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EASTSIDE - “When we stand united on democratic principles, we will win.” That was the matter-of-fact message Weds., March 12, from Carlos Montes, a leader for public education, workers’ rights, and police reform in Eastside communities who is also an elected member of the L.A. County Democratic Party (LACDP).
The night before, on March 11, Montes and more than 50 other elected members of the largest county Democratic Party in the nation, representing 3 million registered Democratic voters, defeated a bylaws amendment to lower the threshold for rule changes by the county party and expelling members who might run afoul of party officers.
The amendment would have reduced from 67 to 60 the percentage of central committee members’ votes needed to change the rules and oust members. The amendment was defeated, with opponents garnering 10 votes more than the minimum needed to reject it.
“I am proud to have been a part of this victory,” said Carrie Scoville, a longtime union activist and letter carrier from San Pedro who is also an elected member of the L.A. party’s central committee. She likened the proposal to a “power-grab” by powerful insiders. “LACDP members were loud and clear in their rejection of this sham tactic and didn't fall for weak arguments and name-calling. Leadership said they will not stop. Neither will we.”
After the amendment’s defeat, many members in attendance were shocked to hear the county party chair, Mark Ramos, threaten to bring back the amendment again and refusing to make a message of conciliation or bridge-building following the loss. Adding to some members’ shock was mystification at resentment Ramos expressed over the amendment, which he called a distraction. But in fact it was he and other party officers who crafted the proposal and chose to bring it before the membership in the first place.
With Montes and Scoville and others opposing the rule change was longtime labor and women’s rights leader Dolores Huerta.
In her statement to local Democrats, Huerta pointed out that the 2/3 vote requirement of membership to change the bylaws was written into the state Democratic Party bylaws and into the constitutions of most labor unions.
“That standard serves us well as labor activists and Democrats. It protects honest and open debate. This is NO time to mess around with the rules,” Huerta warned.
Also in outspoken opposition was elected member Jasmyne Cannick, a longtime L.A. advocate for African Americans, women, and LGBTQ people.
“This [proposal] isn’t … about efficiency,” Cannick cautioned. “It’s about control. … The fight for democracy doesn’t just happen at the ballot box in November – it starts in rooms like these, in party meetings where the rules of engagement are being rewritten in real-time.”
Added Koreen Cea, teacher and elected member from Eagle Rock, “There are so many challenges we are facing as Democrats right now. Why focus on changing the rules? It’s the WRONG priority.”
“Our time and effort as Democrats should be on expanding and exercising our membership and our grassroots strength, not distracting us or dividing us,” Cea urged fellow Democrats before the vote.
In the end, more than enough central committee members agreed with Huerta and Cannick and Cea to reject the amendment. Their message of building a more inclusive and effective party, not a narrower one where recrimination is an ever-present reality and threat, was the big winner this week for “the Party of the People” in L.A. County.
(Hans Johnson is a longtime leader for LGBTQ+ human rights, environmental justice, and public education. His columns appear in national news outlets including USA Today and in top daily news outlets of more than 20 states. A resident of Eagle Rock, he is also president of East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD), the largest grassroots Democratic club in California, with more than 1,100 members.)
