As the 2022-23 California Legislative calendar year comes to an end, voters will soon be bombarded with campaign ads and candidates making impressive claims and promises about themselves, and damning claims about their opponents, all in an attempt to win your 2024 vote.
But thanks to Courage Score, Californians can tune-out the campaign noise (and misinformation) and see the receipts firsthand.
Irene Kao, executive director of Courage California joins Angela Chavez, to discuss all things Courage Score: what it is, how voters can use it, and the impact it has made in Sacramento since 2014, by simply laying out the facts – voting records and campaign contributions – and helping California voters hold their representatives accountable, year round.
Find your representative, here: https://couragescore.org/
With You, fashioned in Courage, We Can create a California that represents and serves us all.
Connect with us: @CourageCA #CourageLooksGoodOnYou
Support: couragecalifornia.org/donate
As the 2022-23 California Legislative calendar year comes to an end, voters will soon be bombarded with campaign ads and candidates making impressive claims and promises about themselves, and damning claims about their opponents, all in an attempt to win your 2024 vote.
But thanks to Courage Score, Californians can tune-out the campaign noise (and misinformation) and see the receipts firsthand.
Irene Kao, executive director of Courage California joins Angela Chavez, to discuss all things Courage Score: what it is, how voters can use it, and the impact it has made in Sacramento since 2014, by simply laying out the facts – voting records and campaign contributions – and helping California voters hold their representatives accountable, year round.
Find your representative, here: https://couragescore.org/
With You, fashioned in Courage, We Can create a California that represents and serves us all.
Connect with us: @CourageCA #CourageLooksGoodOnYou
Support: couragecalifornia.org/donate
[00:00:00] Angela: Welcome and thank you for listening to Courage. It looks good on you. Brought to you by Courage, California. I'm Angela Chavez, communications Director for Courage California, and I'm excited to have our executive director, Irene Gao, here with me today to discuss one of my favorite accountability tools, the annual Courage Score.
Before we get started, be sure to subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcast from, and connect with us on social media at Courage ca. Courage California is largely funded by donations from informed voters like yourself. If you'd like to become a supporter of Courage California, please donate@couragecalifornia.org slash donate . One time donations are greatly appreciated, but evergreen donations help us the most
Here at Courage California, we believe that when Californians understand how representatives vote on the issues they care about and how campaign contributions can influence policy makers, the people can better hold their representatives accountable [00:01:00] and impact change.
If you work in or around state politics, you might be familiar with Courage California, the organization chances are you're much more familiar with our Courage Score. It has been our claim to fame in the Capitol where members either love us, tolerate us, or let's just say heavily dislike us. and it's all because of the power of our annual Courage Score report card.
As the saying goes, if you have nothing to hide, you had nothing to fear. With that, I'd like to welcome Irene Kao, executive Director of Courage California. Welcome to the podcast Irene.
[00:01:36] Irene: Thank you, Angela.
[00:01:37] Angela: Excited for you to be here. 'cause as I mentioned earlier, I love the Courage Score. When I first learned about Courage California, that is where I was drawn to, and I have told everybody.
About Courage Score that I see like, oh my God, pull it up on your phone right now. You have to see this. So I am so excited that we're doing this podcast and just doing a good deep [00:02:00] dive into what it is. So can you share with us what is Courage? California's Courage Score.
[00:02:06] Irene: So I am the same as you. I love Courage Score. But that's not a surprise. 'cause I also consider myself more and more sort of like a state political nerd or wonk. And so this is sort of like a great tool, but what I love is that it's meant for everyone who lives in the state of California. So I think starting with a lot of folks generally know what's happening at the federal level in terms of policy, right?
Like what the president does, what Congress does, what SCOTUS does. In Mesa News and people follow along. There's public conversations about it, but the most important policies are actually usually being passed at the state level. Those are the actual bills and legislation that are going to impact our day-to-day lives.
And then on top of that, because California tends to be at the [00:03:00] forefront of policy, what our state legislature does, Actually really influences what other states do and what the nation does in terms of what's possible and, and be more forward thinking instead of, other states where they're taking away rights or attacking communities.
We're actually able here in California to protect these communities to expand our rights. So it's important for all Californians to. Really get better acquainted with who represents them here at the state level. And to have the information and tools they need to hold them accountable to push them on the issues that California folks really care about.
And for Courage Score specifically, 'cause there are other report cards out there. Courage Score is really unique because we are multi-issue, so we've got bills on environmental justice and climate change, on public safety and criminal justice reform, [00:04:00] healthcare, everything. Again, that really impacts the day-to-day lives of all Californians.
I. And then I think especially for us too, because there's not a whole lot of information in the news or generally about what our state legislators are doing in Sacramento. It's really important for people to feel like they have access to that information easily, and especially in one place.
[00:04:23] Angela: So you mentioned one place. So how do people access it?
[00:04:27] Irene: So Courage Score We try to make it as easy to navigate as possible. So when you pull up the career score page, there's a box where you can actually just input your address and it pulls up who your two state legislators are. So you'll have somebody in the state assembly and the state Senate.
[00:04:45] Angela: Got it. And then once I get there, What are people gonna see, right? When, like the first page they pull up, say they see their senator, they see their their assembly member, and they click on one of 'em. What are they gonna see when they go on that person's landing [00:05:00] page?
[00:05:00] Irene: A lot of really juicy information. With some people, depending on if they're an All star or hall of shame, which we can talk about there might be some more narrative to it. But usually what people will see immediately is first off, you'll see their score. So based on how they voted on bills in 2022, in this case, What is their score based on that?
And you can see directly what their votes were on the different bills that were part of career score this year. So you can see if they voted yes, if they voted in in opposition, or if they just didn't vote at all, which we score the same as an opposed vote. Other really useful information on there is people can see.
What kind of money that they've gotten from different industries. So we have really focused on a few top industries that we know have really deep pockets and are really influential on state policy. So [00:06:00] real estate developers, the oil and gas industry law enforcement and health insurance, and. Then towards the bottom folks can also see how did their state legislators score on other report cards.
So you can see how they scored on report cards from labor unions, from environmental organizations, from civil rights organizations, and reproductive justice organizations. Again, this is sort of the benefit of having a multi-issue scorecard, which is. You can see that some legislators are good on some issues and not so great on others, so you know exactly where to focus.
Putting that pressure on your legislature.
[00:06:39] Angela: Okay, so it sounds like it offers a lot, and just to be clear, someone with a score of a is good. It's green and it's just like your everyday report card. When you bring home an F, you know you have improvements to make,
[00:06:54] Irene: Yes.
[00:06:54] Angela: right? Yes. Okay. And then I also wanna just mention that [00:07:00] everything that's compiled on someone's Courage Score page is public information, right?
[00:07:05] Irene: Yes.
[00:07:06] Angela: Can you share where we pull and get all the information from?
[00:07:10] Irene: We get all the information about their votes on something called Bill Track 50, but there's also other resources that tracks. Bills and legislation that have gone through the state legislature, and you can also find their votes on on those as well. Sometimes you can just search by specific bill or just search by the California state legislature on votes and you can find out how they voted.
It is public information. It's not necessarily. Easy to go to. What is wonderful about Kurd score is you can see all of these votes just in one place. And I think something I I wanna mention too, because we know people tend to prioritize specific issue areas, is you can actually filter and look at their votes based on the issue area that matters most to you.
And so what I really love about that is, While you can look at all their [00:08:00] votes, if there's something very specific that you want your state legislator to be better on, you can look directly at their votes in that.
[00:08:07] Angela: So Courage Score really brings everything that someone needs in order to better understand how their member is voting, how they're behaving while at work, if you will. And also who they're taking money from. And I also wanna note, there's also a place in there where you can just contact your member.
So if you are seeing that your member is voting like really badly, it's something you care about right there from that page, you can contact them. It has multiple ways, I believe, to get in contact with them and let them know how you feel about the way they're representing you.
[00:08:43] Irene: That's what I love the most is. That this is meant to be a one-stop place where people can go to find out how your legislator is doing, who they're taking money from, and do something about it in that exact moment. In my conversations with [00:09:00] legislators, when I've gone on visits to Sacramento, I've heard directly from them, especially the folks that we've had in our Hall of Shame, that they hear from people about their scores.
Through our Courage Score. So I know it's effective. We know every single year it comes out, legislators really care and we hear directly from legislators, again, folks who have A'S and folks who have F's, that it really matters to them what their constituents think. So giving people, again, all that information and that tool to contact their legislator directly is just perfect.
[00:09:34] Angela: And it's so easy to use. I know, like I mentioned, I often pull it up on my phone, like if someone mentions a legislature or like someone. Tells me where they live. I just get nosy and I'm like, okay, Courage Score.org. Let me look up your member real quick. And I'll be like, Ooh, I'm sorry for you. Or I'll be like, oh, hey.
Like it's really easy to see with how they voted, and it's so clear. You can see the money that's they're taking [00:10:00] right there. You just scroll down and you're like, oh man. Like someone really loves the oil industry, like it is so easy to use. And everyone can access it. And like I said, I can be, I can look at my own members, but I can also look at other parts of the state.
And you know, I share it with my friends. And probably one of my favorite things about this is the information is undeniable. Yes, we are a progressive organization, but you don't have to be a progressive per se to look at this and use it because the information is transparent. It is public. The information's out there, there's no spin on it.
It is what it is, and it's just so transparent and reliable, and it makes it so easy. To understand how your member is performing and how to hold them accountable. So that is why I geek out about this so much and I just don't wanna keep singing as praises. But we're gonna go on to my next question. 'cause we just released our eighth annual Courage Score in April, so eighth [00:11:00] Annual.
This means that in some cases, courage, California has been able to track some of the legislators their entire careers. We have the information on our site, and you can go back previous years and see how they've either gotten better, gotten worse. You can see all the trends.
So I'm curious, because we have that knowledge and we have all that information what do you think of the scores this year and what are the trends that you saw? Like what stood out to you the most?
[00:11:30] Irene: I think the easy one is when you look at the pages where you can sort of see the scores of all the legislators on one page. What stood out to me is there's so much green and red and very little others. So in other words, we have a lot of legislators who have a's a lot, who have F's and very few people with, you know, like B, C's and D's.
And To me that shows how far the division is in our state [00:12:00] legislature. I think in other states, a lot of people assume that we're seeing big divisions between Democrats and Republicans. But here in California we have a super majority, so more than two thirds of our state legislature is Democrats. so when I see that kind of division, and when I look at who's getting fss, it's a lot of Democrats.
And so that is what worries me is that if we aren't paying attention and we're, we're essentially giving these people a pass for essentially voting like Republicans in a state like California, which to me is not okay. It's not what they have been voted into office for, and that's not what. I think constituents really believe that these representatives are doing.
So to me that's a, that's a really, that stands out to me more. And I think this year in particular, in past years we've seen, we've certainly had the bills that made it into the career score leaned heavily towards a particular [00:13:00] issuer. So last year it was very heavily towards environmental bills. Partly because the state legislature did a really great job on passing a really significant climate package. This cycle around we saw a lot more representation on criminal justice reform and public safety bills. And so again, when I see most of the legislators in As or Fs, that also tells me this is a really big issue where you can very clearly see who's on the right progressive side and who's really more in the corporate or regressive side.
Very focused on criminalization instead of rehabilitation or keeping communities whole or investing. in people who are returning after they've been incarcerated.
[00:13:50] Angela: That makes me think of a specific member from the past, just last year, who, if I'm in Sacramento and I know if you're in Sacramento, you, you probably got the mailer [00:14:00] of someone with like some pink boxing gloves. 'cause he was very progressive on like abortion rights and reproductive justice issues, but horrible on criminal justice.
And you know, he touted himself. In and around Sacramento as like a progressive, a Democrat. And if you don't actually look at people's votes, I mean, it's really easy to just take their word for it, If you want to vote like down ballot, just Democrat, Democrat, democrat, and then don't pay attention of how they vote when they get in there and they're telling you that they're progressive and they're telling you they believe in reproductive rights, but at the same time they're over here voting horribly on other issues that are really important.
No one's calling them out. No one in the community knows, and they're just taking it at face value, which is really dangerous when you don't know how your legislature is performing when they're at work. So, yeah, I'm, I just remember those pink boxing gloves and so progressive and it's like, really, really [00:15:00] look at all these no votes.
Painful.
[00:15:04] Irene: I think another thing that I, that stands out to me too, is when we're looking at state legislators who come from. Sort of like more purple districts. Like the Inland Empire is a really great example. Like in the Inland Empire. We certainly have some state legislators who are on the F side and are in our dishonorable mentions.
And then we also have a legislator, assembly member, Eloise Gomez Reyes, who is one of our all stars. And for me, This sort of contrast brings up a really good point that we've talked about with our partners in the Inland Empire, which is if you're in a purple district, that doesn't mean every single person is purple, like every single person is just in the center.
And in fact, we know that there are. People in the Inland Empire [00:16:00] who are really progressive, who support progressive values and really want to see the types of reforms that these all store legislators are, fighting for. So with somebody like Gomez Ray, she's really great at championing bills that are very relevant to her district.
So this year she was an author on a bill that would have. Mandated sort of like a buffer zone between warehouses and neighborhoods, and this is really important, but also as the assembly majority leader, we also know that her leadership extends beyond her district into the whole state as well.
And so having a representative from the Inland Empire who is a courage all star, who's good across all the issues and is a really important leader for her district and her state. For me, that's a really good example of pushing back on saying that we should expect less of [00:17:00] people who represent districts that are considered more conservative or more purple.
And for me, also a really good example of looking into what she does and looking what other folks like. In our dishonorable mention, we have, you know, assembly member Freddie Rodriguez. He's been, I think in our hall of shame or dishonorable mentions for several years. And if you look at his scores, he's actually not voted on the majority of the bills, So he's not even showing up to do the minimal work by actually voting in support or in opposition to a bill. He's just not voting at all. When you look into it, he's also an assembly member who gets the most money from these different industries. So he's got nearly 150,000 from real estate over the years.
He's got over 125 from oil and gas and stain with comp. And so it brings into question [00:18:00] what is he doing in Sacramento and who is he working for? And it's really clear between. The money in his votes that he's not working for people in his district. He's working for these special interests. And again, that's a really big contrast to somebody like assembly member Eloise Gomez Rai, who again from the same region, but very different voting record, very different track record of leadership.
[00:18:23] Angela: Right, so you have one who's showing up to work, really representing the people. You know, even in these purple districts, whether it's Orange County, inland Empire, where people, often members will say, well, I can't vote in that way. I can't be progressive. I can't push the status quo because I wanna get reelected.
I can't do it. My people, my constituents don't think that way. They're very, you know, very Republican, very this, and it's just excuses. 'cause the truth is you can make change. You can stand up to big industry, you can represent the people. It can be done if you [00:19:00] have courageous all stars, you know, that are showing up and doing it.
And we've seen it be, be done. And then there's others who, you know, instead of actually showing up, doing the work and earning. Reelection from the people from their constituents who they're supposed to be representing. they're instead earning their reelection from corporations, literally earning campaign checks.
[00:19:23] Irene: Yeah, and I think this is also, this is also why giving people an all star distinction is also really important because. When people are upset or frustrated or don't like something, people feel very, like very easy to turn around and call somebody out to do something about it. But when legislators are doing good things, that often doesn't get noticed or commended, and so. I would say just as important in terms of holding legislators accountable for bad votes is also being in contact [00:20:00] with your legislator to thank them for their good votes because they are facing a lot of pressure.
So in my visits to Sacramento, what I am astounded by is these special interests have. Huge groups of lobbyists who are talking to legislators all the time. I see our partners up there. I see people who are also lobbying for progressive bills, but we are vastly outnumbered and out resourced by these special interest, so we really need to do our job as progressives in showing our legislators.
This is how we want you to vote on it. We've got your back on this special interest. Hold no sway in this district because we are here and we support the work that you're doing. And so it's really important for us to also be in contact with legislators and keep pushing them on the good work that they're doing as well.
[00:20:56] Angela: And when you say resources, the easiest way [00:21:00] to really paint what that is? It's money.
[00:21:03] Irene: Yeah.
[00:21:03] Angela: It's, yeah, it's money. And lobbyists, corporations, like they come in with the money, they have the resources. They have the resources to do ads and mailers and really, you know, say what they wanna say. But then you have these other members who maybe have rejected cop money, have rejected oil money, and refuse to take it.
And therefore, you're not gonna see a whole bunch of shiny ads and mailers. You're just going to see how they vote. But oftentimes that's not easy to find unless you know where to go and you know how to look.
[00:21:37] Irene: Yep, exactly.
[00:21:39] Angela: So I wanna talk a little bit about some current fights that we're looking at and how we can apply what's in Courage Score to our current fights. How do we use Courage Score to think about this year, to think about the future?
[00:21:56] Irene: So as you mentioned, Because Courage Score [00:22:00] tracks people's votes over time. You can get a sense of how your state legislature has been on an issue that's important to you over several years. I would say some legislators get better. Sadly, some get worse. Many are very consistent. A couple of the battles that we're really seeing right now especially one that's been in the news a lot is sort of the, the fentanyl crisis there are similar to other areas.
There's two competing approaches that we're seeing play out in the legislature. One, which is the approach, which is Criminalize people who are using and dealing those drugs, and that's it. That will solve the crisis. And then the other approach is criminalization has never worked well, and especially for specific communities who have been targeted for that criminalization.
So we have to really [00:23:00] focus on investing in programs that provide people the support and resources they need to get out of those situations. For me, this is sort of the general approach in sort of fight that we see around public safety and criminal justice reform more largely. And so what I would say is people can find out how their legislator voted on public safety, criminal justice reform bills the last few years, and then also look into what are some of the bills that are active right now.
In the state legislature where calling your legislator, telling them how to vote on a specific bill could change how they vote this year. So for example, one of the bills that we're watching that's a priority of Courage California is senate bill 50, which would essentially ban um, pretextual traffic stops.
So essentially [00:24:00] those situations in which. Police use things like a broken headlight or somebody going through a stop sign or something like that to pull them over to actually do more, which is to search for drugs or for weapons or, or something else. And we know that a lot of those encounters end up being violent or have ended up in police, murdering people who have been pulled over.
So, This bill is a top priority for us. It's a top priority for the Dream Alliance Coalition that we're part of. But it just got through the state senate with, you know, just the, basically the minimal threshold they needed to get it, to get it through the Senate and now it's gonna go into the assembly. So this is a tough bill to pass this year, but it's really important.
so I would encourage folks, you know, pick a bill like SB 50 in the issuer that you care about. Find out how your legislator has voted on that particular issue over the last few years, and use that to have a [00:25:00] conversation with them about getting them to vote in support of an environmental justice or climate change Bill. Another way. I would say that it's really helpful for people to use the scorecard now too, is. Already races for the 2024 election are starting to heat up. People have declared what races they're gonna run for, whether it's running for reelection in the state legislature, or we have several state legislators who are now running for Congress, for city councils, for county board of Supervisors, and. We know that their track record in the state legislature will likely translate really well into how they govern in this new role that they're going for. So, as a good example Adam Schiff's congressional seat in Los Angeles is gonna be open now that he is running for US Senate.
There are several people running in that race, but two are members of the state [00:26:00] legislature. So we've got assembly member Laura Friedman. She's been a courage all star in the past. She, for this year's Courage Score has a score of 100, so an A plus. And one of the people she's running against is Senator Anthony Portantino, who this year has a 74, so he's a C.
So there's really already by their score, obviously a really clear difference. And so voters have a chance, again to look into both their scores and how they vote. To get a sense of comparing like how would they serve as Congressional members for their district. And so for me, that's also a really good example of another way people can use Courage Score to get a sense of the actions that they wanna take now, or especially in the 2024 election.
[00:26:49] Angela: Right, and one of the things that I'm thinking of while you're talking about Courage Score and applying it to this year in the future, I also wanna add that Courage. California [00:27:00] does have our priority legislation on our website. So if you go to courage california.org/ 2023 priority legislation, you'll find a list.
You can also find it under their campaigns tab. So you can also see the bills that we're tracking that we care about. You can see the authors of the bill. So if you do wanna find a bill that you care about, if you're curious to see like what progressive bills are out there that we are championing, and who is the author, that's a really easy place to go find one.
And you can also see, you know, people that are running for reelection or running for different seats, you know, if they have things that they're working on right now in the legislature. So it's with between the report card and our progressive priority legislation, it's really easy to get a good snapshot of what's happening in our state legislature.
It really makes me wanna ask you. If someone was [00:28:00] just wanting to start out, they don't know anything about the state legislature. they vote, they might not know who their members are. They might, you know, they're curious and they wanna know how to get more involved.
They wanna know where to start. What would be your advice to them?
[00:28:15] Irene: Say to use Courage Score as a cheat sheet. Spend time on it both to find out who your state legislators are, but also look at who's on our All-Star list and who's on our hall of shame. Find out what is it that makes these all stars. All stars. Find out what makes these Hall of Shame folks particularly shameful.
So whether it's they took money, didn't vote, oppose specific votes, Get a sense of what is really possible in the state legislature. For me, it helps to give the full picture of what our state legislature has the potential to [00:29:00] do and what's holding us back from really getting the policies we really need and deserve.
[00:29:05] Angela: Right. And then what would you say is the first thing someone can do, or the easiest thing someone can do to begin the process of holding their members accountable?
[00:29:15] Irene: Go to your legislator's page, look at their votes, look at where they took money, see if there's a relationship between the two, and then also pick a couple bills that really stand out in terms of. is the issue area I really care about, and this seems like the really big, bold kind of policy. I wanna see the state legislature pass, pick a couple things, and just have a very concrete conversation with your state legislator using that contact button on the page.
[00:29:49] Angela: Right. It's, just goes as a reminder that they work for us, essentially, and simply voting for someone that is communicating, this is who I want, but the [00:30:00] communication doesn't have to end there. They have district offices as well as here in Sacramento. They are accessible to us. They should be accessible to us.
And we have every right to tell them what we want. I mean, corporations are telling them what they want, why can't we? So it is very easy to do we have all the information on Courage Score.org, and I would also just have people share it. Go to it, find what you're looking for, you know, learn, share.
Share who your all-star member is. Share if you have a Hall of Shame member, let folks know. Let people know this tool exists. 'cause it is so powerful. I feel like right now people in the capitol know what it is and like I said, they either like love us or not so much love us because of it, but because this tool is so powerful, like I feel like once people really learn how to use it, And more people become aware of it.
It really is gonna be a [00:31:00] very powerful accountability tool, especially as we move into the next election cycle and beyond. I think California is definitely making some great changes, but we also have a lot of pushback and a lot of powerful forces against the people. So knowledge is power.
[00:31:19] Irene: knowledge is smart. And I think also just recognizing again that. legislators talk to a lot of people. They get talked out a lot. And when they hear directly from constituents, people in their district, that is actually what matters the most to them. And the less we talk to our legislators, the more we see that power to special interests or other people in the district who may believe something completely opposite of what we want.
And so we have to. We have to give our legislators the courage to, Take courageous votes on these, on these bills that are really important to us.
[00:31:59] Angela: [00:32:00] Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Irene, for joining me today. I really enjoyed this conversation and just appreciate the Courage Score in so many ways. And as a reminder, you can connect with Courage California using at courage ca or emailing us at info@couragecalifornia.org.