Comments
REDQUEENINLA - Dear Constituents Mine:
Four years ago you elected me to the LACDP (Los Angeles County Democratic Party) and I’ve periodically reported on some of my doings. With elections' season those reports have an additional component beyond news, they speak to the matter of representation: What is it and has it been relayed faithfully?
There are different postings and assignments locally, at the county and state levels.
State-level
The County-level Democratic Committee (LACDP or LAC DCC – LA County Democratic Central Committee) elects representatives to the State level Committee (CDP – California Democratic Party) in proportion to the number of Democratic voters registered in the County. All 58 California Counties’ Democratic Committees do the same, from among their elected, alternate, appointed and “PLEO” (Party Leaders and Elected Officials) delegates.
Chair, CDP Children’s Caucus
I was elected to the CDP from LACDP where I now serve as the state’s CDP Children’s Caucus Chair. The CDP recognizes 19 constituent caucuses where elected DSCC (Democratic State Central Committee) delegates congregate with fellow Democrats registered statewide, on the basis of a communal idea, interest or identity.
CADEM’s Children’s Caucus is concerned with the issues that matter to children, which generally fall into two broad categories: (A) family services and issues, and (B) Education, that great microcosm of all politics everywhere.
School boards
Since my election in Spring 2023, the Caucus has been focusing on the political, physical and spiritual violence which has invaded boardrooms up and down the state of California, bringing chaos and a MAGA agenda right inside our children’s schools.
The Caucus has been speaking to our state’s 58 County Committees and their chartered Democratic Clubs about the attack on our fundamental issues of privacy and autonomy; freedom of speech and civil liberties.
Attacking Democracy From Within
But more is the meta-attack presented to our society by nonpartisan, down ballot school board races. The Democratic Party is structurally unprepared to challenge these MAGA incursions precisely because the races are nonpartisan. Our institutional divestment from nonpartisan races exposes an “electoral ‘Achilles Heel’” that leaves children, their education, and the macrocosm of our entire society vulnerable to this attack on its fundamental tenets.
You can find the slides from our talk here.
If you are part of a Democratic Club or civic or parent group that might be interested in hearing about the caucus and how we might lock elbows statewide collaboratively, I or another caucus member would be grateful for the opportunity to bring this “road show” to your group. We are trying hard to raise consciousness of our jeopardy among communities beyond that of the children and families under immediate attack. This attack threatens us all, and we must invest in thwarting it now, or pay the consequence of delay later. Show Up; Pay attention to our children’s world politically; Speak Out; Vote.
Working to raise consciousness, to organize politically, to elect democratic values
The statewide reach of the CDP Children’s Caucus is an important instrument for warning and sharing best practices in countering what is essentially a national MAGA movement. Other efforts to elect and influence good Democrats are internal to the Party’s structure: serving on a housekeeping committee at the state level for credentialing, and on a policy committee at the county level recommending legislative positions and writing letters as a team to advocate on behalf of the full County Committee. Locally the task is enjoined through chartered Democratic Clubs, where through a dozen clubs I am involved variously with the task of vetting and endorsing candidates that reflect their membership’s point-of-view.
I feel this reporting and the organizing, matters to the political landscape; I look forward to carrying on these efforts for four more years.
- If you are already registered to vote, your ballot may be in the mailbox now. Go here to locate your nearest ballot box (be leery of relying on USPS for timely return of the ballot – at least this has been my family’s personal experience of late).
- PAY ATTENTION if you are registered as No Party Preference. For the opportunity to vote in partisan races such as for the Presidential Nominee or County Committee, You Must Instruct The Registrar As To What Ballot You Wish To Receive. Go here to review your options.
- If you are not yet registered to vote, you may do so online through February 20, 2024 here. And you may register in person through election day, March 5, 2024 at any Vote Center throughout the county, locatable here.
I would be honored to receive your vote for Member, County Central Committee – 55th Assembly District, along with the rest of my slate, the Women United for Democracy; Organizing To Thrive In AD55. Thank you for considering what representation looks like on the County Committee, and how its Members represent you in the neighborhood, county and statewide. Next newsletter up: Legislative Action!
(Sara Roos is a biostatistician from northern New England living in West LA. Raising children from private to charter to public schools provides a front-row seat to the microcosm of electoral politics that is education politics. She started blogging this experience at redqueeninla.com, eventually co-publishing the LA Education Examiner. Sara is an elected delegate to the LA County and state Democratic Party Committees since 2020. Her monthly constituent newsletter and essays can be found at redqueeninla.com.)
