The Malibu Democratic Club (MDC), long the leading voice of the Democratic Party within Malibu, appears to be coming apart at its seams in what reads as more of a messy divorce than a political disagreement.
The first news of the group’s disagreements came last week. On July 23, the Santa Monica Lookout newspaper published a story in which former Malibu Mayor, former L.A. County Super visor candidate and Democratic Club Board Member Pamela Conley Ulich accused the club of not being democratic in its practices.
“We are the Malibu Democratic Club and democracy matters,” Ulich reportedly wrote in an online petition requesting a vote to decide upon a candidate for the club to endorse.
In the space of one week, according to Ulich, the club is four members smaller and could be shrinking fast.
“Effective immediately, I resign my position on the Board,” said Ulich in an email shared with The Malibu Times, after revealing that three other members including Sharon Barovsky and Betsy Butler were in her words “kicked off the Malibu Democratic Board” at Monday night’s meeting.
According to board member Dorothy Reik, that is not an accurate description.
“Some members were removed from the Board because they missed meetings,” said Reik.
Reik provided some details as to why the members were removed.
“One of the people hasn’t been to the meeting for a long time,” said Reik, adding, “neither of the other two live in the area at all. They’re not really members of the community.”
Reik suggested Ulich was alone in her dissatisfaction.
“You’re not getting any complaints from anyone else, it’s just this one woman,” said Reik, adding, “she resigned last night because she didn’t get her way.”
Reik also countered Ulich’s original complaint regarding which candidate the club should endorse. The club recently endorsed former State Sen. Sheila Kuehl over former Santa Monica Mayor Bobby Shriver in the race to replace the termed-out LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. Ulich, however, has come out in support of Shriver.
“We know that she had just endorsed the other candidate and she wants to get him exposure in Malibu, I guess,” said Reik, “it’s not like she’s neutral in this.”
Reik pointed to Ulich’s facebook page as an example of her relationship with Shriver. Ulich came in fourth place in June’s primary, leaving her out of the run-off between the top two candidates in November.
“Thank you for working hard for democracy Pamela. You are a great leader,” reads Shriver’s comment on a note posted by Ulich regarding Monday night’s MDC meeting.
Reik said going against the LA County Democratic Party’s political endorsement is highly unusual. She added that in other counties, smaller Democratic clubs are not even permitted to endorse candidates against the county Democratic Party’s decision.
However, Ulich is not alone in her distaste for the policies and actions of the MDC’s ruling Board, which came into power after an election at the end of May 2014.
Linda Goodman, a member of the club for nearly 20 years and the sister of former president Jean T. Goodman, said that the future of the club is on shaky ground.
“I see uncertainty,” said Goodman, “I see that there seems to be a certain fraction of people that are running it that is no longer a democracy.”
“Other members have already told me that they’re considering resigning,” Goodman stated, adding, “hopefully, the people will work together, but I don’t really know what’s going to happen.”
The next Malibu Democratic Club meeting is scheduled for Aug. 25. Meetings are open to the public and are held at private homes in Malibu.