To the editor:

Aren’t Democrats supposed to be Democratic? This is not the case with the Island County Democrats.

In a headlong rush to endorse Democratic candidates before any real campaigning has even begun, Marshall Goldberg, chairman of Island County Democrats, has called a meeting of precinct committee officers (PCOs) for June 9 to vote to endorse Democratic candidates.

At this point, does the average Democrat in our district even know who the candidates are? I believe the answer is a resounding “NO.”

Rank-and-file Democrats are excluded from voting at this endorsement meeting; only precinct officers are allowed to vote. This would be fine and dandy if the precinct officers were true representatives of those Democrats living in their districts. The problem is that only 16 of the 52 PCOs in Island County were even elected by Democrats in their districts. The rest were appointed by Marshall Goldberg. This isn’t even representative Democracy. This process totally excludes the average Democratic Party member from helping to make the top candidate selection.

Why not take the approach that the 40th Legislative District is taking? Each county in the 40th District (all of San Juan County, the northwest part of Skagit County and the southern portion of Whatcom County) will have endorsement meetings in June and select any candidates they’d like to support. All Democrats are welcome to participate in selecting the top Democratic candidate.

Unlike the Island County Democrats, they will not exclude rank and file Democrats from this process.

This is how true Democrats are supposed to act. Come on, Island County Democrats, get your act together!

Craig Brant

Langley