Local Democrats Revamp Leadership in Readiness for 2018 Elections

By JOHN HARLOW | Editor-in-Chief

The Pacific Palisades Democratic Club will hold its annual general meeting on Sunday, Jan. 28, where a new executive preparing to fight midterm national elections with a furious vigor is expected to be “acclaimed” into leadership.

After seven years, Melissa Grant is stepping down as club president, and, if the nominating committee has found the right and most popular candidate, she’ll be succeeded by relative-newcomer Erika Feresten.

Insiders predict that the new board will balance out the Centrists, who traditionally make up the majority of Palisadian club voters, and the Progressives, many fans of Bernie Sanders.

Despite their differences, they are expected to sit shoulder-to-shoulder at the vote phone banks in the run-up to the midterm elections in November that could temper the presidential mandate.

Grant, an attorney, took over in 2011 when the club was in some confusion, having fallen out with some other Westside organizations and lost two previous presidents in quick order.

She made peace with the other clubs and brought many factions back under one roof.

As president emeritus, Grant is taking on a wider role organizing Democrats for the midterms: “I think the momentum from the woman’s march and the president’s own behavior will only grow over the next few months into November,” she told the Palisadian-Post.

The proposed 39-strong board includes younger activists such as Aurelia Friedman as well as more experienced influencers like Maryam Zar, Josie Tong, Barbara Kohn, Dick Wulliger and Tom Creed.

The list was created by the nominating committee trio: President Emeritus Joe Halper, Janet Turner and Gary Bettman.

There will be a ballot handed out at the door at the Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club when the meeting opens at 2 p.m. only to paid-up club members, just in case they want to nominate their own board members.

But Feresten seems to be a popular choice, a leadership coach and young mother associated with the Progressives, even if she does face an inevitably steep learning curve.

Feresten told the Post that her number one issue, apart from unity and focus within the club, will be arguing for single-payer coverage—despite a recent bill in Sacramento promoting such health services that fell apart in chaos.

She has been a Democratic activist since phone banking for John Kerry in 2004, joining the local board in 2015 and elected a state delegate in the 2016 election cycle.

“Anyone in Pacific Palisades who wants to help fight for Medicare for all, immigration reform with a path to citizenship, women’s rights, protecting the environment, overturning Citizens United and raising the minimum wage to $15, should know that our doors are always open to them,” she said.

She promised that the Democratic Club will continue its Pacific Palisades Farmers Market outreach program—maybe, in 2018, alongside the returning Republican Club.