Thank you! We all did an amazing job, and the fight is only beginning!
Thank you for standing with us for YES on 23. While we may not have passed Prop. 23, our campaign was still a victory and the fight is not over.
Our opponents could only stop us after outspending us over 3 to 1, using deceptive mailers that aimed to make voters falsely believe the California Republican Party was against 23, buying up fake Yes on 23 domain names, and by attacking two of our coalition members to divert the public's attention from the real issue of the jobs AB 32 will kill.
However, our campaign represents a turning point in California history with citizens beginning to question the excesses of the "green" agenda. Millions of Californians voted Yes on Prop. 23, and that shows legions of citizens are no longer simply taking radical environmentalists at their word but are finally beginning to ask how much the green agenda will cost and whether there is really any benefit to incurring massive new energy taxes and job losses simply to make a statement about global warming.
The PPIC polls taken on Prop. 23 showed trends that should encourage all of us. Prop. 23's strongest support was from young Californians and Hispanics. In fact, even after the barrage of deceptive opposition advertising that the PPIC found significantly eroded our support, Prop. 23 still led among Hispanics.
Prop. 23 earned extremely enthusiastic support from Republicans and the Tea Party, but it also represented a political realignment where working Californians such as truckers and construction workers, young people and Hispanics stood together with conservatives against the job-killing plans of an out of touch green elite.
The fight is not over. AB 32's implementation will decimate our already sick economy. We have no choice but to continue to fight. First off, we must let Governor-elect Jerry Brown know we demand he exercise the one year suspension option written into the law.
And we must continue to build on what we have accomplished through educating our fellow citizens with facts so next time they are not misled by our opponents deceptions, keeping the pressure up on the political establishment to halt the march toward a green economic disaster, and if necessary to try again at the ballot box with another AB 32 suspension initiative.
While I'm disappointed, do not be discouraged. 2.7 million Californians agreed with us and it would only take changing the mind of about one in ten voters for us to be the majority. And then in many counties we have already outright won. We won Kern County, home of Bakersfield, Orange County, Shasta County, home of Redding, Yuba County, Sutter County and many more.
In Lassen and Modoc Counties we even received over 60% of the vote. Friend, the fight's not over. Howard Jarvis, who ultimately passed Prop. 13, tried to pass property tax relief numerous times over a number of years before succeeding. We will win too because we are dauntless.
Sincerely,
Eric Eisenhammer
(My emphasis added-persistance is the key to success.)
