www.hobbsforsupervisor.com Amando Cablas, Laura Colunga, David Ginsborg, and Betty Feldheim Invite you to support our friend and fellow CEMA member Hon. Richard Hobbs Candidate Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, District Two Donation: $25 to $500 Thursday May 22, 2008 6 - 8 pm 20184 Franklin Avenue Saratoga, CA 95070 Map RSVP: Wed., 5/21/08 Amando Cablas 650.759.0874

	CEMA PAC Presents A Reception for The Honorable Ken Yeager April 4th For details click here
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF CEMA PAC 2005 THROUGH 2006
The CEMA Political Action Committee (PAC) formed in early 2005 and the first order of business was the development of a PAC plan and Work Plan for the period of January 2005 through December 2006. The two plans were adopted by the CEMA Executive Board in March 2005 after being circulated among the membership for comment. During this period CEMA recruited over 90 members to donate time to the activities of the CEMA PAC and together with the Operating Engineers Union we donated over $32,500 in money and in-kind printing to the ballot measures and candidates supported by CEMA as outlined in the 2005-2006 PAC Plan. The following represents our accomplishments: In the spring of 2005 CEMA launched a campaign to assist our members in the County Library who’s jobs depended on the passage of Measure A and B. These two measures would have secured long term funding for the County Library system. Only Measure A passed which meant that existing levels of funding would be guaranteed and all CEMA positions were saved and not cut. CEMA recruited over 15 members to work on the campaign and the CEMA PAC donated $3500 to the Campaign. Operating Engineers Local 3 donated $5000 of in-kind printing and offered the Morgan Hill OE3 office for phone banking as well as providing OECAT volunteers to assist with phoning. In the Fall of 2005 the CEMA PAC worked to pass Proposition 75 which was put on the Ballot to curb the voice of Public Employee Unions. The initiative was defeated state wide due in part to a well organized response from Public Employee Unions. CEMA worked to educate the membership about the propositions and then phoned our membership urging them to vote no. We made over 800 calls and recruited over 25 members to assist with the defeat of the proposition including getting CEMA volunteers to make phone calls at the South Bay Labor Council. CEMA donated over $4000 and Local 3 donated over $150,000 and assigned OE3/CEMA Business Representative Randy Johnese to assist full time with the state wide campaign. In early 2006, CEMA organized the first ever Candidate Forum for the 24th Assembly District race, the First and Fourth District Board of Supervisors races as well as the Assessor and District Attorney Races. Questions were presented to the candidates on specific middle management related questions. Over 15 members participated and rated the candidates based on their answers to written questions. CEMA provided candidate rating sheets that were filled out by members and then were used by the PAC to make the final decisions on which candidates to endorse. CEMA also received written answers from all candidates who participated in the interviews. Before endorsing the Board of Supervisors candidates the CEMA Executive Board held interviews with Ken Yeager in the fourth district and Don Gage in the first district who ran unopposed. Both were endorsed by CEMA and elected outright in June. Larry Stone who was dual endorsed for the Assessor won in June and Dolores Carr who was also dual endorsed went on to the general election in a run off. Measure A, which the Board of Supervisors put on the ballot in March became the main focus of the CEMA PAC for the June Primary. This measure would have increased the sales tax by a half percent to fund county services. This became CEMA’s main focus. We got OE3 to donate $10,000 of in-kind printing and CEMA made a donation of $4,000 to the Campaign. Over 15 members were recruited to make phone calls at the South Bay Labor Council and 18 members came to the CEMA office and phone called the CEMA membership. The 24th Assembly District race was very important to CEMA because we needed Jim Beall’s assistance with our contract negotiations and he has been our friend and a very strong supported of our issues over time. CEMA donated $2,000 and OE3 donated $4000 to his campaign. Jim won easily in the June Primary and then went on to win the seat in the November election.

CEMA POLITICAL ACTION PLAN JANUARY 2007 THROUGH DECEMBER 2008 Adopted by The CEMA Executive Board on April 2, 2007 PURPOSE The Purpose of the CEMA Political Action Committee (PAC) is to prepare and execute a Political Action Plan and Work Plan that reflects wide member involvement in the activities of the CEMA PAC. The committee then makes recommendations on whom to endorse, what resources to utilize and the amount of monies to be used from the CEMA PAC Fund. The PAC will keep the Work Plan updated as events and issues arise. A primary activity of the PAC is electing CEMA endorsed candidates in all 5 Board of Supervisor Districts and the three elected department heads: Assessor, Sheriff and District Attorney. The PAC may also work to elect CEMA endorsed Superior Court Judge seats. The PAC also needs to track and, when appropriate, support state and federal candidates and issues that have direct effect on the CEMA membership. The PAC will also consider ballot measures that have a direct effect on the membership, consistent with the criteria established and approved by the Executive Board of CEMA . The composition of the PAC comes from the membership of CEMA. The committee chair is appointed by CEMA Executive Board. The committee, as noted in the CEMA By-laws, is “responsible for political advocacy and action on behalf of CEMA”. The Committee makes recommendations to the Executive Board who makes all final decisions regarding the political action efforts of CEMA. The CEMA Political Action Program has complete autonomy with the District 90 Operating Engineers Local 3 Political Action Committee. ONGOING STRATEGIES TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE PAC Build CEMA member involvement and ownership by showing results that improve the members’ terms and conditions of employment due to direct political action. Keep working from within our membership to find politically connected members with history of political activism to participate in CEMA‘s political action goals. Phone call the CEMA membership to insure they are supporting CEMA endorsed candidates and issues and solicit ways they can become involved in the activities of the PAC. Build strong relations with the District 90 OE3 Grievance/COPE Committee. Build awareness of middle manager issues and work collaboratively to build Political action success for both CEMA and OE3. Build strong relations with the South Bay Labor Council COPE committee by participating in their COPE process and building coalitions in the Labor Council to insure that Labor Council endorsed candidates support Middle Manager issues. Build alliances with community organization that share CEMA’s Political Action plan and strategies. We need to recruit CEMA members who are also members of these community organizations so they can advance CEMA/Labor interests as well. Groom our own members to run for an elected County office. We currently have members who are elected office holders and can help us with developing other CEMA members to run for County offices. Continue ongoing efforts to politically educate our membership through topics at the Professional Development Luncheons, articles in the CEMAGRAM and repeating as often as possible the message “Politics is CEMA Business”. Build the economic resources of the CEMA PAC by encouraging member participation in the dues diversion authorization and doing fundraiser efforts among the membership. Lobby Board of Supervisors members and elected Department Heads and the County Executive on issues critical to the membership during contract negotiations periods and continue an ongoing board visitation and relationship building program to keep board members aware of our issues and concerns. Develop information in the membership data base regarding voter registration and work to keep the CEMA membership registered to vote. FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN PRIORITIZING SUPPORT CEMA needs to continually work to refine through member involvement the criteria that will be followed when endorsing candidates or issues. The following are the current factors that the PAC will consider when making a decision to support a candidate or issue important to CEMA.: Candidate Support Champion Santa Clara County Middle Management issues and concerns. Strong support for CEMA’s critical contract issues such as full paid health benefits, reclassification rights, special compensations, additional time off and leave rights and other organization issues that might arise. Endorsement by South Bay Labor Council Committee on Political Education (COPE). Support of the employee organizations whom they will govern. Ability to run viable campaign Demonstrated knowledge and ability to be effective office holder once elected Initiatives/Policy/Legislation Degree to which the issue/measure affects or benefits members directly Degree to which the issue/measure affects the community our members live in Degree to which the issue/measure has impact on broader labor issues ENDORSEMENT PROCESS At the beginning of each year the PAC will publish the Political Action Plan for member comment and input. The plan will identify issues or races that CEMA plans to be involved in that are important to the members of CEMA. CEMA will notify members of an endorsement meeting in which candidates will be invited to attend to be interviewed. The meeting and process will be open to the entire membership. At the discretion of the PAC and Executive Board the CEMA endorsement meeting can be combined with the South Bay Labor Council PAC or the OE3 District 90 PAC or other organizations. Questions will be prepared by the PAC based on the criteria for endorsement noted above. The PAC will normally expect the candidate to answer the same questions in writing as well. Members present at the endorsement meeting will be given a rating sheet to rate how the field of candidates answered the questions and to rate their preference for the candidate that should be endorsed by CEMA. Once the endorsement meeting has been held, the PAC will make recommendations to the Executive Board based on the candidate interviews member input, and the criteria for endorsement. They will also make recommendations on specific ways that the membership will assist in getting the CEMA endorsed candidate elected or the measure passed. The timing of the endorsement meeting will be held after considering when the South Bay COPE, other labor organizations and OE3 make their endorsement decisions.

CEMA PAC WORK PLAN JANUARY 2007 THROUGH DECEMBER 2008 Draft Summary: In the 2007/08 period the focus for CEMA PAC involvement will be to continue strong advocacy on behalf of the CEMA membership at the Board of Supervisors, to build more member involvement in the 2008 Board of Supervisors races and to continue to harness the resources of OE3 and the South Bay Labor Council to address CEMA members needs through strong political activism. In 2008 there will be three seats up for election in District 2, 3 and 5 in the June 08 Primary. Run off elections would occur in the November election. There may be a February Presidential Primary that would address the term limits issue in California There also may be another request from the voters to support a sales tax for continued provision of County services as well as other statewide initiatives affecting Public Employees. January through March 2007 Plan PAC Fundraiser with Ken Yeager. Finalize Work plan and PAC plan with committee and circulate for comment. Attend each month the South Bay Labor Council COPE meeting and the meeting of the OE3 District 90 Political Action Committee. Circulate PAC Plan and work plan for the 2007-08 period on Website. Hold CEMA Fundraiser with Ken Yeager. Begin campaign to increase the number of members who authorize twenty five cents of their eighteen dollar bi-weekly dues to be used for PAC activities. April 2007 through June 2007 Continue campaign to increase the number of members who authorize twenty five cents of their eighteen dollar bi-weekly dues to be used for PAC activities. Monitor any statewide issues that may be on a June 07 Ballot. Monitor statewide legislation and County budget issues affecting the membership. July 2007 through August 2005 Monitor any statewide issues that may be on November 07. Monitor statewide legislation and budget issues. September 2007 through December 2007 PAC Committee to make assessment of specific County-wide elections that will need CEMA political involvement in 2008. Make modifications to the work plan to reflect any shifts in CEMA priorities for 2008. January 2008 through March 2008 Hold County endorsement forum with member involvement on Board of Supervisors races with recommendations for endorsements. PAC to identify specific ways to organize member involvement in the endorsed candidates’ campaign for primary. PAC to identify fundraising targets and ways for member to be involved in fundraising. PAC to make endorsement recommendations on statewide races and identity donation amounts to come from PAC. April 2008 through June 2008 Solicit member involvement in campaign efforts of endorsed candidates. Coordinate OE3 involvement with CEMA involvement in campaign efforts of mutually endorsed candidates. Hold fundraising efforts among members to raise involvement in campaigns. Identify State races and initiatives affecting the CEMA membership. July 2008 through August 2008 Access results from Primary Election Plan activities and involvement for Fall Election September 2008 through December 2008 Solicit member involvement in campaign efforts of endorsed candidates. Coordinate OE3 involvement with CEMA involvement in campaign efforts of mutually endorsed candidates. Hold Fundraising efforts among members to raise involvement in campaigns Identify State races and initiatives affecting the CEMA membership. Draft and circulate 2009 plan among PAC and Executive Board.