Questioning

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on CNN not long ago, and in talking about the presidential campaign, she said that she doesn’t support superdelegates and their role in the Democratic Party presidential nominating system. Instead, she thinks that the people should have their voices heard without the interference of Democratic Party insiders wielding undue influence over the process. Her quote: “I have not even endorsed yet. I think there should be no doubt that what the people say is what the outcome would be.”

I found this interesting given that Pelosi has stepped into our congressional race here and done just that — used the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, over which she has considerable influence as Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, to drop over $130,000 in TV ads, mail, and campaign workers, all supporting Supervisor Salud Carbajal in his run for Lois Capps’s seat. Apparently, they do not consider such expenditures as “undue influence.”

In contrast, the National Republican Congressional Committee endorsed both of the major Republicans in the Congressional race. We have two strong, progressive Democratic candidates in Supervisor Carbajal and Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider. Why wouldn’t Speaker Pelosi take the same attitude here on the Central Coast that she is taking with the presidential election: let the voters have their say, without the party establishment stepping in to pick winners and losers in our primary?