What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
Los Angeles is at a turning point. We are living in a defining moment. What happens next is up to us. Over the past few years, problems and challenges have shaken this city -- and tremendous opportunities for change have presented themselves. How do we rise to this moment and emerge a better place to live? What will it take to create a more just and a more equitable community? Working together, how are we going to create a stronger, forward-thinking Los Angeles? Mike Bonin, writer, teacher, progressive activist and former City Councilmember, looks at the issues and problems facing Los Angeles, examines ideas, and talks with the people who will lead us to a brighter future.
Produced in partnership with LA Forward.
What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
Finding Common Ground: Mark Ramos
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There are more than 3 million Democratic voters in Los Angeles County. Who decides which candidate gets the party’s endorsement? Or where the party spends its money? How is the local party negotiating tensions between progressives and moderates? I talk with Mark Ramos, the chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. A former grocery worker and current head of UFCW 1428, Ramos is determined to bring people into the party, and find common ground with fellow union members who have voted for Trump.
What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.
There are more than three million Democratic voters in Los Angeles County. Who decides which candidate gets the party's endorsement? Or where the party spends its money? How is the Democratic Party negotiating tensions between progressives and moderates? We talk with the chair of the local Democratic Party on this episode of What's Next, Los Angeles. Hi everybody and welcome. This is Mike Bonn and thank you so much for joining me. One of my goals in doing this podcast is to open a window into the ideas and the people who shape Los Angeles politics and government. So sometimes I talk with well-known public faces, local or state or federal elected officials. And sometimes I talk with thought leaders promoting new ideas or policies. And then other times I talk with grassroots activists, outsiders who are pushing the boundaries of what is possible. It's also important to get to know some of the behind-the-scenes players. People who aren't very well known, but who have a lot of influence. People who run major establishment organizations that shape our politics and our government. And that's why today I'm talking with Mark Ramos, the newly elected chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. The Los Angeles County Democratic Party, also known as LACDP, is the official organization representing the 3.1 million registered Democratic voters in Los Angeles County. It is the largest local Democratic Party organization in the entire country. Its endorsement is a powerful one, elevating one candidate over others in a crowded field and signaling to voters that a candidate is a serious contender. On a crowded ballot with dozens of races like we have this fall, many overwhelmed voters look for some key endorsements to decide which way to vote. And the LA CDP endorsement is a crucial one. Mark Ramos is only the third person to chair the LA CDP in this century. He succeeds Mark Gonzalez, who stepped down a few months ago to run for State Assembly. Unlike his recent predecessors, Mark Ramos has not worked for elected officials or for the government. He's a rank and file Democrat and a union leader. He grew up in the projects, got a job as a grocery clerk, and became active in his union. He eventually won the position of president of his union local, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1428. In our conversation, I found Mark to be thoughtful and humble and open and deeply concerned with the need for the Democratic Party to win back the banner of champion of working families. We talked about that and about tensions within the county party between progressives and moderates, and how that plays out in endorsements and in party fundraising. Here's that conversation. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it. Thanks for the invitation. Very glad to have you here. How long have you been in the new role now?
SPEAKER_00Well, a special election was in April when Mark Gonzalez resigned, and then the normal election cycle was July. So combined? I don't know what, five months. Elected twice, though. How long does it feel like you've been uh decades.
SPEAKER_03So let's uh let's start from say 10,000 feet. You know, I have I have two different types of listeners. I have folks who are sort of political regulars who stay glued to stuff, and then there's folks who are sort of trying to get more interested and engaged in the political process. So everybody knows what the Democratic Party is, obviously, but tell me what the LA County Democratic Party is and what it does.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's you know, it can be really confusing to folks, right? I agree. Um, but we are basically a central committee, right? There are central committees all around the country, all up and down the state. Um, and we are basically the organizing or the chartering body for all of the democratic clubs in the county, all of the delegates who were elected to the central committee. And our job is basically to the the main job is to get Democrats elected, right? To organize, get Democrats elected, raise the money, talk about issues and policy that matter to folks. Um look, it's a big county, um, 88 cities, not including the unincorporated areas, right? So it's a lot of work. Um and so it's really, I think the hardest and most challenging part is the outreach of trying to get to three million Democrats.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. The the struggle of every campaign. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And and so really at the at its core, it's getting folks elected, right? Um endorsing, um, making sure that we're screening candidates, getting them elected, making sure that we're involving the delegates in the process, um, but it's also making sure that folks in the uh because we elect by assembly districts, um, that the the constituents in the assembly districts are electing the people who are best going to represent um the priorities for their assembly district and coordinating and working with them and like I said, and uh making sure we're uplifting our clubs.
SPEAKER_03So you you mentioned the the central committee, and you said they're elected by assembly districts. There's 80 assembly districts in the state of California matched up with who your representative is in the lower chamber of the state legislature. Uh and uh what is the central committee and and how are these delegates selected?
SPEAKER_00They well, the central committee is basically, again, it's the the organizing body that um we're the I think we have 22 assembly districts in LA County. Um we are the largest uh body or central committee in the country, um, and the most influential, right? Um, you know, the vice president of the United States is a member of our delegation, so not a never a bad thing. Um but really the central committee is again, it's uh folks are elected usually on the primary of uh presidential years. Um folks can put themselves in the ballot, and then the top seven folks are elected to be delegates of the central committee. They uh they choose alternates or ex officios, um, such as the vice president, um the mayor, um, others are delegates uh by by virtue of their office. Um and then from there, it's again, it's uh it's always an interesting lot of, it's it's a lot of work, it's interesting work, but it's really just working with those folks to make sure that we're moving forward in all of those 22 assembly districts, the priorities for those folks. Those folks that are elected, um we have monthly meetings. Um, we gather, we get together, um, and uh we don't always agree, but we try our darndest to make sure we're pushing forward good policy and good candidates that are uh representative of the county as a whole.
SPEAKER_03And and so this is the body that that gathers and decides which propositions to endorse, which candidates to endorse.
SPEAKER_00Yep, whether it's ballot measures, propositions, you know, at the local, the county level, um, the candidates at the local, uh, everything from water board, school board, city councils, um, you know, to to uh county supervisors, um, all that good work. Uh um, I love it because um it is a very deliberative body. And and I love um letting folks express themselves and kind of talk through issues.
SPEAKER_03So what infrastructure and resources does the county party provide?
SPEAKER_00Well, a lot of it is whether it's um, you know, we're not necessarily look, we don't make contributions to candidates, right? We we raise money to put mail out for our folks, whether uh whether it's mail or or other campaign literature, digital text messaging um in support of our candidates. That is always a challenge because the city of Los Angeles, just by virtue of its size, will always consume a lot of energy of LA C DP. Um, and sometimes that makes the the other 87 cities feel a little left out, right? Um so our job, at least I see it, uh our responsibility is to make sure that everybody is represented. Um, and then from there, what we do is we raise the money. Um, I've had a large focus on trying to empower our clubs at the local level to raise the money they need to support their candidates locally, because a lot of times they look to the central committee at LACDP for us to advocate for those candidates, and we don't always have them the resources to do it, right? So it's important that folks raise the money at the local level, um, support their candidates, and then LACDB kind of comes behind in the support role. Um a lot is expected of LACDP, right? Um, you know, a lot is expected of us at uh when we talk about these congressional races uh of flipping seats. Um, but at LACDP, our biggest struggle is raising federal dollars.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um and that's our biggest challenge. Um, and that's uh been a large focus of the conversations we've been having. If you expect us to flip uh uh the seat for George Whitesides and Derek Trent and Dave Min, then we need investment also, right? But from there, yeah, it's a lot of hustling, a lot of raising money, um, and a lot of spending money to support the endorsed candidates, endorsed issues that matter most to the uh the body as they put them forward to us.
SPEAKER_03Uh and I want to get into some of that in a minute, but first I I want to get to know you and let listeners get to know you more. Uh tell us uh not just about your day job, but about your your story and and your arc of of becoming uh active.
SPEAKER_00Well, um look, I'm uh lived my whole life in LA County, other than five years when we lived outside of LA County when we first got married. Um born and raised uh first 10 years in uh projects of East LA and Maravilla. Um I'm a welfare baby, food stamps, you know, government cheese, the whole bit. Um in 1972, there was a housing recession, and HUD had a glut of repossessed homes and they were tearing down our projects in Maravilla and building new ones. The government stepped in and offered every family the opportunity to move out and own a home. And my mom took full advantage of that program, bought a home in Azusa. My family's still there to this day. Um the my mom was the biggest influence in my life when I was, I'm one of eight kids. Wow. Um I come from a family with a lot of struggles with uh, you know, uh addiction and depression and lots of other things. But mom worked really, really hard to make a better life for all of us. Um, I will tell you my first political action when I was eight years old in 1972, um, that was the first year 18-year-olds could vote. Uh George McGovern was running for president, and mom kept me out of school one day, being one of eight kids. It was a really special day for me to hang out with mom all day. Um and we went door to door and she was registering voters in in the projects and trying to get mothers engaged in the process um because it was our boys who were being sent to Vietnam. Yeah. Right. It was it was communities of color who were the ones who were being drafted and weren't offered deferments. Yeah. Um, and that was had a that day at eight years old had a large impression upon me. Um, my mother fought to start the uh the Monavia Mothers Club to gain resources from the L County supervisors um to make sure that our community was represented and we were offered our after-school programs. Um from there, moving to Azusa, um, you know, school, fell in love, uh, married 36 years, um, been with my wife for 40 years, two kids. Um, we met in high school, met in church, um, got a job in a grocery store, got a job in a union grocery store, um, and offered me a whole different life. Um able to buy a home working in the grocery stores. And I can tell you, Mike, that what drives me a lot um is the idea that I bought a house in Laverne for $125,000 in 1999.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_00All of 830 square feet, two bedrooms, old drafty, built in 1918, and something's always broken, right? Um, but that's not a reality for our my members today, and it's not a reality for working people. And that's what drives me is trying to create the opportunities. Government was there for my family in 1972 to offer us a different opportunity. Um, and whether it's government or labor, what drives me is trying to create opportunities for folks to have a chance in life, right? Um, I have two kids, 32 and 28. Um, I don't own rental properties, I don't own stocks, don't own bonds. All we own is that house. That's our kids' inheritance. Yep. Um, but I am hell-bent on trying to create opportunities for kids. I say kids because I'm 60 years old. Um, but trying to create opportunities for folks to live the American dream as it was told to us, to you and I, right? Own a home, right? Picket fence, a dog, a cat, right? Two kids, right? That's what drives me. Um, and I'm really, really lucky to have landed here at UOCW Local 1428 about 20 years ago. I was offered an opportunity by the president to be a lost timer, a rank and file member for 15 years. Worked on a Walmart campaign, trying to stop at Walmart in Baldwin Park, California. Um, and then was given an opportunity by my predecessor. I started here at Local 1428 in the benefits department, um, became a union organizer, became a union rep, started doing political and community work. My predecessor decided to run for state senate. I was her campaign manager. Um, and I was lucky enough and fortunate enough the executive board here appointed me to be president. I've been re-elected by the members three times now. So I love it. How many members? Uh my local has 4,000 members, right? We're we're a smaller local in the UOCW. Um, but what I like to say is that allows us to be a little more connected to the members. Um, we have a model here at Local 1428, building better communities. One of the reasons that we started getting involved in community work and political work at the local level here was we found it important as a union not just to represent our members where they work, but also where they live. If I can create a better community for my members, whether it's better schools, safer streets, opportunities, then the union is even of more value to our members, right? And by doing those things, we're uplifting a lot of other folks too.
SPEAKER_03And how did you get involved, uh other than canvassing with your your mom when you were eight years old, how did you get involved in being active in Democratic Party politics?
SPEAKER_00So I became a delegate in 2010. Um I was elected as an ADM to the state party, uh delegate to the state party with 20 votes. Um uh sounds on sounds really crazy nowadays, but um, we were actually represented in the 41st Assembly District here by a pretty right-wing uh uh radical Republican. Um name evades me at the moment, but he called himself a Minuteman, right? That was right after Obama and uh, you know, Take Our Country Back, which just meant uh folks who really wanted to take us backwards. Um and that was my really kind of first taste in 2017. I ran for State Party regional director um because I was really, really bothered that Donald Trump was elected, um, and mainly elected by union members. And at my core, that really bothered me. And I figured I can sit here and yell at the TV or I can do something. And what drove me was the idea that there seems to be a disconnect between our rank and file members and the values of the Democratic Party. Um I won that election. It was a very divided region, but I worked really hard with all the delegates to earn their trust and their respect by being available and being supportive, right? That I saw my job as a regional director, it's kind of like the chair, my job is to fill, I'm a facilitator. If you're a delegate and you're instead of running for office, and my job is to guide you along the path, right? Um, and we did that as regional director, right? And I and I can tell you I was really, really happy that um after about a year or so of being regional director, I had people who didn't support me when I originally ran, came up to me and said, you know what, I was wrong. I should have voted for you. I really, really appreciate how you um have not put any of us on a sideline. That you didn't they don't I think sometimes when we win elections, big or small, we tend to look at those who don't support us as um we put them on a sideline and and we're not gonna talk to them. We don't grow that way.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? That that we my job became to listen and learn from those who didn't support me and try to figure out how to uh bring them in so we can all move forward.
SPEAKER_03So what sort of impact do you want to have on the county party?
SPEAKER_00I think the biggest thing that I want to do is make sure that look, we um we're Democrats, we don't always agree, right? Um, but I'm willing to bet that we agree on pretty much about 95 to 90 for 97% of everything. Um I want to focus on that 97%. That I think that we're such a solidly blue democratic county and state that it's kind of come down to we have no one to no one left to fight but ourselves, right? Um and I think if we can focus on what we agree on um and and maybe find some common victories there, I think it makes the disagreements a little easier to settle, hopefully. That we that we see something in each other that um that we can relate to. You know, a few a few years back here, um a few years back here at local 1428, we um we did a cancer walk, right? And and I can tell you, Mike, um it really opened my eyes to see how many people I knew personally who had been affected by cancer that I didn't know. But the idea grew out of that is that even in labor we don't always agree.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But if we see something that connects us, now we have something in common.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right. And hopefully when we do disagree, the commonality brings us together. The common issues bring us together. Um, that's what I want to do with LA C D P. I want to grow the party, obviously. Um, but I also want to make sure that all corners of the county feel represented. We raise the money we need to grow the party, grow the staff, be present, and make everyone feel welcomed at the party is is a priority to me. It really is because I know what it's like to be the new kid. Yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, you know, I know uh in in 2017 when we had some ADEM selected and we were starting to attend the LA C D P meetings, um, because I was the regional director, some of them came to me and said, Mark, nobody talks to me. They don't want to talk, no one talks to me. I said, look, treat like the first day of school. Right? But what I encourage you to do is stay and organize. I said, here, come stand by me. Come walk with me, let me introduce you to some people, right? Um, but I think it's important for folks to not feel like there's no space for them in a party. I think it's important to stay, fight, and organize.
SPEAKER_03There there's some a as you sort of make the party more representative of the county, that sort of opens up the party to some more robust disagreement over a few issues, particularly public safety, um, particularly where to build housing. Um What role do you see the party having in uh bringing people to consensus on those issues?
SPEAKER_00I think it takes a lot of debate, I think it takes a lot of honesty, um, and it takes a lot of respect because I am okay if we disagree, but I want us to do it respectfully. If we start name-calling, um, if we start insulting, it sure makes it harder to build that bridge backward, back to the space of agreement, right? Um and yeah, and I can tell you that this county is really diverse, right? Um issues that matter to folks in the Antelope Valley are different and matter to folks in Lakewood than they are in Echo Park, right? Or Venice, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um and and if but we can't have Democrats in other parts of the county feel like they don't want to participate because the party is just this, right? Um, and so look, I uh in all honesty, Mike, I've had people come to me and say, Mark, the central committee's too left. What are you gonna do about it? And I said, to be honest with you, nothing. Because my job is to act the act at the will of the body, right? Right? Um, that that they're in charge. Um the real question is, what are you going to do about it? Right? Because these folks were on the ballot. And if you don't agree with them, then what are you going to do about it? Right? Um, and I do think it leads to more disagreements, but as long as we do it health in a healthy way, um, hopefully there's progress, right? And hopefully that I, as the chair, can set a tone um to to find um agreement, not necessarily complete agreement, but up to that 97%.
SPEAKER_03There are, particularly since Trump got elected the first time, there have been so many people who have sort of woken up to the importance of engaging in the political process. Uh and a lot of them do it in a lot of very different ways, through community groups, uh, through uh uh uh uh vehicles other than the Democratic Party. Uh they don't sort of see themselves as party people. How do you pitch the party to people as uh a healthy and and strenuous vehicle for their engagement?
SPEAKER_00Again, I think it goes back to um look, the party is the party today is much more progressive than it was 30 years ago. Right? It's an ever evolving process. Um and it's okay to do your work on the side um if you don't feel like you belong in the traditional confines of the party. All that's okay, right? And I want to have a relationship with those folks too, right? Um I think it's important that we continue to network and build those relationships with folks who don't feel like maybe they have a welcome space, but to make them feel a little more welcome. Right. So when there are big issues like we're facing right now with trying to flip congressional seats, that's our common space. Yep. Right. I mentioned earlier about that not always agreeing on everything. And what I've asked our delegates to do at LA C D P is let's set aside our disagreements till November and we can get back to disagreeing in December, right? Because right now we have something really, really important in front of us that we all know we can agree on. And hopefully, as we agree on what this November is about, that allows us to build relationships going forward to maybe settle some of the other stuff. I would also say that, and the reason I mentioned earlier about people staying and organizing within the party is look, there are people who are in the party who are DNC national delegates who have been involved for 30, 40 years, who now people paint them as the establishment. Right. One such person was telling me a story in the 90s where three different times tried to get the DNC to pass a resolution condemning uh hate crimes, right? Against the LBG community and lost every time, right? And now we think of that as just that's outrageous. But he stayed, he organized, and was successful and to the point now where he's the establishment, right? And that's what happens. Yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_03That's that's inevitable. Right. Exactly, right? In the party, in elected office, activism.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, look, I am I have been called a lot of things since being involved with the party. Um my personal politics are pretty far left, right? But my job is to move the party forward. My job as my union president is to do the darndest for my members to make sure they have good contracts and can live. Um my job is not to get my personal ideology to the forefront. Because then it's more like about me and not about us. And I'm always much more comfortable working in a space where it's about us.
SPEAKER_03I wanted to ask about that tension between folks who've been active in the party for a while and uh and newer activists. Uh you addressed that a bit. There's one way in which that issue really comes into sort of sharp relief. Uh, and that's over the issue of how does the party fund itself? Yeah. And this has played out more at the state level, I think, than at the at the county level, but a big issue has been whether or not uh the party accepts money from, say, fossil fuel companies. One side saying, we need all the resources we can get to win. Other side saying we need to be true to our values, we want to get off of fossil fuel. Um where are you on that, and where do you think the party should be?
SPEAKER_00I I think that you know the State Party will always have its issues and those tensions. Um and they're valid tensions and they're valid questions to be asking, right? Um I also think that look, the it takes resources, right? Um and it it as we started this conversation, it takes money, right? You you know as a as an elected official, it takes money to run it run a campaign. Um and a lot of people have expectations. Um I don't if I I think that if someone, and we'll just make up a scenario, you know, uh a petroleum company is trying to move into renewable energy or or biofuels to for clean running vehicles, should we ostracize them? I don't know, right? Maybe we welcome them into the space um and we work with them and we have build that relationship so they understand what our values are, and that I think allows us to maybe push them more into a space um to invest more in clean energy than ostracizing them and putting them on the outside where only our opponents will work with them, right? I I think uh a big tent means a big tent, right? Um, and it means a lot of factions in a big tent. Um look, um there are I don't think it's a uh uh a switch that we flip, right? Because as you know, there are a lot of folks who work in the energy uh space, um in petroleum and electricity and all these other things, and they're trying to provide for their families, right? Um I know I worked with um a delegate when I was a regional director who would write these really kind of stringent environmental resolutions, and I and I introduced him to somebody from one of the building trades, and they almost actually started writing resolutions together because they began to understand each other. Yeah, right? That's the work, right? That's the work. And and I can tell you, um, you know, look, I I uh I'm old enough to remember uh growing up here in the area when there was a time when we couldn't go out for recess or PE because the air was so bad here in Southern California, right? Smog days, yep, right? Playing, we couldn't have football practice. We had to practice at six o'clock, six o'clock in the morning instead of three in the afternoon. Um, and things are better. And things, I think so long as we keep people at the table, um, I think we can push them to be better. I think there's a real push to do better. Um, I don't necessarily believe in ostracizing people or groups. Um if someone was to come to us from a fossil fuel company and offer resources to the party, it would be a long conversation, not gonna lie to you, right? Um I would encourage folks who also want us to not engage in that space to offer an alternative, right? Because again, campaigns take money. I'm not saying that, you know, look coming from the USCW, we worked really hard, elected officials not to take money from Walmart for years. Yes, right, right? Yep. Same idea, right? Same idea. Um, you know, and and so I agree sometimes you have to cut people up, right? Um, and you have to pressure and agitate to bring them hopefully closer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? Because it's not about pressuring and agitate to push them over a cliff. Sometimes it's to do it, to bring them to the table.
SPEAKER_03Aaron Powell I I think sometimes, often, we allow uh the other side, Republicans or conservatives, to unnecessarily divide us. Aaron Powell. Right? You you you talked about how you know labor and environmentalists together writing the rules, right? That that's how you make a transition off fossil fuels. But but you know the the right has done a pretty good job dividing, say, environmentalists and ILWU. I mean, we've seen that that recently, the Long Shoremans Union uh in some of their endorsement battles and and stuff. Um how do we how do we prevent ourselves from being divided? Because they then align one of us with the fossil fuel companies instead of with each other.
SPEAKER_00I I can tell you, look, we'll we'll go back to um I don't even need IOW. I can just tell you within the USCW, right? Um that we have members, look, 35% of my members are registered Republicans, right? Um sometimes I tell people that and they're kind of like, really? Look, there's no litmus test to getting a job at Albertson's, right, right? Um or joining USCW, right? Um so we have to talk about issues, right? And I think um people are struggling, and I think Donald Trump has done a good job of um um speaking to people's grievances. Um, and people are struggling and having it, and it's harder to get ahead. And I think that that opens a space for the Republicans of the right or the far right to kind of move into that space and become the voice for the working man, so to speak, right? Um when in reality, um, I think a perfect example is the UAW strike, where um Joe Biden walked a picket line, um, showed up to a rally at a union hall, and Donald Trump went down the street and said he was there to support auto workers and went to a non-union facility, had no union members in the room, um, but yet projected that as I'm here for you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yep. That is, again, what drove me to become a regional director was that disconnect, right? And we have to work really, really hard. And I think how we do it and how we solve it is being by being present. We have to go into those spaces and we have to have honest conversations with our members. How we talk to our more conservative members, we don't usually talk about a party.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because, you know, we we're so aligned with the D and the R these days that as soon as you you you say, well, you know, these darn Republicans, a wall goes up. And because people identify as something. Talk about issues, talk about why it matters. ILWU and the environmentalist, ILW is they're they're working really hard to protect a way of life. Yes, they are, right? Um, and it's a good way of life, right? It's a family sustaining way of life. And they they have um by nature been able to offer their children probably a different opportunity in life than they had, right? Yeah. So it doesn't become a life-changing uh job, it becomes a generational changing job. And I think that we, if we're going to transition or move to different ideas, um we have to make sure that we're focused on how people put food on the table too. That that I think sometimes folks want to focus on a very clear idea of what they see as right and wrong, um, and not considering that someone can also have a different perspective on what right and wrong is.
SPEAKER_03It's that's one of the reasons you said you talked about how Trump speaks to grievances. It's one of the reasons I I found Bernie Sanders so compelling as a candidate because he also spoke to people's grievances. But he directed those grievances into a into a progressive egalitarian energy.
SPEAKER_00Right. Um I get it. I understand it, right? Um and but I also know that it that although it wasn't successful, um I can't leave the process. Yeah. You gotta stay engaged. Right. It's okay to push, it's okay to agitate, but stay in the room, right? Because they want you to leave. Right. Um I think too often my members, the general public, most folks see politics as two people on TV yelling at each other. Yeah. Right. And I think a lot of that is by design, because then people get frustrated, they become disillusioned, and they don't want to participate. Right? They don't I don't know who to trust, I don't know who to believe, right? So they just they don't participate. They they just nope, I'm not gonna do it. And and uh I think the Republican Party knows that uh um our history or our future going forward is not in their favor, right? Which is why they we see them taking very radical positions on uh voter access, uh how we vote, who can vote, um, because they know if they can control the pool of voters, that's the only opportunity they really have of winning going forward, right? Or they um, you know, they try to divide people on economics, uh the underlying racism in a lot of things, right? The the underlying uh um issues on on you know um discriminating against people because of their how they identify, right? Those things are very present. And I think that we as a country um we're growing. This is an experiment, right? It's it's always ever changing and always evolving. Yeah I think um the future uh the future is inevitable, as they say, right? It's gonna happen. Um, and I think folks are trying to hold on to the past really, really hard. Um, and what they see is their last grasp at power because um, you know, I was in DC and I was talking with um uh talking uh senator from Massachusetts. Uh his name just slipped my mind. Ed Markey. Ed Markey. And we he and I I got invited to the White House for the celebration of the signing of the gun bill uh last year, uh year before. Um and he and I were walking out together and he said, you know, um over time progressives have been proven to be right. Right? But it takes so it takes a while.
SPEAKER_03It does.
SPEAKER_00Right? It takes a while, but over time, and I go back to that we are a much more progressive party today than we were 30 years ago. Because over time the progressives have been proven to be right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right. And I and I'm very much see myself in the vein of being a progressive, right? Um, you know, like but again, um, we have to win. Um, we have to continue to be at the table. Um, and my job is to organize and pull people together. Um, it's not about me.
SPEAKER_03Uh I want to ask an another question about sort of that that tension about progressives, and then we can move on to some other subjects. But over the past few years, some of the most progressive officials in the city of Los Angeles, uh, they beat incumbents, right? And they really energized the electorate in a way that we haven't seen uh without a lot of big money, uh small donors. I'm talking about Nithya Raman, Anisus Fernandez, Kenneth Mejia, uh Carolyn Menjavar. Um, and they all prevailed despite the party endorsing their opponents. Um does that say anything about the party's need to change or change its endorsement process?
SPEAKER_00Um I don't know that it changed in the process. I think um at the end of the day, well look, we'll use Nithia as an example. Um and I think my my predecessor, uh uh Mark Gonzalez, when asked um what the committee recommended and what the body did, I think Mark's response was great, democracy worked, right? Um at the end of the day, everything gets turned over to the body, um, and the body will decide, right? Um I think watching these candidates, uh, you know, just like a better rule say outsiders, right? Um, outsiders in the normal process um be successful, I think it's good. It's good for the party, right? Because it challenges the norm, right? Um and it continues to push us forward. Um as far as how that changes the party. Um, what I've tried to do as chair is welcome every single one of them into the space, right? Um, you know, uh Councilmember Soto Martinez um is from labor, like myself. Yep, right. We've had some great conversations. Um we're still hoping to get coffee together, um, but we've had some great conversations because um we both kind of we it there's just a language we speak and an understanding of the the struggle of labor. Um we both uh he coming from Unite here, local Avenue, UFCW, we both represent low-wage workers, right? Um and and it wasn't that long ago that they weren't low-wage workers, right? But they were good middle class jobs, yep, right? Um, and we see that struggle. We see our communities changing and we see longtime residents being pushed out, right? Because we see developers coming in as property becomes more valuable. Um, we see investment. I think they're raising good arguments. And I think that um the idea of I'm trying to get away from using the word affordable housing because it's a it's a moving target. Sure. Affordable to one is not affordable to another. Yes. And uh what what what we deem affordable is not affordable to my members.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00We have to create the idea and start talking about accessible housing. And I think that's what uh some of these folks are talking about. Um but I welcome them, welcome into the space. I think as far as how the party should change, I think we can all be a little better about listening to each other. And I would say that of the the elected officials you mentioned should not be afraid to step into the space. Because I will welcome them with open arms. Right. Um and I will introduce them with a robust introduction because they are of our party, they are our representatives, um, and and I think that folks uh even within the confines of the Central Committee should be more welcoming, right? We shouldn't treat kids like the new kids.
SPEAKER_03As the party looks to swinging districts, are there lessons to be learned from the different campaign style and strategy that these progressives have used? They don't rely on the usual consultants and they've sort of upturned expectations. You know, mail is not a big priority for them. Are there things to be learned from that?
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I I think, look, um I may get yelled at for saying this by some friends, um, but I don't tend to look at political mail the last 10 days of an election. Right?
SPEAKER_03I I haven't the last couple of slides. I used to, but I don't anymore.
SPEAKER_00No, exactly, right? Because there's just too much of it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? Um and and so it really does become that door-to-door organizing that the um um some of the LA City Council members, the the newly elected Genesius and others have done. Right? Like actually, instead of telling voters what they should care about, they're actually at the door listening to what they do care about. Yeah. That's the lesson, right? The lesson is get close to it. Right. One of the one of the most incredible speakers I ever heard uh was a civil rights attorney. Um, and he was talking about talking with Rosa Parks and some other civil rights leader in in uh in Birmingham, Alabama, and he asked them, How do I learn? How can I be better? And the message he got from these civil rights leaders was proximity. You gotta be close to it, right? That's how you learn. And and I think that that is what is going forward, it's really gonna shake up kind of the consultant industry, so to speak, right? Um, there are so many different ways to communicate. I Mike, I'll be honest with you. I rarely watch television between channels two and thirteen.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? Most of us stream uh or we watch shows here and there, um, and we don't see those commercials.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? Or we can or we can fast forward through some, right? Um so I think that space is evolving, but I think it's the better job we can do about having resources to be at the doors, that's what it matters.
SPEAKER_03So we are, as we're recording this, uh two months out from the election. Uh obviously a very, very high-stakes presidential election. Lot of uh uh congressional districts that are at stake here. California could decide whether the the House is is uh Democratic or Republican. And then there's a whole bunch of other races. I mean, you talked about from from waterboard all the way up to to county races and ballot propositions. What are the top priorities for LACDP?
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, again, a lot of folks are looking at us for these congressional races, right? One idea, again, we we don't have a lot of federal money at LACDP, but so we have to create ideas and events, right? So one idea we're working on, working on with state parties on October 19th, is creating a car caravan up to the Antelope Valley to go walk for George Whitesides, right? But the the idea picture in my head was you get 150 cars all painted up and decorated. We all meet at a meeting spot, we have a short program, and we drive up the five. That will earn media, right? Yeah, and we do a short program up there and we walk up there. If we were to get buses up there, we still need cars when we get there, right? So we have to kind of find these these spaces. Um, those have to be a priority, right? Um, I think that when it's uh Kip Mueller in in the A V in Santa Clarita, uh making sure that we flip that seat, protecting Pilar Shivo is really important. Pilar's an incredible legislator and advocate um for working families and health care. She and I know each other from our when she was in labor. Yep. Um and she's done a great job, right? Um so it's it's those are always gonna be priorities. Um and then when it comes to ballot measures and and local races, the body will tell us.
SPEAKER_03So you just came back uh a couple weeks ago from the Democratic National Convention.
SPEAKER_00It was your first national convention. Absolutely it was. Yeah, it was great. I mean, I can tell you, um, well, I came back, uh uh caught a case of COVID. Uh slight case, but but but okay. I I had I had some packs bullet and uh pushed through it. With a slight case, I was able to work from home, which was great because I had negotiations with CVS that week. Um I was able to do it over Zoom. Um we had some meetings that we still needed to keep, but all you see to be had to cancel our prior engagement for this for this interview. Um but the energy in Chicago, by the way, great town. Uh good, strong labor town. Encourage anybody who's never been there, go. Um but it was so much excitement, it was palpable, right? Um, and I can tell you one of the things I love about the Democratic Party and the contrast between us and the Republican Party is the diversity. Right. Um, the Democratic Party, we're all free to be ourselves in that room. Um, one of the things that broke my heart and enraged me about the Republican National Convention was watching people hold up signs that said mass deportation now. It it it infuriated me, right? And then Donald Trump trying to say, well, it's no big deal. Eisenhower did it, right? Um, no, it was a big deal then. It was wrong then, it's wrong now, right? Um but I can tell you the the speakers were incredible. Um the the the the age of people, whether I was there with a a young woman, June, who's sitting in front of me. We talked, 21 years old. 21 years old, an elected delegate, um, and was there to make her voice heard, right? Um watching that, and then along with watching Dolores Huerta, who I just is just, I think just turned 94. Yeah, right, just two aisles apart from each other, yeah. And both just as enthusiastic about what the future holds and what Kamala Harris means. Um, and and you know, we I I like to say that that um one of the things that we're fighting for is a better tomorrow, right? And I felt it was really in that room, right? Um as far as the speakers, they're all great, but I can tell you what moved me the most was the testimonials. Um listening to families talk about their struggle um with with uh uh with uh trying to get pregnant, trying to build have a family with IVF, um, listening to people, the the the the horrible story of the poor woman from Texas um who almost died from from uh her her pregnancy going bad, um, and then doctors refusing to treat her, right? Listening to people talk about the effects of gun violence, um, um, the attacks on the LBDQ plus community. Um, that's what moves me, right? Is real people telling real stories, right? Um and then just having the opportunity to thank President Joe Biden for his work, um for pulling us through a very tough time. None of it is perfect. Um, but the work and the commitment he did um to get some bipartisan bills passed that have really set the stage for a better tomorrow in this country should never be undervalued, right? Um, Elizabeth Warren, watching her break down almost crying at the reception she got. Yeah, that was an emotional moment. Yeah, it really, really was.
SPEAKER_03My Instagram feed for a week was just filled with people's selfies from the convention. Take any selfies? I did.
SPEAKER_00I did. I haven't I have not posted them yet. Um which is your favorite? Um well look, I'm gonna I I I have not necessarily a selfie. My favorite picture that I took was of uh two friends, uh uh a gay couple, um, and one with his arm over his husband watching the speeches. I took it from the back. Um and I think it was I forget what the sign on the on the billboard was, but something about a a brighter future, a better, better future. That to me was that's the Democratic National Convention. We're free to be ourselves, right? Yeah. That to me was just because our friends, and it was just like that meant a lot to me.
SPEAKER_03I remember when it was a big deal just to get a gay speaker up on the podium.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, look, I I have uh, you know, um, you know, I I come from uh a Latino family, and um, you know, the whole you know machismo thing and everything, um, I have a brother who who's gay, my my my nearest oldest brother, um, and he's been with his partner for geez, I don't know, 25 years now. Um but um but I look at my brother um and I and you know as you get older you reflect um his struggle of finding his identity and becoming safe in who he was. Um and when he came out to my mom, he was terrified, right? And um when he told my mom, all my mom said was, Are you happy? And I said, I am. She said, Okay, what else? That my mom being the leader of our family, um for me personally, changed my view of the world. Right. Um and and it just it just changed everything. And that's what I want our party to be about. That we are, you know, the overriding theme at the convention was freedom. The freedom to love who we want to love, the freedom to be our true self, the freedom to go to work every day and come home safe, the freedom to provide for our family, the freedom for our kids to go to school and not have to do active active shooter drills anymore. Yeah, right. Um, the freedom to live in a clean world, right? That.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh what's your mom's name? Let's name our heroes. Bertha.
SPEAKER_00Bertha Dixon. Bertha Dixon. And and and we're sitting here in my office. Um, if you look to my left, you'll see uh a board here. Oh my god, yeah. That um my mom passed away in November of 2022. Um, she was uh 91 years old. Wow. Um, and my wife made that little picture board. Um, and I keep it in my office with uh with a rosary. Um my mom collected rosaries, and um she told me, Mijo, um, at my my service at my funeral, I want you to give people every single person who attends a rosary.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00Because I want them to walk away with something.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_00Right. So yeah, my mom is um the largest influence in my life.
SPEAKER_03I've got a few pairs of rosary myself.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh final question. Yeah. Uh what has been your proudest moment as a Democrat?
SPEAKER_00Uh as well, there's a lot, Mike. Um everything from being in Toledo in a hotel in 2008, and when they announced, and you could see it on the board that Barack Obama had won Pennsylvania and it was over. Right. I was there with uh some UFCW colleagues, um, and I was a union rep at the time. I was there with rank and file members from all around the country. Um, young, old, um, you know, um, there was a a young black man from Pennsylvania looking at him, right? And suddenly he felt a part of everything, right? There's a lot. I mean, I'll be I'll be honest with you, you know, I I worked in the grocery stores, uh, I worked graveyard for 14 years, my 15 years in the stores, because that's how I could be there for my kids. Um, the gentleman I worked with named Harvey, and we were all at lunch sitting around arguing about who the best president was, right? And Harvey was a quiet man, and Harvey said, Lyndon Johnson. And everyone went, oh, you're crazy, Roosevelt. Why, why that? He said, Lyndon Johnson gave me the right to vote. That made me proud to be a Democrat. Yeah. Right? It never stops, right? Knowing that we defeated Donald Trump, um, you know, the the idea that our party is ever growing and ever evolving always makes me proud, right? So there's a lot of singular moments, and I just don't know that there's one big moment. Yep. Right. And but I can tell you, um, we're gonna work like heck to have another proud moment in November.
SPEAKER_03Amen. Yeah. Amen. Mark Ramos, thanks so much for joining me. Thanks, Mike. I appreciate your time. And that does it for this episode of What's Next, Los Angeles. My thanks to my friend Marta Avery for sound editing this program. My thanks to my partners at LA Forward for sponsoring this program, and my thanks to you for listening. If you get a chance, please make sure to follow or subscribe or leave a positive comment about this podcast, and please tell your friends. Until next time, take care. Peace.