy independence are state and federal matters.
I have chosen to spend my time working with Take Back Red California to change the make-up of Congress and the Legislature. TBRC recruits volunteers and raises funds from safe blue counties and districts and directs them to Democratic candidates in red rural counties and districts. The candidates we work with have strong grassroots support. We support Congressional as well as State Senate and Assembly candidates. My activism is directed to developing the organization that provides resources to these rural Democratic candidates as well as work on their campaigns.
TBRC also supports rural Democrats in red counties running for supervisor and other non-partisan offices. It is our belief that activist Democrats and the Party must take the long view and develop candidates as well as the capacity and effectiveness of county central committees so that we can win races in districts which have been written off as un-winnable. TBRC has the same philosophy and intention with respect to California as Howard Dean’s 50-State Strategy.
If you had been in Congress, how would you have voted for the most recent 178-billion dollar war package?
Against. Lynn Woolsey is my Congress member, and I have unbounded respect for her positions, especially with regard to Iraq.
How have you used your activism or Party involvement to challenge the leadership's support for war funding? Again, sending letters, email, etc. to Members of Congress.
Have you ever supported an insurgent primary candidate or someone who is challenging
an incumbent on the issues? Yes Explain. I am currently supporting Mark Leno over incumbent Carole Migden in SD-3. Carole is a strong progressive, but, until the last few months, her interaction with constituents has been infrequent and grudging. She disregards FPPC reporting regulations and has spent campaign funds inappropriately. She has not used good judgment while driving her car. Mark Leno is a strong progressive also and understands that his constituents reside in Marin and Sonoma Counties and not only in San Francisco.
What qualifies you, in terms of your organizing work, to represent progressive values on the E-Board? or
Why should progressives on the CDP E-Board vote for you as a DNC delegate?
I have a strong human rights background. I am a founder of the Progressive Caucus and Take Back Red California and a founding member of Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative (affordable housing). I am an effective leader and organizer to get things done and not just talk about them.
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CDP Region 2 Director -- The Progressive Caucus of the CDP has a plan for our members to stand for election to County Central Committees, as AD representatives, E-Board representatives, for CDP offices and DNC members. I ran for Regional Director to strengthen the voice of progressive values in the CDP at this level.
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A founder and Secretary of the Progressive Caucus of the CDP -- After November 2004 there was a national movement for state Democratic parties to form Progressive Caucuses. In some states activists asked the Party to form Progressive Caucuses. In California, seven individuals did the work of forming the caucus and then applied to the CDP for chartering. Our first meeting, far larger than we expected, was at the LA Convention in April 2005.
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Founder and Treasurer of Take Back Red California -- I had been part of the earliest effort to encourage a 58-County Plan for California and witnessed complete disinterest in the CDP for the idea. Then, after November 2004, I borrowed language from Howard Dean and chaired a committee in our new DFA-Marin called Take Back Red California. Shortly, I knew of a similar committee in East Bay for Democracy. We joined forces as the tiny beginning of TBRC, which is very successful in northern California's valley and mountain counties. In 2006, we contributed the maximum to the Congressional candidates, Jerry McNerney, Charlie Brown and Bill Durston and through house parties raised funds going directly to the campaigns.
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Founding member of Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative – We are a collaboration between environmentalists and affordable housing advocates that works with cities and the county to identify sites and educate the neighbors about affordable and “work force” housing and build community support.
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Co-chair Marin for Dean -- founding member of DFA-Marin -- We organized very successful Meet-Ups and a thorough ground campaign for Governor Dean. We organized a contingent to go to Iowa.
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Worked on local campaigns for supervisor, judge, Assembly Representative -- Won the judgeship, but lost the others to less progressive candidates.
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County leader in "NO on 209 Campaign" -- Marin and San Francisco defeated Ward Connerly's racist and regressive Proposition.
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Former Officer and E-Board Rep for Democratic Central Committee of Marin -- Over the past 18 years I have been active in my central committee as an officer, member or alternate.
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Member and Chair of Marin County Human Rights Commission -- Among other projects I led the Commission's investigation and wrote a report on INS raids in the Canal neighborhood in San Rafael.
Do you think we should have super delegates? Why or why not? No. The concept of a “Council of Party Elders” is profoundly undemocratic. Our democracy is predicated on one person, one vote.
Are you running on a slate with other candidates? If so, who are the other candidates running on your slate and what was the process for choosing these candidates to run with you?
I am running with Karen Bernal and Mal Burnstein, both fellow officers of the Progressive Caucus, with Ralph Miller whom I first knew during the Marin for Dean Campaign and have worked with on reform projects, and with Norman Solomon a friend from Marin County whom I have worked with on DFA/PDA activities. We are like-minded and have personal connections.
What experience has prepared you to run as a DNC member? See previous question on qualifications – my experience as an activist during the last 18 years.
On which committee(s) would you like to serve and what are your personal
goals for each committee?
In interim years I would like to serve on the Resolutions Committee, pushing the body towards the most progressive positions and language possible.
In convention years I would like to serve on the Platform Committee. The platform of California Democratic Party is most likely as progressive as any in the nation. I would like to incorporate its values and particulars into the national platform.
In addition, I will build support for the 50-State Strategy particularly in the DNC Western Caucus. I am deeply committed to Chairman Dean’s vision of realizing a thoroughly National Party and believe the same concept can be applied to California. We can learn from other states in the Western Caucus where in 2006 52 seats changed from Republican to Democratic. In California only one seat, CD11, changed party. Washington replaced 14 state legislators and Colorado elected a governor, a Congressman, and 6 state legislators.
Other goals:
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As Democrats we need to do more to support, value and empower grassroots activists
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DNC members would benefit by reporting back on the work of the DNC to the CDP E-Board and State Central Committee and by soliciting involvement.
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