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Silent Revolution: Become The California Democratic Party
by Chris Bowers
Managing Editor
MyDD
About one in every seven or eight members of the netroots is from California. Given this, the upcoming elections for the Democratic State Central Committee of California should be of great importance to the netroots. If my little reformer ward in Philadelphia can sneak two members onto the Pennsylvania State Democratic committee through a local write-in campaign, we the netroots should be able to put several new reform Democrats in the California Democratic Party with more than a month to campaign. Here are the details:
The California Democratic Party is governed by the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) of California, membership of which is a two-year position going from odd-year Convention to odd-year Convention. Starting with the November 2006 election, the state party starts its reorganization, determining the new DSCC, which meets for the first time at the April 27-29, 2007 Convention in San Diego. As the DSCC members meet annually at the State Party Conventions, they are also referred to as delegates to the State Party.Approximately one-third of the DSCC is composed of all partisan-level (Assembly and higher) elected officials and nominees, and their appointments. Approximately one-third are elected by Democratic County Central Committees, which each county getting delegates in proportion to the number of Democrats registered in their county. The last third are elected in Assembly District Election meetings, held in January. Each of the eighty (80) AD's will elect 12 delegates, for a total of 960 delegates.
Current By-Laws call for the AD meetings to be held at 2PM on Sunday, January 14, 2007 though there is a pending By-Law amendment which will be voted on by the CDP Executive Board on Saturday, December 9, 2006. If this amendment passes, the Election Meetings may be held anytime during the weekend of Jan 13 and 14, as long as the meetings start no earlier than 10 AM and no later than 3PM. Additionally, current By-Laws also allowed for a request to the State Chair for a variance in time, and those have been granted.
Complete details on which district you are in, and how you can participate, can be found at the same website I linked above. If groups of reformers are participating in this effort, and are serious in their work, feel free to contact me at chris@mydd.com. I am more than willing to help put some actual resources behind serious silent revolution efforts. I know there are a lot of people who have problems with the California Democratic Party, but rather than just sitting around and complaining about it, this is a great opportunity to step up and do something. And remember, it would not just be a hostile takeover of the party. Serious reformers can bring new energy, new ideas, and new communities to help supplement and improve the existing party infrastructure. For example, in my ward, while we took the ward over, we also managed to massively improve on turnout compared to 2002. Hell, we actually had turnout higher than 2004 in some divisions (precincts), including my own.
Also, my interest in serious silent revolution efforts is not limited to California. I would love for this to become a regular topic on MyDD. Please, post whatever information and experiences you have about entering local Democratic Party infrastructure.
Chris Bowers forecasts elections, writes about political strategy from a non-policy based perspective, and focuses on building the progressive movement. He is the managing editor of MyDD
This article originally appeared on MyDD Direct Democracy, a nationally respected and well read blog that discusses the progressive movement and political power. This site also does polling, research, commentary, and analysis. It is republished with the permission of the author.
Comments
chris, thanks for writing the article. i'm currently a delegate from the 16th AD, and will be running for delegate and EBoard next month. i have been, and will continue to work to open the door to to the party for more california dem's. usually finding your way in here is stumbling in the dark for a new comer.
i worked on the dean campaign and was in des moines for the caucuses. when howard said that we need to get inside the party to be able to reform it, about 600 of us got ourselves elected delegates in 2005. we then went on to form the first progressive caucus in the history of our state party. we're now in the process of attempting to recruit even more progressives to fill the ranks of our party.
i just got home from the last EBoard meeting for 2006 about an hour ago. 2 corrections to make to your article:
1. only the assembly district delegates, and respective EBoard members, will be elected next month. some appointment delegates will also be made (no one really knows how many???), but the only elections are for the AD's.
2. depending on the district, the caucuses will be held on either the 13th or the 14th no earlier than 10 am and beginning no later than 3 pm. you'll have to go to the web site to find out the scheduled time for any given district.
PDA, CA for Democracy, the progressive caucus, and all of the local groups are involved in trying to make our party more progressive. thanks again for the article.
mark briggs, CA 16th AD Delegate
Posted by: mark briggs at December 9, 2006 09:37 PM
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