NEWS & VIEWS from the SLOCDP
A Message from the Chair
Dear SLO County Democrats and friends:
Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and their mafia government have declared war on the American people. In taking a wrecking ball to the core values of freedom, fairness, justice, decency, compassion, and honesty, MuskTrump has awakened a fiery spirit of defiance many believed lay dormant, or even lost.
Now they’re attacking the legitimacy of the judiciary. They’ve launched an offensive against our judges, our courts, and they’re even going after the lawyers who’ve been repeatedly, successfully challenging their non-stop illegality.
They’ve pissed off too many of us, and they are about to find out what true American spirit looks like when our backs are against the wall and we’re forced to fight for our rights and freedoms.
Hands Off! National Day of Action, Saturday, April 5
On Saturday, April 5, disparate groups from around the nation will take to the streets in the “Hands Off! National Day of Action” to exercise their First Amendment “right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
In SLO County, the action is titled “Hands Off Our Courts!” It’s scheduled for noon to 1:30 p.m. at the SLO County Courthouse in downtown San Luis Obispo.
While the SLO County Democratic Party endorses this protest, and many of us will be there, this is NOT an official action of the SLOCDP. To be clear, no one single entity or person is in charge of this protest except “we, the people.”
The SLO protest is shaping up to be an organic gathering of disparate but like-minded SLO County residents and friends with the common purpose of resisting and objecting to the destruction of our democracy and government by a hostile domestic regime aided and abetted by foreign influences.
We’ll all be there to help form a human shield around the SLO County courthouse to protect our courts from the assault against them from our modern Dick the Butchers, and their desire to “kill all the lawyers.”
SLOCDP Project 2026 Strategy Update
This Hands Off Our Courts! action is one of many tactics everyday SLO County residents and friends can take from now until the 2026 elections, when we must force local elected Republicans to account for the MuskTrump abominations, and pay for them at the polls.
On Saturday, March 22, more than 200 local Democrats and like-minded friends gathered to brainstorm ways to respond to the Dick-the-Butchery and map out a path toward winning elected positions at every level in SLO County, from special districts to school boards to city councils and beyond.
Inspiration was provided by:
SLO Mayor Erica Stewart
Assemblymember Dawn Addis
State Sen. Monique Limón
Yessenia Echevarria, for U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal
Kara Woodruff, for State Sen. John Laird
2nd District SLO County Supervisor Bruce Gibson
3rd District SLO County Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg
4th District SLO County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding
SLO County Dem Club leaders
Community groups including:
Diversity Coalition
Undocusupport
Mujeres de Acción
Strategies discussed:
From now until Election Day 2026 and 2028, oppose in words and actions – on the streets, in the media, in everyday life – the MuskTrump destruction of our national government (Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, VA, NOOA, Education, everything).
Hold every locally elected Republican accountable for what their party is doing to our country and our communities.
Field qualified candidates and aggressively campaign for every local elected seat.
Defend the seats we already hold with truth, dignity, determination and honor.
Demonstrate to our neighbors and friends – and to our political opponents – here at home and across the nation that we know how to fight in SLO County against the destruction of our government at all levels, how to defend our core values of truth, justice, decency, fairness and democracy, and how to win.
Many others.
Tactics discussed:
Keep each other informed and connected on street rallies, meetings, marches, post-card campaigns and other direct-action items via the SLOCDP Calendar of Events, the central clearing house of most activism in SLO County.
Dem Clubs to leverage best practices from one another for better cooperation and unified direct actions.
Use every street rally and protest as recruiting grounds for qualified, energetic candidates for local elective office.
Play offense, not defense, by truthful, entertaining and engaging storytelling that illustrate the harm of MuskTrump policies while offering solutions we can deploy until a change of national leadership.
Improve our digital communications to better reach younger generations where they are.
Many, many other great ideas.
Conclusion:
Get involved, stay involved, be part of the solution.
Tom Fulks
Chair, SLOCDP
California Fights Back !
(Judy Lang)
California will not take the Trump regime lying down. State Democrats take his crimes to court!
California officials have filed or joined other states in filing numerous lawsuits against the federal government. Included are suits to block the firing of Department of Education staff and other federal employees and the freezing of federal grants; to preserve birthright citizenship and federal funding for university research; to block DOGE from accessing our personal information; and to challenge the legality of Elon Musk's actions. CalMatters has been tracking those efforts. Here we report on eight challenges filed as of March 14 2025, that are currently making their way through the legal system. Details on the cases are here. You can also visit the CalMatters website and sign up for its newsletter.
Republicans Try to Ban Federal Labor Unions
The GOP escalates war on workers, introduces bill to end federal labor unions.
The Center Square reports: “Labor unions representing federal workers are facing another challenge to collective bargaining rights – and even their very existence – in a newly introduced Republican bill."
The Federal Workforce Freedom Act (Senate Bill 1006) would prohibit federal employees from organizing or joining labor unions in order to bargain collectively, as well as forbid federal agencies from participating in collective bargaining negotiations with labor unions representing federal workers.
The bill would also terminate any and all collective bargaining agreements between labor unions and federal agencies established before, on, or after the date of enactment.
The sponsors of the bill, U.S. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., argue that these kinds of collective bargaining agreements harm worker efficiency, increase labor costs, and charge taxpayers in the bargaining process.
We call out their lies! We will fight their anti-labor agenda and forever support the rights of all workers to join a union and bargain together!
For the rest of the story, visit Center Square here.
Affordability Crisis: Republicans Plan Social Security Cuts
Staffing cuts will imperil access to services, while planned benefit cuts remain secret.
That Republicans are after Social Security again should come as no surprise to anyone. However, the dishonest way they are going about it is a new low. While claiming they're not cutting benefits, Republicans are ensuring it is evermore difficult to collect them.
The tragedy of these cuts is that the very retirees who depend most on social security are least equipped to meet these challenges. Billionaires like Elon Musk will retire quite comfortably, while everyday Americans struggle to navigate the system and collect the money they earned.
Meanwhile, the elitist Wall Street CEO picked by Trump to head the Social Security Administration spent his confirmation hearing denying plans to cut benefits. We are lucky the SLO county SSA office is not one of the many currently targeted for closure. Still, we must all stay vigilant against Republican attacks.
For more information on how Musk and Trump's plans for social security will affect Californians, read this article from the Sacramento Bee.
Here's a giant THANK YOU to all the volunteers who've been keeping our SLOCDP Headquarters open, welcoming visitors, answering phone calls, responding to questions, and so much more.
We still need to fill several shifts to reach our goal of keeping the HQ open from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. No experience is needed--if you are a new volunteer we will train you.
Our Party Headquarters has become a huge resource for the community in these trying times. Help us keep it going. For details or to volunteer, click here or call 805-546-8499.
Here's a giant THANK YOU to all the volunteers who've been keeping our SLOCDP Headquarters open, welcoming visitors, answering phone calls, responding to questions, and so much more.
We still need to fill several shifts to reach our goal of keeping the HQ open from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. No experience is needed--if you are a new volunteer we will train you.
Our Party Headquarters has become a huge resource for the community in these trying times. Help us keep it going. For details or to volunteer, click here or call 805-546-8499.
