He asked me to take back the Democratic Party. And I agreed to try. I told myself that, if it became clear there was no chance, I would stop.
It has now become clear. John Burton may have a fine legislative record. I don't honestly know. But I only had to meet the man for 2 minutes to know he has nothing to do with change we can believe in. And the whole process of crowning him chair smacks of smoke-filled back rooms and the old-boys network.
I no longer feel there is any opportunity for me to help take back the Democratic Party in California. Rather, I believe Burton is poised to take the party back at least several decades. It appears nobody has noticed the grassroots revolution that put Obama in the White House. Or they don't care. Or, as seems more likely, they are once again saying, "That's nice kids. Thanks for all the money and help. Now go away and let the adults handle things properly."
To put it as delicately as I'm able, they can stick that attitude where the sun don't shine. I was a registered independent before Dean, and I can be one again.
So I have notified the e-board rep for my AD that, despite the fact that I can't find a way to take myself off the cadem.org site, I am no longer running for a delegate slot. I will not ask for re-appointment to another standing committee.
(Full disclosure: I endorse the candidacy of Brian Leubitz for CDP Vice-Chair)
We have a rather crowded field of candidates for CDP chair already, what with Senator John Burton, First Vice-Chair Alex Rooker, LACDP Chair Eric Bauman, and San Diego-area Congressional Candidate Francine Busby having declared their candidacies more than six months before delegates will cast their votes.
Still, I found it interesting that among the daily deluge of candidate fundraising letters I get in the mail every day was a endorsement request letter from Alex Rooker's campaign for CDP chair.
Now, it's certainly good for candidates for any office to get their name out there early among the electorate (I presume I received the letter because I'm on the master list of DSCC delegates). But there are a couple of strange things.
As much as I care about making the CDP more progressive, I am currently focused on getting Barack Obama and all of our excellent downticket candidates elected, as well as passing prop 1A and defeating props 4 and 8. I would presume that many other delegates who receive this letter would feel the exact same way.
But that's not the only thing--I also find it interesting that I'm getting this letter when there's absolutely no guarantee that I'll have a chance to vote in the election. The electorate for the 2009 CDP chair has not yet been determined, and there will undoubtedly be substantial turnover from both the AD caucus side and the appointed side. Speaking for me personally, the 42nd AD brings out a lot of Democrats to its caucus and is very competitive. So while there's a good chance that many of this year's delegates will be re-elected, it seems like such a mass mailer may have limited effect until next year, when all we have to worry about are municipal and party elections, and when the full electorate for the CDP chairmanship has been determined.
I will say, however, that Alex has developed an impressive endorsement list, which includes the names of a few members of Congress and a couple dozen state legislators.
The LA Times Blog has some word from the always exciting former Sen. Dem. Leader John Burton (D-SF):
"I'm probably going to do it,'' said Burton, 75, whose political portfolio spans more than four decades. Toppled by term limits, Burton left the state Senate in 2004 as the state's most powerful Democrat and at a time when the election of a movie star governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had put California government in the national spotlight.
Interesting. I had been expecting a former legislator or two to consider the CDP Chair, so keep an eye out. There's a long time left before the votes are cast, so keep an eye out for further entrants.
AHIP, America's Health Insurance Plans, decided downtown San Francisco would be a good place for the health insurance company lobbyists and executives to hold their convention. Not surprisingly, thousands of people will take to the streets at noon on June 19th at the Moscone center to protest getting ripped off by the health insurance companies and rally for SB 840 in California and HR 676 nationally.
One of the key people being protested is none other than former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe who is a keynote speaker for the industry. Which adds some context to his quotes in yesterday's New York Times on the Clintons' enemies list and rewarding of friends:
"The Clintons get hundreds of requests for favors every week," said Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. "Clearly, the people you're going to do stuff for in the future are the people who have been there for you."
Finally, we've recovered from McAuliffe's disaster as DNC Chair when he ran it like the DLC and was proven incapable of moving beyond transactional politics to a post-McCain/Feingold fundraising party that isn't a subsidiary of special interests. And yes, we've also moved beyond his success in perfectly executing a Clinton campaign strategy that took her from undisputed presidential front-runner to junior senator. But there is he is, using his name and connections to help out those who have helped them while Americans suffer.
In my opinion, one of the most important outcomes of Clinton's loss was that they won't get back control of the DNC -- which is great news for Democrats. But T-Mac is a reminder that we all need due diligence in the process of choosing the next California Democratic Party Chair so that we can reform the CDP to also move into the 21st century.
Currently, there are 1,904 pledged attendees at the rally according to the neat online organizing tool. Check to see which groups have currently pledged how many, get your group involved, and join in this important event.
