Sonoma County Democratic Party Poopers

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Thomas Gangale

If party organizations are "increasingly irrelevant," as the Santa Rosa Press Democrat claimed in its November 19th editorial, "Party Favors," traditional print publications such as the PD are becoming irrelevant even faster. They are a dying breed, and the Press Democrat's lashing out at the Sonoma County Democratic Party is symptomatic of the death throes.

There are a lot of things that are flat out wrong about the PD's editorial, which is unsurprising, since I have never seen a member of their editorial staff at a single meeting of the Central Committee or any of its standing committees. My committee, for instance, hosted a public forum on local water issues a few months ago. Was the PD there? Does the PD care?

Anyone can have an opinion, but the public has a right to expect from the press or anyone else who claims the mantle of opinion leader that the opinion expressed is an informed one. Sadly, the PD's November 19th editorial was an exposition of opinionated ignorance.

The Central Committee did not "want to censure Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein," we did censure her. Yet, we took no pleasure in it. Our purpose was to send a signal to Sen. Feinstein to make a left turn at the next intersection. It worked. California Democratic Party chair Art Torres spoke to her regarding the mood of the party, and the Senator immediately voted to remove from a federal bill a provision granting huge telecom companies retroactive immunity from prosecution for wiretapping Americans, despite having previously expressed her support for the provision.

Our purpose is not to drive the senator out of the party, but to call her back into the fold. The PD mistakes dissent for disloyalty. I suppose the theory is that you're either with the PD or you're for the terrorists.

The idea that "these liberals," whoever the PD is talking about, are waiting for Ralph Nader to be appointed attorney general, is so brain-damaged that to fully comment on it would probably put me in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As a disabled person who has benefited from the Act, I ought not to do that.