Progressives in Petaluma gather for annual festival

The big question of the day Sunday at the 19th annual Progressive Festival was pretty simple: Bernie or bust, or, are you with her?

Hundreds of liberals gathered at Petaluma’s Walnut Park for the festival in the aftermath of the Democratic Party primary race that saw their standard-bearer Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, come up short against eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.

In Sonoma County, however, Sanders won 52 percent of the local vote compared to 47 percent for Clinton. Sanders later endorsed Clinton and was able to secure items in the Democratic National Committee platform such as a call for a $15 minimum wage, an expansion of Social Security payments and the reimposition of the Glass-Steagall law, which separated investment and commercial banking.

“Hillary, not Trump. I will have to hold my nose,” said Cynthia Clarkson of Petaluma. “That doesn’t mean I like it.”

Susan Chunco of Santa Rosa, however, said she felt optimistic as she worked the Green Party booth because of her belief that disaffected Sanders supporters would back its presumed presidential candidate, Jill Stein. “She isn’t owned by the corporations,” Chunco said of Stein.

That pitch worked for Attila Nagy, the emcee of the event, which was produced by The Petaluma Progressives and Occupy Petaluma, who said he would be voting for Stein as he pointed to the green sticker on his shirt. Some said it would be easier to vote for Stein since Clinton is expected to win California by a wide margin. A Public Policy Institute of California poll released July 27 showed Clinton with a 16 percentage point advantage over GOP nominee Donald Trump at 46 percent to 30 percent. When Nagy asked how many in the audience voted in the primary for Sanders, many cheered. When it came to Clinton, only one woman shouted yes.

Sanders on Sunday said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that most of his supporters would opt for Clinton.

“We have over 13 million people who supported my candidacy. And I have no doubt that there are some of those people who will not vote for Hillary Clinton,” Sanders said. “But I would say that the vast majority of them - and I think as the campaign progresses and people take a hard look at the issues - I think more and more of those people will come on board Secretary Clinton’s campaign.”

Dale Axelrod, who is a member of the Sonoma County Democratic Central Committee, said many Sanders supporters are grappling with whom to support, especially with hard feelings as a result of leaked emails showing party officials attempted to thwart the Vermont senator’s campaign.

“People are wondering what to do?” Axelrod said. “Bernie has said what he wants people to do. He is basically saying we got to continue this movement. It’s not about Bernie. It’s about us.”

Axelrod said Sanders’ supporters are in discussion about trying to keep the campaign’s Petaluma office open to work for candidates and issues this election year that align with the senator’s views. For example, some have expressed support to operate a phone bank to help the challenger against former DNC head Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in her Aug. 30 primary election in Florida.

“I am going to be resignedly voting for Hillary,” Axelrod said.

But that’s not the case for Stephen Tynan of Petaluma who wore a Bernie baseball hat along with a T-shirt reading “Never Hillary.” Tynan said he was a Green Party member who registered as a Democrat during the primary and is now back to Green. He said he hoped a strong showing on Nov. 8 by the Green Party would give Democrats and Republicans pause.

“It’s a great opportunity to break the two-party monopoly,” Tynan said. “It takes a lot of organizing … It takes more than one meeting.”