California
Special Elections: Muslims Among the Winning Coalition
By Lisette B. Poole
Newark, CA
“It may not be visible to
the naked eye at this point,” says AMA National
Chair Dr. Agha Saeed, “But this election
has brought about a critical realignment of social
forces, it has created a possibility of stemming
the conservative tide that has swept this nation
for five years, and it has provided a real opportunity
for improving and consolidating minority to minority
relationships.”
A rhetorical question by the California Faculty
Association makes the point both clear and instructive.
One of their recent press releases, in part, reads:
Back in June who would have believed that by November
8th the 23 point lead of Prop 75 and the 29 point
lead of Prop 74 would melt away before our very
eyes like the Wicked Witch of the West? It almost
seems magical but it was not.
This win was the result of the hard work of thousands
of working people in the state and, for the first
time in CFA's history, our members became an integral
part of the campaign.
That is a $ million dollar idea that’s too
easy to miss, ignore or forget. It is too easy
to forget that one of the most powerful, and decidedly
the all-time richest governor of California lost
all of his four initiatives.
But who were CFA’s major allies? These were
one million Muslims and Christian Arabs. Again,
it is easy to miss, ignore, or forget that Muslim
Californians demonstrated consensus on Propositions
74, 75, 76, 77 and 78. While Muslim groups (AMA,
CAIR, MPAC and others) differed on Propositions
73, 79 and 80, they were unanimous about the above
five propositions. Few other groups demonstrated
such unanimity.
The California Muslims were an integral part of
this mobilization. The American Muslim Alliance
(AMA) had held a series of meetings to involve
the Muslim community and build consensus around
the propositions and the need to join hands with
the teachers’ union, the green party and
other progressive forces working for the common
good.
Mobilization of the California Muslims in the
special elections was undergirded by its ongoing
participation in the civil rights struggle and
its evolving alliances with various ethnic and
professional groups and organizations. On November
4th the AMA held a strategy meeting with Democratic
Senator Liz Figueroa and Green Party leaders Peter
Cameo and Jo Chamberlain. All sides expressed
complete unanimity on civil rights agenda including
SJR10 proposed by the California Civil Rights
Alliance and ably steered by Senator Figueroa.
The SJR10, which calls for the repeal of certain
clauses in the USA PATRIOT Act, is expected to
come up for a final vote in the last week of January
2006.
Similarly, the American Muslim Alliance was in
regular communication with the CFA leadership,
including Kim Geron, Tom McCoy and John Hess.
How did the unions, working people and their allies
including California Muslims muster such a major
victory on all key issues?
The CFA provides the following insight:
We were focused. We knew that this election would
be a "tipping point" for the state.
We understood that there was nothing more important
this fall for the future of the CSU than defeating
these initiatives. The stakes were very high;
everything we had gained or hoped to gain was
on the table.
We developed a plan and carried it out. From the
beginning we knew that winning or losing this
election depended on which side did the best job
at turning out its voters. In August 180 CFA leaders
and student interns met to train and prepare themselves
for the arduous work ahead. We educated our campus
communities and by October we began to move our
faculty, staff and student volunteers into phone
banking and precinct walking. By November 8 CFA
had covered over 700 volunteer shifts.
According to an AMA post-election handout, the
lessons of this election are that victory belongs
to those who are able to reach out to their constituency,
educate it, and mobilize it on the day of elections.
However the preparatory work must be started months
in advance. Although the multi-millionaire governor
and his supporters had far more money than the
unions and ethnic minorities, the working people
were able to defeat him by out-organizing, out-strategizing
and out-mobilizing his team.
It is like the story of the tortoise and the hare.
The one who is consistent, persistent and diligent
wins the race.
The result of this coalescence of activist forces
has stemmed the conservative tide in California,
the largest state in the Union, put the Governor
on notice that his politics of disempowering the
working classes – teachers, nurses, firemen
and ethnic minorities. According to the California
secretary of state (100 percent of precincts reporting)
statewide the results were:
PROP. 73
Parent notification for abortion:
YES 3,135,895 47.4%
NO 3,475,891 52.6%
PROP. 74
Teacher tenure:
YES 2,993,418 44.9%
NO 3,672,772 55.1%
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PROP. 75
Union Dues for political purposes
YES 3,092291 46.5%
NO 3,560,434 53.5%
PROP. 76
State spending and school funding limits
YES 2,527,129 37.9%
NO 4,126,780 62.1%
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PROP. 77
Redistricting by retired judges
YES 2,679,074 40.5%
NO 3,931,078 59.5% PROP.
78
Discounts on prescription drugs
How the Bay Area voted
YES 2,725,731 41.5%
NO 3,832,133 58.5%
PROP. 79
Discounts on prescription drugs, state-negotiated
rebates
How the Bay Area voted
YES 2,530,536 38.9%
NO 3,959,800 61.1%
PROP. 80
YES 2,194,605 34.3%
NO 4,192,239 65.7%
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What is next?
A CFA official has summed it up in the following
words: “We have won the first round leading
up to the 2006 gubernatorial race. Because of
the ground campaign we have waged, we have solidified
our base and are in a much better position to
elect a new Governor who values public higher
education and will fight to fund it.”
(Lisette B. Poole is a freelance journalist based
in the San Francisco Bay Area. She also teaches
Journalism at CSUEB)
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