The appeals process was still under way for prop 187, with the election of Gray Davis it went to mediation and then was dropped completely. Probably saving the state in legal fee's, to bad SF progressives never learned that lesson when it comes to their shitty legislation.

Interestingly enough the anti 187 position was that it took federal immigration law enforcement powers from the fed and gave it to the state.

Strangely enough the opposite of what the progressives like David Campos are insisting these days.

It also passed by twenty points by the people, although the fringe left claims to speak for the people.

These various kinds of intellectual back flips are always interesting to me.

What I find scary is his attempt to use his nine-months of working in “inner city” Mt. Pleasant High School as the basis of his “expertise” as an educational reformer. In a recent debate with Meg Whitman, he made an important point about widening educational options to include the expansion of vocational school, but did it by relying on offensive stereotypes of "East San Jose" and typecasting students at Mt. Pleasant High School as gang members incapable of gaining entrance to UC Berkeley, who need voc school to have any sort of future. This is all conveniently timed to coincide with the release of his book—although he says that all proceeds to be donated to the school (not that he doesn’t benefit from the publicity and “book talks” he’s arranged, of course).

As an educator for the past 14 years, a graduate of Mt. Pleasant High School, and a holder of three postsecondary degrees, I am appalled. I suppose his brief moonlighting in “the hood” was not sufficient time for him to learn sensitivity regarding how socioeconomic stigmas impact students and the local community. Had he participated as an authentic member of the community, he may have had the forethought to realize that enhancing his ethos as a candidate who professes to care about the state of public education, by means of labeling students and a school as gang-infested and lacking educational futures, only reflects the shallowness with which he approached that experience.

Teachers who are truly invested in bridging the achievement gap and addressing social inequities in under-privileged communities, even when not from those areas themselves, understand the negative impact that labeling has on those communities. Invested teachers are more interested in providing students with the tools to change their circumstances and improve their communities, rather than validating the fears and stereotypes of outsiders. There exist other arguments that Poizner could have used to boost his educational platform, that do not involve labeling entire populations of students as hopeless gang members, only suited for vocational school. I agree with Poizner that those options should be expanded by the state–yet this argument could be easily supported with statistics and testimonials, rather than an appeal to pathos that shamefully relies on socioeconomic stereotypes and institutional racism.

I am sure that Poizner’s book consists of careful documentation of his of year working amongst dangerous gang-member types (dare I say, “the savages”?), and it make for gripping melodrama, as readers discover what poor brown kids with no futures taught him about life, and how they inspired his ideas for reforming a system with which he had limited experience. Perhaps a tome on his educational philosophy will make for an interesting sequel. It was certainly nice of him, a professional untrained in educational pedagogy and urban education, to spend a whole year experimenting with what was surely a successful, business-like approach to education. An uncredentialed teacher spending a year in the classroom, who comes out of it stereotyping an entire community so he can garner publicity and gain election to public office? We should all be afraid.

Steve's threatening is a reflection of a desperate and weak minded man.
With this comment, he has added to the republican demise.
They are losing the battle, and eventually the war in this showdown with democrats.
Just imagine creating racial unrest and bankrupt the state for the sake of his
personal agenda.
It will be a Steve Poisonous recipe for his personal gain.
This kind of resoning and behavioral stance is ...outrageously excremental.

Looks like once again we really have no choice at all.