State Convention

I went to the California Democratic Convention in Los Angeles over the weekend in two capacities, as a delegate chosen by the Tulare County Democratic Central Committee and as faculty advisor for the College of the Sequoias Young Democrats.

If you've never been to a political convention, they are a whirlwind of activity. The principal purposes are to showcase the candidates running for office and to energize the attendees so they go out and work hard to help get those candidates elected. There are innumerable booths to get literature, buttons and what have you for candidates, ballot propositions and causes. Candidates and their supporters, from high-profile heavy hitters like Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom and Janice Hahn to people you have never heard of circulate around pressing the flesh and trolling for support. There are workshops on operations like using voter databases, contacting voters, getting out the vote and recruiting and coordinating volunteers.

Some 1,900 delegates attended, as well as over 500 California Young Democrats. There are caucuses of various groups, such as labor, Latinos, rural, progressives, women, education and environmentalists. The California Young Democrats, of whom we sent five to this convention, had several of their own meetings, including a personal session with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. One of our Young Democrats, Esmeralda Castro, is the official Democratic candidate running for State Assembly in the 34th District! There are luncheons and dinners. I paid an extra $60 for the Saturday lunch featuring a tribute to Congresswoman Diane Watson and a speech and question-and-answer event with Arianna Huffington. Huffington has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University, I was rather impressed to find out. She's no dummy.

At the General Sessions Saturday and Sunday we heard from party speakers, had awards and recognitions and conducted business such as endorsements and platform votes. Some of the noteworthy speakers included Speaker Pelosi, Senator Boxer, Attorney General Brown (running for governor) and Lieutenant Governor candidates Gavin Newsom and Janice Hahn. Fierce contests were waged for the convention's endorsement for Lieutenant Governor and for the 36th Congressional District. Newsom edged out Hahn 52% to 48% but got no official endorsement since 60% is required. My Young Democrats got a good picture taken with him. For the 36th CD, incumbent Jane Harman withstood a challenge from the left from Marcy Winograd who was attempting to overturn Harman's successful endorsement from her locality.

On the ballot propositions, the convention decided as follows: (To see the Ballotpedia descriptions click here.)

Proposition 13 To exempt seismic retrofits from increased property taxes due to the required work. YES. This is only fair.
Proposition 14 Top Two Primary. NO. This would hold open, cross-party primaries in June. The top two vote getters would meet in the general election in November. This would result in Democrats fighting Democrats and Republicans fighting Republicans in many races in November, and would take minor party candidates totally off the ballot in November.
Proposition 15 Public Financing. Would use public financing for the Secretary of State's race. YES. The state's top election official should not be beholden to special interest money. This could be a test case to expand the practice to more offices, such as Arizona, North Carolina and Maine do.
Proposition 16 Two-thirds citizen vote required to set up municipal electricity companies. NO. This is a blatant special interest grab by Pacific Gas and Electric to preserve its monopoly.
Proposition 17 Auto Insurance Regulations. NO. This measure would potentially reduce some insurance premiums but would allow bigger increases, too.