There's a lot of talk this year about more and better Democrats. Generally the "and better" part means primary campaigns and being selective in the candidates that we support with time, money and cyber ink. The other side of that is holding our representatives accountable in ways outside the ballot box, because sometimes we can't just wait for re-election to get responsive representation; too much happens. It's not always easy to find effective ways to get attention and movement, but passion and creativity can be combined into a potent mix.

Last week Senator Dianne Feinstein voted to give away our 4th Amendment privacy protections and grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies who may have been illegally complicit in domestic spying on U.S. citizens. It was hardly the first time that Sen. Feinstein has given us reason for serious concern. Once before, her support of previous iterations of FISA legislation, Judge Leslie Southwick and now-Attorney General Mukasey inspired us to insist she pay attention to Californians. We asked you whether it was time to pursue censure again, and more than 12,000 of you responded with a clear message.

Rick Jacobs sent an email this morning running through the results, explaining where we go from here, and asking you to help:

Dear Lucas,

The results are in.

Over 12,000 Californians voted on one of the most important questions we have ever asked our community: whether or not the Courage Campaign should re-launch a censure resolution against Senator Dianne Feinstein at the next meeting of the California Democratic Party.

And here's the answer:

95.4 percent (11,524 people) voted YES.
4.6 percent (556 people) voted NO.

The consensus of our Courage Campaign community is crystal clear: we should push to censure the Senator.

And, driven by your mandate to take action, that is exactly what we're going to do. From her FISA votes supporting telecom immunity to her shocking swing votes confirming Bush nominees Michael Mukasey and Leslie Southwick, enough is enough.

For this people-powered "Censure the Senator" movement to succeed, we need your support before the California Democratic Party (CDP) executive board meets again. To hold Sen. Feinstein accountable, it will take money to organize people. It's as simple as that.

If you support pushing to censure the Senator, please contribute $20, $50, $100 or more now to launch our campaign for change within the Democratic Party immediately. If just 500 people contribute $10 (or more) ASAP, we can hire a grassroots organizer and get started now:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/CensureMovement

For far too long, we've watched as congressional Democrats -- the party in power -- have failed to hold President Bush accountable for torture, war and warrantless wiretapping. 95.4% of our members and supporters say that it's got to stop. As Annie from San Francisco wrote to us, in voting YES to censure:

We have to (censure Sen. Feinstein). It's hard to have to call out our politicians on so many issues and votes, but they keep disappointing us over and over again. We can't let these votes go unprotested.

That's what a "censure" is -- a protest. As Wikipedia describes it, censure is "a procedure for publicly reprimanding a public official for inappropriate behavior."

Other than voting in an election, a public censure is also our only recourse as citizens to express our condemnation of Sen. Feinstein's votes last week to grant retroactive immunity to the Bush Administration and telecom companies for spying on Americans.

With Sen. Feinstein's double failure on FISA, it's time to take this accountability movement to the next level. Please contribute $20, $50, $100 -- or whatever you can afford -- to launch our campaign for change within the Democratic Party immediately:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/CensureMovement

Last year, Sen. Feinstein was also the crucial swing vote on the Judiciary Committee to confirm two extremist Bush appointments -- a torture-condoning Attorney General and a racist judge (Michael Mukasey and Leslie Southwick).

Those two Judiciary Committee swing votes mobilized 35,039 Californians -- in just one week -- to co-sign a censure resolution supported by the Courage Campaign, MoveOn, Progressive Democrats of America and 38 Democratic Clubs across California.

A few days later, at the Executive Board meeting of the California Democratic Party, both the Women's Caucus and Progressive Caucus passed the censure resolution -- an unprecedented and historic action inside the party. Unfortunately, the resolution got bottled up in the Resolutions Committee and was ultimately voted down.

If we're going to build a movement in California for accountability inside the Democratic Party, it starts by taking on Dianne Feinstein. Can you contribute $20, $50, $100 or more to launch our "Censure the Senator" campaign before the CDP meets again?

http://www.couragecampaign.org/CensureMovement

Thank you for doing everything in your power to make 2008 a new era for progressive politics in California.

Rick Jacobs
Chair

P.S. Frankly, a censure resolution is merely a piece of paper unless there's a people-powered movement behind it. That's why your contribution to our "Censure the Senator" campaign will be an investment in changing the Democratic Party in California and across the country.

It's up to you. Please contribute what you can -- even $20, the price of a movie, popcorn and a soda -- and then forward this email to your friends:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/CensureMovement