Deb Kozikowski and Mara Dolan are founding Left of Center to endorse and campaign for Democratic candidates who do not agree with the party on every issue.
Two Massachusetts Democratic activists with extensive political experience are launching a new national political action committee that will endorse and campaign for Democratic candidates who do not agree with the party on every issue.
"The whole big tent theory seems to have diminished in practice in the Democratic Party," said Deb Kozikowski, who is founding Left of Center with Mara Dolan.
Democratic attorney Michael Avenatti, best known for representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump, spoke at an event launching the PAC on Sunday and met with a reporter for The Springfield Republican / MassLive.com on Monday in Cambridge.
Advocacy for the PAC is part of Avenatti's broader work fundraising and campaigning for Democratic causes in advance of the November 2018 elections. Avenatti is also considering a 2020 presidential run.
"If the party's going to succeed, and especially if the party's going to succeed on a national level, then we're going to have to be more inclusive," Avenatti said.
Kozikowski and Dolan are well-known in Massachusetts politics. Kozikowski, of Chicopee, is the long-time vice chairwoman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. She works in political organizing nationally, advocating around rural issues and helping Democrats in rural areas.
Dolan is a communications professional who is currently consulting for Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin's campaign and recently worked for Senate President Stan Rosenberg. She previously produced her own political talk show and also worked as an attorney.
Kozikowski said she and Dolan developed the idea after having conversations about the divisiveness of labels - such as progressive or centrist - within the Democratic Party. Kozikowski said it is "unfortunate" that Democrats get distracted by labels rather than focusing on the goal of being a Democrat, which, she said, "is agreeing on 90 to 95 percent of the issues and being able to find ways to compromise and move forward on the things we can't agree on."
For example, Kozikowski said the chairwoman of the West Virginia Democratic Party said she found a dead fish on her lawn the day after West Virginia's Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
"Joe Manchin is not the perfect 100 percent vote, but Joe Manchin is a vote for West Virginia and Joe Manchin was a vote that saved the Affordable Care Act," Kozikowski said. "I think that is a good enough pedigree to be accepted for his warts and all."
Dolan pointed to a decision by some Democratic organizations to withdraw their support from Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen in Tennessee because Bredesen said he would have voted to confirm Kavanaugh. Dolan said even though she would not support Kavanaugh, she would rather have a Democrat in office who would vote with the party on the environment, civil rights, voting rights and other issues than a Republican "who votes the wrong way on everything."
"We can't afford to keep losing congressional races nationwide," Dolan said. "We've got to elect Democrats and stop excluding people simply because they don't agree with us on absolutely everything."
Left of Center plans to endorse candidates who "agree with us on at least 90 percent of major issues, have good character and temperament, and know enough about government to work for productive compromise on the rest," Dolan said.
She said the group is trying to represent the "enormous, unheralded quiet center that longs for stability but does not have enough of a voice in the current political landscape."
Once Left of Center endorses a candidate, the group will actively campaign for that person, assisting in organizing and messaging.
Avenatti has his own history of being on the outs with Democrats.
Avenatti represented Julie Swetnick, who accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh denied the allegations. Swetnick's accusations were not investigated by the FBI, which did look into allegations by two other women, Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez.
After Kavanaugh was confirmed, CNN reported that some Democrats accused Avenatti of undercutting their case against Kavanaugh by bringing allegations that were less credible and more sensational than those of Ford and Ramirez. Swetnick alleged that Kavanaugh, in high school, spiked girls' drinks, grabbed girls without permission and attended parties where gang rapes occurred.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, initially called on the FBI to investigate Swetnick's allegations, but in her speech explaining her decision to vote for Kavanaugh, Collins called Swetnick's claims "outlandish."
Avenatti noted that none of the Democrats who criticized him were willing to go on the record. He said he has no regrets about his role in the Kavanaugh hearing process. But he said the comments show that "A lot of these people see me as a threat, and they should see me as a threat because I'm not beholden to these folks. I don't owe anybody anything as it relates to establishment Democrats."
Avenatti dismissed Collins as "one of biggest frauds in the U.S. Senate" for calling for an FBI investigation, then saying Swetnick's claims were not credible. "She's entirely unqualified to make any such determination," Avenatti said.
Asked whether the Democratic Party has space for someone like Manchin, Avenatti said he is "not at all happy" about Manchin's vote for Kavanaugh, but "I certainly think the party needs to take a big tent approach and be more inclusive than exclusive."
"We have to also recognize that not all Democrats have the luxury of being in a place as progressive as Massachusetts," Avenatti said. "This is a very diverse nation, and a Democrat in one part of the country might be classified as a Republican in another part of the country."