By LILY TINOCO | Reporter
The Pacific Palisades Democratic Club hosted its annual Garden Party on Sunday, August 23.
In recent years, a club member in the Riviera lent their home for attendees to mingle with reps and each other in a garden party setting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually this year.
“Sure we’re disappointed not to be able to safely gather in person in a beautiful indoor, outdoor setting the way we usually do,” Adam Wolman, vice president of communications, said to the Palisadian-Post. “But we were thrilled to see so many supporters joining in and stepping up best we all could.”
Funds raised help support the Westside Democratic Headquarters phone bank to text and send postcards to voters. 
In addition to the event this year, the club hosted its first silent auction of 20 items via a new eBay store. Items being auctioned included enamel pins, signed celebrity collectibles donated to the PPDC from the private collection of Dan Castellaneta, who voices the fictional character Homer Simpson, and more.
A notable auction highlight was a 60-second ad spot on the Spike’s Car Radio podcast, hosted by Spike Feresten, husband of the PPDC’s President Erika Feresten. The ad spot went for $3,450 with 52 bids. The auction ran from Monday, August 17, to Monday, August 24.
This year’s guest speakers included Congressman Ted Lieu, political analyst Bob Shrum, Paula Poundstone as emcee and SNL alumna Gail Wirth to offer comedic, fundraising breaks. The event has served as part of the club’s efforts to bring the community closer to local officials.
Lieu primarily addressed issues regarding the post office, as more Americans are expected to vote by mail this year than ever before.
He stated that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy would suspend his initiatives to change operations of the postal service until after the election, and the post office will treat mail-in ballots just like First-Class Mail. He advised everybody to mail-in their ballots early, if they are planning on voting by mail.
“There is some additional risk for vote-by-mail to have ballots rejected because voters make mistakes, we … need to have a huge voters’ education program,” Lieu said.
Shrum told attendees: “This is the most important election of our lives, let’s win it,” and answered questions from attendees for a brief period.
Wolman told the Post that instead of the usual 100 or 120 attendees, there were 140 people in attendance.
“[It] was very gratifying, these Zoom gatherings are our best way to get people fired up to help Get Out the Vote in November,” he concluded.
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