Here is DPCCC’s July 2021 newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/7c27000eeec5/dpccc-region-14798490
To submit an item for the next newsletter, please email secretary@contracostadems.com.
DPCCC District 5 Director vacancy and election
As announced at yesterday’s regular Membership meeting, DPCCC’s District 5 Director Danial Leahy has resigned his position. Under our bylaws, this position must be “filled by election of a qualified candidate at a regular meeting no later than sixty (60) days after the official notice of vacancy.”
Election procedure
This election will be held immediately before our regular Membership meeting on Thursday, August 19, at 6:30pm, on Zoom (email secretary@contracostadems.com for the link). Please sign in by 6:15pm so you can be credentialed for voting.
If you are registered to vote with Democratic party preference in District 5, have paid current dues to DPCCC as a registered Democrat by August 18, and have not lost your standing, then you will be entitled to vote in this election.
The election will follow the substance of the procedures approved at the January 21, 2021 reorganizational meeting. (The portion of these procedures about DSCC delegates is not relevant to this upcoming election.) In summary: Qualified voters in D5 will gather and elect the new D5 Director.
Anyone may attend and observe the election, but only DPCCC members in good standing in D5 may vote.
Candidacy
Eligibility to run and serve as D5 Director is the same as eligibility to vote in this election: DPCCC member (including Associate) in good standing, registered to vote in D5.
August 11 is the deadline to submit your candidacy. Please email your candidate statement to secretary@contracostadems.com. You may include whatever information you find relevant. Candidate statements will be sent to DPCCC members by email on August 12, one week before the election.
Background information
DPCCC has a Director for each of the five Supervisorial districts (map) in Contra Costa. The Directors gather information, coordinate action, and maintain DPCCC’s relationships with residents, activists, and Democratic candidates and elected officials in their respective districts.
Along with DPCCC’s officers, the District Directors are elected every two years at our January reorganizational meeting. They are voting members of the Executive Committee, and are Regular Members (i.e. Voting Members) of DPCCC by virtue of their District Director positions, even if they were not Regular Members otherwise.
Unlike the officers, the District Directors are elected by the DPCCC members in good standing in their respective districts, including Associate Members, rather than by the Voting Members from across the county.
District 5 covers northern Contra Costa from Hercules, through Martinez and Pittsburg, to northern Antioch.
Resolution in Support of H.R. 1/S. 1, the For the People Act
DPCCC membership approved the following resolution at the July 15, 2021 regular meeting.
WHEREAS, on January 6, 2021, insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol, leading to five deaths, in a violent action powered by The Big Lie of widespread voter fraud in order to allege that the 2020 presidential election was stolen; and
WHEREAS, the right to vote is under assault with an intensity and aggressiveness that analysts explain has not been seen since the end of Reconstruction, with Republican-led state legislatures in a quarter of the states passing laws to shorten windows for early voting, restrict access to mail voting, tighten or impose voter ID requirements, eliminate Election Day registration, reduce the number of polling places available, make it easier to overturn elections, allow greater interference with election administration, and criminalize efforts by election officials to make it easier to vote; overall, over 400 bills have been introduced in the states to curb voting rights, targeting people of color in particular, since the beginning of 2021; and
WHEREAS, the For the People Act would counteract this threat to our democracy by making it easier to vote in federal elections, protecting and expanding voting rights, creating new campaign finance and ethics rules to curb a small unrepresentative group of mega-donors from being a barrier to diverse candidates, increasing safeguards against foreign election interference, prohibiting extreme partisan gerrymandering;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County supports the passage of The For the People Act, our next great Civil Rights legislation, and urges all Senate Democrats to support efforts to eliminate or reform the filibuster in order to pass the bill to allow President Biden to sign it into law and prevent an outcome where, without fair voting rules in 2022 and 2024, the consequences could include the permanent loss of democracy for our nation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County shall communicate this resolution to Contra Costa County Democrats, the California Democratic Party, and members of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives representing any part of Contra Costa County.
Submitted by:
Renee Zeimer, Elected Member, District 2
Harry Wiener, Associate Member, District 1
Craig Cheslog, Associate Member, District 2
Resolution in Support of Eliminating the United States Senate Filibuster
DPCCC membership approved the following resolution at the July 15, 2021 regular meeting.
WHEREAS, the Constitution’s authors intended legislation to be passed by a simple majority vote, mandating a supermajority vote for only a few specific reasons, with James Madison and Alexander Hamilton arguing for simple majority rule in Federalist Nos. 10, 22, and 58; and
WHEREAS, the filibuster was created unintentionally in 1806 by a rule drafting error with the genesis of its modern version created by slave-owning Senator and Vice President John C. Calhoun to preserve slavery prior to the Civil War before it was subsequently used to block voting rights for Black citizens during Reconstruction, then in the Jim Crow era to deny minorities and, in particular Black citizens, their voting rights, and in recent decades its use has increased to the point where the filibuster is now used to routinely require 60 votes to pass any legislation; and
WHEREAS, that bipartisan majorities of the American people want the 117th Congress to address such matters as the reestablishment of voting rights for all citizens, a livable wage for all American workers, sensible gun legislation, affordable quality healthcare for all, effective greenhouse gas reductions, a commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and more, requires the abolition of the filibuster because 41 Republican Senators representing just 21 percent of the country can block any bill no matter how popular;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County declares our support for the immediate elimination of the Senate Filibuster, extends its thanks to U.S. Senator Alex Padilla for stating his commitment to eliminating or reforming the filibuster, and calls upon U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein to publicly acknowledge that our democracy is in danger and that she will do whatever is necessary to pass urgent legislation through the abolishment or reform of the filibuster; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County shall communicate this resolution to Contra Costa County Democrats and members of the United States House of Representatives representing any part of Contra Costa County.
Submitted by:
Renee Zeimer, Elected Member, District 2
Harry Wiener, Associate Member, District 1
Craig Cheslog, Associate Member, District 2
Resolution Regarding Opposition to Mount Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) School Board Recall
DPCCC membership approved the following resolution at the July 15, 2021 regular meeting.
WHEREAS, each MDUSD School Board Trustee has been duly elected in a proper election; each MDUSD School Board Trustee has faithfully performed the duties of their positions and made decisions and voted in the best interests of students over their term; and
WHEREAS, the current proposed recall is motivated by anger and is destructive to the body politic; and
WHEREAS, if the recall is required, the special election process will require the district to spend up to $1.9 Million of district funds on ballots and processing fees; and this frivolous recall will siphon hundreds of thousands from student programs; and this unnecessary recall will absorb management and board attention and effort, which would be better used ensuring the safe, secure and efficient return to in-person learning district wide;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County hereby states our firm opposition to the current efforts to recall the MDUSD School Board Trustees.
Submitted by Colleen Awad, Associate Member, District Director, District 4
Resolution on Redistricting: Cities in Contra Costa County Are to Be Undivided
DPCCC membership approved the following resolution at the July 15, 2021 regular meeting.
WHEREAS, the unity of cities is a major contributor to the development of political and social communities of interest in accordance with Democratic values;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County requests and encourages the Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County to direct staff and abide by a policy that, in the redistricting of Supervisorial Districts, no city shall be divided, unless there is a prior vote of the City’s Council to accept a division; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County will communicate this resolution to elected officials on the Board of Supervisors of Contra Costa County.
Submitted by Honorable Edi Birsan, District 4
Introducing DPCCC’s first newsletter
DPCCC Leadership is launching a newsletter to keep members informed. Here is the first issue: https://mailchi.mp/7773aba831c6/dpccc-region-13481838. The newsletter will be sent to our email list and posted on this blog each month following our regular Membership meeting, outlining our activities and actions, and offering opportunities to participate.
To submit an item for the newsletter, please email secretary@contracostadems.com.
California redistricting public input opportunity July 29
The California Citizens Redistricting Commission is holding a series of Communities of Interest (COI) input meetings throughout the state. The next opportunity for the zone including Contra Costa County is July 29, 2021, 4pm-8pm.
For more information, please see https://www.wedrawthelinesca.org/meetings. English flyer, folleto en español.
Resolution in Support of Senate Bill 2 (Bradford and Atkins), the Kenneth Ross Jr. Police Decertification Act of 2021
DPCCC membership approved the following resolution at the June 17, 2021 regular meeting.
WHEREAS, because police officers, sheriffs’ deputies, and other peace officers hold extraordinary powers to detain, search, arrest, and use force—including deadly force—the state has a correspondingly strong interest in ensuring that peace officers do not abuse their authority; and
WHEREAS, In 2017, 172 Californians were killed by the police, and our state’s police departments have some of the highest rates of killings in the nation, and of the unarmed people California police killed, three out of four were people of color. The nationwide protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd have made clear that Californians want to end police brutality and that our state must create a process to remove abusive police from the streets and protect those who are targeted by police violence; and
WHEREAS, Senate Bill 2 would create a statewide decertification process to revoke the certification of a peace officer following the conviction of serious crimes or termination from employment due to misconduct, thereby helping to ensure these individuals are held accountable and that California’s standards for law enforcement better reflect community values;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County supports the passage of Senate Bill 2 (Bradford and Atkins), as amended on May 20, 2021, and urges the Democratic supermajority in the California State Legislature to pass the legislation and the Democratic Governor to sign the bill into law;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County shall communicate this resolution to Contra Costa County Democrats, the California Democratic Party, members of the State Senate and State Assembly representing any part of Contra Costa County, members of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, and the Governor of the State of California.
Submitted by: Craig Cheslog, Associate Member, District 2, May 27, 2021