June 2. Yesterday I participated in a National Public Radio program in San Francisco with four other Democratic gubernatorial candidates for Governor. We agreed on many topics, including the need for a moratorium on the death penalty to examine the misapplication of capital punishment based on race and wealth, or lack thereof.

But some of us disagreed, mightily, on the issue of immigration.

I am pro-immigrant and stand squarely against the range of legislation for immigration reform that has been introduced by Congress and touted by President George Bush.

First, laws that would criminalize over 11 million undocumented workers, as well as the employers who provide them with legitimate work, by making them all felons, is simply wrong.

As a woman of color with a 39-year-old son, I know too well the impact of criminalizing whole categories of people. So this is not a policy I would ever support.

Further, laws that make felons of undocumented workers are penalizing them for wanting to work, take care of their families, and pay taxes. Isn't this what we want the people who come to this country to do?

Second, the argument is made that undocumented workers should not be rewarded with citizenship for entering this country illegally, that they should have taken the legal route and gotten a permit to work here.

There is a problem with this argument, however. This point of view presupposes that there is a legal process open to undocumented workers. But, in actual practice, there is not. The U.S. only allots 5,000 permits yearly, worldwide, for unskilled workers to enter this country. Last year the total number of work permits approved for unskilled labor coming from Mexico was two. That's right, two.

Yet 500,000 undocumented workers crossed our borders during the year, most of whom got jobs and continue to be employed.

Thus, there really is no legal road for citizenship in the United States if you come from Mexico, based on the above numbers. Yet there is a continuing demand for the services of these undocumented workers.

So: we need legislation that provides unskilled workers from Mexico a real opportunity to enter this country.

To be continued...

June 1. Since I announced my run for Governor of California, many people have asked why I supported clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams. The following message is what I have sent them.

For 13 years I worked with Stanley Tookie Williams to reduce the incidence of youth gang violence in California, across the nation and around the world.

I am proud of the work that he and I accomplished because that work--10 anti-gang, anti-violence books published for youth and adults; a Street Peace Protocol that stopped rival gang killing in Newark, New Jersey, as well as Indiana and elsewhere; a television movie that promotes peace and redemption and continues to be used in classrooms worldwide; numerous telephone mentoring sessions to juvenile correctional facilities and schools to convince high-risk children not to hurt themselves or others, and much, much more--has saved many lives (see tookie.com).

I had hoped that Mr. Williams would be allowed to live so that he could continue to save lives.

Regarding Mr. Williams' guilt, an investigative team is working to exonerate him. The investigative team has already uncovered evidence of his innocence of the crimes for which he was executed. That exoneration report will be made public in a few months. A copy of it will be posted on the SaveTookie.com website for public review.

May 31. Today is a banner day, our television commercials begin to run on Fox News and KPIX CBS Eyewitness News in the Bay Area at noon and on FOX News at 5:00 p.m., again in the Bay Area...and our Spanish-language commercials begin tomorrow on Univision TV as well as commercials on Bay Area KRON News and in Los Angeles on KCAL News and KCBS News.

I've received lots of emails dealing with my efforts to save Stanley Tookie Williams from execution. I am also getting a large number of inquiries about my position on immigration. In tomorrow's blog I will respond to questions about Stanley Tookie Williams. Friday I'll discuss the immigration issue.

May 30. The current Westly-Angelides TV commercial dust-up has been ugly to watch and doesn't make Democrats of any shape or size look good.

Also, today is my birthday. I am 56 years old. How did that happen so fast? Only yesterday, it seems, I was a mere 40-year-old.