Oxnard Councilman Bert Perello selected as DNC Convention delegate for Bernie Sanders

By George Miller

On 6-19-16, the California Democratic Party selected Bert Perello, the newest Oxnard Councilman and 18 year neighborhood council veteran, as a Bernie Sanders delegate to vote at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next month.  Perello is a retired postman. He has earned a reputation as a corruption fighter. He reads every document, gets advice from supporters and holds people accountable.

Perello was in disbelief when informed of his selection by a supporter, who then produced the list from the Party. Depending on who you talk to, he is either in great company or terrible company, with folks also selected such as Toni Atkins, Treasurer John Chiang, State Senate President Kevin DeLeon, Attorney-General (and US Senate nominee) Kamela Harris, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom,Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Former Speaker and LA Mayor Villaraigosa, Controller Betty Yee, etc.

He said to us: “I feel very fortunate to be in this position with an individual I truly support and to represent the community.” He said that one of his supporters/advisers, Gerard Kapuscik, joked that Bert will be representing a county which voted for Clinton. But, of course, there are multiple delegates in the state party’s proportional representation scheme.

When asked how he was selected, he jokingly texted: “I simply applied and a wise panel of non-biased party members selected. that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”  Shortly after, he said “it came as a big surprise out of the blue.”

He told CitizensJournal.us that when he first heard he was selected tonight, “I thought they were kidding me.”

The back story. Councilman Perello was urged by local Democratic Club President AJ Valenzuela, at the SOHU dinner at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, to apply as a delegate. Perello went online and found an application. He told us that it demanded information such as name, age, race, are you a union member, are you an elected official, education level, employment and much more. He said he thought he had almost no chance of being selected, but felt he had to at least try.

Source: from CA Democratic Party Delegate application

Councilman Perello is a passionate supporter of Sanders because he believes in many of Sanders’ reform recommendations and that he is a clean politician. Conventional wisdom says that he won’t have much to do, as Hillary Clinton already has a preponderance of delegates to assure a firtst ballot nomination. However, she has legal and possibly health issues looming which could derail that.. In addition, delegates get to vote on policy and platform issues, some of which may be views passionately held by Sanders and suporters.

He wrapped up by telling us: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!”

George Miller is Publisher of CitizensJournal.us and a “retired” operations management consultant residing in Oxnard.