Cal Dems Un-Endorse John Bauters

Cal Berkeley Dems Takes Back Its John Bauters Endorsement

It’s not often an official Democratic Party organization takes away a political endorsement, but Cal Dems, the Democratic club of the University of California at Berkeley, recently did just that to Emeryville pol John Bauters.  Mr Bauters, an Emeryville City Council member who’s running for Alameda County Board of Supervisors, initially impressed the Cal student group enough to get their endorsement in September but by this week, the Emeryville Councilman was nowhere to be found on their list of endorsements.  

A source close to the student run organization reports that the group had a change of heart after learning that Mr Bauters had broken a pledge he made to them that he had not and would not accept money from law enforcement or corporate PAC money.  Cal Dems apparently were not impressed that when Mr Bauters made his pledge, his 'independent expenditure' FPPC committee he had set up, had accepted money from the Oakland Police Officers Association Political Action Committee (PAC) and that technicality Bauters probably thought, would provide sufficient cover to be able to make his pledge to not personally take money from the police.  Mr Bauters had also engaged in deceit about his receiving corporate PAC money from PG&E, and that, plus the police money, was enough for the group to un-endorse him. 

The independent expenditure committee Mr Bauters set up, called Bauters for a Safer East Bay, is meant to help make donated money harder to trace and thereby let him off the hook for donations made to it.  It is supposed to provide him with plausible deniability for association with questionable groups and individuals.   By using his FPPC committee to field campaign donations, he is effectively making the argument that he should be able to cross his fingers behind his back when he tells organizations like Cal Dems that he has not accepted any money from law enforcement agencies or corporate PACs and that should be good enough.  But Cal Dems wasn't having any of that. 

Politics being politics, Cal Dems is playing their un-endorsement close to the vest.  They have made no official public announcement about it and the Tattler only learned of it through a perusal of their website.  Cal Dems officials have not responded to our requests for information on this unprecedented un-endorsement.