(Always appreciate some good ol’ fashioned grassroots action. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Hello CDP Members and Friends,

Shawnda Westly (CDP Executive Director) referred a friend of hers, a woman named Deborah Ortiz to me early last week.  Deborah told the story of a woman I had never heard of, who was running for mayor in a town I never heard of. The town is Riverbank, in Stanislaus County near Modesto. The name of the candidate is Virginia Madueno. I spoke with her to get her views on what is going on in her community and why she is running for office. She has identified the issues and her campaign is bringing the community together by being solution oriented. She is a bright, articulate Latina woman who holds Progressive values and knows how to put them into practice them without being divisive. She knows how to build coalitions with sometimes disparate groups, to get things done. She is a mother of three and a small business owner. She is an outstanding candidate and I believe we will hear more from her in the years to come.

Edit by Brian: More over the flip

Needless to say, after speaking with her, I became VERY excited.  I saw an opportunity to bring several of our CDP caucuses together to work for a common goal: help get a candidate, who represents the interests all of our caucuses, elected to office!

I called Mickie Luna of the Chicano/Latino Caucus, Karen Bernal of the Progressive Caucus, Karen Weinstein of the Women’s Caucus, and Alyson Abramowitz of the Business and Professional Caucus. All FIVE of us were anxious to help such an outstanding candidate. Mickie Luna brought two more volunteers with her; Ruth Hermosillo, Secretary of the Chicano/Latino Caucus, Monica Rodriguez, of LULAC, who is an advocate for parents and children at the schools.  Susan Rowe, a volunteer for the Rural Caucus and Chair of Madera County DCC, drove more than two hours to join with us. We all joined forces on October 31st and walked for Virginia all day. We all came back with wonderful stories. We had a great time together and agreed we should do this more often. I think we will.

For the first time in CDP history, five caucus chairs have joined forces for a common cause. I hope to see more activities like this in the future. If we want to win in red counties, this is the kind of cooperation it will take.  

The election is Tuesday.  We will keep you posted on the outcome!

Keep Fighting!!!!

Jamie Beutler

Chair, CDP Rural Caucus