I am running to be part of the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) in the 41st Assembly District of California. The election's in ten days, and yesterday I joined with 11 other Democrats to agree to run as a bloc called the Progressive Slate. The goal is to make the California Democratic Party (CDP) more responsive to the grassroots and more effective in the state. And the Progressive Caucus is at the center of efforts to reform the state party in California.
I want to explain the reasons why I'm running, and a little back of background about this race, and finally how you can help.
I've lived in California for the last eight years. I'm a fairly active and engaged citizen, one who has attended plenty of Democratic Club meetings, who has lived in the most heavily Democratic areas of the state in both the North and South, who has volunteered and aided the CDP and Democratic candidates from California during election time, who (you would think) would be the most likely candidate for outreach from that party to help them in their efforts to build a lasting majority. But in actuality, the California Democratic Party means absolutely nothing to me. Neither do its endorsements. The amount of people who aren't online and aren't in grassroots meetings everyday who share this feeling, I'd peg at about 95% of the electorate.
I mean, I'm a part of both those worlds, and I have no connection to the state party. I should be someone that the CDP is reaching out to get involved. They don't. The only time I ever know that the CDP exists is three weeks before the election when they pay for a bunch of ads. The other 23 months of the year they are a nonentity to the vast majority of the populace.
And this has a tremendous impact. The state of California is hardly deep blue. It's had Republican governors for 80 out of the past 100 years. The last time the Democratic Party meant anything to California's citizens was in the time of Alan Cranston and Pat Brown in the 1950s and 1960s, when the Democratic Club movement began, and when the state party was most involved with the grassroots. At the time, the party was committed to progressive values and offered a real politics of contrast to move the Democratic brand in the state forward. This has receded in the past 30 years.
This is the only reason that I'm running as a delegate; because I want the CDP to be something more than an occasional admaker. I want to have a state party that is not as in thrall to big money. I want a state party that isn't involved in laundering $4 million dollars in corporate money from AT&T to the speaker of the State Assembly as payback for getting a cable and video deregulation bill passed. I want a state party that actually gets behind Clean Money instead of officially remaining neutral on the legislation because they don't want to upset their big-money donors. I want a state party that spends more money on voter outreach and contacts than on a couple ads. I want a state party that contests everywhere rather than trying to get out the vote in their traditional enclaves. I want a state party chairman that actually fulfills this agenda instead of paying lip service to it. I want the CDP to send me an email once in a while, and act like an entity that can make a difference in people's lives, instead of an umbrella organization for incumbency protection.
The problem is that this is going to be an uphill battle. The way the CDP works is that its delegates come from three separate sources. There are the Assembly District caucuses, where 12 Democrats (6 men, 6 women) are chosen to serve as delegates. That accounts for about one-third of the total delegates. Another third comes from the County Committees, which is weighted by population for each county. The final third comes from elected officials in California and nominees for state offices, as well as their appointees.
Obviously, a lot of these are insider positions. And the only process for adding delegates that's open to the public, the AD caucuses, is a deliberately closed process. In fact, the rules have changed. In 2005, progressives were very successful in gaining seats through the caucuses and becoming delegates. In response, the CDP completely changed the process. In 2005, any registered Democrat who showed up at the caucus could stand as a candidate. Now, you must apply in writing beforehand. In 2005, the caucus was open to the public. Now, there's a $5 POLL TAX to "defray costs of the caucus." In 2005, voters heard all the speeches from the various candidates before voting. Now, they can come to the polling place, vote and leave. Never mind that practically nobody knows about these elections unless they seek out the information. That wasn't good enough. The new rules set up barriers to entry and make it easier for machine-type political forces to shuttle their voters in for five minutes and ensure their victory. This is why we are running as a progressive slate; to multiply our power by 12, by ensuring that the people we get out to vote cast their ballot for the entire slate instead of individual candidates.
Only two Democrats in the entire state of California were able to defeat incumbents last November: Debra Bowen and Jerry McNerney. Both of them harnessed the power of the grassroots and used it to carry them to victory. They also stuck to their principles and created a real contrast with their opponents on core issues. The only way that the California Democratic Party can retain some relevance in the state, and not remain a secretive, cloistered money factory that enriches its elected officials with lobbyist money and does nothing to build the Democratic brand, is by building from the bottom up and not the top down. By becoming more responsive to the grassroots and more effective in its strategy, we can ensure that California stays blue, which is not a given. This is a long-term process that is in its third year, and will not happen overnight. But it's crucial that we continue and keep the pressure on.
Update [2007-1-3 19:19:21 by dday]: I'm going to answer a couple questions from the comments.
• Do delegates vote at the Dem Party Convention to endorse candidates for office in election years?
Yes, in fact, that's pretty much what delegates do. Delegates attend the annual state party convention and have a full vote for all business that takes place there. You can actually get a lot more done if you become a part of the executive board (E-Board), which has quarterly meetings, and affects the internal mechanisms of where the money is spent, et al. That's another reason we're running progressive slates, to ensure that one of the 12 gets on the E-Board. In my district, that will hopefully be Marcy Winograd, the Congressional candidate who challenged Jane Harman last year, who's running on my slate.
• What happens in a non-election year?
There's still a state party convention every year, whether it's an election year or not.
• How long is the term?
The term is for two years, so it'll be for the 2007 and 2008 conventions.
• How do you go about getting in to the voting caucus?
Anyone who is a registered Democrat can attend the caucus for their respective Assembly District. This page from the CDP website has the best information on each district election, where they are and when.