Following up on this great diary about becoming a delegate from an Assembly District, I just wanted to do one more quick diary about the County Central Committee option.

I didn’t want to put it on the front page, because there is more important information that is going on there, and I think this works just fine in the Diaries section, especially since it is more of a case study of the County I belong to and an extrapolation from there (not to mention the third diary on the topic)…

As mentioned before, the Delegates are broken up as:

Approx. 2826 members
– 960 elected by Assembly Districts
– 933 elected by County Central Committees
– 933 for electeds/nominees and their appointees, State Party officers, and DNC members

If you volunteered extensively for a campaign, you will probably know better than anyone else if you have a chance of getting appointed as part of the “electeds/nominees” delegation.

willy mugobeer‘s diary covered the Assembly districts well.

This is about the County Central Committee delegates.  The bylaws of the CDP specify that:

Each County Central Committee of the Party shall elect, from its own members as defined by its by-laws*, representatives… as follows: four members as base representation, plus one member for each 10,000 registered Democrats or fraction thereof.

Furthermore

Elections shall be held by January 31 following the regular general statewide election…

(More on this soon, but start working towards getting on the State Central Cmte. Also, check out DFA’s Powerpoint presentation available here. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Well, the 2006 election is over, but there is little time for us to sit on our laurels.  We accomplished a lot, and we need to continue the momentum.  I think we should go to the 2007 California Democratic Party Convention as delegates.

(For those that watch the video linked above, about 2/3 of the way through, the camera swings around and for a little bit is pointing right at me -goofy guy with green shirt, my 15min of fame- with a banner above me that reads “I am the margin of victory.”  That represents what we all are.  WHO we are.  Every bit of ourselves that we put into it makes a difference.)

The convention is being held Friday to Sunday, April 27 to 29 in San Diego, CA.

This is the next part of becoming involved.  We need to increase the membership of the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party:

-We believe that all Citizens are entitled to equal rights and equal treatment under the law, and that no one shall be denied these rights because of gender, race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or religion.
-We believe in the separation of Church and State.
-We believe in economic fairness and the right of every American to a job that pays a living wage.
-We believe that pre-emptive war is wrong and that this country should seek solutions to international threats through diplomatic channels and the United Nations.
-We believe that every Citizen is entitled to quality health care and that single payer universal health insurance is a right, not a privilege.
-We believe that the environment is a trust and that we are responsible for preserving it for future generations.
-We believe in the public school system and that every child should have an opportunity for free, quality education in a safe environment.
-We believe that the death penalty is wrong.
-We believe, above all, in the Constitution of the United States and in the right of the People to self-government.

OK, OK, I know you are all down for that.  How do we do it, you ask?  Well this is how it is set up:

CDP – Democratic State Central Committee

Approx. 2826 members
– 960 elected by Assembly Districts
– 933 elected by County Central Committees
– 933 for electeds/nominees and their appointees, State Party officers, and DNC members

What we should be interested in is the 1893 members that are elected at the Assembly District and County Central Committee level.

That is us

If we are registered to vote as a Democrat: Each of us belong to a State Assembly District.  Each of us are members of a County.

And the elections are coming up.  Here is what you need to do:

If you don’t know which assembly district you are in, you can probably figure it out using this map or playing with the maps here.

Once you know, take that information here and get in contact with your Assembly District Committee Chair.  Let them know that you are interested in becoming a delegate.  Let them know the contributions you have made to the party.

The Assembly District elections are being held in early January, so now is the time to start this.

If you want to try to do it on the County side, that is just as good, but get in contact with your County Committee right away.  The election will probably be in December.  But, the same thing goes.  Let them know you are interested, and what you have done.

Maybe you can try one and then the other, if you can’t get in the first try.

Let me tell you how it is working in my County, Contra Costa County.  Contra Costa County has parts of 3 Assembly Districts in it.  The county is choosing its delegates at the next meeting, December 21.  We have 28 slots to fill.  I can tell you right now, we probably will not be able to fill all of those slots.

Anybody out there live in Contra Costa County?

In addition, each of the 3 Districts with which Contra Costa County overlaps will be sending their own delegates.

The 14th Assembly District (in which I live) will be electing 14 delegates on (last I heard) January 13.  I am not as familiar with the goings on there, but I assume there are plenty of volunteers for those slots.  That district includes Berkeley, which is in Alameda County.

So there it is in a nutshell.  Who is going to San Diego in April?  Anything to add?  Did I forget to address something?