Making the California Democratic Council the Go-To Progressive Organization

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

New Life and Meaning for an Organization Founded in 1952

By Sharon Kyle and Dick Price
Publishers
LA Progressive

If its planners are right, this weekend’s California Democratic Council convention in Fresno will put that venerable progressive organization back on the map as a major player in California Democratic Party activities.

Founded in 1952 to develop a network of Democratic clubs and win back political control of the state for Democrats, the CDC was once a driving force behind California’s development as a Democratic stronghold from the 1950s through the 1970s. At its height, the CDC coordinated hundreds of Democratic clubs in every corner of the state, with more than 70,000 members.

In fact, for many years, some felt the CDC played a greater role in the success of the Democratic Party in California than the party itself. Key to the CDC’s success was its role as the Party’s endorsing arm, as the California Democratic Party’s rules prevented it from backing individual Democrats in primary races.

“But then in 1989, I believe, the Party took over the endorsement process,” says CDC President Henry Vandermeir, a courseware developer with his wife Lori in Ladera Ranch. Interest in the CDC gradually declined, with its convention attendance falling from a high of 1,800 in the 1970s to a few hundred in recent years. “The CDC has been trying to find its niche ever since,” according to Vandermeir.

Three Steps to Relevance

To bring the CDC back to relevance in Party circles, Henry and his fellow officers have launched a three-step process in the eight months since they took office.

“The first phase is to get our products and services – our organizing tools – back on track,” he says. Thanks to these initial efforts, many Democratic clubs throughout the state now make use of the CDC’s training manual and free websites. Many dozens of activists have also attended CDC workshops – so far held in Anaheim, Ventura, and Covina – with such speakers as the CDP’s Garry Shay, LA County Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman, and Progressive Democrats of America state chair Dr. Bill Honigman.

“The next phase is to put meat on the bones by getting more activists onboard and filling all the open positions,” Henry continues. “Power is in the numbers. The more clubs we have affiliated with the CDC, the more members we have, the more influence the CDC will have.”

A key to that has been to recruit other like-minded individuals and organizations to join forces with the CDC.