By
Sam Smith CAHU VP Public Relations
At 10am on Wednesday, November 5th, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gathered the key leaders of the Yes On Prop 11 Campaign on the steps of the Los Angeles City Hall and declared victory in his fight to bring redistricting reform to the California legislature. Flanked by Campaign Co-Chairs Jeannine English, California State President, AARP; Janis R. Hirohama, President, League of Women Voters of California; Gary Toebben, President/CEO, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce; Allan Zaremberg, President/CEO, California Chamber of Commerce; Kathay Feng, Executive Director, California Common Cause; Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and LA City Controller, Laura Chick, Governor Schwarzenegger said "We never give up and the 6th times a charm!"
Standing with the Governor was CAHU Vice President of Public Affairs, Sam Smith, and a number of other representatives of grassroots organizations that helped pull together a strong campaign at the community level. At Wednesday's news conference, the California Association of Health Underwriters was singled out as one of the most effective partners in the YES on Prop 11 Campaign and was thanked by all the campaign co-chairs for their outstanding effort. LA Chamber of Commerce President, Gary Toebben, was particularly appreciative of CAHU's efforts and thanked them for their volunteer efforts and their financial participation in the YES on Prop 11 Campaign.
While declaring victory, the Governor acknowledged that at this time, the margin of victory is still very slim, but the trend is in favor of the YES forces. As of 3:49pm on Wednesday, the California Secretary of State website showed that the vote was:
YES: 4,646,128 (50.6%)
NO: 4,549,434 (49.4%)
Margin of 96,694 votes
Precincts reporting: 25,318 of 25,423 (99.5%)
The margin in favor of Prop 11 is expected to continue to grow as absentee ballots are counted. On Tuesday, November 11th, at the invitation of CAHU, campaign sponsoring organizations are scheduled to meet to discuss the campaign experience and to explore areas of common ground for future efforts.
Congratulations, CAHU, for a job well done!
