CDC Makes Its Endorsements : Liberal Democrats to Back Bird, 5 Justices

The California Democratic Council voted Sunday to make voter approval of Chief Justice Rose Bird and five other Supreme Court justices its top political priority in 1986.

The CDC also endorsed Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley for governor and all Democratic incumbents seeking reelection to statewide offices, except Treasurer Jesse Unruh, who did not seek CDC support.

The endorsement of Bird contrasted with the neutrality of the official California Democratic Party, which stressed judicial independence at its statewide convention last month, but avoided even indirect references to the controversial chief justice.

The CDC, which calls itself the liberal “conscience of the Democratic Party,” is still the largest grass-roots group endorsing in Democratic primaries in California, although it has only a tiny fraction of the membership it claimed at the peak of its power more than 20 years ago.

CDC President Bob Farran said the 150 delegates voting at the endorsing convention Sunday represented 60 local Democratic clubs across the state with 6,000 members. But the turnout was one of the CDC’s lowest ever for an endorsing convention, and the overall membership totals compare with nearly 300 local clubs with 70,000 members in the early 1960s.

Democratic Endorsements

Without a dissenting vote, CDC delegates endorsed U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, the CDC’s founding president 34 years ago, Bradley, Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and Secretary of State March Fong Eu.

In the only seriously contested statewide Democratic primary this year, CDC delegates endorsed Assemblyman Gray Davis of Los Angeles for state controller by a vote of 102 to 46 over state Sen. John Garamendi of Walnut Grove. The third Democrat in that race, Assemblyman Alister McAlister of Fremont, did not seek CDC support.

In the only seriously contested Democratic primary for the State Board of Equalization, delegates endorsed former CDC President Nate Holden over Los Angeles County Assessor Alexander Pope and state Sen. Paul Carpenter of Cypress for the Los Angeles County seat on the board. The vote in that contest was Holden 40, Pope 23, and Carpenter 2.