Second of two parts
Re “The Persons Behind the Dem Club/King Robo Calls”
As the months’-old president of the Culver City Democratic Club, Lee Sanders is enjoying himself more than at almost any assignment since retiring from everyday work. In that spirit, he agreed last weekend to tape a script for unique robo calls that would go out to “a few thousand” registered voters prior to last Tuesday’s City Council election.
Although the Democratic Club endorsed two candidates, Mr. Sanders said Christopher Patrick King’s manager, David Bromberg, asked him to record a robo call only on behalf of Mr. King.
The president carried out the request as “a personal favor” that he did not believe would affect the outcome.
Mr. Sanders’s assent troubled some supporters of incumbent Jim Clarke, the other Dem Club endorsee.
Not necessarily Mr. Clarke, though. Unable to attend Wednesday night’s monthly meeting, he forwarded a letter thanking them for their endorsement and asking their help on a proposed project to boost the number of Democrats in an attempt to spike the turnout of participating voters.
Mr. Clarke said he was not “annoyed” by the robo call “as long as it was clearly stated the robo call was paid for by the Christopher King campaign.” Mr. Bromberg told the newspaper yesterday that it was.
A Note of Regret?
Given a second chance, “I probably would not do it that way again. I was not really thinking about what people would think.
“For me, it was a personal thing. Chris King has come to our meetings and participated for the last two years. Of course, Jim Clarke is a great favorite of ours, too. My feeling was Jim Clarke was going to do well, regardless.
“It was just personal. David Bromberg, you know, is vice president of the Democratic Club, and we have been working pretty closely together.
“I am sorry I didn’t communicate with Jim,” Mr. Sanders said. “That would have been a good idea.”
In the afterglow of the election – won handily by Mayor Jeff Cooper and Mr. Clarke with Mr. King a distant third – the admittedly awkwardly handled robo call incident appears to be an interaction among well-intentioned first-timers.
What was the motive?
“The main reason I did this,” said Mr. Sanders, “was to draw attention to the Democratic Club.”
Meanwhile, he has heard from critics within the club who told him that as president he should have represented endorsees. “I presume they are right about that,” Mr. Sanders said. It was not truly a big deal, though, he added, “because the election was not that close.”
Self-deprecatingly, Mr. Sanders, who was active in labor “for many decades,” refers to himself as a “fairly old person. I am going to my last labor convention in June. But I hope to keep going to Democratic party events.”
Mr. Sanders retired as president of the Projectionists Union, and held other union-related offices.
