Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Angry HCDCC meeting tonight. Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District race heats up!

The HCDCC Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee meeting was packed tonight. And opinionated. We argued about a resolution against US aggression in Iran as long as they are compliant with nuclear agreements. We need to stop forcing our fears on other countries.

We had candidates from the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District race. And we argued.

Leading off in the 2nd Division, Tera Prucha gave a great speech for the second straight HCDCC meeting outlining her qualifications and justifying an endorsement by the HCDCC. "Buzz" Webb's wife had surgery so, Tina Mackenzie (Last years Democrat of the Year) read a two page, poorly written leaflet that outlined no qualifications for the job. (Buzz said he served 8 years on the Northern Humboldt Unified School District. He actually served on the Northern Humboldt Union High School District.) At least know what board that you served. IMO. Jake Pickering is the third Democrat in this race. He has the tenacity to keep running. His heart is right. Republican Ben Shepherd and No Party Adrienne Floreen are also running. A motion was made to endorse Tera. Then we argued. Then we voted and there was no majority. (A 2/3 majority vote of HCDCC members present is needed.) Endorsement failed. (I voted in favor of endorsement.) A motion was made to endorse "Buzz" Webb. We voted and there was no majority. No motion was made for endorsement of Pickering. (He did not ask for endorsement.) So there is no HCDCC endorsement for the second, YET! If both of these candidates come to the next HCDCC meeting, there might still be an endorsement.

In the 1st Division, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belnap (Green Party Candidate) was called to give her campaign update and was attacked by a fellow Democrat of why she was there wasting our Democrat time. Kaitlan reminded the crowd that this was non-partisan race and did very well at speaking her positions for the board. Stephen Davies is a past Green Party member challenging Kaitlin and is a recently registered Democrat. (It seemed he has re-registered Democrat just for personal political reasons with no promise he would not re-register Green. Give him that for honesty.) He has no issues with Kaitlin's performance on the board. (A Motion was made to endorse Kaitlin, even though she is not a Democrat, but the motion was denied because of bylaw restrictions.) No endorsement.

Kaitlin also gave an update on the Measure "T" lawsuit. Keep the faith in campaign reform!

In the 3rd Division, Republican Barbara Hecathorn is running against Democrat Robert Schultz. Robert gave a straight forward, non-partisan and non-agenda liberal speech concerning water rights. He was a unanimously endorsed candidate by the HCDCC. Go get em Robert!

This is a very strong Democratic Committee right now. I feel we are accomplishing very good policies and candidates. We may argue, but we share the same commitments and values.

19 comments:

Carol said...

Fair enough.

Anonymous said...

oh, yeah! lets have dem endorsements in nonpartisan races.

Anonymous said...

2:26, a perfectly acceptable practice.

Anonymous said...

It may be a perfectly acceptable practice, but when you have two green party candidates in Atkins and Clark masquarading as dems and the hcdcc endorses them, when at the same time the unions are endorsing Polly Endert, you have a its a little fishy.

Joel Mielke said...

Thanks for the report. Sounds like fun.
I'm in favor of arguments.

Anonymous said...

Dem unions endorsing Endert? What have they figured out lately? That a kayak sanctuary for the bay ain't gonna bring jobs?? More unions are likey to follow suit. It's about time. Good for Clark-Atkins to have the stain-on your-shirt democrat and green political party endorsements though.

Anonymous said...

3:47-Two Green Party candidates? Both are pretty much life-long Democrats. Where do you come off with that statement? Can we assume Frank and Polly are Right wing neo-conservative Peace and Freedom candidates?

Anonymous said...

I know! Let's dream up some really ugly labels! And then, let's paste them on our political adversaries!

Talk about "change," that'll be something REALLY new and different!

Anonymous said...

The HCDCC should NOT be endorsing one Dem over the other in a non-partisan race. I think that by doing so, it demeans the committee and the community.

samoasoftball said...

11:01am- Are you a Democrat? It is our mission to support electable Democrats. If one is clearly more electable, I say we should support that person. If they can not convince us as a committee, they will not be able to convince voters. IMO. As an individual away from the committee, I will personally support the best person running regardless of political affiliation.

Anonymous said...

If by demean, you mean "wins elections", okay. HCDCC is currently 15 for 15 on the local scene and new Democrats are registering to vote in droves.

Anonymous said...

"If one is clearly more electable, I say we should support that person"

Problem is, when you get Greens/ Socialists like George Clark masquarading as a democrat, you are better off holding off on endorsing anyone.

Anonymous said...

A progressive Democrat goes for the Democratic endorsement and gets stiffed because the committee doesn't want to offend the local Green Party? What is this, Mars?

Anonymous said...

A "strong Democratic Committee" which fails to back a progressive Democrat with a strong environmental law track record like Stephen Davies, just to placate Kaitlin and the Green meanies?

Pretty pathetic, Richard. Doesn't this remind you of when they failed to back the only Democrat in a certain local Supervisor race where you ran against two Republicans?

How quickly you forget your own values when it comes to kissing up to the David Cobb cult.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's kissing up to Kaitlin the Green or Cobb. I don't agree with a dogone thing they promote but, Kaitlin has been a responsible member of the water Board.

That should count for something

Anonymous said...

How is it responsible to vote against the pocketbooks of the very people you represent in Eureka, as well as condemning poor children across the district to increased risk of tooth decay?

Kaitlin, shame on you!

Anonymous said...

Stephen was a Green until the day he filed his papers to run. He only changed to Democrat to increase his chances of winning. He's telling people all of this himself.

Anonymous said...

Smart guy. The Greens are dead in this county. I believe Michael Winkler did the same thing in Arcata, and he's set to win this year too.

Anonymous said...

Good reporting Richard. Thank you.