[How I, a registered democrat, am voting for the environment in the June 6, 2006 primaries in California. I'm stuck voting at my old address at zip 90035. Here's my current voting list.]

My votes for the Democratic Party Central Committee (7 total):
* Jimmie Woods-Gray
* Mollie “Lee” Welinsky
* Ruth Weisman
* David L. Weisman
* Evelyn Metoyer-Williams
* Terrence Montgomery
* Robert L. Jones

What does the Democratic Party Central Committee do?: The 7-member LA County Democratic Party Central Committee’s the official governing body of the Democratic Party in LA county, in charge of party campaigns in LA county, under the general direction of the State Democratic Party. County Committees are elected every two years.
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This has to be like the toughest item I’ve had to research so far for the elections. We’re supposed to pick 7 people out of a list of 12. And any in-depth info about these 12 people’s tough to come by.

Then, I discovered Fundrace.

This nifty tool lets you find out who’s donated what to whom, based on records filed with the FEC. Individual contributions over $200 to a single Republican or Democratic presidential campaign or national committee between January 1, 2003 and October 13, 2004 are up for perusal.

I found out Ingrid Elizabeth Hutt, real estate agent, sent $2,000 to dubya — the only one of the 12 to do so. Ingrid also didn’t make any additional info avaliable about herself to Smart Voter.

That brought me down to 11 candidates to pick from.

After spending like 3 hours researching and obsessing over this, I decided to preserve my sanity by just ranking the remaining candidates by order of my preference based on what I know (or more often, don’t know).

So if you’ve got any crucial info about these people I’ve missed, please chime in. For now, the list goes from current fave to least fave:

Jimmie Woods-Gray, teacher for the LAUSD, acting president of Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, and past chair of the LAC Democratic Party. Jimmie’s a UTLA delegate to the LAC Federation of Labor/AFL-CIO, and says her top priories as committee member would be to help elect great Democrats, involve more voters in the democratic process, and support better voter education programs.

Mollie “Lee” Welinsky, incumbent. Mollie, who lives in Culver City, says she’ll work to elect Democrats who support a woman’s right to choose, a living wage, a good education for all students, and affordable healthcare for all. She’s endorsed by the Culver City Democratic Club and the Democrats for Israel, of which she’s the membership committee chairperson. She’s recently donated $250 to the Democratic State Central Committee.

Ruth Weisman, member, county central committee and retired tax preparer. This Culver City resident donated $3,000 to the DNC. She says her top priorities are to elect a Dem Governor and get a 2/3 Dem majority in state legislature. She supports Prop 82, and is endorsed by the Culver City Democratic Club, New Frontier Democratic Club, and Democrats for Israel.

David L. Weisman, member of the county central committee and retired environmental engineer. This Culver City dude appears to be related (married?) to Ruth, above. David says his top priorities are to elect Dems to Governor and the House of Representatives, support a single payer National Health Plan, and to provide all children “with the appropriate 21st Century Education.” He’s endorsed by the Culver City Democratic Club, New Frontier Democratic Club, and Democrats for Israel.

Evelyn Metoyer-Williams, current Region 4 vice-chair of the county central committee. Evelyn appears to come from an educational background; She seems to work for the LAUSD, and used to be nominations and elections chair of the California Association for the Education of Young Children. She gave $350 to LAC Dem Committee recently.

Terrence M. Montgomery (Current male vice-chair), member, county central committee. Back in 1996, he was endorsed by the Stonewall LA Democratic Club.

Robert L. Jones, chief arbitrator and senior partner with Jones and Parker, P.C., an arbitration and mediation firm. According to the California Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors (PDF), Robert serves as a Commissioner for the Baldwin Hills Conservancy and is heavily involved with the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.

Joann S. Williams, business owner. Joann ran back in 2004, at which time she had the endorsements of New Frontier Democratic Club. She recently donated $205 to the Democratic State Central Committee.

Rosa M. Russell, incumbent. Rosa appears to be — or to have been — prez of the 10th District Council Women’s Steering Committee, an org I just can’t find any additional info about.

Tamara Taleebah, educator. Involved with disability rights as Director of Sisters Community Services Center, which I can’t find any information about.

Gail Rosenfeld, retired programmer. Board member of Democrats for Israel.

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