JUNE/JULY, 2009 1 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PALO ALTO

Phyllis Cassel, President; Mary Alice Thornton, Membership;Arnold Petersen, Editor; Phone: 650-327-9148; http://www.lwvpaloalto.org

JUNE/JULY, 2009

Vol.XXIIINo. X

The Palo Alto LWV members and guests were treated to an interesting and moving talk by Israʼ al Ru-beiʼi, a correspondent for NPR in Iraq. A native Iraqi, Israʼ is studying at Stanford under a Knight fel-lowship, but will return to Iraq in the near future. She described the changes for journalists as the country moved from dictatorship to occupation to struggling self-government amidst sectarian conflict. Most moving was the description of the effect of the violence on the innocent, especially widows and orphans, and the risks that all women face as they go about their daily lives. This was clear from Israʼs description of the challenges she faces in her work, and the consequences for her family.In the business meeting, the membership re-elected most of the previous board and off-board chairs. The new positions are Karen Sundback as Voter Editor, Pat Bendigkeit as Director for Candidate Fo-rums, and Liza Taft as Director for Voter Registration and Voter Distribution. A list of all positions is shown on Page Two.

JUNE/JULY, 2009 2 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PALO ALTO

League of Women Voters of Palo Alto: Officers, Directors, Chairpersons, (650)327-9148

OFFI

PresidentPhyllis Cassel president@lwvpaloalto.org

1st Vice Pres., Action & Trans-portationIrene Sampson2nd Vice Pres., Program Planning Doris PetersenSecretaryEllen ForbesTreasurerKaren DouglasDirector, Membership & LATMary Alice ThorntonMembership@lwvpaloalto.org

CERSDirector, Candidate ForumsPat Bendigkeit

Director, Speakers BureauSara Whitehead

Director, League A ThonVeronica Tincher Director, VOTER Editor Karen Sundback

Director, Membership Co- ChairVirginia PirrottaDirector, PublicityBetty GerardDirector, Voter Registration, Voter DistrbutionLiza Taft

OFF-BOARD HousingSally ProbstJeff RenschHealth Care & EducationGeri StewartCommunity Organizations & RelationsDiane RolfeCo-Membership, Action Tree ChairNancy OlsonWebmasterKaren Sundback(Acting)Housing: Community LiaisonJanet Owens

CHAIRSJuvenile JusticeRelly DavidsonVoter Mailing

EducationNancy RogersNew VoicesSandy EakinsBudget Committee ChairMarianne DieckmannNominating CommitteeAlice Smith, ChairRosalie LefkowitzLuise Maier

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Thank you every one!

The Annual Meeting yesterday marked the end of our 2008/2009 League year and the start of the 2009/2010 year. Our speaker Isra’ al Rubei’i gave us a taste of a woman’s life in Baghdad before we settled into business. I wish to thank Relly Davidson for inviting Isra’; and Doris Petersen, Luise Maier, Veronica Tincher and Mary Alice Thorton for meeting arrangements.

This is indeed the season for saying thank you. We thank Arne Petersen for editing our Voter for the past 3 years. The Voter is the primary communication between all of our members, and Arne included all the basics plus articles from the LWV Bay Area, LWVCA, and LWVUS as they related to upcoming programs. We have had an excellent as well as prompt Voter and Arne will be missed. Karen Sundback with help from Relly Davidson will be ably taking over.

The thank you list continues unabated: the excellent Board and Off- Board Chairs, all the work for successful voter service and the related publicity, the mailing party people both for the voter and other mailings, the educa-tion committee, the housing and land use committee, the national popular vote committee, the New Voices Committee members, Relly Davidson for serving as secretary/treasurer to the LWV Santa Clara County Coun-cil, the budget committee and the nominating committee, various people who help arrange for meeting spaces, and Sandy Eakins for opening her home to a unit meeting. There are thank you greetings due to people who worked in League-a-Thon to raise money and those who helped move our office, and then there is the action tree. Many, many of us have contributed. Oh yes—those who have helped with environmental issues. We co-sponsored several events this year including a workshop on Palo Alto Non-Profits Go Green. I know I have missed people and I am sorry if I missed you. It is a big thank you to everyone. This president has had wonder-ful help to keep the League moving. Thank you ! Thank you! Thank you!.

Phyllis Cassel

JUNE/JULY, 2009 3 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PALO ALTO

Board Minutes in Brief - May• Approved the EAC Action on requesting funding for including University Avenue in the update of the Housing plan.

• Discussed a proposal by Karen Sundback to explore sponsoring a farmers’ market in the southern end of the city. Postponed until the Strategic Plan meeting in July. (See below)

• Reviewed results of voter registrations at Palo Alto and Gunn high schools. Paly results were disappoint-ing due to poor organization by school.

In appreciationFor her friendship and support

The League of Women Voters of Palo Alto expresses its sympathy to the families of

Joanna Despresupon learning of her recent death.

LEAGUE e-ACTION TREELeague members are encouraged to sign up to receive LWVC and LWVUS Action Alerts.  These emails provide Leaguers all over the state or country with background in-formation on the Alert topic and specify what action the League believes is needed and why.You are then requested to make a phone call or send an email to your elected official.  Their contact information is provided.  This is a fast and efficient way to support our positions.  If you would like to be a part of this important League work, contact Nancy Olson at nso2431@cs.com

Welcome: Patricia Jones Mr. & Mrs. Russell Phillips Mr. & Mrs. L. Bruce Wilner We are happy to have you as members of LWV Palo Alto.

ACTION --YES

-We sent a letter in support of a grant application for dol-lars to help the city pay for adding University Avenue to the list of areas for special study in connection with theComprehensive Plan Update.With limited action to report this month, I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have helped in the process--those who wrote original drafts of letters/statements, those who edited to make them stronger and more understandable, those who asked for more informa-tion so they could make a decision, those who read and responded quickly so that the EAC could proceed in a timely fashion.  Without you, I would often have been adrift in a sea of uncertainty!I look forward to your continued support in the coming year.

Irene Sampson, Action Chair.   

LWVPA STRATEGIC PLANNING

At its last meeting, the LWVPA Board of Directors agreed to proceed with a strategic planning initiative. The board recognizes that our operating environment is continually changing and, as with many organiza-tions, we are facing finite resources. The objective of the planning process is to identify our strategic priorities, the resources we need to achieve these pri-orities, and the measures to assess our performance. As part of the process, we’ll conduct internal and external assessments and use that information to de-velop our strategies for the future. A task force will work hard over the month of June to outline the process and prepare materials to facilitate board dis-cussion. If you would like to be part of this exciting process to help the League maximize its impact as we enter the next decade, please contact Karen Douglas (kdouglas111@gemail.com) or Doris Pe-tersen.The planning session will be conducted during the Board Retreat on July 18th.

Editorʼs CommentAs I turn over these pages to new hands, I want to thank all of the contributors for their efforts and support. I es-pecially want to express my gratitude to the hard work-ing crew led by Janet Owens and Diana Steeples at Channing House that make sure the Voter is folded, la-beled, and in the mail so it gets to you every month.

JUNE/JULY, 2009 4 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PALO ALTO

GLOBAL WARMING(Letter to Congressional leaders and affected committee members)Our organizations were extremely encouraged and pleased by the inclusion of the International Climate Change Adapta-tion Program in the March 31 discussion draft of the Ameri-can Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.  We strongly urge you to keep those provisions in the legislation when it is formally introduced and provide the necessary resources to implement the program to help the worldʼs most vulnerable communities respond to existing and future threats from cli-mate change.  These provisions are essential elements in a discussion draft that is a very important and timely step for-ward in addressing the climate challenge facing our country and the world. As we indicated in our letter of March 25, 2009 , support for international adaptation is necessary to achieve our coun-tryʼs national security, economic stimulus, development, and climate and energy objectives.  Substantial adaptation fi-nance is also essential for achieving global climate agree-ment in Copenhagen this December.  Including strong finan-cial support for these provisions will provide President Obama with important tools to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives by reestablishing our global leadership on climate change. We want to use this opportunity to raise the following key issues with you as modifications or additions to the discus-sion draft are considered for formal legislative introduction:1) Resources for the International Climate Change Adap-tation ProgramIt is vital that substantial, adequate, and predictable re-sources be provided to support adaptation initiatives in de-veloping countries and that these resources are new and additional to existing levels of official development assistance.  Estimates of the resources needed to allow de-veloping countries to build resilience and adapt to climate change impacts are sobering.  The Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has estimated that developing countries will require additional investments of $28-67 billion annually by 2030 to address adaptation needs. Oxfam International has estimated that developing country needs for adaptation will amount to $50 billion or more in the near-term.  The UN Development Program, in its 2007 Human Development Report, assessed that develop-ing countries would require $86 billion a year for climate ad-aptation by 2015. Given these estimates, the United States should invest in international adaptation at a level that addresses these needs and seizes the economic opportunity for adaptation solutions globally, while also reflecting the U.S.ʼ historic re-sponsibility for substantial greenhouse gas emissions that cause the global warming impacts to which these communi-ties now need to respond.  Based on the low-end of the range of possible adaptation resource needs of $28 billion,

and the relative historical contribution of the U.S. to global greenhouse gases of about 25%, the baseline for re-sources from comprehensive climate legislation should be at least $7 billion per year. Using rough estimates of the potential value of emis-sions allowances, the legislation should therefore en-sure that at least 7% of emissions allowances will be dedicated starting in 2012, and made available without further appropriation or fiscal year limitation, to fund the International Climate Change Adaptation Program.  A fund should be established at the De-partment of Treasury for this purpose.  2) Most vulnerable communities/populations within developing countriesThe discussion draft provisions for the International Cli-mate Change Adaptation Program appropriately highlight the most vulnerable developing countries, including the importance of community-level resilience in those countries.  However, even within these countries, there are varying climate adaptation and resilience needs among different communities and populations that should be ad-dressed explicitly in the legislation. For example, particular geographic regions, especially impoverished communities, and vulnerable populations will face harsher impacts or have fewer resources to cope with climate impacts.  Furthermore, women often bear the greatest burden from climate-related events due, most often, to their role as providers of food, water, fuelwood, and healthcare (as noted recently in House Concurrent Resolution 98 on women and climate change). Given these varying contexts, it will be critically important to ensure that available resources are targeted to those communities and populations that are most vulnerable to climate change impacts.  Indeed, climate change adapta-tion funding and capacity will be most effective if it focuses on those most affected and involves these vulnerable populations and communities in the design, implementa-tion, and evaluation of adaptation efforts.  It is also vital that these efforts are undertaken in ways that do not com-pound the vulnerability of poor people, including women and indigenous peoples (including customary rights to land and natural resources). To address these concerns, we have drafted specific tex-tual additions for the discussion draft to address most vul-nerable communities and populations. We look forward to working with you and the committee to strengthen the leg-islative draft. Oxfam America, CARE USA, ActionAid USA, Church World Service, World Wildlife Fund US, National Wildlife Federation, Friends of the Earth US, League of Women Voters, Population Action International, Unitarian Univer-salist Service Committee, National Peace Corps Associa-tion

JUNE/JULY, 2009 5 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PALO ALTO

Health Care ReformAmerica is facing a health care crisis caused by a combina-tion of skyrocketing costs and an insurance system that leaves 47 million of us without any coverage. The current health care system is endangering both our economy and our health, and voters have made it clear that they want change.   As Congress begins to consider health care reform legislation, the League of Women Voters urges you to con-sider the following issues.First, health care reform legislation must guarantee quality, affordable health care to all U.S. residents.  The League of Women Voters believes that it is universal coverage that will determine the humanity of our system. The legislation must include a benefits package that includes the prevention of disease, health promotion and education, primary care, acute care, long-term care, and mental health care.  In addi-tion, any health care package must include prescription drug coverage and allow for pre-existing conditions. But coverage is not enough. We need to provide for quality and safety in the health care system.  The League believes that Congress has taken a key step in that direction in the recently-passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by providing funding for development of an integrated infor-mation technology infrastructure for the health industry. And, it is critical to build on this infrastructure by establishing a system-wide program to coordinate information, establish best practices and provide consumers the information they need to protect themselves and their families. As an organization dedicated to the citizenʼs right to know, the League of Women Voters believes it is essential that comparative data on treatments, benefits packages and medical outcomes be made publicly available so that indi-viduals can make informed health decisions and so costs can be controlled.The federal government needs to take additional strong ac-tion to reduce the costs of health care for individuals, busi-nesses and communities.  As a nation, we are spending $1 out of every $6 we earn on health care. Over the last three decades, increases in the amount we spend on health care have consistently risen faster than wages and inflation. If nothing is done to control costs, we could be spending $3 trillion for health care by 2011 and $4.2 trillion by 2016.  The League of Women Voters believes that cost contain-ment measures must take place in the context of overall health care reform. We must reduce or eliminate the cost-shifting that currently exists in health care financing and work to streamline the system.  Legislation must provide effective cost controls, equitable distribution of services and allow for efficient and economical delivery of care. To achieve this kind of comprehensive, system-wide reform will take a shared effort by citizens and Congress. The 150,000 members and supporters of the League of Women Voters are ready to work with you to reach this goal. 

And we are not alone. According to The Washington Post, a recent study reported in The New England Journal of Medicine found that 70 percent of Americans surveyed believe the health care system in this country needs major changes, if not a complete overhaul.  The League of Women Voters wants to ensure that the concerns of these citizens are heard as you work to shape tomorrowʼs health care system.

Mary G. Wilson, President, LWVUS

Redistricting Implementation BeginsThe passage of Proposition 11, the California Voters FIRST measure on the November 2008 ballot, brings real redistricting reform to our state.Public meetings have been held around the state to solicit input about making the recruitment and selection process for the Citizens Redistricting Commission as open and broad as possible. LWVC had a strong presence at all the meetings, both as speakers and observers.  The State Auditor is setting up procedures for application to the Commission and will soon issue draft regulations.To keep up with action on the creation of the Commis-sions and other aspects of the redistricting program, go tohttp://www.ca.lwv.org and click on the Redistricting item under Issues.

Red Meets Green Community Day at Stevenson House

Saturday, June 6 - 11 am to 2 pmThe Red Meets Green outreach program is going from the streets of Palo Alto to Stevenson House. In January 2009, Acterra, Palo Alto Neighborhoods, the Community Environmental Action Partnership (CEAP) and the City of Palo Alto kicked off the Red Meets Green outreach program when they hand delivered information packets about community efforts in emergency preparedness, energy saving and environmental programs to more than 16,000 Palo Alto households. On June 6, the public is invited to Stevenson House to meet with these com-munity organizations and others to learn more about what they can do to make our community a safer and more sustainable place to live.

Highlights include:- A Safety and Sustainability Exhibition full of tips and tools to bolster a household’s emergency preparedness and environmental awareness.- Certified Green Builders from Harrell Remodeling, a design + build company with specialization in Universal Design and Full Accessibility.- The opportunity to sign up for a free Green@Home House Call from Acterra.- Delicious food and refreshments, including a BBQ by the Palo Alto Fire Fighters.- Live music by local musicians.- This is a zero waste event.- Free admission—everyone is welcome!

JUNE/JULY, 2009 6 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PALO ALTO

Reform Groups Strongly PraisePresident Obama’s Government

Integrity Reform Measures during First Hundred Days

Statement Issued by Common Cause, De-mocracy 21, League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG

Our organizations strongly praise President Obama for the unprecedented steps he has taken during the first hundred days of his Administration to strengthen ethics, lobbying and transparency rules for the Executive Branch.

Equally important, we believe, is the larger effort by President Obama embodied in these initial actions to challenge the way business is done in Washington and the special interest, lobby-ing culture that influences government decisions at the expense of the American people.

We recognize that this is a long term battle and that the toughest fight to change the way Washington works still lies ahead – the need to address the role of influence money in Washington by repairing the existing presidential public financing system and cre-ating a new congressional public financing system.

Nevertheless, we believe the President has demonstrated in his first hundred days through words and deeds that he is serious about changing the rules of the game in Washington and increasing the voice of citizens in the governing process.

Our organizations believe President Obama deserves great credit and recognition for the groundbreaking government integrity reforms he has put in place during the first hundred days of his Administration. We look forward to working with President Obama on future government integrity reform efforts and, most impor-tantly, on the essential battle to fundamentally reform the nation’s campaign finance laws.

The Ethics Executive Order issued by the President at the outset of his Administration contains precedent-setting revolving door provisions. These provisions are designed to prevent potential conflicts of interest for incoming government officials involving their former employers or clients, and to prevent improper trading on government service for personal gain by outgoing government officials. The Executive Order contains the first-ever “reverse re-volving door” provisions for incoming presidential appointees, which are designed to prevent new appointees from importing the interests of their former employers and clients when they enter government and to help assure citizens that the public interest will come first. The Executive Order requires all appointees to recuse themselves from matters that significantly affect the interests of anyone who was a former employer or client of the incoming offi-cial within the two years prior to joining the Administration.

In addition, former lobbyists who actively lobbied a spe-cific agency or department during the previous two years are gen-erally precluded from receiving a presidential appointment to that agency or department for the following two years, unless a waiver from the restriction is determined to be justified.

The revolving door provisions also prohibit departed presidential appointees from coming back to lobby any senior ex-ecutive branch official in the Administration for the full length of the Obama presidency. These are the toughest revolving door pro-visions ever established.

The Executive Order further prohibits all presidential appointees from accepting any gifts from lobbyists or lobbying organizations, other than token gifts of de minimis value, and instructs the Office of Government Ethics to develop a similar gift ban for all executive branch employees. Under the Executive Order, all presidential appointees are required to sign a binding “ethics pledge” to abide by the revolving door restrictions, re-cusal arrangements and gift ban, and the Office of Government Ethics is required to report on the effectiveness of the Executive Order and how it might be modified to enhance its purpose. The Obama Administration also has taken unprecedented trans-parency steps during its first 100 days. In a pilot project adopted for the economic stimulus package, the Administration for the first time requires registered lobbyists working to influence Ex-ecutive Branch decisions on specific grants and contracts to submit their lobbying requests in writing. This information is then posted by the Administration on the Internet and made available to the public. Each agency is also required to post on their web sites lobbying contacts by registered lobbyists with the agency on all other general issues related to the stimulus pack-age.

The pilot project for the stimulus package opens the door to establishing a government-wide policy for public disclo-sure of all lobbying contacts by registered lobbyists with Execu-tive Branch officials. This would greatly expand existing lobby-ing disclosure requirements.

The Administration also has made an important change regarding the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by ordering agencies and departments to adopt a presumption of disclosure for information requested under FOIA. This should make it far easier for citizens and the media to obtain information under FOIA. The Administration has undertaken numerous other efforts to provide the public with access to Executive Branch information, including making financial disclosure reports by White House officials available to the public by immediate elec-tronic access for the first time, providing information on how stimulus package funds are being spent on the Internet and plac-ing various White House events and documents on the White House website.

In a reversal of an Executive Order adopted by Presi-dent Bush, the Administration also restored the practice of hav-ing only a sitting President, and not past Presidents, able to re-strict citizen and media access to presidential records by claim-ing executive privilege over these records.

President Obama also ordered a group of federal agen-cies, including the Office of Management and Budget, to develop recommendations for a new Open Government Directive to be issued by the President. All of these steps add up to unprecedented action taken by President Obama on groundbreaking government integrity measures that begin to rebalance the interests in Washington of the American people with the influence in Washington of special interests.

From LWVUS

JUNE/JULY, 2009 7 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PALO ALTO

The League of Women Voters, born out of suffrage, now educates and advocates. Any person of voting age may become a member.

Its easy to join the League of Women Voters—Do it now!Joining at the local level makes you a member at all levels:National, California, Bay Area, and Palo Alto

Name ______________________________________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________________________________

City __________________________________________________ Zip _________________

Phone: Day______________Evening _________________ email ______________________

Annual membership: $68.00 Additional membership, same address: $34.00Mail check to League of Women Voters, 953 Industrial Ave, S.113, Palo Alto, CA 94303

Membership dues to the League of Women Voters are not tax deductible.

Men are encouraged

to join.

Dues grants areavailable.

For information,Call the

MembershipChair

“Health Care Reform Update: Prescription to Heal What Ails Us”.

Carol Kuiper, LWV-LAMV, has invited the Santa Clara County Leagues to join in co-sponsoring a forum to update our members and interested community on health care re-form.  The League has worked for many years for needed health care reform. Because the topic is being studied and debated in Congressional committees with the goal to move a significant bill out of committee before the August recess, the topic has become especially timely for League action.  Consequently,  she hopes an outcome of the event will be greater understanding of the issues both at the federal and state level on the part of our members and renewed action in support of needed change consistent with League posi-tions.Some basic decisions have already been made for this fo-rum:

Event: Update on Health Care Reform, with focus at the federal level, but with a review of Mark Lenoʼs SB 810, in preparation for continued action on Health Care Reform.

Date: Friday, July 25Time: 8 am to 12:30 p.m.

Place: Cadence Design Systems Audito-rium, 2655 Seely Ave. San Jose, CA 95134Co-sponsors so far: Cadence Womenʼs Fo-rumCadence is providing set-up and AV equip-ment and possibly light refreshments.

Peninsula Chapter, World Affairs CouncilLWV members and friends are invited to hear a lecture by Joseph Felter, PHD, Colonel, US Army, National Se-curity Affairs Fellow, Hoover Institution at Stanford University, on Wednesday, June 17, entitled "The Philippines: a Template for Effective Counterin-surgency". In this lecture Colonel Felter relates les-sons learned from the Philippine operations to ongo-ing counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.Sponsored by the Peninsula Branch of the World Af-fairs Council and the Los Altos Public Library. Site: Los Altos Youth Center, 1 South San Antonio Rd., Los Altos.

Refreshments: 7:00 pm; Program: 7:30 - 9:00 pm. Admission is free. For info., call Carol Stevens (650) 494-0757.

GREAT DECISIONS -GREAT DISCUSSIONS

Now that the formal Foreign Policy Association discussions are finished for the year, our League group continues.  We meet monthly to discuss national and international topics.  We meet from 9:30-11:30 am on the last Friday of each month. We are very informal.  Drop in and join a lively discussion.   If you have any questions, contact Nancy Ol-son at nso2431@cs.com

JUNE/JULY, 2009 8 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PALO ALTO

CALENDAR

June

3 Wed 7:15 pm, Board Meeting, Veronica Tincher’s6 Sat 11 am to 2 pm, Red Meets Green, Stevenson House (P.5)17 Wed 7 pm to 9 pm, World Affairs Council, Los Altos, (p. 7)

July

1 Wed 7:15 pm, Board Meeting,5 Sun 6:00 pm, Voter Deadline18 Sat 9:00 am, Board Retreat (p. 3)25 Fri 8 am to 12:30 pm. Health Care Reform, San Jose ( p. 7)

August

5 Wed 7:15 pm, Board Meeting,9 Sun 6:00 pm, Voter DeadlineICE CREAM SOCIAL (See August Voter for details)

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President Obama ……..