This is posted on behalf of SDEC member and frequent Texas Kaos visitor John Robert Behrman, who is in traveling in the Northeast and asked me to post his following comments:
I agree w/ recent open letters by SDEC member Dennis TEAL and DNC member John PATRICK that there is no point to negative campaigning in a "Louisiana Primary" today, given that (a) there will be a highly partisan run-off and (b) there are both real primary elections as well as an important general election - a decisive general election in Harris County -- next year.
After the TDP Convention in June, when we looked at all the numbers, we saw that about 40% of the SDEC turned over. There were a bunch of new kids, and because we were in the crunch of the election season, the not-so-new kids requested that the TDP not schedule a meeting until after November 4. Given that we had no training and that the farther-flung folks would have to lose valuable campaigning time to travel to Austin for a meeting, the TDP agreed, and scheduled our first meeting for November 15.
(Capable people are the greatest treasure. - promoted by boadicea)
In 2006, I had reached a point in my life where just voting wasn't enough. Reading the League of Women Voters Guide to learn about the candidates wasn't enough. Telling my friends and family to vote wasn't enough.
I was appointed to a vacant Precinct Chair slot after calling the Travis County Democratic Party to volunteer for something, anything... I hadn't expected to become a precinct chair, but when I was told that there was a need for one in my precinct, I stepped up.
The more involved I become, the more involved I want to be.
When I found out that there was a Senate District level of government in the Texas Democratic Party, I decided to check it out. I have been going to the meetings since January of 2007. What I've learned is, in a nutshell, I can, and want to do this.
I'm Susan Shelton, and I am running for the SDEC Committeewoman for Senate District 14. I'll explain why after the jump.
One of the resolutions that got killed Saturday was the one that would have put a referendum on Iraq on the primary ballot. This was the second round in the fight to get the Iraq referendum on the ballot. The Iraq referendum resolution had already passed the Resolutions Committee at the last SDEC meeting a few months ago and it was even brought up to the full SDEC meeting back then. It would have passed the full SDEC then, but it was unnecessarily tabled at that earlier meeting because party leaders were ignorant of the Texas statute that allowed the SDEC to put referendums on the ballot. They had to go look up the statute after the meeting and then found out that the grassroots activists were right and the SDEC could put referendums on the ballot just by a vote of the SDEC. It is unbelievable that the party tabled the proposal on such a lame motion. The parliamentarian or the person chairing the meeting should have been aware of the rules and allowed a vote on the resolution. Such ignorance of the rules is a joke. We need to elect party leaders at the next convention who have a basic understanding of state laws pertaining to party business.
Thanks to the undemocratic refusal of party insiders to allow a vote, the resolution failed to pass a second time last weekend. So now there will be no referendum on Iraq on the Texas Democratic Party ballot. I wanted to find out what happened, so tonight I called a few people on the phone. Madeleine Dewar, a member of the SDEC and one of the official sponsors of the Vote Us Out of Iraq resolution, called the meeting a "disaster" and said that she had the thirty two votes needed to pass the resolution in advance of the meeting. Scott Cobb, who initiated the campaign, last summer to get the referendum on the ballot said: "In California, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that had passed the California legislature on Aug 31 to put a referendum on Iraq on the ballot in California. The Texas Democratic Party should be ashamed of itself for acting like Schwarzenegger and preventing a referendum on Iraq from being on the ballot."
Yesterday, January 12, the chair of the Texas Democratic Party and the majority of the SDEC disenfranchised me. Yesterday the Texas Democratic Party embraced heavy-handed procedural tactics worthy of Tom Craddick.
(This is so well written and explains the situation better than I could ever hope to do myself. - promoted by refinish69)
This Saturday at the SDEC meeting, I attended the meeting of the Stonewall Caucus at 3:30. It was one of the most difficult meetings I've ever been through, and I do not envy the position the executive board is in.
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the course of action the board would take regarding its sitting president, Shannon Bailey. He was arrested in June of this year, and charged with public lewdness. He has been silent since then, apparently on legal advice. I respect that. However, I do not respect that the Texas Stonewall Caucus is being hobbled by someone who refuses to do what is right for the good of the organization and step aside until his legal issues are settled.
More after the break...
For some reason, the stars aligned and the March meeting of Travis County's Democratic CEC was one where optimism welled up like a fountain. We had candidates, we had ex-candidates, we had new precinct chairs, and one kick ass special guest.
Posted at the request of SDEC member Lloyd Criss. Mr. Criss is reading along with this discussion, but is not a member of TK or The Texas Blue. He says this is his last statement on the subject, but he does want to share his observations.
As for the list of "commitments" Barbara itemized in her newsletter, apart from the fact that they are wishes rather than commitments, in my opinion they are superficial palliatives. The meeting confirmed my worst suspicion, that the party chairman and his team are either not willing or not able to examine the culture of insider dealing and the undemocratic practice of insiders secretly deciding that only some Democratic nominees are worthy of party support. They are not willing to examine it because they don't think anything is wrong with it. They simply don't see the problem. They are satisfied with low-expectation strategies and they are content with winning a few selected state house seats and counties and losing the bigger elections. They are either not willing or not able to understand the root causes of and the state party's necessary role in knocking out the defeatism that plagues this party.
(This was in my inbox earlier in the week, and I emailed the writer for permission to publish on TK, which he gave this morning - dksbook),
To Democrats who are concerned,
I journeyed to Austin on Monday the 8th to attend the State Democratic Executive Committee's first meeting of 2007 at the Hyatt Regency on Town Lake. The location was beautiful.
I got there in time to attend the Grassroots Committee meeting. I have mentioned that meeting in another report. I will say that the Chair, Marvin Sutton, was trying to conduct a good meeting. I believe he will improve with practice. A major problem was caused by the lack of a sound system. It appeared obvious to me that members of the Committee were having trouble hearing one another. Nothing is more important in a meeting of a deliberative body than that the members are able to hear one another and have the opportunity to respond to what others are saying. Democratic decisions are not possible unless these conditions exist.
I entered the Texas 1 Ballroom where the SDEC General Session was to be held at about 5 minutes before 1 p.m. On looking about the room, my heart sank. I could see immediately that nothing important would happen here today. There were no floor microphones for the members to use. It was clear that input from SDEC members was not anticipated or desired at this gathering. As it turned out, the acoustics of the room were so poor that even though those at the podium who used a microphone were difficult to hear unless they held the microphone just so. Only a few members complained about this situation.
Chair Boyd Richie called the meeting to order some few minutes after 1 p.m. I am not sure if the members approved the Agenda. The Chair asked for a moment of silence to commemorate some group. It may have been Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and casualties, but I can't be sure. Next, Bob Dean led the Pledge of Allegiance.
I don't know if there was a quorum present or not. Secretary Ruby Jensen called the roll. I heard only one member respond with "Sustaining Member." The use of that phrase seems to me to be an attempt to shame others into becoming sustaining members. I am glad that the practice seems to be losing favor with the members. Members will be glad to be sustaining members when the SDEC asserts its authority. That didn't happen on this occasion.
I appreciate that many of you may not read blogs regularly or at all, and that it can be hard not to see blogger passion and energy for reform and not feel personally attacked.
I also appreciate that the title of the book we of the Texas Progressive Blogger Alliance gave you today is a bit provocative. You may have no interest in reading what a couple of bloggers think needs to be fixed in the Democratic Party.
I have a suggestion to make, and I hope you'll consider it.
Sorry for opening the thread late. The wireless hub at the Hyatt sucks rotten eggs. BUT... We're finally online so consider this a liveblog thread. I have recorded some video that I'll be posting later this afternoon (seriously, I need a better connection before uploading the file)
I thought you folks would be interested to read a copy of Chairman Richie's remarks at the blogger meeting yesterday. Now that the embargo has lifted....
(Our Weekly Column from David Van Os. - promoted by boadicea)
A little while after I post this diary Rachel and I will drive from San Antonio to Austin for the first meeting of the State Democratic Executive Committee since August 2006. The SDEC is supposed to govern the Texas Democratic Party between the biannual conventions. The conventions themselves are the highest governing authorities of the party.
You might wonder how the SDEC governed the TDP during the crunch time of the 2006 general election campaign if it didn't meet. Don't tax yourself trying to figure that out. The answer is, it didn't.
Well folks, here we are, less than 24 hours away from the annual SDEC meeting here in Austin. I wanted to post an update on Project Bridge the Gap as well as post some clarifications since rumors seem to be running rampant.
(The more discussion about the SDEC, the better right now - promoted by dksbook)
Cross posted at BOR
The upcoming SDEC meeting in Austin gives a timely reason to mention something I saw on a California blog where establishment vs netroots fights are going on as well. There's rumblings of a primary challenge in Califonia and Ruck Pad made these points I think are relevant to the debate in Texas:
6) There is not a fixed number of political resources. There is no set limit of political funds and volunteer hours. Primaries energize the grassroots, bringing more people into the political process. Have people still not learned the lessons of Dean?
...
8)The netroots won overwhelmingly in 2006. After all, it was this crazy guy named Chris Bowers, who had this nutty idea to contest every seat. We won the Lieberman primary, got Tester and Webb elected. We even had a comparable success rate to the DCCC, when it comes to the House. We brought millions of dollars into the races and made hundreds of thousands of phone calls and door knocks.
We are not a bunch of angry neophites with too much time on our hands.
That's the frustrating part about debating these issues -- many great Democrats in Texas have paid little or no attention to what's happened nationally since 2003.
(Please give a warm welcome to guest-blogger David Van Os! - annatopia - promoted by TexasKOS.com)
It is an honor to be invited by the administrators of Texas Kaos to serve as a contributing guest columnist. I am grateful for this opportunity and I shall do my best to offer provocative discussions, of which this will be the first offered.
The most powerful thing I have learned by traveling and speaking to Texans in every part of this great state, geographically and demographically, in the course of three statewide election campaigns is that the vast majority of us, regardless of political party or affiliation, want our governments to be owned by the people and operated of, by, and for the people. The belief in popular democracy is embedded in the hearts and minds of the majority of us as one of the deepest unifying values of the American/Texan society in which we live.
