Where is the California Democratic Party Heading

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

At this weekend's California Democratic Party Executive Board meeting, the most important thing will be to see whether the Party wants people to respect the party. As of late, the CDP hasn't made much of an effort to earn respect and instead hasn't seemed to even give much of a damn.

For instance, the scandal over the $4 million "refund" to Fabian Nunez was disgusting on so many levels, not the least of which was the fact it occurred on the same election day where we spent less money on GOTV while losing the gubernatorial race in a landslide year. So tactically, the CDP needs to choose a new direction and not just honor Howard Dean at a cocktail hour but embrace the successful 50 State Strategy in California.

When it comes to policy, there has been a push to out-do the strategic blunders. There was the Net Neutrality disaster at last year's San Diego convention, in fact the whole process to subvert small 'd' democracy was a disgrace. And that was followed up by the Diane Feinstein censure fiasco at the last E-Board meeting, featuring CDP Staff embarrassing themselvs.

In this era of reform, with delegate elections and a new chair coming up soon, how do you see this weekend playing out? Will the CDP be like the DNC under Terry McAuliffe or Howard Dean? Transactional or transformational? The way things have been done or cross that bridge to the 21st century?