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Two Bruins attend gala at Capitol

Clinton, Gore speak about future of the Democratic Party

By Rashmi Nijagal

Two Bruins flew to the nation's Capitol to attend a gala Tuesday night, where they had the opportunity to hear President Clinton and Vice President Gore speak about the future of the Democratic Party. The UCLA students represented the Bruin Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) at the event, which marked the 10th anniversary of the national DLC organization.

The national organization was formed in 1984 by Democratic leaders, including President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, with the purpose of representing moderate America.

"The Democratic party was losing touch with America; it was moving too far to the left," said Murshed Zaheed, president and the founder of the campus chapter, who attended the organization's forum and gala along with Bruin chapter co-chair, Metta Grokenberger. "The DLC was created in order to pull the Democratics toward the center."

The national organization works to define and promote a public policy that is based on "mainstream values" and "non-bureaucratic approaches to governing," according to the national organization.

At Tuesday night's gala, Clinton stressed in his speech that one reason for the overwhelming Democratic losses in the Nov. 7 elections was that Americans were disgruntled because they believe the Clinton Administration is focusing too much on special interests, and not developing the nation's economy and social programs with broader interests in mind.

"The DLC is trying to make a home for people disgruntled with both the Republican and Democratic parties," said Bruin chapter Co-chair Jean-Cristoph Curelop. "The DLC is a moderate organization that is still a part of the Democratic party, but we are not as liberal. For example, most Democrats are absolutely opposed to welfare reform, while the DLC does agree that some welfare reform is needed," he added.

The Bruin chapter, like the national organization, is focusing on students who have moderate political views, as opposed to being on the far left or right. The Bruin chapter will be helping the Bruin Democrats in its activities and in addition, will be focusing on forming public policy.

"Our short term goal is to get people to come to the meetings and discuss public policy," Curelop said. "We want to give people the voice. There is a great deal of anger right now because there is no answer to these problems."

Eventually, the goal of the Bruin chapter is to establish a public policy class for undergraduates.

"We want people from both parties to join," Zaheed said. "The DLC is a non-partisan organization. In a time like this, there has never been a greater time to work with each other."

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