By Carlene Brown, MA. Ed.
Re “Culver City Dems Need to Modernize – Allow Absentee Voting”
[Editor’s Note: Former Mayor Alan Corlin filed a complaint here against the Culver City Democratic Club, and the letter below, in the club’s current newsletter, responds to a separate complaint that he made about the club.]
Alan Corlin asserts that the outcome of the Culver City Democratic Club’s endorsement process should “be an affirmation of who the club believes will best represent the interests of Democrats in Culver City.” Mr. Corlin suggests that the club does not fully value all of its members, but only a few. He claims that “failure to endorse even one winner out of the seven recent School Board candidates is a point in fact.” I believe one of the biggest reasons the club’s endorsed candidates did not win is apathy, Culver City Democrats’ failure to fully engage in the process of informing themselves about issues of preserving democracy that were at stake.
Many Democrats did not bother to attend our forum or even to vote. Contrary to Mr. Corlin’s opinion, I believe our club’s endorsement forum is necessary. It provides excellent education, especially during the portion where individual members speak about why they choose to endorse certain candidates.
Beyond providing an excellent educational opportunity at the endorsement meeting, however, our club failed to adequately educate community members who were not present at that meeting.
Culver City Democratic Club should have educated the public about why the candidates we endorsed represent democratic values (little “d”), not just “the interests of Democrats in Culver City,” as Mr. Corlin claims the endorsement should do. At our November meeting, our club president Bill Wynn behooved us to ask ourselves why our endorsed candidates lost, candidates who indeed represent democratic values (little “d”). “Answers are found in Common Unity,” Mr. Wynn writes in his November essay. “There is a shared goal, or a desired outcome, which is common to the whole. . . . We can have a reputation as a city that cares as well as enjoys all the wonderful amenities offered by a bustling economy.”
Unfortunately, some Democrats who were actively engaged in the School Board election focused more on division and contention than on Common Unity and democratic values.
Whereas Mr. Corlin points to the CCDC’s erroneous endorsement process as the reason for our club’s failure to “endorse even one winner,” I am wondering if part of the reason for that failure is that some “self-interested” Culver City Democrats purposely propelled to victory the endorsed slate of an anti-union PAC (political action committee).
I am wondering if some Democrats purposely participated in eliminating Karlo Silbiger from the School Board, which was the PAC’s intention from its inception.
In contrast to candidates on the anti-union PAC’s slate, the Culver City Democratic Club endorsed Mr. Silbiger and Claudia Vizcarra, also endorsed by the Culver City Federation of Teachers and the Culver City Assn. of Classified Employees. At our forum, union representatives made an articulate case for the democratic values demonstrated by their endorsed candidates.
Though the Culver City Democratic Club’s endorsed candidates lost this School Board election, not all is lost in the Culver City Unified School District.
To support the principle of Common Unity, I strongly suggest that our club invite Supt. Dave LaRose as a guest speaker. will inspire us to become involved in the District’s Whole Child, Whole Community approach to education.
“Success for all takes us all.”
To further educate our club at that meeting, I advise the screening of a five-minute video, which is posted on the Facebook page for Culver City PEERS (Parents and Educators for Equity and Resources in Schools).
The “Five Myths About Our Schools That Fall Apart When You Look Closer” video ends with an admonition for the U.S. to learn from the highest-performing countries in the world: Treat teachers, community groups and unions as partners in improving public education. In other words, Common Unity.
