OJAI VALLEY NEWS |Ojai Valley Democratic Club clashes with Ventura County Democratic Central Committee reps at meeting
- 21 hours ago
- 4 min read
Friday, July 24, 2026
Rob Shepyer rob@ojaivalleynews.com
After being told by the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee, in a mass email to their member roster, to remove the word “Democratic” from its name, the Ojai Valley Democratic Club chose to keep the name and hold a meeting July 19.
VCDCC Second Vice Chair Marco Cuevas attended the meeting to answer questions and address concerns from club members about the status of the club’s charter, which the Central Committee voted not to renew last month. The main reason given was OVDC’s support for at-large voting in Ojai, which the club had recently adopted into its rules.
The decision to deny renewal to the 18-year-old club leaves Ojai with only one club chartered by the Central Committee — the United Democrats of the Ojai Valley, which started in 2025.
After Cuevas joined the meeting, VCDCC Deputy Comptroller Shawn Terris and Eileen Reimers, a former liaison between the Democratic Club and the Central Committee, arrived at the meeting. Reimers said she was representing herself. The two handed club members copies of an informal notice alleging violations of bylaws and state law.
The notice claimed no organization or group in Ventura County is permitted to use the word “Democrat” in its name unless it is chartered by the Central Committee. The notice prompted a confrontation between club members, including Ojai City Councilmember Leslie Rule, and representatives of the Central Committee.
“Do you have any affiliation with UDOV (United Democrats of the Ojai Valley)?” Rule asked Reimers.
“Yes, I’m a founding member,” Reimers answered.
After the exchange, OVDC President Starchild Weivoda outlined options for the club moving forward, including affiliating with the California Democratic Council, a network of local Democratic clubs that collaborate to advance a statewide progressive agenda.
“I feel that there’s absolutely zero possibility to rejoin the local central Democratic committee. Zero. Because the way they behaved towards us, I’m not even sure I want to be a member anymore. So that’s why I like the California Democratic Council idea,” said club member Bill Miley.
Renee Roth, secretary of the Ojai Valley Democratic Club, informed the meeting that she had applied for the OVDC to become a California Democratic Council affiliate. She said her understanding was that the affiliation would allow OVDC to retain its name as long as it did not solicit funds.
Later in the meeting, Rule addressed what she believes led to the charter denial — backdoor politicking by opposing democratic clubs.
“The irony of the backdoor politics that have occurred in this political committee is astounding. We know what happened. We have a founding member of the opposite club sitting here saying that she didn’t feel welcomed by our previous president (Jeffrey Starkweather). We know what happened. It’s clear. … Everybody here knows what happened and why this club was not rechartered after 18 years. … What had to go on behind the scenes to get 82% of the delegates to vote not to recharter a club that’s been at work for 18 years? How does that happen? It happens with political strong-arming. That’s the way I feel as an elected official in Ojai.”
Roth said that members of the Ojai Valley Democratic Club are being encouraged to join United Democrats so they can be part of that club’s process in determining election endorsements.
Rule attempted to give Cuevas context for the infighting between the Democratic Club and United Democrats. “It is an internal in-fight with Democrats in the city of Ojai who don’t like what one club did or one club didn’t do,” she said.
Cuevas, who was being introduced to the nuances of Ojai local politics, responded, “Ya’ll Ojai Dems cause more drama than anyone wants to see.”
Cuevas said the Central Committee’s position is that the Democratic Club would violate state law if it continued to use the word “Democrat” in its name.
“When it comes to endorsements, especially as we’re coming to the general election, you are not allowed to use that term,” said Cuevas.
When given an opportunity to speak, Terris said: “The only reason why I’m here is I heard that you guys were still using the Democratic name, which is illegal, and I wanted to see for myself. And yes, in fact, it’s true, and that is very disappointing to me. It’s actually offensive as a Democrat.”
Democratic Club members stood their ground, saying that they believed there was a path forward that would allow them to retain the use of their name. They unanimously voted to pursue affiliation with the California Democratic Council.
Rule announced that she and others are drafting a ballot initiative that would seek to return Ojai to at-large voting.
“We have drafted an initiative that we will put to the people to put on the ballot,” she said. “Once again, you can’t underestimate a council deciding not to allow the people to vote on that. … We (individual residents of Ojai) have it drafted with an elections attorney. We have the proponents. We are ready to bring it into the city clerk, and that’s kind of where we are now.”
By the end of the meeting, Democratic Club members had reaffirmed their intention to retain the club’s name. Cuevas told members the Central Committee had the right to take legal action if the club continued to call itself the Ojai Valley Democratic Club.
Some members welcomed that possibility.
“A tempest in a teapot. If you’re going to sue us, good luck,” said Clay Creasey.
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