By Peggy Wolff
As Chair of the Laguna Beach Democratic Club, I would like to respond to recent letters and columns regarding our Aug. 14 meeting that was held to conduct a vote on “recommendations for endorsement” for Laguna Beach City Council candidates.
As the oldest Democratic Club in Orange County, founded in 1945, we are so grateful for the engagement of our members and community. Our club has raised funds for Democratic candidates and supports our community with food and clothing drives. Any individual is welcome to become a member of LBDC.
We had 58 members in good standing attend our Aug. 14 virtual meeting. These are members who are active and engaged Democrats. A member in good standing must have met the following qualifications according to our bylaws: The member is a registered Democrat; has attended at least one meeting in the current or previous calendar year prior to voting; has paid all club dues in the prior calendar month and agreed to be bound by the code of conduct.
Laguna Beach Democratic Club is a charter club of the Democratic Party of Orange County (DPOC), which means we work within the rules and bylaws of DPOC.
At our August meeting, we offered each Democratic candidate for Laguna Beach City Council the opportunity to speak for four minutes to present their campaign statement. Candidates Jones, Mancuso, Weiss and Whalen, all registered Democrats, were scheduled to speak as part of the meeting agenda. Four hours prior to the meeting, George Weiss emailed me that he wanted to pull his endorsement request and that he would be rescinding his endorsement application from DPOC as well.
Our volunteer board made sure to include all LBDC members in good standing who registered in advance and logged on to join the meeting. Only members in good standing were permitted to participate because the club was holding an official vote. Our board adhered to our bylaws, which are directly managed by DPOC. After hearing from the three candidates, we held a vote, where each member could choose two candidates or no endorsement. Our membership overwhelmingly chose Hallie Jones and Bob Whalen as the candidates LBDC “recommends for endorsement” to DPOC. Vote tallies were 47 for Hallie Jones, 46 for Bob Whalen, 10 for Judie Mancuso and 2 for No Endorsement.
After our meeting, DPOC received a few complaints that our meeting did not follow bylaws. DPOC performed a thorough investigation and found that the LBDC Board ran a meeting that strictly followed our bylaws and managed it in an appropriate manner. These investigation results were shared with all who lodged complaints.
The next step in this process is for an LBDC representative to attend the DPOC Endorsement Committee meeting and share the results of our local club meeting and the names of the candidates whom the majority of our members want to support in this next election. That means a great deal of volunteer effort from our members: door-knocking, letter-writing, delivering signs and manning the soon-to-be-opened LBDC headquarters at 580 Broadway.
“The club determines its position on the supported candidate(s) by at least 11 affirmative votes and at least 60% of the members in good standing present and voting.”
If a candidate(s) reaches the 60% threshold, LBDC’s representative “is instructed to recommend the club’s supported candidates to DPOC for endorsement.” Despite sharing our club-supported candidates, the DPOC Endorsement Committee does have the final say and will be recommending Judie Mancuso and Hallie Jones, where the final vote will occur on Sept. 12 at a Central Committee meeting.
LBDC would like to thank our members for attending our “recommend for endorsement” meeting, listening to the candidates, and engaging with our club. Our singular mission at Laguna Beach Democratic Club is to elect the most qualified Democrats up and down the ballot. Please visit our campaign headquarters to volunteer and engage in this election and be sure to vote on Nov. 5.
Peggy Wolff is the Laguna Beach Democratic Club Chair.
