Address to the California Democratic Party

SACRAMENTO, CA - California State Treasurer and Democratic candidate for Governor Phil Angelides addressed the California Democratic Party Convention today in Sacramento. Angelides' remarks as prepared for delivery are included below.

Thank you, Nancy, for your warm words.  Our party is proud to have you as our leader; I'm proud to have you as a friend; and come November, all Americans will be proud to call you the next Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Friends, fellow Democrats: I'm here to talk about something more than a political campaign, something more than a gubernatorial primary.

I need your help - I need your hard work to bring true Democratic values back to the State of California.

We all know this year's gubernatorial race will be a bellwether - one of the highest-profile and most closely-watched races in the country.

Well now we have to decide: what will we stand for in this race? What will we stand for as Democrats?

There are some in our party who tried to accommodate Arnold Schwarzenegger, to bow down to his early burst of popularity.  And there are some who would say the path to victory this fall lies in blurring our differences instead of highlighting them.

But this is the Governor who campaigned for George W. Bush in Ohio, helping him win re-election;

This is the Governor who used a wrong-headed special election to try to roll back a woman's right to choose;

This is the Governor who burdened our kids with debt when he'd pledged to stop it; turned young people away from college and slashed classroom education when he'd promised to protect it; coddled special interests when he'd vowed to block them.

I'm proud that I never, ever supported the Bush-Schwarzenegger agenda of debt, division, and diminished opportunity.

I'm proud that I stood with the people in this hall and said: I don't care if you're poll numbers are as high as your box office receipts.  I will not let you hurt students and seniors, teachers and firefighters, all to lavish more on those who have the most.

This year, in this gubernatorial election, we can stand for something more:

A California that gives its people more chances, not fewer, to climb the ladder of opportunity.

A California that takes the high road to prosperity - with the best schools and universities; the cleanest air and water; quality health care so our kids grow up healthy and strong;

A California that lifts the burden from hard-working families - and makes the big corporate interests pay their own way again.

This is about more than a political campaign.  It's about winning a victory for Democratic values that will ripple across the nation.

And this year, in this gubernatorial election, I don't believe we serve those values by turning ourselves into Arnold-lite.

I stood up to this Governor from day one, when no one else would. I've even been called the anti-Arnold. If you have any doubt, just look at this body.  All-natural. God-given.  The way it was intended it to be.

You know me; you know my record.  And you know I will never stand down when Democratic values are on the line.

Back in the early 90's, when California was still a red state -- when the party we loved was broke and broken, when many thought my new job as State Party Chair was a first-class seat on the Titanic, I stood and fought. We organized up and down this state. And in 1992, we sent Bill Clinton to the White House and elected two women Senators for the first time in United States history.

When I took over as State Treasurer and saw all the special interests with their hands in the till, I stood and fought. I got this state to dump its tobacco stocks, and I cracked down on the Wall Street insiders and Enron-style fraud that was ransacking America's retirement savings.

When I saw that our state's massive investment power could be a force for good, I stood and fought. Now we're investing in alternative energy, to stop global warming; and in jobs and housing in our neglected communities, to give everyone a chance at the California dream.

And when Arnold Schwarzenegger started whacking at education and health care like some kind of budgetary piñata - I didn't stick a finger in the wind.  I didn't weigh the politics of taking him on.  I said: Arnold Schwarzenegger has to be stopped, and I'm running for Governor of California.

Now, there are some who will tell you we can't afford to meet our crushing fiscal problems and also invest in our people.  There are others who talk a good game, but won't say how they'll get the job done.

So let's look at the facts: the most fortunate Californians, those earning more than half a million a year, and the big corporations are getting 17 billion dollars every year in tax breaks and loopholes from this state and from President Bush.  17 billion, with a "B."

This, at a time when Governor Schwarzenegger is jacking up college tuition, shortchanging our classrooms, cutting aid for the blind, aged, and disabled.  It's wrong - and it's got to stop.

As your Governor, I'll roll back some of those tax giveaways so we can fund our schools, and reverse Arnold Schwarzenegger's tuition and fee hikes.

If George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger think it's fine for young men and women to sacrifice their lives in the sands of Iraq, then their big-money backers can sacrifice to give our young people the best schools in the world.

As your Governor, I'll take on the big polluters to protect our environment and make California the global leader in the fight against global warming.

As your Governor, I'll stand up to HMO profiteering and expand health care for working Californians, starting with all children.

As your Governor, I will do everything in my power to stand up to the Bush administration in Washington - to speak out against a war in Iraq that wounds our conscience as well as our young people - and to give Nancy Pelosi a Democratic President in 2008 so we can bring Democratic values to all of America.

I've been fighting for those values - for each one of you - for too long to back down now.

And when people say there's no difference between the candidates - when they ask you, why even choose one over the other at this convention --

I ask you: who has been there with you, through all the tough battles?  Who can you count on, to stop the Bush-Schwarzenegger assault on our values?  Who can you depend on, to be a champion for the hard-working families of this state - no matter the politics or the poll numbers?

We have to win this election.  But we have to set our sights even higher - on the California of our dreams.  A place that rewards hard work and initiative, not back-door lobbying.  A place that gives people a hand up, and doesn't just drown corporations in more hand-outs.

I know there's a tough fight ahead in the fall - and even though the Governor's agenda is as bankrupt as his Enron buddies, he has powerful Republican backers, and a massive celebrity megaphone.

But we have something greater: the power of our ideals, the rightness of our cause. 

My father always told me: for every advantage you've been given, remember, there are people who work fifteen hours a day just to survive, people who never get a break from anyone.  He always told me: don't ever, ever forget them.

If you elect me as your Governor, I won't forget.  I will stand up for you every day.

And now I need you to stand with me --
 
For a California that serves the many, not just the few;
 
For a future as bold and bountiful as our potential;

For a California that lifts up all who have been left out, or locked out, or left behind.

Thank you - God bless you - and let's win this fight!