Please circulate...and JOIN US! 
 THURSDAY, JUNE 27 
 11AM 
 STATE CAPITOL 
 See carpool info below 
 
 ORGANIZERS TO LAUNCH 
 "BUY BACK THE GOVERNMENT" TELETHON 
 
 LEGISLATORS FUND 
 $595 MILLION DELANO PRISON DESPITE 
 DECLINING PRISON POPULATION, BUDGET CRISIS 
 & PUBLIC OPINION 
 
 SACRAMENTO, CA - Setting a goal of $2.3 million - the same amount 
 California's prison guards' contributed to state legislative races -- 
 grassroots organizers will hold a "Buy Back the Government" Telethon 
 in front of the State Capitol on Thursday, June 27 at 11 am. 
 
 Organizers will set up a phone bank to accept calls from contributors 
 on the north side of the State Capitol and will accept on site 
 donations as well. As a premium, each donor to the campaign will 
 receive a laminated picture of the Governor or a legislator so 
 everyone, not just the California Correctional Peace Officers 
 Association (CCPOA), can have the Governor in his or her pocket. And 
 school children, weathering severe cuts to next year's education 
 budget, will set up a lemonade stand to raise their "Buy Back the 
 Government" donations. 
 
 Earlier this month, despite a $23 billion deficit, a declining prison 
 population and a statewide poll finding that Californians strongly 
 favor a freeze on state prison building, the joint budget conference 
 committee funded the controversial $595 million Delano prison plan. 
 
 "Our goal of $2.3 million may seem unrealistic to some, but we've 
 learned what it cost to win in Sacramento," said Dorsey Nunn, M.C. for 
 the Telethon. 
 
 "It's telling that in the midst of the worst budget crisis in a 
 decade, the prison guards get a 34% raise, a $595 million new prison 
 and the Corrections' budget is going up, not down," commented Rose 
 Braz, Director of Critical Resistance, noting that the Governor's May 
 Revision to the Budget provides for a $185.9 million increase to the 
 state's $5 billion prison budget. 
 
 "You really do get a lot of bang for your buck in Sacramento when 
 you're the number one contributor to state legislative races," 
 continued Braz, commenting that the guards contributed an additional 
 $251,000 to the Governor only weeks after he granted the guards a pay 
 hike of as much as $1 billion dollars. 
 
 The Delano prison will siphon $124 million from the general fund per 
 year to operate and repay the debt for the next 25 years. Every major 
 newspaper across the state, including the Los Angles Times, San 
 Francisco Chronicle and Orange County Register editorialized against 
 construction of the prison. 
 
 A statewide poll of likely voters recently found that Californians 
 strongly favor a freeze on state prison construction and cuts to state 
 prisons, over any other state program, to address the budget crisis. 
 
 The poll of 600 likely voters also found that 76% of those surveyed 
 supported requiring voter approval of new prison construction. The 
 legislature did not seek voter approval before authorizing the 
 contentious Delano prison. In 1990 and again in 1996 voters turned 
 down proposed prison bonds 2-1. The poll was conducted by Fairbanks, 
 Maslin. Of those surveyed, 71% described themselves as conservative or 
 moderate. 
 
 Groundbreaking for the prison was set for February 2001, but has been 
 delayed by the mounting opposition 
 
 Opposition to the Delano prison plan has come from a coalition of 
 over 80 organizations includingthe Central Labor Council of Alameda 
 County, the San Francisco Board of Education, Service Employees Union 
 International (SEIU) Local 250, the Delano Center on Race, Poverty and 
 the Environment, American Federation of Teachers (AFT)- University 
 Council, Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees, Locals 2 and 2850, 
 California State Employees Association, Civil Service Division Council 
 (SEIU Local 1000), NAACP chapters, and the statewide Associated 
 Students of the University of California. 
 
 JOIN US! 
 CARPOOLS WILL LEAVE FROM MACARTHUR BART AT 830 AM. 
 for more infomration Call510-444-0484 
 
 Critical Resistance 
 1212 Broadway, Suite 1400 
 Oakland, CA 94612 
 (510)444-0484 
 fax(510)444-2177 
 www.criticalresistance.org 
 rose@criticalresistance.org