Secession Is a Divisive Issue for Democrats

Breaking from colleagues in the San Fernando Valley, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party has voted to interview candidates for office in a proposed Valley city and to consider them for endorsements.

The Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, an umbrella group for 16 Democratic clubs, voted previously not to endorse or even interview candidates, saying that would be inconsistent with its opposition to secession.

County party Chairman Eric Bauman, however, said he does not see a conflict between interviewing candidates for city council in the proposed Hollywood and Valley cities and the county party’s opposition to secession.

“The worst thing that can happen to Democrats is to turn the San Fernando Valley lock, stock and barrel over to the Republicans,” Bauman said. “We may not endorse, but interviewing the candidates will allow us to endorse if we decide to.”

The Democratic Party debate highlights the conflicts that secession has imposed on Los Angeles politics and politicians. Organized labor and many of the area’s elected leaders have announced their opposition to the city breakup proposals, but some also are wary of alienating the significant portion of the San Fernando Valley that favors creating its own city.

Within the Democratic Party, the split grows out of the relationship between the county group and its Valley counterpart. Bauman said the Valley party is chartered by the county party as a group of volunteer Democratic clubs, but only the county party positions are the official positions of the Democratic Party. As a result, the Valley and county organizations can adopt different approaches, but only the county’s position represents a party standard.

The county Republican Party has not announced a position on secession.

Jeffrey Daar, a leader of the Valley party, recently discouraged Democrats from running for office in the Valley city. That infuriated Democratic leaders within the secession movement, who on Thursday held a protest outside what they thought were the county party offices. The building they protested in front of has an auditorium sometimes used by the county party, but its headquarters are elsewhere in the city.

Daar’s comments, the protesters said, were undemocratic, and they wrote state and national party leaders to ask them to suspend Daar from his leadership position and investigate his actions.

“Jeffrey Daar has gone too far,” said Gene La Pietra, president of the Hollywood Independence Committee. “He has tried to hijack the party and remove it from being the party of inclusion to being the party of exclusion.”

The secessionists said top Democratic allies in the labor movement have gone even further.

Sid Gold, a Democratic candidate for Valley city council, said he was approached by a union leader and warned that any Democrat who runs for office in the proposed cities will lose labor support for life.

Daar was unavailable for comment, but Moreen Blum, a member of the Valley Democrats’ executive committee, said she stands by his statement.

“How can we endorse or urge people to run for an office that we don’t think should exist?” Blum asked.

Although the city races are nonpartisan, Mel Wilson and Benny Bernal, two Democratic candidates for Valley mayor, said they will seek interviews with the county party because a party endorsement can help in the Valley, where 51% of voters are Democrats.

Meanwhile, Valley attorney and secession backer Bob Scott and his supporters objected Thursday to a decision by Mayor James K. Hahn to replace him on the city Planning Commission. Scott said he believed he was removed because of his pro-breakup stand.

Scott, who is the most senior planning commissioner, said the decision to replace him came after he rebuffed efforts by Hahn advisors to join the anti-secession effort.

“I was approached a week ago by one of the mayor’s top advisors, and he asked me to go over to their side,” Scott said, adding that they implied “you are either part of our team or not.”

A spokeswoman for Hahn said there was no correlation between Scott’s replacement and his position on secession.