A Behind the Scenes Perspective from a Democratic Club President on Stacking for Endorsements in California

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Chad Jones
President
Valley Grassroots for Democracy

Linda Sutton wrote an article 'Tis the Season of Membership-Stacking-for-Endorsements in California: What Does it Mean to Get the “Democratic Party Endorsement”? about the recent stacking of Democratic club memberships in order to affect endorsements in the current race for the 40th Assembly District. I would like to correct some inaccuracies in Linda's post regarding how it was handled in the club where I'm the president, Valley Grassroots for Democracy. I spoke to Linda yesterday and she said she got her information from "reliable sources" yet she didn't ask the most reliable source--the president (i.e., me)--who was actually dealing with it first hand. I agree that this race has shown us that stacking is a problem and I would like to give the perspective from behind the scenes of a club: how stacking was attempted in our club, what we did about it, and how we plan to go forward.

Valley Grassroots for Democracy (VGFD) is one of the largest and most active Democratic Clubs in the San Fernando Valley. We were the former Valley for Kerry and Valley for Dean groups that formed during the 2004 election cycle. We realized in early 2005 that we were stronger as one group so we merged and became a chartered Democratic Club in 2005. Since then it's been hard to go into a campaign office in the Valley without seeing VGFD members working the phones or even running the office. Candidates for office at all levels, from school board to governor, have come to our meetings to ask for our endorsement because they know our members will work hard.

We take our reputation and integrity very seriously. Unlike many clubs we do not accept contributions from elected officials or candidates so that our endorsement process isn't tainted by money. We don't have an endorsement committee--the candidates speak directly to our members and our endorsements are voted on by our members, requiring a 2/3 majority. We encourage our members to work for the candidate of their choice--even if it's not the candidate we endorsed--because the key is participation in the process. Our members consider each other friends and even though they may work for different candidates, the friendships endure.