When I read this front-page article yesterday in the Chronicle, I was so pissed off I emailed the California Democratic Party (CADEM) letting them know of my displeasure. The gist of the article was “The California Democratic Party…pledg[ed] to review contributions from law enforcement organizations on a case-by-case basis.”
When a political candidate or organization announces it won’t accept cop money, the implication is (1) that cops are bad people and (2) that cop money is dirty. Nothing could be further from the truth; to me, to make such pledges is a foul, cowardly act of pure political pandering. I suppose some politicians do it to avoid upsetting the more extremist elements on the left, who always seem to have it in for cops. But really, their craven hypocrisy is contemptible. If you’re pandering to Cat Brooks, then you are not serving the people of Oakland, and have no right to hold political office.
The article stated CADEM sees the pledge “as a way for the state Democratic Party…to align its rhetoric on racial justice…with its financing sources.” I’d like to suggest that such “rhetoric on racial justice” is out-of-step with the views of a majority of the American people, including a majority of Democrats. A poll last Fall from the Pew Research Center found that “Black adults, Democrats now [October 2021] much less likely than in 2020 to prefer decreased spending on police in their area.” Between June 2020 and September 2021, the percentage of all adults who favored defunding the police fell from 25% to 15%. At the same time, the percentage of all adults who favored increased funding for cops rose from 31% to 47%. These huge swings reflect the historic fact that the “defund the police” movement collapsed due to its own absurdities; America’s Summer of Violence in 2021 convinced Americans that defunding the police—and viewing cops as the enemy—are wrong-headed and dangerous. Americans like and trust their cops.
The same is true here in California, where Cal Matters reported just two months ago “California Democrats embrace tough-on-crime rhetoric.” The reporting cited major Democratic leaders (London Breed, Rob Bonta, Libby Schaaf and various Assembly and Senate members) as wanting to crack down on crime and criminals, to increase police funding, and to invest more in surveillance cameras, in order to tackle the crime wave sweeping our state.
Which makes CADEM’s action all the more egregious. How could the state party organization take an anti-cop position that is so seriously at odds with the way people, including Democrats, feel? The Chronicle article quoted a law professor as explaining the political background to CADEM’s decision. “The party has made a political calculation that they’re going to gain more votes than they would lose as a result of taking money from these places.” The problem for CADEM is that their “political calculation” was wrong. They are going to lose more votes as a result of this insult than they will gain. They’re certainly alienated me—and I suspect I’m hardly alone.
Look, Democratic policymakers have got to end their enthrallment to the most extremist special interests and return to what they’ve always done best: representing the views of average, normal working Americans. Democrats can’t afford to allow a fringe of political activists, working for their own advancement, to push the party off-center into the craziness of cop hating. CADEM needs to think twice before they put all cops on their shit list. If you’re bothered by this move by CADEM, you can let them know directly. Here’s the email for their Political Department: Political@cadem.org
Steve Heimoff