Daly and Correa vs. the People: the 69th AD ADEM race.

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Long story short… If you’re a Democrat or independent who lives in this district…

… WE NEED YOU to come out Sunday morning and vote for THIS slate!   The whole slateEach and every candidate.  No difficult choices to make.  Lucky you!  (Click for larger view)

My colleague Greg Diamond has already discoursed at length on why we should support grassroots slates rather than ones put together and/or backed by powerful elected officials, and you should read his piece if you have time.  But last night someone called Meg Ley put it more briefly:

“[The fact that] party leaders and elected officials (PLEOs) are delegates themselves and then are allowed to appoint their own delegates means two-thirds of the California Democratic Party’s power is in the hands of those in power.

“There’s only one-third specifically reserved for the people — 14 Assembly District Delegate (ADD) positions. ADDs are supposed to be everyday people that are elected by their communities in order to give their friends, families, and neighbors a direct voice within the party. 

“For this reason, it’s unethical for PLEOs to actively get involved in ADD Elections. Especially since ADDs vote on which candidates the party will endorse. The system wasn’t supposed to be an opportunity for PLEOs to “double dip” and gain complete control of the Democratic Party. So when elected officials calling their supporters, urging them to vote for a slate they are endorsing, it perverts the process and corrupts community representation within the Democratic Party.”

Right now, all across this newly Blue County, slates have been formed by all manner of Democrat politicians (some of whom we even like) :  Harley Rouda, Katrina Foley, Loretta Sanchez, Katie Porter, Dave Min, Mike Levin.  We’re against those slates on principle and for the reasons stated above.

But THIS takes the cake:  There’s a slate running in AD 69, put together and supported by Congressman Lou Correa and Assemblyman Tom Daly – the two LEAST progressive Democrat politicians in the County, and in what’s got to be a devilish joke and an attempt to confuse, they’re calling themselves “The Progressive Leadership Slate!”

And so we’re one step closer to something I’ve been seeing for a few years:  “Progressive” is a label everybody wants to embrace, and has gradually ceased to mean anything.

Do you remember how Lou was going around lobbying furiously (and unsuccessfully) last month against Ada Briceño for Party Chair, telling all his fellow electeds, “If Ada’s in charge the progressives will be up your ass all the time making you do what they want, but Beth Krom will have your back?”  This is more of the same thinking.  The bad votes and endorsements of Correa and Daly are too numerous to mention here, and the last thing we need is for those two to have a gaggle of minions who will “have their back” on every bad thing they want to do.

Behold the *cough* “Progressive Leadership Slate”:

“I Can’t Believe It’s Not Progressive!”®

The Contrast Couldn’t Be Starker:

ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES.

Come out Sunday to the address above… get there by 10:30 if you want to hear everyone’s speeches; get there by 12 at the latest to vote. You don’t have to be a Democrat; but if you aren’t you need to change your registration at the door before you can vote … then you can change back again if you really want to. (Or stick around at least through the March 2020 Presidential primary. – Greg) Here. Here’s a map. See you there!

(Click for larger image)

[Greg adds: Don’t feel bad for the people on the Correa-Daly slate: every single one of them will have a good chance to be an appointed state party delegate!  They might be an in-district appointment (by Correa, Daly, and Umberg) or an out-of-district appointment (by arrangement with anyone else with whom that trio deals) — especially the most sold-out among them.  (Hi, Claudio!)  The question is whether they would be taking up space on the political appointment seating of the committee (as they can and should!) —  edging out some intern who is told their their only job is to go there and vote as their appointee’s Chief of Staff orders — or taking up space on the community activist side, thus edging out some wise and worthy grassroots activist by winning an ADEM election.  This is being done specifically to keep activists out of party governance!  Daly and Correa care about making sure that they don’t get challenged in 2020 — they will — and that they have the CDP endorsement if they do get challenged.  That’s really what this vote is about — making that almost automatic incumbent endorsement a little less likely!  COME OUT AND FOIL THEIR PLANS!]


About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.