AT&T encourages it's employees how they should vote in California on Tuesday

[devilgrrl]

Fellow AT&T Employee,

The upcoming Feb. 5 presidential primary election affords all of us the opportunity to participate in the political process and let our voices be heard. But this year's primary is different. It marks the first time that California is holding a separate primary election for presidential candidates early in the election process. Regardless of your political affiliation, your vote can really make a difference in who is nominated for president.

In addition to the presidential primary, there are a number of propositions on the state ballot. One is Prop. 93, which would reform term limits. This proposition would reduce the terms of legislators from a total of 14 to a total of 12 years, but allow a legislator to serve the 12 years in a single house.

Prop. 93 has received bipartisan support, including that of Gov. Schwarzenegger, Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nuñez, and State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata.

California faces many challenging and complicated issues. I believe it is important that elected officials have the necessary time in office to familiarize themselves with complex issues facing California. For this reason, I believe that Prop. 93, which AT&T has supported, strikes a good balance between term limits and enabling legislators to develop more expertise for California.

The Feb. 5 primary is just around the corner. I encourage all of you to take the time to vote.

For more information about the candidates and issues on the ballot or for more information about your polling place, contact the California Secretary of State at http://www.ss.ca.gov.

Thank you.

Ken McNeely
President, California

[fenriswolf]

1. all I can say

is that as an att employee in california, i never got that memo.

[ProgressiveFool]

2. not a particularly sinister message, IMO

Prop 93 itself isn't a good law or a useful change, but it is the first step in admitting that term limits aren't really much good, so I'll vote for it.

[SouthPasadenaDem]

3. I'm voting "No" on this one.

This proposition is being pushed by, and is to the benefit of, Fabian Nunez, who is about to term out. The benefit of this proposition would accrue to a very small number (about forty, if I remember correctly) of legislators and lets them add a dozen years to their current number of years in office. It benefits a very narrow group of legislators only.

I am usually against term limits, in general, because a lot of good legislation was crafted in the days before we had term limits by long-experienced assemblypersons and state senators. We already lose all the experience in our legislature every 14 years. One of the most important kinds of experience for a legislator comes from seeing the long-term results (and, often, unintended consequences) of legislation that they have personally been involved in crafting and negotiating.

I am not at all surprised that AT&T is supporting reduced terms for legislators, because, let's face it - there are no term limits on AT&T's lobbyists (or those of any other big business), whose job it is to push for legislation benefitting their business-client. The less experienced (and therefore more malleable) the legislator being lobbied, the easier it is for the (professional, long-experienced) business lobbyist to achieve his or her lobbying goal.

[devilgrrl]

4. I'm voting "no" too.

:-)