Now that’s some party

Or they run for the San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee.

All of which is prologue to this: A fight has broken out over seats on the central committee. This is a fight among people who agree on nearly everything. This would explain why the fight has gotten unpleasant and surprisingly expensive. All for a job that no one in their right mind should covet.

Central committees are the official local arm of the state and national political parties. All political parties have them and they are on your ballot, depending on your party affiliation. The Democrats are the biggest party, by far, in San Mateo County and, therefore, the fight is bigger.

And, you know, they are Democrats.

Central committee members are the party activists ­— they walk precincts, raise money, make phone calls, help send out mail and staff campaign activities and events for officially endorsed candidates.

Central committees also pass resolutions on state and national issues, most often without ramification. And they argue over everything, including structure, procedure and endorsements.

Endorsements are the most consequential central committee activity. The official party designation carries some weight, particularly down the ballot in races where voters are likely to know little about the candidates.

All this leads to the March 5 ballot, where seats on the central committee have become the latest battleground — the only battleground, really — between those who fashion themselves progressives and those who see themselves as pragmatists.

This year, there are 45 candidates for 23 seats on the central committee, a bonanza in races that often have fallen short of a full complement.

Among the candidates, and forgive the usage of convenient but inadequate labels (PRA for pragmatists, PRO for progressives): former state Sen. Jerry Hill (PRA), county Supervisor Noelia Corzo (PRO), Councilmembers Gina Papan of Millbrae (PRA), Adam Rak and Pranita Vanketesh of San Carlos (PRA), James Coleman of South San Francisco (PRO) and Chris Sturken and Lissette Espinosa-Garnica of Redwood City (PRO). The list of candidates also is chockablock with former councilmembers, and more on that shortly.

By my always dubious accounting, more than $30,000 has been spent by, or on behalf of, the candidates for the central committee, small change in countywide balloting, but notable in this context. This is not to mention fevered social media postings.

The biggest single expenditure has been in support of the Hill-Papan slate — $10,000 from the Burlingame law firm of Cotchett, Pitre and McCarthy, led by attorney Joe Cotchett.

The firm set up an independent expenditure committee named Golden State Voices United and sent out a mailing with this heading: “Official Democratic Voter Guide.”

Of course, it is not an official anything — to the dismay of some candidates.

In campaigns, you can call yourself official, as long as you do not say you are the official word of the local, state or national Democratic Party, and as long as you disclose, in very small print at the bottom of the mailer, the true source of the mailing. This piece meets those requirements. Despite the outcry, this is a fairly routine campaign practice, a signal you should always carefully scrutinize slate campaign mailings.

Cotchett is a major political player in state and national politics and it is unusual for someone of his prominence to get this involved in such highly local politics. In the interests of full disclosure, I did some political consulting work for Cotchett in 2020 in Senate races outside California.

The other buzz is about something from San Mateo Councilmember Amourence Lee, who is against the Hill-Papan slate and who wields social media like a switchblade.

Somehow, Twitter postings were tracked down by former San Mateo Councilmember Maureen Freschet, part of the Hill-Papan slate. According to Lee’s postings, Freschet tweeted support for Donald Trump and a range of Trump positions on abortion, vaccinations and other stuff.

Lee, in high dudgeon, denounced Freschet as a fake Democrat, among other things.

Freschet professed to be mystified by the postings on a Twitter account she said was dormant. “I don’t know what they’re talking about,” Freschet said. “I don’t know how this happened. I never posted on it. I don’t tweet, I don’t email.” She added that she is “absolutely pro-choice,” “anti-Trump” and “a committed Democrat.”

All of which prompted some of the candidates to decry the current “toxic” political environment.

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.