About Us

OUR OFFICERS

Tony Hale - Chair

It is a great honor for me to serve as chair for the Environmental Caucus. The environment was my first political issue and it remains my driving concern. I am the elected executive board member for the 53rd Assembly District, and I run our local Democratic headquarters in the South Bay of Los Angeles. I have been a lifelong Democrat and Environmentalist. I started underwater diving as a very young child and became a certified SCUBA diver at the age of fifteen. I fell in love with the ocean and went on to study marine biology in college. My appreciation of the marine environment led me to a deeper understanding of the relationships shared by all life connected by one system of atmosphere, land and water.

Debra Broner - 1st Vice Chair

Debra has been a member of the California Democratic Party State Central Committee since 2001; she currently is the Chair of the Del Norte County Democratic Central Committee and the Region 2 Director. Region 2 covers all of Northern Coastal California, from the North end of the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border.

"Keeping our planet healthy has been at the forefront of my activism with the Democratic Party. In 1969, at the first Earth Day celebration, I knew that I had to be active in community efforts, then known as the Ecology movement. Everything is connected, and for the past 22, years I have devoted my energy to fight for legislation that ensures 'we' have clean air, water and earth."

Debra lives in Smith River, home to the crown jewel of the National Wild & Scenic River System. Smith River has a “300-mile designation of wild & scenic, more than any other river in the country”; there are no dams along the Smith. Del Norte County is also home to the Klamath River.

Nick Caston - 2nd Vice Chair

Treasurer (In consideration for appointment)

R L Miller - Secretary

Attorney, climate hawk, quilter, editor for Progressive Congress News' Environment and Natural Resources twitter feeds, keeper of chickens. Blogger - DailyKos, Grist, Calitics, Climate Progress. If you hate the term climate zombies, blame me.

Rachel Binah - Chair Emeritus

A retired innkeeper, Rachel lives in Little River. She currently serves on the Resolutions Committee of the Democratic Party and served for many years as Chair of the Environmental Plank of the the California Democratic Party Platform. She has been a member of the Democratic National Committee since 1992 and a 'super delegate' to all of the Democratic national conventions since 1988.

Rachel Binah studied Fine Art at Boston University and Cardiff College of Art in Wales. Her work is shown at Partners Gallery on Franklin Street in Fort Bragg, California.

Rachel Binah was one of the organizers of our community's response to off-shore oil development along the Mendocino coast. In 1988, Lease Sale 91 was soundly defeated by people in Mendocino County when they held a "filibuster" which lasted for over 24 hours. Public testimony before the Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior at Eagles Hall in Fort Bragg – helped by national television, radio and print media coverage – convinced authorities and politicians to cancel the sale. Without the extraordinary community involvement, Lease Sale 91 would have encouraged offshore oil rigs from San Francisco to the Oregon border.

AT OUR NEXT MEETING

At the CDP Convention

Friday Apil 12, 2013

Sacramento Convention Center
1400 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

7:30PM-9:30PM

We will update when room information is available.