A Short Essay on the Iron-Fist-Imposed Conformity of Opinion Within the California Democratic Party

By

Greg Diamond

– November 27, 2016Posted in: "The OC", Fresh Juice

.

.

.

Kimberly Ellis and Eric Bauman: can you guess which one is the “insider” candidate?

Here is a list of the 76 California superdelegates in office as of last June’s Presidential primary, along with who they supported for President.  67 of them supported Hillary Clinton, 9 were neutral, and 0 supported Bernie Sanders.  (It comes courtesy of this Wikipedia page, but at this point I know of no better or more unbiased source than this to verify these facts.)

Pete Aguilar	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Steven K. Alari	CA	DNC[1]	None
Shawn K. Bagley	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[13]
Karen Bass	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Xavier Becerra	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Ami Bera	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Rachel Binah	CA	DNC[1]	None
Barbara Boxer	CA	Sen.	Clinton[5]
Jerry Brown	CA	Gov.	Clinton[49]
Julia Brownley	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
John L. Burton	CA	DNC[1]	None
Joe Buscaino	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[56]
Laphonza Butler	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[57]
Lois Capps	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Tony Cardenas	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Naeemah Charles	CA	DNC[67]	Clinton[68]
Judy Chu	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Jim Costa	CA	Rep.	Clinton[84]
Susan Davis	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Mark DeSaulnier	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Becca Doten	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[a][105]
Maria Elena Durazo	CA	DNC[1]	None
Jess Durfee	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[108]
Mary Ellen Early	CA	DNC[1]	None
Maria Echaveste	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[109][110]
Anna Eshoo	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Sam Farr	CA	Rep.	Clinton[117]
Dianne Feinstein	CA	Sen.	Clinton[5]
Alexandra Gallardo-Rooker	CA	DNC[1]	None
John Garamendi	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Eric Garcetti	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[125]
Alice Germond	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[41]
Janice Hahn	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Pat Hobbs	CA	DNC[1]	None
Mike Honda	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Alice Huffman	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[57]
Jared Huffman	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5][159]
Aleita Huguenin	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[160]
Matt Johnson	CA	DNC[1]	None
Andrew Lachman	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[181][182][183]
Barbara Lee	CA	Rep.[note 2]	Clinton[188]
Ted Lieu	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Zoe Lofgren	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Evan Low	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[194]
Alan Lowenthal	CA	Rep.	Clinton[188]
Kerman Maddox	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[197]
Marcus Mason	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[204]
Doris Matsui	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Mattie McFadden-Lawson	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[211]
Jerry McNerney	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Bob Mulholland	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[222]
Grace Napolitano	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Christine Pelosi	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[a][239]
Nancy Pelosi	CA	Rep.[note 2]	Clinton[240]
John Pérez	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[242]
Scott Peters	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Greg Pettis	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[244]
Lucille Roybal-Allard	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Raul Ruiz	CA	Rep.	Clinton[245]
Linda Sánchez	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Loretta Sanchez	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Adam Schiff	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Garry Shay	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[273]
Brad Sherman	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Hilda Solis	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[277]
Jackie Speier	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Christopher Stampolis	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[279]
Eric Swalwell	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Mark Takano	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Mike Thompson	CA	Rep.	Clinton[5]
Norma Torres	CA	Rep.	Clinton[290]
Keith Umemoto	CA	DNC[1]	None
Juan Vargas	CA	Rep.	Clinton[292]
Maxine Waters	CA	Rep.[note 2]	Clinton[5]
Rosalind Wyman	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[301]
Laurence Zakson	CA	DNC[1]	Clinton[302]

Bernie Sanders had at least one superdelegate openly supporting him in the delegations of Alaska, American Samoa, Democrats Abroad, DC, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Veremont, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.  None in California, none in New York, none in Massachusetts.  Not one in Michigan and not one in Pennsylvania.

But my concern here is California.  How in hell does someone convince every one of California’s 76 delegate superdelegates not to support Bernie Sanders — and 67 of them to oppose him?  No one, from Dianne Feinstein to Maxine Waters, would break ranks.  Is this a sign of how very electable Hillary Clinton was?  Or of how out-of-touch or state’s experts were (as they’re supposed to be) with the rest of the country?  Or is it a sign of an enormous and energetic effort to enforce orthodoxy with an iron fist?

Lots of great people are part of the California Democratic Party governing structure –but my experience is that, in the end, diversity of opinion is beaten back with power plays and intimidation, inducing people to fear lost power or ruined careers.  It’s the classic recipe for bad decision-making.  And, of course, it’s every political operative’s dream.

Who was to blame for Democrats being blindsided by something as obscure and unforeseeable as the Electoral College?  Those people who sought and enforced and achieved this sort of rank-and-file orthodoxy are the first place one ought to look.  But so long as the power in the party remains in the same hands — and, meaning no insult here, those hands have not been John Burton’s own for some time now — people won’t likely even be willing to describe for the record the pressure imposed upon them not to support Bernie Sanders.

Is this more selfish and craven of them, or more timid and fearful?  Well, maybe both — but we’ll likely never find out.

The California Democratic Party elects a new Chair next May.  The contestants are current Southern Vice-Chair and Chair of the Los Angeles County Eric Bauman, and insurgent Kimberly Ellis.  The word in the hallways of power are that it’s a done deal; there’s no way Bauman won’t win.  Different words than we heard last year — but a familiar tune.

About Greg Diamond

Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that. Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too. He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.) His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)

2 Comments

1. Reply

   Paul Blair

   Posted February 24, 2017 at 4:48 PM

   You know who else was a big supporter of Clinton in the primary?

   Kimberly Ellis.

   So you’re advocating we support someone with the same record of bad judgment as her opponent, but with no knowledge of how the party works.

   The comparison of Bauman/Ellis to Clinton/Sanders is valid on some levels, but but not on the matter of general competency. Both Clinton and Sanders were competent and ready for the job, but after hearing her speak at the executive board meeting in San Diego, I can’t say that about Ellis.

   • Reply

     Greg Diamond

     Posted February 24, 2017 at 5:44 PM

     Thanks for your comment, Paul, and welcome to the blog.

     Yes, I’m aware that Kimberly Ellis supported Clinton in the primary. African-Americans over 30 or so generally did, as did women in her age range. But the question of “judgment” (and, from my perspective, culpability) is not simply about who one supported, but about how one acted on that support. If you can show me information that Ellis spent time twisting arms and using her power and influence to enforce ideological conformity among party (and public) officials, then I might revise my opinion of her. I could provide you information about Bauman’s role in such activities, if people were willing to speak openly without fearing retaliation for doing so — but, alas, people tend to be unwilling to say on the record what they will acknowledge off of it. That’s the main problem in the California Democratic Party. Bauman is obviously not the solution to it; Ellis may or may not be, but she’s the better bet. The suggestion that Ellis has “no knowledge of how the party works” is both insulting towards her and discrediting of you. If she doesn’t know how to threaten people with retaliation for crossing her (which I suppose may be what you mean by “knowledge of how the party works,” then so much the better.

     I would likely put more weight on your opinion of her general competency if I knew diddley-squat about you, but I don’t. I searched Google for {“Paul Blair” California Democratic Party} and came up with a glancing reference to someone in Kings County in an article focused more on Holly Blair, someone who writes for the right-wing “Americans for Tax Reform,” and someone who was a Green Party candidate for Congress in Texas’s 3rd District. Can you brief me on why your judgment should be trusted? (You say that you saw her speak at the San Diego CDP E-Board meeting; are you actually on the E-Board?) For all I know, you “can’t say that [Ellis is competent]” only because of some contractual obligation.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.