Submit Your Event
To submit an event to appear on the DPOC website calendar, email us with the event name, date, time and location along with host(s) name, brief description and contact information. |
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Volunteers Are Needed For Voter Registration At
OC Fair This Summer
What's In A Name?
Thanks to those of you who submitted suggestions to name our newsletter. We received some good suggestions and will accept entries for one more month. Submit suggestions here. Winning name receives 2 tickets to Angels game! 
Next Central Committee Meeting
Monday, May 20th at 7pm
Carpenters Union Hall
1918 W. Chapman Ave.
Orange, CA
Edited by:
Valerie Burchfield Rhodes DPOC Communications Chair
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California Democratic Party
Embraces DPOC Strategic Plan as Template
At the California Democratic Party (CDP) state convention last month,  the Democratic Party of Orange County's (DPOC) Strategic Plan was presented. The plan, developed by Chair Henry Vandermeir, was met with such enthusiasm that it has been sent to Central Committees throughout California by the state party to be used as an organizing tool and template. We are proud that our Strategic Plan was recognized in such a way and that Orange County is now really on the map as a political powerhouse in the Democratic Party.
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Three New Regional Directors Elected To Represent Orange County
Congratulations to Florice Hoffman, Phil Hanneman and Anthony Duarte who were all elected to serve as Regional Directors at last month's California
Democratic Party (CDP) state convention. Assembly Districts were redrawn in 2012 and as a result, Regional Districts were reshuffled as well. Each Region is now comprised of four Assembly Districts.
 Florice Hoffman |
Florice Hoffman will serve as Regional Director of Region 17 which includes AD65, AD68, AD69 and AD72. Florice is a labor attorney in Orange and serves as Vice President of the Orange County Labor and Employment Relations Association. She has been an elected member of DPOC since 2000 and has served in a variety of capacities during that time. She has been a Delegate to the CDP and an Executive Board Member of CDP since 2008.
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Phil Hanneman
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Region 18 will be served by Phil Hanneman. Phil's region includes AD73, AD75, AD75 and AD76. Phil's been involved in the CDP since 1985 and has served as the Regional Director of Region 20 since 2007. As a result of the newly drawn districts, he was elected to Region 18 at last month's convention. He served previously as the Treasurer and then Chair of the 73rd Assembly District from the late 1990's until 2006.
 | | Anthony Duarte |
Anthony Duarte has been elected to lead the 15th Regionwhich includes AD48, AD49, AD55 and AD57. Anthony was sworn in as a member of the Hacienda-La Puente Unified School Board last year and is a member of the Los Angeles Central Committee. He sits on the Executive Board for HONOR-PAC which supports progressive candidates and ballot propositions that deal with issues of importance to the Latino/a LGBT communities. Welcome to all three new Orange County Regional Directors.
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Membership And Money
By: Bruce Johnson, DPOC Treasurer
DPOC continues to strive to increase our active members. This will benefit us in two ways, (1) there will be more people who can help on neighborhood and county activities, and (2) we can develop more reliable sustaining revenue to ensure our office is open and staffed. To best reach our goal, we are working on several fronts. We need to share our efforts, so please review the options below and let us know how you would like to help.
- Ask Friends and Family: Your family and friends will give primarily because of their personal relationship to you. Ask them to fill in the sustaining donor form.
- Ideological: Passionate Democrats will give to passionate causes we believe in. This breaks down into three categories.
- Democratic Party Activists: People who are active in the Democratic Party as an organization, but perhaps are not aware of the Party's efforts in Orange County.
- Previous Donors: Individual donors from Orange County who have given to candidates and causes at the local, state and national level. In 2012, there were nearly 7,000 individual donors that made more than 50,000 contributions. These are people who have the desire to help, but have not because they don't know about DPOC's vision and opportunity.
- Issue Oriented: These are people whose motivation derives from a single issue, (for example choice, LGBT rights, environmental, workers rights, etc.). Read more
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Legislative Update - California DISCLOSE Act
By: David Sonneborn, DPOC Legislative Committee Chair
The DPOC Legislation Committee is currently preparing a highlighted list of the top priority bills authored or co-authored by Orange County state  legislators, especially by Democratic legislators. The committee's work includes recommending state and federal bills for consideration at the CDP E Board meeting the weekend of July 20.
One such bill is the California DISCLOSE Act (SB 52) which is an attempt, in the wake of the Citizens United decision, to let voters know who is really paying for political ads. Due in significant part to DPOC participation, Senator Lou Correa, Chair of the Senate Elections Committee, (which passed the bill on a 4-1 vote,) has signed on as a Principal Co-Author of the bill. David Sonneborn and Carole Levers represented DPOC at the committee hearing. Over 1500 people from Orange County have already signed the petition or sent postcards in support of the California DISCLOSE Act to Senator Correa.
Learn more about the California DISCLOSE ACT.
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Legislative Update #2 - California LIFE Act By: Jonathan Adler, DPOC Legislative Committee Member If as many lives were lost needlessly each week as in the Newtown, CT shooting, we'd demand that it end. If we lost 21 times that many - 3 Newtowns each day, week after week - we'd do whatever it took to save them. News flash: In the U.S. guns kill more people even faster (counting accidents and suicides). The NRA may obstruct and politically threaten many U.S. senators, but California can act effectively now: 8 bills have been proposed as part of the Lifesaving Intelligent Firearms Enforcement ('LIFE') Act - loophole-closing reforms that we know will save many lives otherwise lost to gun violence. Read more |
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Mind Your "E-Manners"
By: Valerie Burchfield Rhodes, DPOC Communications Chair
In this age of electronic communications and social media, the importance of on-line social etiquette cannot be overstated. While what constitutes proper etiquette is somewhat amorphous and probably lies somewhat in the eyes of the beholder, a good rule is if you wouldn't say it in person, you probably shouldn't say it on-line. And, more important if you don't want it shared  widely, don't share it at all. Take the case of the Executive Director of the Republican Party in Bernadillo County, New Mexico. Following a recent hearing on increasing the minimum wage, this GOP official took to Twitter and Facebook to make crude, sexist comments about a 19-year-old young woman who had testified before the county commission. His posts quickly went viral and made national news on Huffington Post, Slate, Daily Kos and ThinkProgress. Closer to home, most of us recall a member of the Orange County  Republican Central Committee who distributed a racist email about President Obama which also ended up making national news to the embarrassment of the county party.
Anything you say via email, Twitter or on Facebook can and probably will be shared and has the risk of reflecting badly not only on you, but on the party you represent. Special care should be taken by those who maintain an "official" Facebook page or other on-line
 presence to share party activities. These sites will be perceived by the public as "speaking for the party" so it's a good idea to always post with a wider potential audience in mind. On the flip side, there have never been better tools available for organizing and communicating. Emails, group texts, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Meetup are all fantastic tools for sharing ideas, raising money, gathering signatures and organizing communities. Just remember to use these tools wisely and remember that the actions of the individual can reflect on the entire group. |
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