Pacific Palisades Democratic Club
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About the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club

 

The Pacific Palisades Democratic Club is one of the largest, most active Democratic clubs in California.  

We've come a long way since a group of politically active Palisadians incorporated the PPDC in the 1950s.  The numbers were smaller then, but the members just as commited to fighting for meaningful change -- in California, the nation and the world -- as we are today.
 

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In 2008 our election headquarters on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica was a tremendous success, expanding to house the Obama campaign and becoming one the top-performing Obama/Biden headquarters in the country.  Hard to top, but somehow we equaled and built on that success for 2012.

Thanks in no small part to our members and volunteers, 2012 was a tremendously successful year for California Democrats generally and for the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club in particular.  Barack Obama and Joe Biden were re-elected.  Henry Waxman, Fran Pavley, and Julia Brownley were victorious.  Proposition 30 was passed and Prop 32 defeated.  And the results on seven other state ballot measures were in line with our endorsements. 

Over a thousand volunteers came together at our Westside Democratic Headquarters on the Third St. Promenade to make it all happen.  We registered more than 1200 new voters, made hundreds of thousands of calls, and organized swing-state trips.

           
The HQ was so successful that we were visited by Valerie Jarrett, one of President Obama’s closest advisors.  Others from the national campaign followed, to observe and to thank us for our efforts.  We also played host to inspirational speeches and appearances by too many elected officials and dignitaries to list -- Henry Waxman, Richard Bloom, Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel, and Eric Bauman among them. 

PPDC partnered on the HQ with President Obama’s Organizing for America, the West L.A. Dem Club, and the Santa Monica Dem Club, and we’re most grateful for their support.  But your organization -- the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club -- led the charge: finding, setting up, staffing, organizing, and, perhaps hardest of all without your help, providing the vast majority of funding for the HQ space, supplies, and personnel. 

 

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In 2016, Our Westside Democratic Headquarters on Montana Ave. in Santa Monica was a giant success.

So many people pitched in that we were the #1 election HQ for the Hillary campaign in California. We were instrumental in helping keep Nevada blue and putting Catherine Cortez Masto in Harry Reid's US Senate seat. We helped California get even bluer, reelecting Rep. Ted Lieu and Assemblymember Richard Bloom ... putting Kamala Harris into Barbara Boxer's vacated U.S. Senate seat ... winning a majority of the ballot measures we backed ... and securing supermajorities in the CA Legislature. 

Despite Hillary's popular-vote win, with a margin of victory of nearly 3 million votes, Donald J. Trump was elected President. Whether it was because of Comey's October surprise, Russian hacking and blatant interference in our election process, or missteps by the Hillary campaign, Trump's win surprised and devastated all of us. But now we have a job to do: to fight back against the Trump/Pence extremist agenda; to elect progressive Democrats to local, state, and national offices throughout the country; and to make sure our values and priorities are represented at every level of government. 




 

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2017 board of directors, as approved by PPDC members attending our Annual Meeting on 1/22/17:


EXECUTIVE BOARD


PRESIDENT - Melissa Grant
1ST VICE PRESIDENT - Erika Feresten
VICE PRESIDENT PROGRAM - Janet Turner
VICE PRESIDENT COMMUNICATIONS - Adam Wolman
VICE PRESIDENT ADMINISTRATION - Gary Bettman
VICE PRESIDENT POLITICAL ISSUES & ENDORSEMENTS - Susan Haskell
VICE PRESIDENT FINANCE/TREASURER - Richard Wulliger



Asst. Treasurer, Rec. Secretary
Aurelia Friedman

Membership Chair
Rae Jeane Williams

Farmers Market Chair
Mary Tuncer

Student Democrats
Ben Wolman
Carmen Zapata

Program Committee
Julie Fasteau
Dodi Fromson
Christian Hall
Arline Halper
Megan Holmquist
Barbara Kohn
Myndi Tooch
Matt Van Beck  

Communications Committee
Adam Bradshaw
Tom Creed

Issues & Endorsements
Steven Cron
Ralph Erickson
Nora Hazi
Tamara Levenson
Robert Martin
Ted Vaill
Gail Wirth
Maryam Zar


President Emeritus
Joe Halper


Emeritus Member
Esther Brudo

Emeritus Member
Marguerite Mautner

Emeritus Member
Ellen Stuart







CORRECTION TO CA ID#:
CA ID #743962 (not 743963 as stated below--we're working to make the change but don't have an immediate fix)

The Pacific Palisades Democratic Club
P.O. Box 343
Pacific Palisades, California 90272
310-230-2084
For more information please e-mail info@palisadesdemclub.org

Paid for by Pacific Palisades Democratic Club. Contributions are not tax deductible. Not authorized by any candidate or campaign.
Fed ID #C00404301. CA ID #743963