Running for Delegate, Again

After some soul-searching and conversions with fellow delegates and other political activists in the area, I have decided to run for another two-year term as a delegate to the California Democratic Party, representing the 16th Assembly District (Alameda/Piedmont/Parts of Oakland — Sandré Swanson's district).

I was toying with the idea of not running, because I felt that there was a big influx of Obama-maniacs (I'm still skeptical about him even if I'm glad he won) who would want to get involved. However, I've come to the conclusion that these new activists aren't quite bottom-up self-starters as we "old" Deaniacs are, and that what the California Democratic Party really needs is progressive people with experience. I guess you can say I have that now! Of course I will welcome fresh faces in the mix, but I don't want the foothold that we established progressive delegates have made to be lost.

The delegate election process is interesting. Any registered Democrat in the district can come to the caucus location and cast their vote, so the people who win are really those who are best able to convince their neighbors to take some time out of their day to support them. While this has been in Oakland for the past few years, this time it's in Alameda, at the Alameda Hospital. Hopefully this convenient location will encourage you, faithful reader, to come out and help me reach my goal.

The caucus will be at the Alameda Hospital, Meeting Room A, on Saturday, January 10, 2009. Registration will begin at noon and the actual caucus will begin at 2 pm. (I believe you don't have to stay that long, but it's interesting to listen to the candiates make their pitches.)

Closer to that date, I will post a reminder here, and send out note to my famous "political email list." (Please drop me a line at the address at the top of this page if you think you can make it to this event and you aren't on my email list.)

Here is the statement I've just submitted for my candidacy:

I am running for my third term as delegate, as a Progressive Democrat. While I'm glad we have beaten the Republicans in the White House and the Congress, experience has shown that our Democratic leaders at the state and national level don't have the courage to tackle critical issues like restoring our Constitution, deconsolidating the Media, halting fraudulent military expansion, and reversing the climate crisis. We can't afford to sit back and wait for our elected politicians to solve our problems for us. Our State Party needs experienced and active delegate participation to push our leaders toward implementing bold programs and being accountable to our party's platform -- rather than special interests. ("If the people lead, the leaders will follow.") The CDP needs to increase its presence in all 58 counties and turn more "red" and "purple" counties Blue.

I've been an active delegate in the past four years, authoring and contributing to several resolutions that have been passed by the state party, and contributing language to the Party's platform. I've been active in the Democracy for America/East Bay for Democracy groups; I've volunteered, contributed, or raised funds for the Dean, Kerry, Edwards, and Obama presidential campaigns, for the Debra Bowen, Loni Hancock, Jerry McNerney and Bill Durston campaigns, as well as clean money and election protection campaigns. I also have a local political blog (progala.blogspot.com) and keep in touch with nearly 300 neighbors over email with highly appreciated election suggestions.