TO: CVF-NEWS FROM: Kim Alexander, CVF President DATE: June 14, 1999 RE: Net Fundraising, PUC, and CA History
I've got some updates on a few issues featured in a recent edition of CVF-NEWS to tell you about, plus a series on California history that I'd like to bring to your attention. In this issue of CVF-NEWS:
* FEC clears the way for online fundraising in Presidential campaigns
* Governor Davis appoints new PUC Commissioners
* SF Chronicle publishes outstanding series on California history
* FEC clears the way for online fundraising in Presidential campaigns
Last week the Federal Elections Commission voted to allow presidential candidates to qualify for public matching funds for credit card donations made over the Internet. This decision gives presidential candidates a strong incentive to use the Internet as a fundraising tool, and came after Democratic candidate Bill Bradley requested that the FEC consider the matter. Before this decision, candidates could accept credit card donations, but they would not have qualified for public matching funds. This is a significant development for the Internet in politics, and was covered in several news stories last week.
On Tuesday, June 15th, KGO TV in San Francisco will air a story about this development, featuring interviews with Bill Bradley and myself. So if you're in the Bay Area, tune in to Channel 7 Tuesday at 6 p.m., or check out this excellent AP story from reporter Jonathan D. Salant:
http://www.hotcoco.com/news/politics/stories/ard32946.htm
* Governor Davis appoints new PUC Commissioners
I recently reported to CVF-NEWS about a major issue about to be taken up at a California Public Utilities Commission meeting that might result in an increase in Internet service fees. At the time the issue was coming before the commission, two of the five seats on the commission were vacant. California Governor Gray Davis sent two interim appointees to that meeting, in a move that was seen as an attempt to delay the vote. Last week, Davis made the two permanent appointments to the commission, and one of whom, Carl Wood, was quoted in the Sacramento Bee as saying, "The governor's office is very concerned about maintaining the maximum access to the Internet." For more details on the status of the Internet fee issue and the new appointees, take a look at the June 11 story in the Bee by staff writers Carrie Peyton and Eric Young:
http://www.capitolalert.com/news/capalert06_19990611.html
* SF Chronicle publishes outstanding series on California history
As a certified California history freak, I read and loved every word of Carl Nolte's outstanding, seven-part history of California spanning the entire 20th century, and highly recommend it to those who want to better understand why our state is what it is today. Rather than glossing over the difficult times, or romanticizing the good ones, Nolte takes a journalistic approach to our state's history, and in the process, shows us what California is about and why this state has had such a huge impact on the history of the whole country. The entire series is available on the SF Gate web site, at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/04/18/SC29897.DTL
Here's an introduction and overview of the seven parts to the series, which also includes fascinating profiles of the lives of Californians who were touched by, and influenced these times.
The California Century
By Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer
A century ago, California had only one real city and a population that ranked 21st in the United States. Today, it is the nation's most populous state, and its economy is the seventh-largest in the world. This is the first of a seven-part series, the California Century, that follows this transformation.
Part I: The Great Quake -- The Death of the Imperial City. As this century opened, San Francisco reigned supreme in all the West. Then the earth shook, the sky burned, one era died and another was born.
Part II: The Twenties -- A Roaring Decade, A Glorious New City, A Rival to the South. Back on its feet after the big earthquake and fire, San Francisco built up Muni, grabbed water and partied with Mayor "Sunny Jim" Rolph -- until the Crash of '29
Part III: The Great Depression -- Tough Times, Tough People. The Great Depression hit the West hard, just like it did every place else, but many who were young in those roiling years remember the '30s as the best years of their lives
Part IV: The Postwar Era: Boom Years Boomers, Beats and Baseball. The generation that came home from World War II rolled up their sleeves, changed the country and reinvented California
Part V: Into the Fifties -- Infamy, War -- And a Sea Change. After Pearl Harbor, the Bay Area launched a thousand ships -- and then some -- and thousands of Americans on their way to battle saw Northern California for the first time, and vowed to return.
Part VI: The Sixties and the Seventies -- Turning It all Upside Down. After the 1950s got back to business, it came time to question reality. On the great light show of world history, the Bay Area slid into focus. Free Speech, Flower Power, public protest, letting it hang out. It all started here.
Part VII: The 80's and 90's -- California Rides the Wave. Booming growth, quakes, fires and floods -- and the rise of cybernirvana. There was rarely a dull moment in the Golden State in the '80s and '90s.
copyright 1999, San Francisco Chronicle
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This page was first published on June 14, 1999 | Last updated on June 14, 1999
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