Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chair and California Democratic Party Vice Chair Eric C. Bauman issued the following statement on AB 130, the first of two parts of the California DREAM Act, being signed into law:

“Today California sent a message to our DREAM students that if they put in the hard work to get accepted to college, to better themselves and our community, then cost alone will not keep them from fulfilling their potential.”

“AB 130 opens the doors of opportunity for so many young Californians, giving them a chance at the American dream their studies taught them about, but which remained out of reach for most.”

“The Los Angeles County Democratic Party thanks Governor Brown for signing AB 130 into law, and Assembly Member Gil Cedillo for his unwavering support of the California DREAM Act.  We look forward to the State Senate passing and the Governor signing AB 131, the DREAM Act companion bill.”

An independent study recently forecasted the cost of funding the death penalty at nearly one billion dollars over the next five years. In this time of financial crisis and shared sacrifice, continued funding of the death penalty is an expensive and excessive burden the people of California should no longer be forced to bear.

I am reaching out to you today because this weekend the California Democratic Party’s Executive Board will vote on a resolution that calls on Governor Jerry Brown to eliminate the death penalty from California’s state budget and to commute all death sentences to life without parole.

This resolution comes at a time when we face a very important decision about our state’s fiscal priorities - funding California’s future or continuing to spend money on a flawed system of punishment that is morally wrong and fiscally irresponsible.

If you are a CDP Executive Board Member, please join with me, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the CDP Progressive Caucus, the ACLU, many proud elected officials and the majority of Californians in supporting this resolution.

If you’re not on the E-Board, please contact your CDP Executive Board Representative and urge them to support this resolution.

We must end the death penalty in California and get our state back on track.

Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chair and California Democratic Party Vice Chair Eric C. Bauman responded to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s visit to North Hollywood and discussed Romney’s failed record as governor and his failed economic policies.

“On behalf of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, we welcome Governor Mitt Romney back to Los Angeles, this time in my neighborhood, North Hollywood.

“We all know that economic recovery and job creation for average Americans is the top priority to put America back on track.  However, Governor Romney is dead wrong when he puts the blame on President Obama for the lingering mess that George W. Bush and Republican Governors like him and Arnold Schwarzenegger created.

“During Romney’s term as Governor of Massachusetts, his state ranked 47th out of 50 states in job growth, (MarketWatch, 2/23/10).  Wages for average families dropped (MarketWatch, 2/23/10).  Manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts fell by more than 14%, twice the national average (Boston Globe, 7/29/07).  Foreclosure rates increased significantly and, in fact, more than quadrupled in three years (Boston Globe, 4/1/11). It should be noted that these losses occurred from 2003 to 2007, after the economy recovered from the 2001 recession.

“Now, in his second bid for the presidency, Romney hopes no one will remember his failed record as governor. His plan to gut Medicare and Social Security and double-down on Bush’s disastrous economic policies would roll America backward and return us to the economic brink we are now slowly recovering from under President Obama’s leadership.

“Americans can’t afford another four years of an out-of-touch multi-millionaire who, in the face of extraordinary unemployment and economic dislocation, thinks it appropriate to “joke” with struggling and frightened Americans that “he too is unemployed.”

“As a longtime resident of North Hollywood, I’ve seen the effects of the economic struggle firsthand in my neighborhood.  Let me remind Governor Romney that it was under George W. Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger that the backdrop of his press event today, the Valley Plaza, became a near-vacant lot, with dozens of workers losing their jobs, much like happened all over Massachusetts during his governorship.

“We hope that Governor Romney will tell the American people the truth about his track record and his real intentions to repeat the Bush legacy of failure.”