Why Landau deserves support from Delco Dems
To the Times: Like many newly activated Democratic voters, I am relatively new to local politics in Delaware County. And I have been watching the contested race for Delaware County Democratic Committee chairman with great interest.
I grew up the daughter of a union president and I started a union as a Rhode Island state employee. I strongly believe that the Democratic Party should support unions, and I can never understand why union members are anything but Democrats. But, I do not want my party controlled by any one union. So while I appreciate John Kane and the Plumbers Local 690 support of county and municipal Democratic committees, I am deeply concerned about his stated reasons for seeking the county party chairmanship.
John Kane’s argument against the re-election of current party chairman, David Landau, is that “rich people” in places like Radnor and Swarthmore control our local party. This criticism is inaccurate and amounts to class warfare.
It was a unified county party that made history in 2017 when we elected Kevin Madden and Brian Zidek to county council and swept the row offices — our first countywide victories since the Civil War. I attended a recent Marple Newtown Democratic Committee meeting to hear John Kane make his case, and his palpable anger at fellow Democrats — the same Democrats who toiled for years when the tide was against us, and built the party that now is on a winning streak — seemed personally motivated and unproductive, if not toxic for our mission.
John Kane stated that he is running for Delco Dems chairman to fulfill his “fiduciary responsibility” to his union. I simply disagree that being able to write a generous check to the party or candidates qualifies someone to be chairman.
Under David Landau’s leadership, we have built a countywide Democratic voter registration majority, reactivated once-dormant local committees, and flipped seats in dozens of municipalities on the principle that no election is “too small” and that each is critical to our cause. John Kane’s criticism that David cannot take credit for this growth because county party staff was brought in to help with campaigns makes no sense: Hiring qualified people to accomplish your goals is what good leaders do.
It is disappointing to watch unsuccessful 5th Congressional District candidates and their supporters organize against David Landau out of anger. The newly drawn district, while an overall victory for Democrats, also put David in an impossible position because of all of the candidates it drew. Unlike his Republican counterpart, David remained neutral and held an open and fair county endorsement process — knowing all the while that with so many candidates, there was a real risk that a weak or unpopular candidate could emerge to face Republican Pearl Kim this fall. He put the ideals of our party and our mission first, and does not deserve to be criticized simply because certain people’s favored candidates did not win the primary.
Finally, the resounding endorsement of David Landau by county council members Brian Zidek and Kevin Madden, Register of Wills Mary Walk, Sheriff Jerry Sanders, and Controller Joanne Phillips is a great tribute to his leadership and vision for our party. None had ever run for office before, and they and their loved ones took huge risks by putting their trust in David and the county party apparatus he built.
The Republican president, Republican-controlled Congress, and Republicancontrolled General Assembly are dangerous to American democracy and actively harm real people every day. This is a critical time for our county party. We need someone who is level-headed, thoughtful, and strategic as our leader. That someone is Delco Dems Chairman David Landau.