Civil War
at the
California Democratic Convention
May 21, 2017. Sacramento, CA. This last weekend at the California Democratic Convention, the battle for the soul of the California Democratic Party took a turn that many saw as among the final gasps of a dying party. By the end of the convention, DemExit was again in full operation and numerous Democratic delegates were ready to recommend the party skip the funeral and go straight to the burial.
From Friday night, when the nurses organized a protest against Tom Perez to a divisive election for state party chairman to the battle over whether the election rigging was perpetrated by the DNC during the primaries or by the Russians during the general election, activists let the establishment know that business as usual would no longer be tolerated. Fed up with corrupt leaders who ignore the wishes of the people, the delegates came ready to fight for their rights, not for unity.
Coming from an event with Nina Turner on the Capitol steps in support of SB 562, National Nurses United, organized a demonstration at the CDP Chairman’s reception, an event that is usually boring and uneventful. CDP Chairman John Burton and DNC Chairman Tom Perez were drowned out by chants of “No more corporate greed. No more corporate Dems” and “Single-payer now,” shouted in unison by delegates.
Repeatedly using the F___ word, John Burton reacted by angrily swearing at the delegates. In interviews, many delegates made it clear they were going Green, while a number of others whispered that they had voted for Jill Stein in the general election. One delegate stated that resolutions chairman John Hanna was trying to have his delegate status revoked over the delegate's general election vote for Jill Stein. Hanna, himself, has frequently backed Republicans, such as Republican Congressman Ed Royce. Hanna's view is apparently that backing a peace-supporting Green is much worse than backing a pro-war Republican. Below is a video of the chanting that began as Sacramento Mayor Steinberg was doing introductions at the reception and of an interview with a Berniecrat who was part of the protest.
Repeatedly using the F___ word, John Burton reacted by angrily swearing at the delegates. In interviews, many delegates made it clear they were going Green, while a number of others whispered that they had voted for Jill Stein in the general election. One delegate stated that resolutions chairman John Hanna was trying to have his delegate status revoked over the delegate's general election vote for Jill Stein. Hanna, himself, has frequently backed Republicans, such as Republican Congressman Ed Royce. Hanna's view is apparently that backing a peace-supporting Green is much worse than backing a pro-war Republican. Below is a video of the chanting that began as Sacramento Mayor Steinberg was doing introductions at the reception and of an interview with a Berniecrat who was part of the protest.
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The one force unifying most delegates and protestors was support for SB 562, single-payer health care. The Democratic leadership was given a very clear message. If they don’t pass it this year, they will be out of a job after next year. Below is a video of Nina Turner’s speech at the opening day SB 562 rally in front of the Capitol. The next day, at the convention, both she and National Nurses United Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro (also on the video) spoke in support of single—payer health care. Turner's and DeMoro's speeches drew the strongest applause at the convention. The strength of the support for DeMoro got Burton yelling at the audience to "Shut the F___ up." Nina, who was an Ohio state representative, is one of the possibilities being floated around by progressives for the 2020 Presidential race.
On the second day, convention-goers were greeted at lunchtime with a demonstration against Monsanto and fracking that had been organized at the last minute. The delegates were largely in agreement with the protestors, although the delegates were unable to get any resolutions against Monsanto or fracking on the calendar.
Most of the delegates were split, choosing between two Hillary supporters, Vice Chairman Eric Bauman and Kimberly Ellis of Emerge, to be the next state party chairman. After Trump was elected, Ellis became a reborn Berniecrat and gained the support of many of Bernie’s prior supporters. Bauman also had considerable support from Berniecrats as a result of his longtime support for issues that Bernie promoted. The only real candidate in the race who was a Berniecrat prior to the election of Donald Trump was Lenore Albert-Sheridan, an Orange County attorney who expressed strong concern for injustices in economics, justice, health care and the environment. Because she was not well known and did not have a powerful organization backing her, Albert-Sheridan was not considered a top contender. However, several delegates pointed out that the contents of her speech promoted the issues that had endeared Bernie Sanders to them. Nina Turner introduced Ellis and was one of the most popular speakers at the convention. Eric won. According to a verified vote hand-counted twice, by 62 votes. The victory was declared suspect by the Ellis supporters, who had a more visible and audible presence during the floor session prior to the election.
The candidate with the biggest victory was Daraka Larimore-Hall, the CDP’s new Vice Chairman. Daraka, a Berniecrat who supported Sanders during the primaries, was among those who endorsed Eric Bauman.
While Governor Jerry Brown and Senator Dianne Feinstein skipped the convention, most other California leaders were in attendance, including three of the candidates seeking Brown's position, State Treasurer John Chiang and Lieutenant Govenor Gavin Newsom and Delaine Eastin. Newsom has been considered the pretty boy of the party, always wearing his hair heavily greased back. Chiang comes across as an honest businessman as opposed to a politician. Delaine Eastin is best known for terrorizing homeschooling parents when she was Superintendent of Education. Since Eastin's time, the Supers have been strongly supportive of homeschoolers, all supporting the right of a child to the best education possible. Chiang is widely considered to be the most electable of the three with Newsom being his only real competition.
While Governor Jerry Brown and Senator Dianne Feinstein skipped the convention, most other California leaders were in attendance, including three of the candidates seeking Brown's position, State Treasurer John Chiang and Lieutenant Govenor Gavin Newsom and Delaine Eastin. Newsom has been considered the pretty boy of the party, always wearing his hair heavily greased back. Chiang comes across as an honest businessman as opposed to a politician. Delaine Eastin is best known for terrorizing homeschooling parents when she was Superintendent of Education. Since Eastin's time, the Supers have been strongly supportive of homeschoolers, all supporting the right of a child to the best education possible. Chiang is widely considered to be the most electable of the three with Newsom being his only real competition.
Sunday, the battle extended into the realm of whether initiating World War III was a smart idea. Following the sudden death of the former chairwoman ((nola Henry), Wall Street Democrats took over the resolutions committee. Since, current chairman John Hanna's takeover of the committee, most delegates have given up on expecting anything progressive to come out of that committee. Several resolutions attacked Trump and Russia while the committee ignored issues like fracking, nuclear leaks, protection of Native American lands, poverty, homelessness and mass incarceration. The delegates managed to get a single-payer resolution through in spite of the committee chairman’s known opposition to single-payer.
A resolution blaming Russia for the Trump Presidency and for the attempts of some California Democrats to get California to exit the Union made it to the floor Dennis Kucinich’s concerns about the military industrial complex were quoted by Ruth Hull, original organizer of the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party. The audience erupted into numerous thunderous rounds of applause as she said, “Russia didn’t accuse Berniecrats of throwing chairs in Nevada; Russia didn’t disenfranchise millions of Democratic voters during the primaries, Russia didn’t write the emails and Russia didn’t leak debate questions to Hillary before the debates.” She called on the Democratic Party to take accountability for their loss rather than "blaming it on some other country." A second spokesperson related that the unnamed sources attacking Russia were the same agencies that lied America into Iraq. He noted that all the intelligence sources about the issue came with disclaimers and would not stand behind their own reports.
John Hanna, attempted sabotage of the opposition to war with Russia took its usual form in trying to silence discussion. Hanna has a history of cutting microphones to stop discussion against his positions. Hanna knew in advance about the plan to pull the resolution. Though, across the room, it could seen that Hull was at microphone three trying to pull a resolution from the consent calendar, Hanna at first refused to recognize anyone pulling any resolutions and then, after recognizing delegates at another microphone, who had been trying to pull two other resolutions. Through delegates surrounding Hull's microphone kept shouting for him to acknowledge her, Hanna went back to pretending that nobody was at the microphone. Delegates kept shouting for him to acknowledge microphone three. The delegates started chanting in unison, "microphone three" and finally the resolution was allowed to be pulled. The sabotage didn't end there. A pro-war delegates barged in, pretending to be the third speaker against the resolution and then changed the subject completely. With support from the delegates, a third speaker against the resolution was allowed to speak, talking about the profitability of war and corporate control of politics. From the relative volume of the voice vote, several delegates guessed that the resolution passed by about 53% to 47%. In recent decades, no resolution pushed to the floor by the resolution committee has failed to pass. According to longtime delegates, this came the closest to being blocked.
In terms of showing leaders that the public will no longer put up with politics as usual, the convention was a success. Lawmakers who fail to vote for SB562 can expect to be looking for a new line of work after their next election. A large group of unhappy Democratic delegates, trying to reform the party, left the convention saying the weekend had taught them the party is too strongly controlled by special interests and is not about to bend to the will of the people without a major overhaul.
A resolution blaming Russia for the Trump Presidency and for the attempts of some California Democrats to get California to exit the Union made it to the floor Dennis Kucinich’s concerns about the military industrial complex were quoted by Ruth Hull, original organizer of the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party. The audience erupted into numerous thunderous rounds of applause as she said, “Russia didn’t accuse Berniecrats of throwing chairs in Nevada; Russia didn’t disenfranchise millions of Democratic voters during the primaries, Russia didn’t write the emails and Russia didn’t leak debate questions to Hillary before the debates.” She called on the Democratic Party to take accountability for their loss rather than "blaming it on some other country." A second spokesperson related that the unnamed sources attacking Russia were the same agencies that lied America into Iraq. He noted that all the intelligence sources about the issue came with disclaimers and would not stand behind their own reports.
John Hanna, attempted sabotage of the opposition to war with Russia took its usual form in trying to silence discussion. Hanna has a history of cutting microphones to stop discussion against his positions. Hanna knew in advance about the plan to pull the resolution. Though, across the room, it could seen that Hull was at microphone three trying to pull a resolution from the consent calendar, Hanna at first refused to recognize anyone pulling any resolutions and then, after recognizing delegates at another microphone, who had been trying to pull two other resolutions. Through delegates surrounding Hull's microphone kept shouting for him to acknowledge her, Hanna went back to pretending that nobody was at the microphone. Delegates kept shouting for him to acknowledge microphone three. The delegates started chanting in unison, "microphone three" and finally the resolution was allowed to be pulled. The sabotage didn't end there. A pro-war delegates barged in, pretending to be the third speaker against the resolution and then changed the subject completely. With support from the delegates, a third speaker against the resolution was allowed to speak, talking about the profitability of war and corporate control of politics. From the relative volume of the voice vote, several delegates guessed that the resolution passed by about 53% to 47%. In recent decades, no resolution pushed to the floor by the resolution committee has failed to pass. According to longtime delegates, this came the closest to being blocked.
In terms of showing leaders that the public will no longer put up with politics as usual, the convention was a success. Lawmakers who fail to vote for SB562 can expect to be looking for a new line of work after their next election. A large group of unhappy Democratic delegates, trying to reform the party, left the convention saying the weekend had taught them the party is too strongly controlled by special interests and is not about to bend to the will of the people without a major overhaul.