The California Democratic Party and Dianne Feinstein

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

There are many different stories connected to the attempt yesterday to have the California Democratic Party "censure" Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein for her votes to confirm Michael Mukasey as the United States Attorney General and her vote to confirm Leslie Southwick as a Federal Court of Appeals Justice.

Some of these may be teachable moments and in my opinion the resolution that got sidetracked at the Executive Board meeting is just the tip of the iceberg. There are fundamental issues about who exactly the Democratic Party is in this state, what the role of those who are elected and selected to represent it are to play, and what kind of a two way street exists between the party faithful and their elected Democratic officeholders. And there's a lot of spin as to what happened with some themes or memes repeated in public comments and picked up by the mainstream media and others that is not factually accurate--or at least subject to different interpretations rather than being solid facts.

The California Democratic Party meets only a few times a year. There is the annual convention attended by more than 2,000 delegates and there are a couple of Executive Board meetings. The E Board, contrary to the image it may convey to the uninitiated, has about 300 members on it, most of whom attend these meetings in between conventions.

A large number of rank and file Democrats, Democratic clubs, those who spend a good deal of time on-line, and those who do not, have been upset with Feinstein's votes on Southwick and Mukasey and on other issues as well. There has been an attempt to marginalize those who supported the censure resolution as "left wing" or a small group with a large megaphone.

Well, Dianne Feinstein was one of only 6 Democrats in the Senate to vote for the confirmation of Attorney General Mukasey. Mainstream Democratic opinion is reflected in the 80 plus percent of Democratic Senators who did not vote for confirmation.

If you don't believe me--or the over 30,000 who signed a petition about this and the over 40 organizations that supported the resolution, including the women's caucus of the CDP who presumably represents half the party--hear what Democratic Party Chair Art Torres had to say in a five minute video posted on Calitics. Torres told those at the E Board that prior to the meeting he had a conversation with Senator Feinstein in which he told her that “our party is concerned, and I feel it is my duty as the Chair of this party, Senator, to let you know that there are deep concerns within our party regarding two of your votes.” He continued "And I think it's important that you hear this from me because there's also concern about the telecom immunity issue which will be coming before the Senate Judiciary Committee." He also said, in opposing the resolution, “Do we have problems with some of Senator Feinstein’s votes? I hope you do, I hope you do! Because that’s democracy. It is not deserving of a censure."