Once again, it’s time for the election for delegates to represent AD 18 (San Leandro, Alameda and most of Oakland) to the California Democratic Party’s State Central Committee. State delegates get to vote on the party’s endorsement of Democratic candidates for state and national office, on the state party’s platform and on regional and state party officers. If we want to have a state party that is open to regular Democrats and that puts civil rights and social justice before the interests of the party machine, we need to elect delegates that represent those values.
Voting for state delegates is hard. It can only be done in person on the day and place determined by the County Committee Chair. This year, the AD 18 election will be on Jan 10th at 11 AM at the Teamsters Local 70, 400 Roland Way by Edgewater Dr. in Oakland. It
There is a slate ran by Assemblymember Rob Bonta whose only purpose is to make Bonta have more influence in the party, which he can then wield to further his political career. He is not in the least shy about this. All candidates in his slate must commit to “consult” with Bonta before voting, and Bonta is spending thousands of dollars of campaign funds to get them elected. Bonta is hoping to use his delegates’ votes to decide who will get the Democratic endorsement in the race to replace state senator Loni Hancock in 2016. Bonta has not yet announced whom he’ll be backing. In 2014, Bonta similarly used his votes to back then Assembly speaker John Perez for Controller, against the far more liberal and qualified Betty Yee (who was ultimately elected). Bonta also backed senator Alex Padilla for Secretary of State, despite Padilla’s support for the use of drones and his problems with the FPPC, against the far better qualified and clean Dereck Cressman.
But voting for non-Bonta candidates matters in other ways. Bonta has been very reluctant to take a stand against mass surveillance of California citizens and has refused to carry legislation that would put limits. He has a very cozy relationship with the police unions, who’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get him elected. As any fight for civil rights and social justice in California goes directly through Sacramento, it’s dangerous to give Bonta so much say over which senate candidate will get the Democratic endorsement. For this reason, I am asking all Democratic voters to attend the January 10th meeting and vote for the Independent non-slate
VOTE FOR INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES
- Mike Katz-Lacabe
- Guillermo Elenes
- Matt Hummel
- Sean Donahoe
- Sokhom Mao
- Gilbert Dong
- Sandra Johnson
- Leslie Robertson
- Donna Murphy
- Sabrina Ramirez
- Marlene Hurd
Convener:Gray HarrisPhone: Email:
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Time & Location:Teamsters Local 70400 Roland Way Saturday, Jan. 10 |
Thanks for the voting card. I spoke with you when I voted. Post the winners to see how well we did. Quite frankly, I am not optimistic but I would love to be proven wrong.
Bonta’s slate won hands down. But hey, we tried 🙂
And when the Senate endorsement vote comes, I’ll make sure to note who voted as was told by Bonta 🙂