'Tis the Season of Membership-Stacking-for-Endorsements in California: What Does it Mean to Get the “Democratic Party Endorsement”?

Then came the bruiser at the Valley Grassroots for Democracy (yea, right…democracy). Not to be outdone here, the Bob Blumenfeld team, led by the incumbent's dad, thought they had this one knocked. They'd spent a lot of time gathering together new members who drove in to vote, but low and behold, there was an uproar from the regular membership when they were handed the letter Blumenfeld had sent to stack the club:

"I'm writing to see if you'd be willing to help me stack the room for some upcoming Democratic Club Endorsement meetings...

I'm compiling a list of different clubs that endorse that also have open memberships. However, one of the larger of such clubs is the Valley Grassroots for Democracy. And, as it works out their deadline for signing up for membership is this Tuesday. Would you and possibly (name deleted) be willing to sign up to become members. You would only have to come to one meeting -- the one in March where they will be voting on making an endorsement for the 40th AD. Details are below. Also, if you know anyone else who you might be able to recruit for this, that'd be great too.

Talk to you soon. Take care.

- Bob" (openly admitted he sent this, saying that Stewart had "done it first" at Young Dems)

As it turned out, the leadership, that seemed to be totally on board with this stacking ploy, ultimately chose to cave in to the demands of core members and issued a "no endorsement" for this race. Grassroots indeed!

Losing that one, the "Berman machine" (and it includes more than Howard, the Democratic congressman who votes with the Republicans on Iraq war issues) turned up the steam to steamroll the insiders of the Democratic Party into "choosing" HIS STAFFER at the pre-endorsement caucus.

That's the official party endorsement, not to be confused by any others that use "Democratic Party" in their name (e.g., DPSFV). The party chooses one Democrat in the field of many Democrats and puts the official seal of approval on that one…which he/she then uses in their slate mailings that arrive just before Election Day.

To understand this convoluted process is an exercise in near futility. It seems that elected officials anywhere in the state can send in delegates to vote for a candidate. Huh??? Running that by again, elected politicians from OUTSIDE the district can send delegates in to vote. So, in spite of it being a Democratic primary, these elected Democrats are unwilling to allow the democratic process to take place. They step in with their pre-selected favorite based on…..what???

And send in they did. The twenty-seven "chosen" joined with a measly four from the district activist pool to vote for Bob. At the caucus, the vote was one short of sending it to the convention for the endorsement. After all ballots left and went to Sacramento, wonder of wonders, Blumenfeld was now having his name put in for endorsement. This was stopped in its tracks by the concerted efforts of Waldman and Dan McCrory (another in the race) and the 468 delegates who signed their petitions to send the carefully engineered endorsement of Bob to the floor for a vote. It lost. No Democratic Party endorsement for anyone in the 40th AD. Add one strike for "nobody" and chalk one up for grassroots democracy. The plea was to allow the voters of the district to decide. What a unique idea!

Which brings us to the latest travesty of this election, the last minute delivery of 80 (or 83, depending on source) applications of new members to the Stonewall Democratic Club hours before the closing of membership for voting purposes. The daddy mentioned before (dad of incumbent who is running the campaign for his son as well as the anointed replacement for son, the Berman staffer) has his operative from the club rush in his credit card to PAY for these new members he's collected to stack the endorsement meeting. Yes, at $25 a pop, that's $2000. The county chair, who's also a Stonewall member, says "there is absolutely no prohibition whatsoever about this in any bylaws."

So, voters who want to use a "trusted" club endorsement, what do you think? Is it okay for a political operative to gather up a busload of people to drive in and vote in the club meeting on endorsements and then disappear??? And for this particular race, the 40th Assembly District, this highly unethical (if legal) stacking of new members will result in an endorsement bought and paid for by a political campaign consultant if existing members to not step in and say, "Enough!"

D-Day to see the fireworks over this one is Monday, April 28. For those in the L.A. region who want to come observe the drama it's at 7:00 PM at the West Hollywood Park Auditorium, 647 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood (between Santa Monica Blvd. and Melrose Ave.)

Lest you think that this is an isolated incident, we have the latest breaking story from Randy Bayne's blog up north on an even worse example. The West Sacramento Dems had 700 (yes, seven hundred) new "members" brought to them by their local endorsement buyer. Now they cannot conduct business since they are unable to reach a quorum with the new higher membership that is in NUMBERS only. They can't even meet to try to change their bylaws!

So we are left with this. Manipulation of the clubs by politicians or their hired hacks. Not real residents who care about the club. Not real activists who are working within the club on issues of common concern. Not real citizens concerned about the community. Just people who are "hired" to go to a club ONE TIME solely for the purpose of delivering the club endorsement to the ethically-challenged buyer.

And the clubs who allow this are obviously complicit. New members, even if only there once, mean more money. Of course, there MUST be some within each club who disagree with this state of affairs, but certainly not enough, or this would not continue year after year.

Our so-called democracy has taken an incredible beating these last years. Many look to the Democratic Party as their only hope. And many of those many will be disappointed. While it would be nice to think that one could look to someone else to do the heavy lifting involved in maintaining the democracy, the reality is that it's you who must step up to the plate and make time to participate and do in-depth research on these people we entrust with our future.

Time to start tossing all those last minute endorsement slates as the pieces of trash they are. Certainly not worth the paper they're on. And certainly nothing to base a vote on.
And for those who continue to think that they are too busy in their own little worlds, or that they can't make a difference, or that their vote doesn't count, we are left with the words of George Bernard Shaw:

“Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.”

Linda Sutton is a writer, photographer, and educator based in Los Angeles. She was the press coordinator for Gov. Jimmy Carter in '76 and did political media locally thereafter. Recently, she produced the public access television show "We Say/They Say" with host Marcy Winograd and the "Gore Vidal on Education" Truth Now radio interview. She writes on various progressive blogs and comments way too often. Political photos are on the progressivecaucuscdp.org website; others at lindasuttonphoto.com. She was the co-producer of the 40th AD candidate forums and has produced the "HAiR" and "Body of War" fundraisers for Progressive Democrats of America. She is an elected delegate in CA's 41st AD, is on the Human Rights Committee of UTLA's House of Reps, and is a member of several Democratic clubs…but NOT Stonewall.