Democratic Disunion
Party Chairman Dean’s call for unity rings hollow for some at Pasadena event
By
The rally in Pasadena’s Central Park
Saturday had all the trappings of an old-fashioned,
flag-waving political hoe-down, just the way Democratic
Party Chairman Howard Dean envisioned his so-called
“Democratic Reunion,†here
and in other places around the country.
Even without promised appearances by either gubernatorial
candidate Phil Angelides â€" who, depending on
which poll you looked at, was running anywhere from 9 to 13
percent behind Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last weekend
â€" or state Insurance Commissioner and
lieutenant governor candidate John Garamendi, a handful of
lesser candidates did attend the afternoon gathering, along
with some 200 party faithful.
“One district at a time,â€
former congressional candidate and radio talk show host
Barry Gordon exhorted before frothing up the crowd a little
bit. “We know [Republicans] are full of
anger and full of hate, and they hate
compassion,†Gordon said as a woman in the
crowd yelled, “They hate
America.†“We know we are
not like that, but we can’t be soft
about it,†Gordon continued.
But while Gordon, a former president of the Screen
Actor’s Guild who served as emcee
throughout the festivities, was putting his best spin on
the party’s virtues, what was being
said privately among people in the crowd spoke volumes
about what the party is not doing to win
people’s respect.
In fact, outside of a few hallmark characteristics such as
support for health care and living-wage laws, some
Democrats said they believe the party has become
indistinguishable from its Republican counterpart,
particularly when it comes to waging war, throwing
increasing numbers of people in prison, condemning convicts
to death and perpetually raising huge sums of campaign
contributions.
“Except for a professed difference of
ideology, they’ve got nothing that
separates them from the Republicans,†said
longtime Democratic Party organizer and contributor Ralph
McKnight.
McKnight and his wife Kitty have worked on numerous state
and national Democratic campaigns over the past two
decades. But this year he is supporting alternative
candidates with more progressive agendas come the Nov. 7
election, among them Bill Paparian, who is running as a
Green Party candidate against three-term Democratic
incumbent Adam Schiff. Schiff did not attend
Saturday’s get-together.
“They voted for everything the
Republicans wanted. They voted for the war. They voted for
[Republican] tax cuts. They are allowing Israel to continue
the bombing [of Lebanon’s southern
border]. They are spineless. As far as
I’m concerned,
they’ve morphed,†said
McKnight.
For others, though, like longtime party member and former
Los Angeles Councilman Nate Holden, father of Pasadena
Councilman Chris Holden, Democrats still represent the best
hope to provide for the social needs of average people.
“If you’re going to
depend on Republicans to give you adequate health care,
that ain’t ever going to
happen,†said the elder Holden.
“Or to make education affordable, or to
provide jobs and job opportunities, or to provide
affordable health care, and so on …
That’s not going to happen.
“With the Democrats, you have more than
a chance; they will make it happen. They have always been
right on these positions for people in need,â€
Holden said.
Scenes like these played out over the weekend in
communities across the country, according to
www.democrat.org. Dean’s plan calls for
party members to reach out to 100 other voters in the just
more than three months leading up to the midterm
elections.
The last time the DNC sponsored such an event was on April
29. The next one is set for September, according to the
party’s Web site. On Monday, the DNC
launched a new Web site for people to get involved:
www.100actions.com.
During Saturday’s rally in Central
Park, political hopefuls Cynthia Matthews,
who’s challenging longtime Sam Dimas
Republican Congressman David Dreier, former Assemblywoman
Judy Chu of Monterey Park, who is being termed out of
office and is running for a seat on the state Board of
Equalization, and state Controller candidate John Chiang
worked the crowd as a variety of party clubs set up a
circle of makeshift tents where the park faces busy Fair
Oaks Avenue.
Longtime Democrat Otis Spencer, who attended
Saturday’s gathering with his wife,
Shirley, a local activist and head of
Pasadena’s Friends of the Commission on
the Status of Women, shares concerns about the
party’s sometimes poor performances
over the past few years, particularly regarding the
state’s prison-industrial complex, but
nevertheless remains unshakably supportive.
Although no Democrat, including Angelides, who has taken
large contributions from the prison
guards’ union and supports ongoing
state prison expansion, has yet bucked the prison lobby or
presented any ideas for reforming this rapidly growing
industry, Spencer remains convinced that
“Democrats have the opportunity to
create some change. Republicans have created an environment
of graft, stealing, doing whatever you can do instead of
reinvesting in our citizens.â€
Others, however, were not as understanding or
forgiving.
Tobi Dragert of Los Angeles said she let her party
membership lapse, primarily because Democrats are just as
awash in questionable campaign contributions as the
Republicans.
“It’s just
incredible. They don’t care what people
think. It’s the money.
That’s the important
thing,†said Dragert. She was campaigning for
Proposition 89, the Clean Money and Fair Elections Act, and
wants to see Democrats get behind public financing of
political campaigns.
Dragert said, “I would
“cut my throat and slit my
wrists†before voting Republican.
“But I also wouldn’t
vote for a Democrat. They’ve just been
blathering the same old blather we’ve
been hearing for 20 to 30 years: ‘We
want better education, we have to have health care, we have
to have jobs,’ and nothing ever comes
of it. We don’t do anything about it.
And it loses all its meaning. And they keep feeding people
the same old rhetoric. Do they have a new idea? I
haven’t heard one.â€
“Historically, the Democrats were
supposed to be for the working people. They
weren’t supposed to be for the elite.
So, unfortunately, because of how much it takes to win
elections now, the Democrats have become equally involved
with money, the raising of money, therefore the need to do
favors for the money. So I am more than a little concerned
that there is not a big difference between Democrats and
Republicans,†said a former party member who
asked not to be identified. As she spoke, a lone trumpeter
played “The Star Spangled
Banner†to formally open the event.
“We need an entirely new way of not only
looking at the country, but at the world,†she
said. “But that is not popular, that
would not win elections, that would not allow people to get
into office and stay in office, and I am very, very
concerned about this.â€
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