Instead of fighting for democracy, the county Democratic Party members are fighting each other.

Sara Rubin here, thinking about politics. Specifically, I’ve been paying attention lately to the local version of the Democratic Party, the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee, because it seems so dysfunctional at the moment. When I tuned in to the Central Committee’s monthly meeting (held on Zoom) on Feb. 28, I was taken aback by the level of fighting, over matters both petty and significant. The group spent an absurdly long time arguing about who was or was not a member and whether or not they were eligible to vote, based in part on whether they were current on their dues. Roll call alone took over half an hour. They argued about whether it was appropriate to mute people or not while speaking. They argued, remarkably, about whether or not they were a public body. I found the dynamics so surprising that I wrote a column about it for the March 23 issue of the Weekly, before the committee convened again for its monthly meeting last night, March 28. 

During last night’s meeting, I observed a lot of the same antics—arguing about who was or wasn’t a member, arguing about Zoom speaking protocols. “As I always say, I’m the chair, I’m not the queen,” Chair Karen Araujo said a couple of times, seemingly trying to keep the wheels on, but simultaneously cutting everyone off. Running a meeting of a big party on Zoom is not an enviable job.

The committee practically fell apart when it was time to vote on whether to extend the time of the meeting (scheduled for 90 minutes, from 6:30-8pm) to allow time to get through the agenda. Should it be extended until 9pm, or until business was complete? I lost track of how much time was spent arguing over that question, but eventually they voted on a 9pm end time.

Arguing about process was not yet over, however. A former chair and current Central Committee member, Vinz Koller, started trying to introduce a resolution into the record, and Araujo argued he was out of order. Member Joe Macaluso chimed in, seeming to have lost patience. “It’s insane that we’re going to use parliamentary procedure to stop [someone from commenting],” Macaluso said. “We’re trying to use process to deny people the democratic process—I’m imploring you to allow the gentleman to read the resolution…not letting people talk is, it seems, the antithesis of our party.”

When Koller was finally acknowledged, he dropped a bombshell. He read aloud a resolution to remove Araujo from the chairpersonship, something the committee will vote on at its next meeting in April. Removal of the chair requires a two-thirds vote. (Good luck calculating two-thirds in this group. First they’ll have to agree on a current number of members.) 

“The role of the County Democratic Party is to bring together a diverse set of voices and work collaboratively to build grassroots and community-driven efforts and assemble big tent coalitions, as well as to create a safe environment where every Democrat feels respected and welcomed,” Koller’s resolution begins. 

As an observer of the party’s meetings, there is little sign of collaborative work, or really any work at all—there’s just a lot of bickering. In an over two-hour meeting, there were only fleeting mentions of real projects—renters’ rights and an upcoming April 3 meeting on an attempt to buy out Cal Am through eminent domain. These are the kinds of issues that energize voters and Democrats and politically engage people, not process for process’ sake. Yet the party somehow seems stuck in process. 

I spoke to Araujo last week, and she was upbeat about various issues, and generally dismissive of grievances against her, attributing them to one or two members. (I wrote about Amit Pandya as a member, but he has apparently been removed due to using a business address rather than a home address, meaning he no longer aligned with his geographic district, but an effort to reseat him has been thwarted—process stuff.) 

Araujo seemed to espouse the big tent idea, even if it meant working with detractors. “We need all the different leadership styles, all the different eyes and hearts caring about the Democratic Party and working towards its success,” she said. “I weigh, all the time, peace in the organization, the rules and my discretion as chair.”

It’s hard to know exactly what happened that disrupted the peace. This is a group of some of the most politically engaged residents of Monterey County, invested at a local level and plugged into a national platform, whom I would expect to see busy championing progressive causes and organizing the less politically engaged members of the public. 

They should be unified in a battle against Donald Trump, or some other candidate who threatens their party’s values—instead, it’s Democrat-on-Democrat war. I’ll be watching to see how it plays out.

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