Good news from California on the health-care reform front — we’re about to get John Garamendi (a strong friend of reform and someone MUCH better than the former occupant) in Cali-10:
This "moderate district" thing really has to get flushed down a toilet somewhere. John Garamendi was endorsed by the California Nurses Association, the most progressive organization maybe in America. He’s a single-payer advocate. He’s strongly liberal and far to the left of Ellen Tauscher. And he won. Woods’ difficulty was simply a product of name ID and a quick-strike primary. He didn’t have labor ground troops and that was that.
Just to reiterate, there will now be a general election between Garamendi and David Harmer on November 3. Garamendi will be strongly favored.
To use an internet motif: :-))))
As Eve "nyceve" Gittelson says:
Former California Insurance Commissioner and currently Lt. Governor John Garamendi came in first place and will advance to a November runoff that is in no doubt. He will be Ellen Tauscher’s replacement. Garamendi took the whip count pledge and is a big champion for the public option.
Second place, state senator Mark DeSaulnier also took the pledge. The
candidates who didn’t take the pledge finished after that.But it’s almost certain that Garamendi will take the vacant seat. He knows the criminal ways of the insurance industry, and he should be a much needed voice in Washington.
Got that? In a special election for a seat in a "moderate" Democratic congressional district, the top two Democratic candidates are not only for health care reform, but took the pledge and walked their talk. Oh, and the winner of the Democratic primary is guaranteed to take the seat in two months. Does anyone still think meaningful health care reform is just for dirty frickin’ hippies?
Speaking of which, here’s some more good news out of California: The "Healthy San Francisco" program, which provides a public option for SF’s residents, is very popular (94%!) with its users. It does have its limitations, most notably for organ transplants, but it does cover pre-existing conditions, costs half of what private insurance costs (and may not cost you anything if you’re poor), has no deductibles (that’s right, kids: NO DEDUCTIBLES), and as more private hospitals join in, it’s getting better still.
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Phoenix Woman,
have been biting my tongue about Garamendi – saw him as backroomer, deal maker type – a la the Burton’s
and am so glad to be wrong !! there is no way CNA would have backed him if he wasn’t the real deal
good on ya Cali !!
A-yup.
I don’t know, we’re pretty messed up but sometimes we get it right. Garamendi is the real deal and now we need to move on to a few others in 2010.
Now to do something about that referendum system!
What? A liberal elected in California! Shocking news.
Thanks for this piece of good news. Some days are harder than others to keep fighting. I read today that Grassley’s spokesperson says “oh no, we are still going to negiotiate in good faith.” Does he think we are idiots?
I just got an email from Obama For America requesting $ for the health reform effort. I replied “NOT A DIME UNTIL OBAMA COMMITS TO VETO ANY BILL WITHOUT A PUBLIC OPTION.”
I bet you’re a lot of fun at parties…
Skyrocketing Auto Insurance premiums were a serious issue in CA back in my college days. I vaguely remember Garamendi taking over as Insurance Commissioner and the situation calming down quite a bit. Don’t remember all the details.
Does he think we are idiots?
oh yeah.
Obama To Deliver Major Health Care Address To Joint Session Of Congress
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..75536.html
Simple answers, to simple questions . . . I know
PW, I went to the Calitecs site to which you linked and was surprised by the number of comments slamming Garamendi.
Could you comment on this? [I’m asking as a total neophite wrt the district.]
good for SF, doing something right. but please please please keep Gavin “Tin Ear” Newsom away from all microphones in the national debate.
OK, I live in this district, and I’ve been extremely frustrated by our lack of representation since Tauscher went to DOS. I can see how Garamendi would look like a great victory to those outside the district, but the only thing that won the race for him yesterday was name recognition. He isn’t even a resident of this district, and I think that’s just wrong despite the fact that it appears to be legal. Mark DeSaulnier had a very strong track record on health care issues, and I supported him (although I really wanted to vote for Anthony Woods).
Will Garamendi be responsive to constituents’ pleas for a public option or for single-payer? That remains to be seen. I can’t say that I was terribly impressed with Garamendi’s performance as Insurance Commissioner. I wrote to his office about a problem I was having with a worker’s compensation policy at the time and never heard a peep from them.
At this point I can only hope that Garamendi prevails in the upcoming vote, because there are some pretty persistent tea-bagging nuts in this district, and they would love to see the fight get ugly. If Garamendi wins and can give support on health insurance reform, I’ll try to forgive him for what I suspect will be a lot of backroom deal-making on other issues important to this district. And I predict that the next time a Senate seat opens up (DiFi, I’m talkin’ to you!), Garamendi will be in the thick of it.
Citizen Pheonix Woman:
What happened to Ellen Tausher…and why don’t we have her ta kick around anymore?
Hahaha. Still, I kinda like the guy in spite of his faults. He’s done 2 things very right: Gay marriage and healthcare in SF.
gotta say, the first thing that comes to mind hearing Garamendi’s name is “old school Dem. machine politician”, which is not a compliment (think Willie Brown, etc.). I’d be glad to be wrong.
Thank you for that information. My recollection is vague on Garamendi. Did he run for Gov after the recall and get stomped badly or am I confusing him with someone else?
Citizen Sambot:
OK, you scared all the children now back under the bridge.
I know!
The damn place is full of liberals
Too bad they don’t have any right-thinking conservative Americans who live on God’s country for them to elect
/s
Alas, you should have flagged your message with a “Buzzkill Alert.”
If the Dems can’t get a health bill with a public option passed ,while having a majority in both houses,I’ll have no choice but to believe that Dems can’t govern,(or are just as beholden to their corporate masters as are the repukes) .
No public option and I’m outta here ,I’ll leave the party ,where I’ll go i don’t know Maybe it’s time for a strong 3rd party in our system
She resigned to become Under Secretary of State for Arms Control
This is from Wikipedia:
John Raymond Garamendi (born January 24, 1945) is a U.S. politician and a member of the Democratic Party. He became the 46th Lieutenant Governor of California on January 8, 2007. He had previously been the California State Insurance Commissioner from 2003 to 2007, having previously been the first occupant of that office from 1991 to 1995. He was the U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Interior from 1995 to 1998.
Garamendi was temporarily a candidate for governor of California in the 2010 election after announcing his candidacy on July 31, 2008.[1] However, he suspended his candidacy on April 29, 2009, to run for Congress in California’s 10th congressional district.[2] This seat has been vacated by Ellen Tauscher, who had accepted the position of Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.[3] The primary election for the seat will be held on September 1 and the runoff election (if needed) will take place on November 3.
One of the arguments being made against Garamendi by DeSaulnier was that the Democratic Party had asked Garamendi to run against Dan Lungren (nut-Job a la mode) in Garamendi’s home district (3). District 3 is much more conservative, and Garamendi would have been assured a very vigorous election battle there. He might even have lost. Instead of taking on that fight, he opted to run for Tauscher’s vacant seat, where he was practically guaranteed to win due to his name recognition resulting from his stints as Lt. Governor and Insurance Commissioner. So now we have a representative who doesn’t live in this district, and who probably won’t be as good a representative as DeSaulnier or Woods, or even Buchanan. But this will be a convenient stepping stone for Garamendi, and will keep him in the comfortable fold of the DNC.
OT for Norske — I’m mostly a lurker these days and in said lurking always look forward to your ‘flames.’ Keep the faith, keep passing that ammo, and keep posting, please.
Garamendi is a former Peace Corps Volunteer. It is hard to be anything but a liberal after that happens. I know there are exceptions.
Our dirty laundry is cleaner than their dirty laundry
I was confusing him with Cruz Bustamonte, Lieutenant Gov.
That Garamendi is out of district is disturbing.
Anyone’s laundry is cleaner than Vitter’s.
Dumb question (and I ask as someone strongly in favor of a strong public option) — how does the Healthy San Francisco program work so well, and keep its rates so low, despite not being a national program? In other words, if it can succeed, why can’t a regional co-op?
Excellent retort. In other words, ‘I know you are. But what am I?’
I’ve never gotten an email from Obama not asking for $$$$$$.
I lived in the district almost 20 years, was extremely active in CA politics at the time…I’m afraid Calitics has taken a hit to credibility…Garamendi is the worst sort of unctuous, not-too-successful, life-long political climber, despite having a largely inherited fortune, and looks that many women find powerfully attractive…he’ll go to Washington, and it will soon be obvious he is just barely less right-of-center than Tauscher, or her political mentor, Feinstein…
DR. Durston almost beat Lungren. This is my district. I want Lungren out. What can we do?
Grassley is a Republican. He is used to talking to people who are, more and more, idiots. It’s not his fault that he thinks we’re all suckers who can’t remember for five minutes what he has said and done in the past. It’s his training. Meanwhile, I almost lost my TV to watching Hardball just now. His discussion of health care reform is bad enough. Get David Gregory on there to mutually massage egos and reinforce complete lack of what accessible and AFFORDABLE health care means and it’s absolutely maddening.
No one is working against it in S.F. And the medical community is on board.
Not a dumb question. It isn’t a coop like the Blue Dogs are talking about. It has the force of the govt behind it so it gets employer contributions and participation of clinics and hospitals at prices that can make a difference. California has some pretty good safeguards for poor people to get emergency care with the counties picking up the tab. Funneling people into primary and preventive care instead of ER care makes a big difference to cash-strapped local entities, so they are invested in making it work. A big issue is how well it is working even without individual mandates. I think more people buy into the need for preventive and primary medicine than the national discussion would have you believe. They will, for the most part, pay premiums and copays to get it as long as it is financially feasible. Even where they do nothing until the last minute, when they show up in the ER, they are signed up for the program and assigned a primary care clinic right there so they can be diverted from there to a more sane system for dealing with their health issues if it is not a true emergency or once the emergency has stabilized.
We Iowa Progressives are sick of Grassley, and are actively working to take him down. Many of my Rethug friends are former supporters disgusted with the craziness over Death Panels,Glenn beck’s Book, and “Defeating Obamacare”.
Ya Right, he’s still negotiating in “good faith”
I predict this may be Assley’s Macaca moment. His approval was in the high 70’s. Watch it tank.
Oh. and we are very astute citizens despite popular mischaracterization.*g*
Oh, and I have had one personal conversation with the Senator, one personal handwritten note in answer to a town hall question, have called his office hundreds of times over the last 9 years, and received no less than 200 letters from his office specifically disagreeing with much of what I believe.
Does that make me one of those idiots he is used to talking to? Pretty damn broad brush you swung with.
Thanks much for the explanation.
Got evidence? I’ve yet to see any.
Obama hired her.
I hear ya and if I can help you take care of your Grassley problem, I will. I don’t like being lied to, but I really hate people who act like I’m too stupid to figure out I’m being inartfully lied to.
I live in CA. I know what it feels like to have to keep asserting that you are astute and not insane, contrary to what comes out of your politicians. I actually live in an area that was one of the most McCain/Palin of the state, all evangelicals and Mormons. How people I know are good people with brains can be so stupid and so heartless when it comes to certain issues, I can’t explain. It depresses me no end.