#acdcc

[democraticpolitics]

Central Committee Terms Are Now (likely) 4 years instead of 2.

I was elected to serve in the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee for 2 years, but chances are that my colleagues and I will stay for four instead.

The reason, as usual, is money.  County Committee elections have historically been held during June primary elections on even years.  As long as the Registrars of voters were issuing partisan ballots for State offices, it wasn't a big deal to also have the Central Committees included.  But now that we have open primaries, the only partisan ballot is that for the Presidential primaries.  Registrars figured they could save millions of dollars and hundreds of hours if they could eliminate County Committee elections at other times.  Sacramento listened, and the law now is that we'll be on the ballot only during Presidential primaries.

That doesn't necessarily mean that we automatically get to serve 4-year terms.  The law does allow County Committees to hold caucuses to elect members at other times.  I doubt, however, that many County Committees will chose to do that. Caucuses are difficult to run, expensive and not particularly democratic, so I can't imagine large counties going for them.  Indeed, the caucuses to elect state delegates to the Democratic convention last year were filled with problems.  

This means that, in all likelihood, I get to serve until 2016 before having to face re-election.  Personally, I think it's a good thing.  It means that I can concentrate in getting really good candidates elected for office in 2014 without having to think about my own re-election.  It should also give more time for anyone who is interested to run for Central Committee, to become involved with the party (which they can, as a club member or associate) and learn the ropes before running for membership.

[democraticpolitics]

Alameda Demos Pass Resolution in Favor of Alternatives to Military Acion in Syria

The following resolution was unanimously passed by members of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee on Sep. 4, 2013

RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF REPRESENTATIVE BARBARA LEE AND MIKE HONDA'S EFFORTS TO SEEK ALTERNATIVES TO ARMED INTERVENTION IN SYRIA

Whereas, the United States has accused the government of Syria of using chemical weapons against its civilian population and is, as a consequence, proposing armed intervertion in the Syrian civil war; and

Whereas, it is unclear what the effect or duration of such intervention would be, opening the door to a long term military involvement; and

Whereas, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, along with 60 of her Democratic colleagues, has proposed that the United States instead take the lead in bringing this issue before the United Nations Security Council; therefore

Be it Resolved, that the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee fully supports the efforts of Congresswoman Barbara Lee and her colleagues to find positive alternatives to armed intervention by the United States in Syria; and

Be it further Resolved, that the ACDCC immediately communicate this resolution to Congresswoman Lee, Senator Boxer, and Senator Feinstein.

[democraticpolitics]

Conflicted About Conflict of Interest

Update on January ACDCC meeting: Members Sworn In and Party officers elected.  I cast sole vote against having a paid campaign manager as local party Vice-Chair.

Last night was the first meeting of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee of the year, as well as the swearing-in of the elected and re-elected members of the Committee.  We were sworn in by Senate Majority Leader and San Leandro native Ellen Corbett, in a very uneventful ceremony.

Every member of the Committee, including "ad-hoc" members (Democrats elected to state and national offices who live in Alameda county), picks an alternate who can represent them when they can't make it to the meetings.  The alternates then have to be approved by the whole committee.  My alternate this term is Tim Holmes.  He is the owner of Zocalo Coffeehouse in San Leandro (where many a Democratic event has taken place), and a co-founder of the San Leandro Community Action Network.   He is one of the most influential political voices in San Leandro, but he is also very liberal, perhaps even as liberal as I am.  He is a better communicator, however.

We also voted to approve the Committee's delegates to the state convention (basically, all the Committee members plus some of the alternates) and for Committee officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer).  All of the latter ran unopposed and all but one were unanimously approved.

The one exception was Royce Kelley, who was running to be re-appointed Vice-Chair of the Committee.  He is currently one of the state party's regional directors.  There was one vote against him: mine.  I could not in good conscience vote for him, given the conflict of interest that holding his position signifies.

Royce Kelley is one of the principals at Alliance Campaigns Strategies.  He and Angela Ramirez-Holmes, another member of the Committee, specialize in managing the political campaigns of Democrats running for office in Alameda county. 

Candidates for local office usually seek the endorsement of the Democratic Party as a "seal of approval" to use in their literature; in the case of local candidates for non-partisan office, this means endorsement by the county Central Committee.   Candidates are first interviewed by the Committee's Executive Board, which is composed of the Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretaries and the District Vice-Chairs (each AD delegation gets to appoint its own vice-chair).  The Executive Board then votes on which candidates should be put on the consent calendar to get the party's endorsement. While it's possible for regular Committee members to pull candidates from the consent calendar, it's pretty rare.  Usually, if you make it to the consent calendar, the endorsement is yours.

Both Kelley and Ramírez-Holmes are members of the Executive Board, as was their former partner, Shawn Wilson.  Robin Torello, the Committee Chair, is very close to Kelley and they often speak with one voice.  What this means is that Alliance Campaigns has an inordinate amount of influence on who gets the Democratic endorsement in Alameda county.

Now, I will not presume to say that Kelley and Ramirez-Holmes vote or lobby for the candidates that have hired them.  However, they do seem to have represented quite a few candidates that have gotten the Democratic endorsement, even when running against more progressive candidates. And many candidates believe that they must hire Alliance Campaign if they want to get the Democratic endorsement, or at least prevent their opponents from getting it.  I find this very problematic from an ethical point of view.  A democratic system that is not or has the appearance of not being clean, an endorsement system that is based on something other than an objective evaluation of who is the best candidate for that often, is a corrupt and undemocratic system.  And that's what I ran to stand up against.

I understand why even fellow committee members who agree with me, are reluctant to speak out loud about this matter.  If you hope to have a political career, it's not a good idea to make powerful enemies.  But I also believe that we need to vocally stand for what we believe, and I believe in a fair and open process