Second in a series.
Re: “Why Clarke Asked Explosive Question”
In the building of life, City Councilman Jim Clarke resides in an upper story. He is on the serious side of 65.
Someone younger might say the ubiquitous Mr. Clarke is old-fashioned because one of his towering professional values is loyalty, party loyalty, Democratic party loyalty.
Down to his kishkes, Mr. Clarke is a Democrat. He is the kind of traditional politician whom both fellow Democrats and Republicans openly admire. A bachelor, it is no exaggeration to report that he has dedicated his life to furthering the honorable goals of the Democratic party he grew up with in Northern California.
This richly embroidered backdrop helps to explain why the deeply honest and proud Mr. Clarke raised the only revelatory question for City Council candidates at last week’s Culver City Democratic Club endorsement meeting.
How long have you been a registered Democrat?
Knowing the answer, he deliberately asked the question publicly, knowing it would expose the record of popular Daniel Lee, who just registered at the midnight hour of Dec. 15 as a Democrat.
This qualified Mr. Lee, 36-year-old longtime progressive activist, to be endorsed at last week’s meeting, as he indeed was.
Mr. Clarke, a values maven, regards Mr. Lee’s late signup as out-of-bounds, no matter how active he has been.
For his part, the unflappable Mr. Lee retained every particle of his poise when responding. His three colleagues competing for the three available endorsements for the April 12 election testified vigorously they had been Democrats for virtually all of their adult lives.
Boldly staring the sympathetic audience in the eye, Mr. Lee said he had been foregoing Democratic party involvement all of his adult life because it allowed him to objectively criticize his party-to-be when stern words were necessary.
Mr. Lee suggested that criticism from a so-called outsider would be taken more seriously than from someone within the ranks.
True? Verifiable?
(To be continued)
