Re “Dem Club Bomb: Results Fixed in Advance?”
“Why,” asked the lady who has been skirting the perimeter of the Culver City Democratic Club for almost 20 years, “is anyone surprised?
“This is not anything out of the ordinary. This is the Democratic Club’s way of doing business. They do it all the time. Take a look at the last decade of endorsements. You will see a pattern. It isn’t a fix.
“It is the club’s mentality.”
Still, Dem Club members caused a jolt two nights ago when they ignored pleas to endorse for both open seats on the School Board from among three evenly matched candidates for the Nov. 3 election.
“Contrariness is a way of life for the club,” said a former member. That is why Dems endorsed only Prof. Kelly Kent on Wednesday, rejecting Anne Burke and Scott McVarish presumably because of their ties to the “insufficiently progressive” United Parents of Culver City group.
“The club has a history of endorsing only its favored members, and that includes Kelly Kent. She is endorsed by (City Councilperson) Meghan Sahli-Wells.
“Whether Dr. Kent is a member of the club, she is sponsored by Meghan. They endorse people whom their leaders advocate on behalf of.
“Here is how it works: They have their so-called discussion after the candidates have spoken. They line up their people who step up and say, ‘I think we ought to endorse so-and-so.’
“Even if you say Kelly Kent may not have been so well known, enough Meghanites, enough Silbigerites, enough Camarellaites were in attendance to be able to do what they were supposed to do. No one could, or should, have been surprised.”
The former Democratic Club member recalled past endorsement parties.
“One year the club only endorsed Meghan Sahli-Wells when there were three open seats on the City Council. One year, only Christopher Armenta.
“To endorse only one person for a multi-seat election is part of the Culver City Democratic Club’s standard operating procedure.”
The ex-member kept trying to deepen her point about the club’s “unchanging maybe even unchangeable” attitude.
“The Culver City Democratic Club is not going to endorse you unless are a dyed-in-the-wool ideologue. When you recognize it was the United Parents of Culver City that caused the favorite son of the Culver City Democrats, Karlo Silbiger, to not get reelected, is it surprising the club would choose not to endorse either of the candidates put up by the UPCC?
“The fact that Scott and Anne are thoroughgoing Democrats is irrelevant. They belong to the group that ousted Karlo Silbiger. They are not ideologically pure, which you have to be to gain the votes of the people who regularly attend Democratic Club meetings. They are the progressive, passionate Democrats, and most Democrats in Culver City are not like that.”
