GRASS ROOTS BEATS DIRTY ENERGY

California Voters Say Hell No to Texas Oil and Proposition 23
Becky Bond, November 2, 2010 (Huffington Post)

"National green groups failed to pass meaningful climate legislation in Washington DC this year. But California progressives have demonstrated that we have the power to deliver a resounding defeat to the big oil companies, if we fight on our own terms and harness the power of the grassroots…California's Proposition 23, had it passed, would have effectively repealed the state's landmark global warming law…[I]f implemented, California's global warming law sets a new floor for national standards once the push for federal legislation is renewed…

"Valero and Tesoro, two Texas oil companies, provided the majority of funding for Proposition 23…Progressives revolted against the inside-the-beltway strategy that says environmentalists should work with big corporations rather than attacking them. They rejected the idea that the battle over Prop 23 would largely be fought by consultant-driven media buys. And they refused to kowtow to the DC conventional wisdom that you can't win on climate if you actually talk about saving the planet."

This defeat of Prop 23 gives California the opportunity to further demonstrate that fighting climate change will grow the economy and jobs. (click to enlarge)

"No doubt DC media types and political consultants will assert that Prop 23 was defeated by a deluge of campaign cash that came in during the final weeks of the campaign…[but] the netroots and the grassroots largely sealed the win in September…Grassroots efforts in California took the form of three major campaigns. CREDO…Communities United…[and] the California Alliance…A key to success was an independent campaign to proactively brand anti-climate forces early, personally, and with teeth. This defined the fight clearly on our terms at an early stage in the fight…

"…[W]hen we launched our field campaign in early September, the Yes on 23 on campaign had raised $8.2 million. No on 23 at this point had raised $6 million. Money was not the issue…Activists and their ability to move an effective message was what made the difference…Under the banner of "Hell No on 23," California activists attacked the Texas oil companies ferociously, and went after their CEOs…[W]e were able to make the Texas oil companies' funding of Prop 23 the issue…"

This defeat of Prop 23 gives California the opportunity to further demonstrate that fighting climate change will grow the economy and jobs. (click to enlarge)

"All of a sudden, the oil companies were forced to depart from the strategy that had worked so well for them in the past…[T]he Texas oil companies became so defensive that by October 1 their executives bizarrely resorted to claiming that they were neither from Texas nor oil companies…

"The story of this election is not that Silicon Valley businessmen outspent the Texas oil men. It's that voters, educated and mobilized by the grassroots to fight back against an outrageous corporate power grab, were given a clear choice, and said Hell no to the Texas oil companies."