Why You Should Care About the State Democratic Party Convention

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/us/california-democratic-party-convention.html

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Today, the California Democratic Party state convention kicks off in San Francisco.

No, it’s not going to determine whom the party is endorsing in the presidential race.

And, anyway, the party’s endorsement may not have much sway over California’s newly relevant presidential primary, if its move to back Kevin de León’s unsuccessful bid to oust Senator Dianne Feinstein is any indication. Plus, the party’s leadership is mired in scandal, as a result of sexual harassment allegations that led Eric Bauman to resign his post as chairman late last year.

So why should anyone but the most die-hard politicos care?

I asked Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A. He told me that it comes down to a couple of things:

First, the convention will be as good as any early poll for observers hoping to get a read on which of the 23 Democratic presidential candidates may be able to make a dent in what is now a very important primary state.

“It’s an audition,” Mr. Sonenshein said. “It may do a lot to eliminate some of the more marginal candidates as much as it will help clarify who’s at the top.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, 14 of those candidates are set to speak to delegates at the convention, including all the ones considered front-runners, except for former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

And that, Mr. Sonenshein said, may be a signal in and of itself, that Mr. Biden is focusing more energy on high-dollar California donors and big-ticket endorsements, rather than courting members of the most progressive wing of the state’s multifaceted Democratic contingent.

Second, he said, the election of a new chairperson could signal the direction of the state’s Democratic Party more broadly, which will most likely be important.

Mr. Sonenshein said the 2016 presidential election opened a deep rift along the fault line of Senator Bernie Sanders vs. Hillary Clinton. The fight extended into 2017 with a bruising battle over Mr. Bauman’s election as chairman.

“I think there are still going to be some leftover feelings from the last battle, which was so bitter between Clinton and Sanders forces,” Mr. Sonenshein said. “It really tore the party apart.”

This weekend, Mr. Sonenshein said, the process of selecting a new leader could either signal a continuation of that debate, or a more cohesive future.

“Donald Trump has turned out to be a tremendous unifier,” he said.

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• “It’s the most frustrating job I’ve ever had. Not the worst — I worked for a meatpacker picking up dead cows once.” Michael Picker, the state’s top utility regulator, said he’ll step down later this year. Observers say he was a stabilizing influence for the previously scandal-plagued California Public Utilities Commission. [The San Francisco Chronicle]

• Uber reported its earnings for the first time since it went public. The company reported its slowest growth in years and lost more than $1 billion over the quarter. [The New York Times]

• The longtime Orange County congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who once drunkenly arm-wrestled Vladimir Putin and was ousted in November, has become a major shareholder and advisory board member for BudTrader, the “Craigslist of Weed.” [Roll Call]

• The Toronto Raptors finally brought home an N.B.A. finals win for Canada. They beat the mighty Warriors in Game 1, 118-109. [The New York Times]

• The Scripps National Spelling Bee had an unprecedented eight champions after more than three hours of spelling really obscure words correctly. Among them was 13-year-old Rishik Gandhasri of San Jose, whose bio on the bee’s site says he’s played three different instruments in his school band. [The New York Times]

• For generations, the Mueller dynasty has led the unincorporated Southern California town of Idyllwild. That’s two generations of mayors, to be exact — two mayors named Maximus Mighty-Dog Mueller, and they’re both golden retrievers. [ABC News]

• His first language was Zapoteco, an indigenous Oaxacan language. Then he learned Spanish and finally English at adult school while working in the celery fields of Central California. Now, at 58, Adolfo González just earned his bachelor’s degree — with honors. “I think it’s time our community get educated,” he said. [The Salinas Californian]

In an era when content is king, it’s rare for a decision not to publish something to capture much interest.

Still, when the five student editors-in-chief of The Campanile opted to nix the big map showing where their classmates at Palo Alto High School were headed off to college, they had more than an inkling people would pay attention.

They knew other members of their wealthy, traditionally high-achieving community in the heart of Silicon Valley were anticipating the school newspaper’s annual map issue, as The Mercury News reported. They had seen the widespread coverage of the vast college admissions scandal, which had touched both “Paly,” as the school is known, and nearby Stanford University.

“This was the right time to take a stand,” said Leyton Ho, one of the student editors.

The map, the editors said, celebrates a specific kind of post-high-school path: A super competitive four-year college.

But as the admissions scandal laid bare, it’s a myth that with enough hard work, that path is accessible to everyone. And even if it were, it’s a myth that it’s always the best route.

Nevertheless, Waverly Long, another editor, said the map loomed over the college application process like a kind of biblical text. And although the competition wasn’t always explicit, she said, it was there.

“My friends were even pulling up past versions of the map, looking at where people went to school and talking about where they got in,” she said, recalling one coffee shop session. “Seeing the sort of conversations that the map encourages firsthand definitely had a role in me wanting to get rid of it.”

Other Campanile staff members told me that while they understood the reasoning, they were disappointed to hear that they’d miss out on what felt like a rite of passage.

Bernie Koen, a senior staff writer, said that not publishing the map was fixing a symptom and not the root causes of the more toxic elements of Paly’s culture.

“The pressure of the situation will be there regardless,” he said.

Either way, the editors said it’ll be up to their successors to decide whether to bring the map back.

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Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, went to school at U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.