A party divided against itself

On the face of it, the Democratic Party in Monterey County is flush with local success. It's got the numbers and it's got people in key elected positions.

Party officials say enthusiasm for Democratic causes is at an all-time high in the county. If the presidential election proved anything, it's that Monterey County is a solid blue county.

But something is amiss, as the dreaded divisive issue of land-use politics is taking its toll on party unity.

"It's definitely wedging its way in," said Democrat Jane Parker, who recently lost a narrow election to Republican Jerry Smith for a seat on the theoretically non-partisan Board of Supervisors.

The low point for Democrats came about a month before the Nov. 2 election when a group of Salinas Valley Democrats gathered for a news conference to call LandWatch Monterey County, a group with a strong Democratic bent, a bunch of "environmental racists."

Carl Pohlhammer, chairman of the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee, said efforts are afoot to try to heal those wounds in the coming months.

"It's a real problem for us," said Pohlhammer. "We have strong people who represent both sides" in the land-use debate.

On paper, Democrats have a huge advantage in Monterey County. Of the 156,650 voters registered in Monterey County, 48.5 percent of them are Democrats, compared to 31.7 percent registered as Republicans.

The last presidential election seems to indicate that Monterey County might be even more liberal than the registration numbers show. While fewer than 50 percent of the voters are registered Democrats, Sen. John Kerry received 60 percent of the county's vote in the Nov. 2 presidential election.

Monterey County voters have elected Democrats to Congress for more than two decades, and the two state assemblymen representing the county are Democrats.

The two state senators who represent the county are Republicans, from other counties, but local Democrats blame those losses on meddling state Democratic leaders who hand-select their own candidates, then flood the Central Coast with out-of-town professional campaigners who botch the job and infuriate local party stalwarts.

Despite the stronghold, the picture is not as rosy on the local front for Democrats.

The problems have been festering for a while, actually, a result of a confusion of Democratic Party organizations in Monterey County that run along parallel tracks without working together toward common goals, according to local party officials.

"We have a mishmash of organizations with three models of local party politics," said Matt Bogoshian, a Salinas resident and former Assembly candidate. "The Democratic Party is inherently diverse."

The first model is the county central committee, which can't seem to attract many participants who stay for any length of time. There are also local organizations based on the Assembly districts in Monterey County. And there are Democratic Party "clubs" that crop up in the county, especially during election periods.

Pohlhammer said five separate Democratic Party clubs exist in Monterey County -- three on the Monterey Peninsula and two in the Salinas Valley -- in addition to the central committee.

But the split is reaching a boiling point, mostly because of the differences of opinion over local land-use policies. Pohlhammer said disagreements in the party revolve around competition between what he calls the "greens" in the party and the "pro-development" bloc.

Even the phraseology tends to cause hard feelings. Salinas Valley Democrats consider themselves social-justice advocates instead of pro-development, while Monterey Peninsula Democrats call themselves smart-growth advocates instead of no-growthers.

"Without a doubt, land use is causing the issues," said Assemblyman Simon Salinas, D-Salinas.

The leaders in the party all say they support more affordable housing, but they disagree strongly on the policies the county should adopt in its general plan that would actually get affordable homes built.

During the past several years, Democrats on both sides of the issue have been actively involved in local efforts to craft the general plan update -- and their interaction has created tensions within the party.

As far as Salinas Valley Democrats are concerned, the Democrats on the Monterey Peninsula initiated the problems "when they came over here telling us this is the way you should use your land," said Juan Uranga, a longtime Democratic operative who is director of the Center for Community Advocacy, which works with local residents on housing issues.

"They were very focused on their no-growth environmental agendas and they spun off on their own," he said.

Simon Salinas and Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, joined Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, last year in a meeting meant to promote cohesion among local Democrats. Salinas said local leaders want to establish a stronger presence so that they can work together on the issues they can agree on.

Laird said Monterey County Democrats were as active as he's ever seen them during the November campaign, though he acknowledged that the land-use issue seems to divide the east side Democrats from the west side Democrats.

"The Democratic Party is alive and well in Monterey County," he said. "The question is, how do we bridge the differences?"

Laird said the local Republican Party has concentrated its efforts on promoting and running promising Republicans for local offices, with the idea that a city councilman or mayor can endear themselves to local voters and overcome the huge numbers differences that, with the exception of District 12 state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, and District 15 state Sen.-elect Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, shut them out of state and national offices.

"They've thrown down the gauntlet in local races," Laird said, adding that he believes Democrats should be running better grass-roots campaigns to get more Democrats elected to local offices.

"There's no doubt we're up against a well-organized, well-heeled organization," Pohlhammer said.

In her race for the Board of Supervisors, Parker unabashedly ran as a Democrat and constantly pointed out that her opponent, Seaside Mayor Jerry Smith, was a Republican.

The strategy could have backfired. The 4th supervisorial district includes areas in both the Salinas Valley and the Monterey Peninsula, and Parker's view on land-use issues are more aligned with Democrats on the Monterey Peninsula.

Parker said she found she wasn't always welcome by her Democratic counterparts in the Salinas Valley. In fact, local unions that are usually the standard-bearers for Democratic candidates supported the Republican Smith.

One of them, Service Employees International Union, Local 817, circulated a last-minute hit piece against Parker, with the spin that Parker's politics would lead to fewer affordable homes in the county.

Nevertheless, Parker nearly pulled off an upset, losing to Smith by fewer than 250 votes.

Tempers over land-use issues continue to flare, said Salinas, and the differences have been counterproductive for the Democratic Party in the county.

"There's more wedge and more tension," Salinas said. "It's not healthy. We should be moving forward on common issues. We should be bringing in all these clubs to work together in a coordinated effort."

Uranga said he believes party unity is possible as long as representatives on both sides of what he refers to as the "lettuce curtain" are willing to compromise.

"As long as we can respect one another's political authority and we can respect one another's constituency, I think we can come together," Uranga said. At this point, though, he is skeptical it can happen, especially with the general plan update still incomplete.

Despite the problems on the land-use side, Pohlhammer said he has been surprised by the energy and enthusiasm among Democrats during the past month, in the wake of the Nov. 2 election.

"People who were involved during the election were braced by the great amount of work and enthusiasm of the election and they want to continue it," he said.

I was born and raised in Salinas, on the Eastside of town. How funny that the "elite" from Monterey and Carmel (the people who have their land) desire to tell the have-nots what to do with their's. I am so glad to be out of California/

Thanks, friend. Joe Liverwurst has got to be one of the creepiest reporters. In fact, as I am sure you are aware, our newspapers here are about as Communist as any in Santa Cruz. What amazes me is how the leftists will protest the printing of telephone directories (both in Santa Cruz and Monterey), while ignoring the tabloid trash piles all over our county that kill so many trees.

The funniest part of the story Liverwurst didn't tell is that a local Hispanic group called Landwatch ( a front group headed up by Gary Patton, who I am sure you know) racist because they are creating a "lettuce curtain" to stop ''affordable housing" availability in the areas where the hospitality employees work. Why, we can't have those Mexicans moving into Carmel next to Sam Farr, now can we?

I kind of agree with them. The affluent Anglo leftists don't want more conservative, darker skinned Catholic Hispanics moving in. All this talk of "affordable housing" is really the polite euphemism by local liberals for slaves' quarters.

Hell, build 100,000 new four bedroom houses and anyone could afford one, even my very poor friend Francisco, who fled Mexico (legally).

I am going to be changing my FReep location to Oregon this month! I will still be connected and mostly lurking, as I have been in the recent months.

It's funny too! I work with a lot of recent arrivals from South of our border, they hate that BS with a passion. I love it when the Anglo liberals get so angry because these fellows seem to gravitate more to my way of thinking than to theirs...

When they (some of my co-workers) asked me in Espaniol what I thought of the Presidential candidates, I said GW was a caballero from Tejas and Kerry was a "joto" from the East (in so many words). Them lefties went nuts when I was agreed with. I find it interesting the Anglo lefties don't speak much Spanish, so I make fun of them when I speak Spanish and I am an instant hit with the crew!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.