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 Facing the 2014 election season flush with a formidable political
advantage in the most populous U.S. state, Democrats used the
two-day gathering in Los Angeles to showcase their successes in
California and to draw a contrast with partisan gridlock in
Washington.
They cited California's improving economy and a newly exerted fiscal
discipline that has allowed Brown to pay down the state's debt as
proof of Democrats' ability to govern effectively.
"We took a state that seemed to be a punch line for a national joke,
and we made it a how-to guide for national governments," incoming
state Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins told the crowd.
"The Republicans and their noise machine predicted that we would be
reckless and that we wouldn't be ale to restrain ourselves," said
Atkins, a Democrat from San Diego. "How wrong they were."
Brown, 75, who is preparing to seek an unprecedented fourth term as
governor after yanking his party further toward the political
middle, has received much of the credit for the recent turnaround in
California's fortunes.
But his insistence on budget austerity as he pressed to repair the
state's chronic fiscal woes in the midst of a deep recession often
put him at odds with the Democrats' liberal wing.
The push-pull between the party's progressive base and Brown's move
to the center was evident throughout the weekend, with some
Democrats calling for a more activist stance on the environment and
funding for social services.
"I'm going to say something, and it's probably going to get me in
trouble, but there are some people who are just too rich," said
party secretary Daraka Larimore Hall in a last effort to rally the
rank and file before delegates dispersed. "If we don't solve the
problem of income inequality we will lose our souls and we will lose
our republic."
FROM MINIMUM WAGE TO MARIJUANA
Seeking to bridge that divide, Democrats adopted a platform on
Sunday embracing a number of progressive causes, including a call
for an inflation-adjusted minimum wage and an end to solitary
confinement in state prisons.
The platform also endorsed a proposal by state Senate Democratic
leader Darrell Steinberg to establish free preschool education for
all 4-year-olds, and called for legalizing recreational marijuana.
Both measures have drawn skepticism from Brown.
In a more direct challenge to Brown, the party called for a
moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial
process of injecting water, chemicals and sand into underground
shale formations to extract oil and gas.
Brown has supported fracking as a way of easing dependence on
foreign oil while creating jobs. Environmentalists see it as a
threat to the state's precious aquifers and human health, as well as
encouraging the nation's addiction to fossil fuels that have been
blamed for climate change.
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Brown's speech to the delegates was interrupted on Saturday when
about 100 protesters repeatedly shouted "No fracking!" as he began
to talk about environmental issues.
The convention comes at a time of almost unparalleled dominance of
California government by Democrats, who control both houses of the
legislature and all statewide elected offices.
Some 3,000 delegates and guests thronging the Westin Bonaventure
hotel in downtown Los Angeles heard from rising national Democratic
stars such as San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, as well as other top
California officials during the weekend event, including Attorney
General Kamala Harris.
Harris, widely expected to seek higher office, urged fellow
Democrats to avoid becoming complacent.
"Let's not just be proud. Let's stay awake," she warned. "There is a
difference between having a dream and being asleep."
The convention, a little bit Hollywood and a little bit classic
party politics, also featured a speech by U.S. House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi, whom party leaders hope to return to her previous post
as House speaker.
At the state level, party leaders vowed to restore their two-thirds
majority in the California Senate, which was effectively lost in
recent weeks after two members of the body were forced to go on
leave — one under criminal indictment, another convicted of eight
felony counts after prosecutors said he lied about living in his
district.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; editing by Steve Gorman and Eric
Walsh)
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