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Joni Eisen taking calls with DeanCorps at the KQED pledge drive.

Joni Eisen is our Volunteer of the Month for March. Joni has been a member of SF for Democracy almost from the start. She is a conscientious citizen of San Francisco who practices what she preaches and sticks to her convictions. She’s a strong proponent of environmental protection and rides a bike whenever possible. Last year she volunteered with us at the Ferry Plaza registering voters and she even traveled to Florida to help get out the vote. Joni is particularly active in Dean Corps and has volunteered for KQED Pledge Drives and at the SF Food Bank. One of Joni's passions is cleaning up elections and she has helped educate our members about the California Clean Money Campaign.

We are very proud to have Joni as a part of SF for Democracy. Thank you Joni!

(photos from the Gwich'in Steering Committee Web page)

The Gwich'in tribe of aboriginal peoples in northern Alaska rely on the Porcupine caribou herd to meet their physical, cultural, social, economic and spiritual needs. The Porcupine caribou herd, in turn, is utterly dependent upon the Arctic Wildlife Refuge for their survival.

Today, the U.S. Senate today ripped down the last barrier to the complete extinction of the Gwich'in people and their way of life - all for a few months' supply of oil and oil company profits. (By the way, the Gwich'in are, in fact, American citizens. Who's next?)

Senators Landrieu, Akaka and Inouye - what in God's name were you thinking? How does it feel to give the Republicans a green light to exterminate a whole tribe of people?

And if you're outraged by all of this, here's a question to ponder - should we ever buy gas from any oil company that is willing to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge? (On edit - seems like our respected Senator Boxer has the same idea. Send an email to oil company CEOs here.)

(To learn more about the Gwich'in people before the Bush Administration wipes them out, read the first chapter of Caribou Rising here, or buy the book here.)

Last Saturday, a group of Dean Corps volunteers went down to the huge San Francisco Food Bank warehouse to contribute some time and effort. SFFB puts donated food in the hands of the hungry through community "pantries" for seniors, children, and immigrants, as well as sponsoring a shopping program where over 300 local agencies (like St. Anthony Dining Room) can choose food for their clients. They depend on volunteers for most of the hands-on work, i.e., getting the food ready to distribute. That's where we came in!

And hands-on work it was: we donned aprons, hair nets and latex gloves and dug into giant bags of lunchmeat (donated by Safeway and Lucky markets), separating it into 2 lb. bags, then tying and labeling them. The process involved a learning curve, a cantankerous scale, and a lot of hilarity. We, along with about 15 other volunteers and a couple of magnanimous Food Bank employees, worked at five tables with various improvised assembly-line techniques, and managed to get through over 2,000 lbs. of meat in three short hours. I may never eat another smoked turkey sandwich, but my skill set has expanded: I'm now able to guess the weight of any 2-lb. item.

...are available for download here.

Let's review, shall we?

• Arnold doesn't keep his promises. He promised to repay money he borrowed from California's education system, in accordance with Prop. 98; he's now changed his mind and our schools have been shorted $2.3 billion. He promised an independent investigation of the multiple firsthand accounts of sexual harrassment and unwanted groping of women he worked with, then after the election he reversed himself. Can he be trusted?

• Arnold won't play by the rules - so now he wants to change them. Just like the Republican power grabs in Texas and Colorado, Arnold now wants to redraw the map of Congressional districts in California. A special election will cost California taxpayers $70 million - is this fiscal responsibility? How much out-of-state money will be poured into his initiatives in order to buy influence in our state government?

• Arnold's denunciations of "special interests" are nothing but rank hypocrisy. He's taken $6.2 million from real-estate and development interests, just over $6 million from financial services and banking interests, and nearly $1.7 million from big pharmaceutical companies. His new appointees read like a "who's who" of big business lobbyists. Pony up $22,300 and you can get a seat at the policy table, or $89,200 will buy you a "private briefing" for two. Selling access and policy influence for tens of thousands of dollars - isn't that illegal? If it's not, it should be - and this "pay-to-play" speaks volumes about whose agenda Arnold is pushing in Sacramento.

California for Democracy and ArnoldWatch.org are leading the fight - to bird-dog the paid signature gatherers, protest at Arnold's big-dollar fundraising appearances, and bring together a wide range of public-interest groups to fight the takeover of our state government. Join with them - or if you're interested in getting involved locally, please contact Will Carsten at outreach@sf4democracy.com.