2/28/08
Tonight, Orange County Progressive Democrat of America members attempted to vote in a PDA endorsement caucus held at the Irvine Ranch Water District in Orange County, California.  Much to their surprise, more than 4/5 of the regular attendees at PDA meetings in OC were shut out from voting while individuals who do not regularly attend PDA meetings were allowed to vote.

PDOC (PDA's Orange County Chapter) regularly has about 5 to 7 attendees at its meetings and is lucky to have as many as 8. Members rarely arrive at 7 P.M. for the PDA meetings. 7:30 or later is the usual arrival time of attendees. It's half an hour late but it's standard procedure. Without informing the regular attendees, Dr. Bill Honigman, the leader of PDOC, closed out the voting rights at 7 P.M. 

One Creative Youth team member arrived at tonight's meeting less than 30 SECONDS after 7 P.M. and was told that that was too late.  Surprisingly,  a number of people who never attend PDA meetings were present at 7 P.M.   There was no notice to any of the regular attendees that they would not be allowed to vote if they arrived after 7 P.M.  To the contrary, they were led to believe that, if they showed up at all, they could vote. Since PDA regular attendees were never informed timeliness was critical at this meeting, how did regular non-attendees know to be there?  This question is one PDA regular attendees are pondering.  As indicted above, more than 4/5 the regular attendees were told they could not vote. At least two candidates  as well as individuals working on their campaigns, were not allowed to vote.

The odd thing about the meeting is that it took place before the end of California's official filing period.  Although the PDA rules clearly contain an exception which would have allowed the meeting to take place on 3/13, when the Registrar certifies the candidates, the meeting was rushed through while some candidates are still debating about running.  One candidate repeatedly requested a PDA questionnaire months ago but did not receive one. Recently that candidate, with the knowledge of the PDA members and chairman, went to Egypt.  When she returned, the questionnaire was available but she was told she could not be endorsed because she did not get it back before she even got it.  She offered to return the questionnaire immediately but was told there was no point and she was foreclosed from being endorsed.  She was not the only candidate who did not receive a questionnaire within the submission period.

Tim Carpenter, the National Director of PDA used to live in Orange County.  Among those individuals to whom he has had close ties are individuals who have backed and financed the campaign of Congressman Ed Royce.  Ed Royce is a pro-war Republican who opposes universal health care and who has a long history of being anti-immigrant.  PDA members were told that no candidate could be endorsed in the race against Ed Royce this time.

There are no plans to hold another endorsement caucus and PDA members have been left with the impression that this is it. Some of the PDA regular attendees that were closed out had let it be known that they intended to try to vote to postpone the endorsements until after the filing period.  They are wondering if that was the real reason they were closed out of voting at all.

In other races involving progressives, PDA has surprisingly not endorsed or has gone against its membership and treated progressive candidates like lesser citizens.  PDA came into existence through the efforts of Congressman Dennis Kucinich.  It has not endorsed him even though PDA claims to support all of his positions and even though its membership voted to support him for President of the United States. It has not endorsed Jim McDermott or Maxine Waters or Lynn Woolsey.  In 2006, it refused to endorse liberal Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who wound up losing her seat through a visibly rigged election while PDA did nothing to protect voting rights in her district.  In 2006, liberal candidates Colleen Fernald, who ran for the Democratic nomination for Senate, and Barbara Becnel, who ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of California, were both shafted and treated like uncandidates by PDA.  Barbara Becnel quit the Democratic Party following the primary and cited PDA's lack of support for progressive candidates as the reason.

So what do you call it when those who should be allowed to vote are not allowed to vote and those who might not be eligible to vote are the ones allowed to vote?  What do you call it when this appears to be part of a scheme to pre-decide the outcome of the vote?  The Creative Youth News Team believes the best name for this practice is "election rigging."  What do you think?

Copyright ©2008 by the Creative Youth News Team.  All rights reserved.

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