the DUES - The Swearing-In Report

8/8/2019 the DUES - The Swearing-In Report

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ydues.com

JAN 1SOLEMN

n the pages: Dening Grassroots

theDUESGetting preppedfor Fresno Baseball

QUESTIONWIT

JIM BEA

THE SWEARING-IN

Report


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COVER:THE SWEARING-IN REPORTFrom Sacramento to Washington, DC,old and new enter the Capitol looking to start again. The coveragebefore and after the Oath of Ofce. PG. 4

DEFINING GRASSROOTS Fresno united behind a cause and a motto: Like,Comment, Share all in the pursuit of $1 million to ght hunger. Despitetaking second place, Fresno s effort went grassroots. PG. 10

GETTING PREPPED FOR FRESNO BASEBALL Baseball fans are focused onApril for Opening Day, but the Fresno Grizzlies and World ChampionSan Francisco Giants have planned plenty to whet the appetite of fans

awaiting the rst pitch of 2011. PG. 14

VOL 2, No. IN THE PAGES

the DUES is an online publication of theDaily Dues, produced by D Publications.

All Content is The Daily Dues 2011.

This issue of the DUES is iPhone andiPad downloadable via iBooks. To save,open the PDF version of the magazineand press Open in iBooks.

the DUES

the textbox...

MemorableTweets andQuotes from thepast week PG. 2

QUESTIONSOur Interview

with Fresno

sJim Bean. PG. 4

FOTOGRAPH Like is the newBlack. PG. 13

Twitter: @dailyduesFacebook:fb.dailydues.com

Foursquare:foursquare.com/ dailydues

Email:[email protected]

Fax: No, thanks!

GET SOCIAL

In the 112th Congress, John Boehner of Ohio becomes the 61st Speaker of the House. Photo: NY Times.

Cover photo by Pinar Ozger (GigaOM)


3/16

the textbox...

Please don't contact myofce about EstebanNunez. I'm not related toformer Speaker FabianNunez & spell my namedifferently. Thanks.

- @DevinNunes

I wish Andy Souza were onTwitter...I'd beg him tospend the entire $100Kcheck at Target.

- @DaveChilders

Arkansas and Louisiana areplaying angry birds witheach other...

-@DaneSanger

Size Matters

-Chris Matthews on

Speaker

s Gavel

Sport s Drink Choices:

A Brett Favre: By the time

it comes, you've changedyour mind.

-Rick Reilly

Hey cantaloupes! With amore positive attitude, youcould become CAN-eloupes.

-@StephenatHome

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ALEX: Why did you start the Jim Beanaccount?

JIM BEAN: It was a way to help Fresno winthe Wal-Mart ghting hunger campaign.

ALEX: Despite not gaining the top prize, wereyou surprised at the growing momentumthroughout the last week of the FightingHunger campaign?

JIM BEAN: Yes. I couldn't believe the amountof support from the community to help make adifference. The central valley really stepped upand united for this cause.

ALEX: With over 2,000 friends and a rapport

as an online community organizer what do youplan to do next?

JIM BEAN: I will work at keeping thismomentum going forward. There are otherorganizations in Fresno that need our help aswell. So I would like to bring attention to themas well.

ALEX: Outside of hunger, what does Fresnoneed to rally around?

JIM BEAN: Abuse, special needs, troubleyouth, children who need clothing, education,

donating blood, and many more. I couldn'tmention everything because there are alot ofareas that we need to rally around andsupport. The way the community rallied aroundfeeding the hungry I would like to see peoplethese causes. If people can nd one area thattouches their heart and support that cause, itwill make a difference.

ALEX: In your perspective, what is agrassroots movement?

JIM BEAN: Exactly what happened during theghting hunger campaign. The communitystanding up saying we are going to put ourdifferences aside and we are going to ght sideby side to make a difference.

3

Questions withFRESNOSJIM BEAN

The Daily Dues Alex Tavlian talked toReggie DeLeon (known on Facebookas Jim Bean) to talk about his workfor the Fighting Hunger Campaign.

Pictured (l to r): ABC 30s Graciela Moreno, Reggie DeLeon and Community Food Bank CEO Andy Souza at the Population We rallyand head shaving in Fresno.

Photo: Facebook.com

SHAVED FOR 1 MILLION LIKES


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THE SWEARING-IN

Report

The News before, during and after the Oath of Office

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January 5 was graced with 435 members ofCongress being sworn in to ofce, a new Speakerof the House and plenty of applause lines.Despite the constant bickering ofhyperpartisanship, the rst day of the 112thCongress was marked with civil tones between

Republicans and Democrats. However, the tonemay not last for long.

In a 241-173 vote, Speaker of the House JohnBoehner was elected to his new position fromMinority Leader in the 111th Congress. OutgoingSpeaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was electedto Minority Leader.

While voting for Speaker and Minority leader, JimCosta and Dennis Cardoza voted against NancyPelosi for Minority Leader and voted for eachother. The two Valley Democrats accompany 19other Democrats defecting from Pelosi followingthe 2010 shellacking in the midterms.

Along with the rest of the House, the ValleyCongressional delegation, Dennis Cardoza(CA-18), Jeff Denham (CA-19), Jim Costa(CA-20), Devin Nunes (CA-21) and Kevin

McCarthy (CA-22) were sworn in, with McCarthytaking his new post as the House Majority Whip(third in command of the majority party).

The Valley Republicans can expect to gain quite abit of clout in this session of Congress. For thetwo Valley Democrats, Costa and Cardoza, theirmoves as Blue Dogs could land them in thedoghouse with the Democratic Caucus.

As part of Jeff Denham s swearing-in, the AtwaterRepublican had Denair teenager Cody Alicea,known as the Flag Boy, in attendance at theCapitol. Alicea, you may remember, was the boywho had the American ag on the back of hisbicycle and was asked to remove it by schoolauthorities. Quickly Denair Middle Schoolreceived quite a bit of media pressure due to theiranti-American sentiment toward the ag. Denhaminvited Alicea to the swearing-in and is paying forhis airfare to and from Washington. Along with thecontribution from Denham, Alicea s hotel tab isbeing partially picked up by the American Legion.

Continued on page 8

Republicans take over House

173Votes for Nancy Pelosi

Loses Speakership Now Minority Leader Twitter Handle:

@NancyPelosi

241Votes for John Boehner

Gains Speakership Cries after procession Twitter Handle:

@SpeakerBoehner

Valley Congressmen bring surprises to swearing-in, Speakership electionon first day of 112th Congress

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

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January 5, Jeff Denham wassworn in as Congressman fromthe California 19thCongressional District.

January 4, Denham hosted alavish, even posh, party at theW Hotel in Washington featuringGrammy Award winner LeAnnRimes.

The party had three specialguests: John Boehner, EricCantor and Kevin McCarthy, orthe Speaker, Majority Leaderand Majority Whip.

The event was sponsored byAmericas New Majority PAC a

joint political action committeetying many freshmancongressional campaigncommittees (including Denham

for Congress) and DenhamsJEFF PAC.

In order to get in the door andhear Rimes sing, Denham and

Americas New Majority wouldbe draining $2,500 from yourbank account for one ticket.

If you felt like a D.C. highroller,you could drop $50,000 and geteight tickets to the party and aVIP Suite at the W Hotel.

The party put Denham ondefense with the press aftermany conservative politicos andoperatives slammed it for goingagainst the party message:populism.

Yeah, we re conservatives butthat doesn t mean we can t havefun, Denham said minutesbefore the party.

The main concern for theaustere Republican leaders wasthe reminiscence of a 2007party that then-Speaker NancyPelosi held after winning backthe majority. That party featured

Tony Bennett.Despite the free meal andentertainment, Speaker of theHouse John Boehner andMajority Leader Eric Cantor didnot attend the soiree Tuesdaynight.

Denham, known for fundraisingin the California Legislature,responded to claims that he wastrying to establish himself as arainmaker with the fact that theevent was an opportunity forme to show some leadership.

PARTY LIKE ITS 2011 Denham, GOP Frosh throw lavish swearing-in party before being sworn-in

Congressman Jeff Denham s fundraiser headlined Grammy winner LeAnn Rimes for $2,500 per person.Photos from HogueNews.com and AP Photo

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With rivalry between the Speaker of the Houseand the Majority Leader, there s one man in theRepublican leadership who can keep theRepublican party stable in the 112th Congressleading into 2012. Even better: he was thearchitect of the Pledge to America.

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (CA-22) isthe person who is considered responsible for theRepublican takeover of the House. Despite TeaParty waves across the country, McCarthy srecruits for House races did better and aren tlooking to be as polarizing as the average TeaParty member of Congress.

As said earlier, there s a beef between MajorityLeader Eric Cantor and Speaker of the HouseJohn Boehner and it s already starting to cause

problems with the new House (just two days intothe new term). McCarthy s vision for the next twoyears, as evidenced by the Pledge to America, isfocused on economic renewal with limiteddiscussion on social issues.

For the Republican-majority in the House tosurvive in 2012, Republicans will have to stayfocused on economic issues like repealing healthcare and massive spending cuts in order to keepRepublican and Independent voters happy beforeelection day.

McCarthy

s young gun position in the Housecould make him a favorite among Republicanslooking to keep their seats in 2012.

The separating factor for McCarthy s strategy andthe Tea Party agenda is the social agenda. Socialconservatives didn t gain popularity over the 111thCongress due to their inammatory work on theGround Zero Mosque and the ArizonaImmigration Law. Tea Party advocates wouldpush for social issues such as immigration to be

brought to the table.Now that the Speaker has cried on the Houseoor, the Majority Leader blitzed morning TVshows and the House read the Constitution, it stime to see what Kevin McCarthy will do to makehimself a part of the leadership.

McCarthy key to hold House in 2012

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (left) is the one member of the Republican leadership who can maintain themajority in the 2012 election. With his work on the Pledge to America (right) McCarthy headed up recruiting in2010.

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House Resolution 2, also knownas Repealing the Job-KillingHealth Care Law Act, is nearingits day in the House asRepublicans throw their supportfor the bill in preparation for avote.

The resolution, proposed byMajority Leader Eric Cantor(VA-7), currently has 171 co-sponsors, all of whom areRepublicans. The bill wasreferred to the HouseCommittees on Energy andCommerce, Education and theWorkforce, Ways and Means,Judiciary, Natural Resources,

Rules, Administration, andAppropriations.

House Majority Whip KevinMcCarthy (CA-22) and freshmanCongressman Jeff Denham(CA-19) are two of the 171original co-sponsors. Not on thatlist: Congressman Devin Nunes(CA-21). The four-termCongressman has not co-sponsored the bill thatRepublicans rallied around inthe 2010 election.

While the bill is still up fordebate and a vote, there are stillplenty of chances for Nunes toco-sponsor the bill before it isvoted upon.

FROM PG. 4:

HOUSE REPUBLICANS

Now an ofcial member ofCongress, Denham launchedhis new House.gov website athttp://denham.house.gov and isincreasingly using his Twitterhandle @jeffdenham.

With the swearing-in over, theRepublicans will beginaddressing issues such asreading the Constitution,establishing House rules, andrepealing the new health carelaw.

Nunes not a co-sponsorof Obamacare repealBULLETIN

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Before she was sworn in, POLITICO reported thatKamala Harris, the next Attorney General ofCalifornia, is poised to be the next Democratic all-star. The POLITICO article goes further to saythat Harris is, by denition, the Anti-Palin in herafuence in the party.

Likelihood? Not very.

Harris victory in the AG s race in 2010 was acombination of forces, but none that couldcategorize her as the Anti-Palin. Harris doesn thold quite the inuence that Palin does in theDemocratic Party. However, Harris does have

quite a bit of a following in the CaliforniaDemocratic Party, as she follows Jerry Brown onnumerous issues, including the death penalty.

POLITICO s claims do die down in the article,stating that Harris has a humble political agenda(well, as humble as it can get for someone

labeled the Anti-Palin) mainly focused on criminal justice reform. While becoming Attorney Generalof California is a big step in politics, Harris needsto win another big statewide seat (such as theSenate or Governorship) in order to prove herpolitical worth as the next tenant of Democraticideals.

Then again, had Steve Cooley, Harris Republican opponent, had stronger backing fromthe California Republican Party, Harris could haveeasily become another Democrat on thebreadline.

The bottomline: Harris needs to win a seat in thepolitical, not legal, arena before becominganointed as a party player.

On second thought, given that Palin doesn t havethat much political experience, maybe POLITICOis right.

KAMALAHARRIS:

THE ANTI-PALIN?

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"Change we can believe in", "Free Tibet," and"Like, Comment, Share."

Three grassroots movements standing tall andproud. Yes, even the third one.

The overused cliche of grassroots movementshave been exploited by politicians and politicalcommentators for the last decade as a descriptionof populism at work in Washington. But on

December 31, 2010, Fresno encapsulated thespirit of a grassroots movement in the WalmartFighting Hunger competition.

With an objective in sight, a cause to back and amotto to rally around, the City of Fresno,California created a grassroots movement onFacebook.

The objective: Win $1 million from a big boxcorporation. The cause: Feed the Hungry ofFresno. The motto: "Like, Comment, Share."

Fresno didn't meet the objective per se. Themovement earned Fresno $100,000 in anmassive, community-led effort. Despite that, someFresnans walked away as if they had beenrobbed of their hard work for a good cause.Others, decided to keep the torch lit on feeding

the hungry in the Central Valley and created anew objective: raise $1 million to feed the hungry.

But how did Fresno's effort to win the million spura grassroots effort? A combination of the webcommunity, the media, and a guy who infringed acopyright.

PHOTOS BY ROZA BELLA PHOTOGRAPHY

(Left to Right): ABC 30 Anchor Graciela Moreno, Jim Bean (Reggie DeLeon), and Community Food Bank CEO Andy Souza are at a head-shaving event promised by DeLeon if Fresno won the Fighting Hunger competition.

grassrootsDEFINING4,125,544 likes later, Fresno s

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So how did the web community get involved?

Let's start with the obvious: the contest wasbased online. But also, let's go with theambiguous: statistics.

In statistics, there is a type of sampling called a"voluntary response sample" in which people canopt to not answer a question, thus giving anoverwhelming advantage to those who doanswer. For statisticians, voluntary responsesamples are problematic because those whovolunteer to respond are incentivized to respondbecause they care about the question or task athand and benet in the results of the sampling.

The Fighting Hunger contest itself is a voluntaryresponse sample. The people who wanted toparticipate in the contest are incentivized to doso. Thus, if the contest was done by mailing in apostcard to win, Fresnans would be making tripsto the Post Ofce for more stamps.

Moreover the blather about statistics, Fresnanshave nally established "the button" (as in thenuke button) for community issues. To explain,"the button" is the point when an onlinediscussion, or advocacy, that jumps off the screenof an iPhone or laptop and ends up in your dinnerdiscussion or a news cycle. For Fresno, this wasthe rst time the button was pushed, thanks to theFresno Beehive.

Through the Beehive and the various socialnetworkers, the word was spread around the webcommunity. Then, Salt Lake City took the leadand the button was pushed.

Fresno was mobilizing a movement to ghthunger.

Enter the history lesson:

In the olden days of town halls and a well-readculture, say the late 1700s early 1800s, publicdiscourse of issues and problems were done in agroup effort to maximize effectiveness. A town hallmeeting on raising taxes was a sight to see, not a

segment on C-SPAN. In their spare time, peoplewrote essays for pamphlets and gave speechesabout their frustrations of the status quo.

That was the mobilization of yester-century.

A town hall meeting is a long conversation on aFacebook wall or @replies around theTwitterverse. Tweets and Wall posts being thespeeches of support and dissent. The pamphletand essay is the blog and blog post. In the 52week of 2010, it was all hands on deck tomobilize a Fresno victory.

And what of the media? How did the newscaststart paying attention to this effort?

The ideal answer is: the button. Even before theFeed Fresno movement jumped off the web andinto discussions and news cycles, it was beingcovered by the news agencies. The only reasonwhy I can attest to this is that I wrote a few briefsfor the Fresno Bee.

Three weeks before the Fighting Hunger Contestgot intensied by a Salt Lake City lead, I wrotethe rst brief on Fighting Hunger. Interestinglyenough, the Fresno Beehive had mentioned itearlier in the day. First rule of journalism: the wordcount generally corresponds to importance of thetopic. At this point, the contest wasn't veryimportant.

By the time that the Twitterverse and Facebookmasses nally pushed the button, the mediaheeded the call the next day with a Facebookstatus update from KFSN-TV's anchor GracielaMoreno trying to join in the ght. FeedFresnowould become a mainstream grassrootsmovement kicked off by the web.

Then arrived Jim Bean, the guy who infringed acopyright.

If community organizing were a gas re, Jim Beanowned Chevron and Zippo Lighters. On Monday,December 27, Jim Bean had become the leaderof the Facebook effort. Every ve minutes Bean

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shared another link to the Facebook page andgave us updates on new rules and regulationsset down by Walmart. Despite his sometimesmyopic posts about Walmart's rules and theregulations, the main goal for Jim Bean was tofeed the hungry and get a community unitedbehind a cause.

Fresno now knows the identity of Jim Bean. His

name is Reggie DeLeon, a student at FresnoCity College, gained over 2,000 friends in thecourse of one week by friend everyone wantingto contribute to the FeedFresno movement.

Fueling the race with likes, comments andshares, Jim Bean is the facilitator andcommunity organizer that pushed Fresnothrough the battles with Salt Lake City. While,Fresno didn't win, he has gained a name forhimself as a community organizer on the web

and his new found inuence isn't going to waste.To reiterate, we've created a grassrootsmovement for FeedFresno: the web community,the media and a third party (or in the case ofFeedFresno, a guy who infringed a copyright) toget the general public interested in a cause.

But it's over. Fresno lost, there's nothing morethat Fresno can do; right?

Nope. Fresno chugged along spurring a new,less exciting objective for the FeedFresnocause. With a Food Drive at the KGPE-TVstudios and the FightingHungerFresno campaignby the Fresno Regional Foundation, the pastweek has been lled with renewed interest to

feed the hungry during a cold time of year.With new objectives, collecting food anddonations, it's clear that FeedFresno isgrassroots: there are still plenty of peopleproving that there is still interest in feeding thehungry even after a tough blow to the cause.

Fresnans who liked, commented and shared forthe Fighting Hunger campaign or have donatedto the Food Drive or new FightingHungerFresno

campaign, you are part of a movement that goesbeyond you as a person, but your community inneed.

To the world: Fresno's gone grassroots.

THE RANKINGS

1. SALT LAKE CITY - 5,320,392

2. FRESNO - 4,125,544

3. COLUMBIA - 356,020

4. OGDEN - 305,512

5. CHARLESTON - 167,694

6. BAKERSFIELD - 157,880

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FOTOGRAPH

FOTOGRAPH

LIKE IS THE NEW BLACK

Fresnan Greg Wike created these Like shirts to raise funds for theCommunity Food Bank. The shirts are $10 each (bought via Facebook). Photo by Roza Bella Photography.

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Plenty to do before 2011 Season starts

The Fresno Grizzlies won t be starting their2011 season until April 7, but Fresno s teamis keeping fans of the Grizzlies (Triple-AAfliate of the World Champion SanFrancisco Giants) excited for the start of thenew season with a few events.

The Grizzlies will host the 50th Hot Stove

Gala at the Fresno Convention center withspecial guest Will Clark and Matt Williams.Alongside the two famous Giants is the 2010Commissioner s Trophy won by the scrappyinsurgency of the San Francisco Giants. Thetrophy s arrival to the Gala in February willbe the rst of two stops in Fresno.

The Gala is being held February 3,information about tickets can be given bycalling 559-320-2547.

Two days after the 50th Hot Stove Gala isthe SF Giants Fan Fest at AT&T Park.Fresno blogger Bill Harshbarger is trying toget SF Giants fans together for a party bustrip up to San Francisco for the Fan Fest.The Fest itself is free of charge and allowsvisitors to m eet Giants, see the d ugouts andtrample all over the eld.

More at Harsh s Blog

Two days before rst pitch, April 5, theGrizzlies are planning on having a publicviewing of the Commissioner s trophy whilethe media takes its sights on the new talentat Chukchansi Park during Media Day.

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HOT STOVE SEASON UPON US
http://harshperspective.blogspot.com/2011/01/sf-giants-fan-fest-whos-interested.htmlhttp://harshperspective.blogspot.com/2011/01/sf-giants-fan-fest-whos-interested.htmlhttp://harshperspective.blogspot.com/2011/01/sf-giants-fan-fest-whos-interested.htmlhttp://harshperspective.blogspot.com/2011/01/sf-giants-fan-fest-whos-interested.html


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the DUES - The Swearing-In Report

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