County Democratic Party falls apart over procedures amid endorsements.

The politics of campaigning that most of us see are polished, highly curated events. Candidates wearing pressed clothes giving speeches from well-lit stages. But the reality of politics is a lot messier.

At least on the night of Tuesday, March 22, when the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee met via Zoom to make endorsements in the June 7 primary, it was barely organized chaos.

And for the most part, instead of talking about politics – and the group’s ambition, to get Democrats elected in Monterey County – committee members, a mix of elected and appointed officials, were consumed with discussion about their rules and regulations and their bylaws. A primary issue was who had or had not paid their dues on time; apparently, as the group would learn, only members in good standing can endorse. There were some questions about Amit Pandya, a Salinas businessman, but he’d provided proof that his dues were paid on time, Pacific time, even though it was after midnight, eastern.

State Sen. Anna Caballero – who has been through quite a year in politics, being drawn out of her own district and the city (Salinas) where she once served as mayor, and is the highest-ranking elected official in the group – was notified she could not endorse, because she is not a member in good standing.

“The rigid following of certain rules ought to be forgiven,” said George Riley, a committee member (and member of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District). “The circumstances were very unique this year, very unique.”

This debate about who could vote on endorsements and who could not went on for close to two hours. The procedural mayhem was capped by a motion for committee members to vote on who could participate in the endorsement process. Committee member Alan Haffa (also a Monterey City Council member) critiqued the long lead-up, noting members of the committee had already left the meeting. “We spent an hour-and-a half talking about procedures. We’re disenfranchising people,” he said. “Let’s move forward and vote.”

By 8:37pm, more than two hours in, it was finally time to move on to the whole point of the evening. Chair Karen Araujo said: “It’s 8:37, I don’t know how many people we have left, but let’s move forward.”

At the local level, the most organized party machines are the Monterey County Republican and Democratic central committees, which operate on a partisan level in a largely nonpartisan world. One of the most significant things these groups do is endorse local candidates. Party endorsements come with organizing and visibility, and can make or break a campaign.

While the offices the group was endorsing on March 22 are nonpartisan – meaning voters will not see a little R or D on the ballot – the parties endorse only candidates who are registered with their party.

That means only two of four candidates for sheriff were eligible, Joe Moses and Tina Nieto. The endorsement for sheriff was straightforward – all 28 voting members went with Nieto, who gave a tearful thank you from her Zoom square. “You’re not supposed to cry, but I wear my emotions on my sleeve,” she said.

Next up was the more contentious endorsement. Four of the six candidates running for county supervisor in District 2 – Glenn Church, Regina Gage, Adriana Melgoza and Grant Leonard – are Democrats. An endorsement from the party requires at least 60 percent of the vote, or 17 votes. (Those bylaws again!)

With 15 votes for Church and 13 for Gage, nobody reached the 60-percent threshold.

By this time, 9:39pm, more members had left the meeting. The Salinas City Council meeting had ended, so committee member/Salinas councilmember Anthony Rocha tuned in. Before leaving to go put her kids to bed, his alternate, Aidee Farias, gave the most insightful remarks of the night: “I really feel like we need to do more to understand the bylaws and make these meetings more efficient. So much time was used on clarifying our own understanding of this body. I respect everything everyone said, but I wish more of that happened prior to our meeting.”

In the end, the group decided on a dual endorsement of Gage and Church, hoping to get at least one Democrat onto the runoff ballot in November.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com