Democratic Party

Rima Shah Local Democrats are hoping that their party will get a boost of energy and grass-roots support after Howard Dean, the former presidential hopeful and Vermont governor, becomes the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Dean could be named the new chairman today. "We need people who truly are uniters and not dividers," said Congressman Adam Schiff, who represents Glendale, hoping that Dean would reach out to Republicans and moderates.

A recent letter from Anne Shedd, suggesting that the League of Women Voters was a Democratic Party stalking horse, reflects her flawed logic and lack of information. Yes, the League of Women Voters takes positions on issues, but only after careful study and consensus, that is, widespread agreement among its members. State propositions are researched and consensus is reported, if it exists, on a statewide basis, not on the whim of a local chapter. On most issues, consensus does not exist, reflecting the diversity of opinions of league members.

A story that appeared in Tuesday's Daily Pilot, "Newport lawyer eyes Cox's seat," reported some incorrect information about the candidate. Newport Attorney Steve Young is a lifelong Democrat and has been active in politics since age 18. He switched to the GOP several years ago in order to support a friend's congressional campaign. His return to the Democratic Party was not solely based on the war in Iraq but also Bush administration policies. In Friday's From the Editor column by Tony Dodero, "New Mormon temple welcomes visitors," a line that read "We started the tour on the grounds of the temple, which are punctuated with a pair of sparkling fountains and some 54,000," should have read as follows: "We started the tour on the grounds of the temple, which are punctuated with a pair of sparkling fountains and some 54,000 plants."

The clumsy statements by Assemblyman Mike Gatto's political team denying that he ran a slate of delegates for the 43rd Assembly District's seats at the state Democratic Party convention - and that challengers were threatened and intimidated - also contained a direct attack on a single individual. “I also heard too that one gentleman in particular was being watched because he has a reputation of busing in elderly Republicans from the day-care facility that he owns,” Gatto campaign political director Stacey Brenner wrote in an email response to questions about racial profiling of Armenians at the Jan. 12 election.

Gretchen Hoffman The state Democratic Party is putting its money where its mouth is in one local race. Over the past month, the Democratic State Central Committee has poured more than $160,000 into the reelection campaign of Assemblywoman Carol Liu (D-La Canada Flintridge). Liu is running against Republican Dan O'Connell and Libertarian Bob New in the 44th District. Liu raised more than $500,000 by an Oct. 24 deadline to file contributions with the Secretary of State's office and will continue to file daily reports of contributions of $1,000 and more.

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- This group has its own "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Terry Bailey, president of the Glendale-Burbank chapter of the League of Women Voters, will tell you members don't discuss their party affiliations. "If I had to make sure that I select Democrats and Republicans for a panel, I wouldn't even know how to do that because I don't know what people's parties are," she said. "It's never, ever discussed in league." But in the past few months, Bailey said the group has been seeking to remind the public of its nonpartisan status.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake) has secured the endorsement of local Democratic Party delegates for the redrawn 43rd Assembly District. The district has been morphed to include La Cañada Flintridge, currently the home base for Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, who announced last week that will not seek another elective office when he's termed out later this year. He had explored both a run for Congress and a challenge to state Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge), last week said he was taking a break from politics to tend his ailing mother in New Jersey.

The League of Women Voters has been deceiving the public into thinking that it bears any resemblance to a nonpartisan group. Quite the contrary is true. In fact, nothing I have read bothers to mention that the League of Women Voters aligns itself in lock-step with the Democratic Party. If you think otherwise, just look at its record. In the March 7 election, the League of Women Voters was completely in agreement on every issue with the California Democrat Party.

When Democratic candidate Steve Young officially kicks off his campaign for the 48th Congressional District seat today in Irvine, he'll probably be grinning -- and with good reason. Wednesday night, Young, a 51-year-old Newport Beach attorney, handily won the endorsement of state Democratic Party delegates, and his campaign is being run by an energetic team that recently carried an Ohio Democrat close to an upset victory in a heavily Republican district.

The letter to the editor from Ardavast Avakian ("Armenians misled on support," April 14) is an example of the myopia inflicting members of the Republican leadership. The duties of a congressperson are to serve the needs of his or her constituents. In order to be reelected, a member of Congress must conduct the duties of the office in a manner that satisfies the majority of voters within the district. Former Rep. James Rogan's "brilliant participation" in the impeachment satisfied the Orange County Republican and current statewide Republican leaders who have turned California into a one-party state.

The clumsy statements by Assemblyman Mike Gatto's political team denying that he ran a slate of delegates for the 43rd Assembly District's seats at the state Democratic Party convention - and that challengers were threatened and intimidated - also contained a direct attack on a single individual. “I also heard too that one gentleman in particular was being watched because he has a reputation of busing in elderly Republicans from the day-care facility that he owns,” Gatto campaign political director Stacey Brenner wrote in an email response to questions about racial profiling of Armenians at the Jan. 12 election.

The L.A. County Democratic Party recently passed a resolution to ask the California Democratic Party to endorse efforts to educate its members about the Armenian Genocide and reject efforts to deny the crime. The resolution was authored by the Southern California Armenian Democrats, which has many local members. It received widespread support on its way to the county party's executive committee. The vote came on the eve of the 97th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks.

The Democratic slugfest underway in California's 30th Congressional District is the product of two political developments of recent years: the open primary and nonpartisan redistricting. The former means that the two top finishers in the upcoming congressional race will face each other again in the fall, even if both are from the same political party; the latter has resulted in two titans of the Southern California Democratic Party having to face each other. Rep. Howard Berman and Rep. Brad Sherman are admirable public officials with long and impressive records of service.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake) has secured the endorsement of local Democratic Party delegates for the redrawn 43rd Assembly District. The district has been morphed to include La Cañada Flintridge, currently the home base for Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, who announced last week that will not seek another elective office when he's termed out later this year. He had explored both a run for Congress and a challenge to state Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge), last week said he was taking a break from politics to tend his ailing mother in New Jersey.

After a year and a half of work, the California Armenian American Democrats has received provisional ratification as the first organization chartered by the executive board of the state Democratic Party. Caro Avanessian, interim chairman of the new group, said he started trying to form an Armenian American caucus after he went to the California Democratic convention a few years ago and saw so many groups represented by caucuses, ranging from Filipinos to senior citizens. Avanessian is also president of the Glendale Democratic Club.

F resh off the special election for the 43rd Assembly District in which Democrat Mike Gatto was projected to win, voters now have roughly four months to prepare for yet another ballot to decide who will fulfill the full two-year term. When the election in November is all said and done, voters will have been asked to cast their votes four times for the same seat in about six months — a process that some stakeholders have said contributes to voter fatigue and confusion. The election also had to compete with the Lakers' championship series game.

Democrat Chahe Keuroghelian on Monday ended his candidacy for state Assembly, setting up a face-off between two candidates to represent Glendale, Burbank and parts of Los Angeles in a Nov. 2 election. Keuroghelian, an Armenian-language television host and former public information officer for the Glendale Police Department, was one of two remaining Democratic candidates for the 43rd Assembly District in a June 8 primary ahead of the general election. He could not be reached for comment Monday evening after he sent out the announcement.

When Kelly Anderson invited people to her Glendale home to watch the presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, the Obama supporter hoped to attract independents and Republicans. She didn’t have to look far. Her father, Brett Thompson, had voted for McCain for president. But that was eight years ago, in the Republican primary. And while the debate didn’t change his mind, he said he’s supporting Obama now. About 50 guests at Anderson’s home joined the millions of viewers watching the first debate between McCain and Obama.

GLENDALE — At 19 years old, Steven Ferguson may be one of the youngest delegates at next week’s Democratic National Convention in Denver. But the Associated Students of Glendale Community College president and student trustee of the community college district is no stranger to politics. Ferguson on Saturday will join more than 4,000 delegates from around the country, including 441 from California, in the quadrennial nominating process to appoint the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.