This is a bit of a long message, because there's a lot to say about the change California needs. If you want to know right away the three ways you can help me change California for the better, click here or skip to the bottom of this post. I hope, if you've got a minute or two, that you'll read on.

As we start the new decade, it's time to restart California. While it's clear that old, stale politics has failed us time and time again, it's not yet clear how we dig our way out of the mess that California's political class has made for the citizens of our state. I believe that we can again lead our Union in something other than dysfunction and disarray. The first step along that road is away from the past and the failed political class.

I've entered the race for Attorney General to use my experience in public policy, business and law to help fix our broken state and build a new ethic of public service. Over the past four years, while my five termed-out opponents for the Democratic nomination have been scrambling to amass political capital for the next step on the ladder, I've been working to help build a safer, more secure internet and create more than 1,000 jobs in California as Chief Privacy Officer at Facebook.

My primary responsibility at Facebook was to make sure that privacy, safety, and security are enhanced as we build a more open and connected world. I've worked with every Attorney General across the United States in helping to build a safer internet, and have seen some of the ideas I have championed enacted into law, including most prominently the requirement that sex offenders register their online identifiers with authorities. California has not yet met its obligations under the federal measure that I helped develop to update Megan's Law for the 21st century -- as Attorney General, I'll make sure that we do.

The innovative measures I have implemented to protect kids from sexual predators and cyberbullying, and adults from the fastest growing crime of identity theft are leading our online world in a safer direction.

Because we need to communicate this message to so many voters in such a short time and because California has been so good to me, I've kicked off the new decade with an initial personal investment of $2 million in this campaign. Through every means of reaching voters available, we will make sure that we succeed in telling the story of how I will help California return to what it can be -- a land of opportunity that keeps its citizens safe, pays its bills, and serves as an example for the United States and the rest of the world.

If you believe that we can -- that we must -- fix our state, I hope you'll join me in stepping up your commitment to our campaign as well.

Because I am not part of the traditional political class, endorsements of political figures and organizations are going to be rare for me. But the kind of leadership I am offering has earned the early endorsement of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys -- the union of Los Angeles County's prosecutors and the largest prosecutors union in California.

Among them, my opponents have more than 40 years of taxpayer-funded name recognition that I have to overcome. Don't get me wrong -- they are each good people and well-intentioned Democrats. But the idea that members of the current political class can deliver the radical change California needs is farfetched. The path to change is always a difficult one. But I have every confidence that the demand for change in California is so great that our message will be heard, and that with your help I can set the state back on the right track.

From my roots as a middle-class kid in Claremont, Santa Ana, and San Jose, I am a product of the public and private schools that California built and that are now burdened by the failure of politicians to protect them. California's schools prepared me to work in other parts of the world, including the world of government in Washington D.C., working for President Clinton and Congressman Don Edwards, and to be educated at some of the world's most prestigious universities, including our own UC Berkeley.

When I graduated from Harvard Law School in 1997, I returned to clerk for a federal judge in San Diego, learning the ropes of our criminal and civil justice system and the special challenges of the border. I then moved back to the Bay Area to represent entrepreneurs and innovators. I helped protect innovation on the internet using antitrust law representing Netscape, and to assure that the MP3 player was not litigated out of existence by those that could only see new technology for consumers as a threat.

After catching the entrepreneurial bug myself, I've been part of three Silicon Valley startups, the last of which developed into Facebook. My Facebook experience, starting in 2005 when there were only a couple dozen people at the company, has combined my legal talents with my passion for social change.

Facebook has helped transform communications for more than 350 million people around the world, including more than 100 million Americans and over 10 million Californians. In addition, Facebook has been built to allow citizens to share information and demand better of their elected officials. From the continuing insistence on freedom for the Iranian people, to protests against the drug violence in Mexico, to the work that President Obama did in mobilizing Americans in the 2008 elections, online innovation has proved that we as citizens can build movements for change.

It is clear to me that the need to reform our government and to build a safer California is more urgent than ever.

As I go around the state, people are telling me that they are looking for innovative solutions to complex problems. Voters are motivated by my vision for changing the way they do things in Sacramento. I want to make sure that we reduce crime and reform California's government with a disciplined focus, and I am the only candidate for Attorney General with the experience in law, public policy, and business to succeed in this desperately needed change.

Recently, I launched my technology plan, Innovation First: Using Technology to Fight Crime. This plan proposes how to best utilize new and innovative tools that reduce crime, keep violent offenders off our streets, protect our children, and provide local law enforcement with the resources they need to fight crime. We should always be looking for better, more innovative ways to fight crime, and technology is part of that answer. This is the kind of leadership I intend to bring to the State of California and the Attorney General's office.

Ultimately, though, I can't do it without your help, and so I ask three things of you:

1. Share this message to all your friends who are fed up with California government's failures, but who also believe that bold, innovative, and successful leadership can help rebuild our state.
2. Donate and engage at www.kelly2010.com/contribute -- everything from $5 to $6500 helps.
3. Become a supporter at www.facebook.com/chriskelly.

I look forward to working with you to build this citizens' movement for change in California, and I am certain that with your help we will succeed!

Sincerely,

Chris Kelly