Burnt Orange Report

Texas @ YDA: Another Perspective

By Kirk McPike

Last week, like Byron and Katie, I was a delegate to the 2005 Young Democrats of America National Convention. And yes, like all the Texas delegates, I was part of the big brawl on the convention floor. While it was exhilarating to be in such a hotly-contested situation, the fight itself was truly awful.

However, just as awful has been much of the subsequent discussion of the Texas vote and the implicit charge that there was a concerted effort within the Texas delegation to disenfranchise certain delegates. This is simply not the case. While one might argue that disenfranchisement occurred, it cannot be argued that disenfranchisement was anyone's goal.

Idealism vs. Realism

As has been discussed, this convention offered Texas a unique opportunity to win a victory that would benefit our state for years to come. We had a great candidate who was running for the male spot on the Democratic National Committee: Giovanni Garibay. And not only was he running, he was a part of the Chris Gallaway ticket and had a very good chance of winning. It was his presence on Gallaway's ticket that led to the blow up on the floor, as it incurred a reciprocal relationship that some delegates did not want to support.

The home states of the other candidates on the Gallaway ticket provided roughly 50% of the votes Giovanni received in his race. Without their support, Gio would have lost. Because of this support of Gio and Texas, it was incumbent upon us to respond in kind. In this case, reciprocation meant delivering around 90% of our vote to Chris Gallaway in the presidential race (and the EVP race, but the controversy was with the first race and our votes veered wildly after that... more later). Giovanni held to the honorable position that not delivering such support would violate his alliance with the ticket, requiring him to step down from his campaign.

This left the leadership of the Texas delegation with an unpleasant political reality. This reality cannot simply be ignored, but I think it has been in much of the subsequent discussion.

To have allowed more than 10 votes from Texas to be cast for Alex de Ocampo for YDA president would have done great harm to Texas's position on the national scene. We would have lost our chance to have a voice on the Democratic National Committee. We would have failed to support those who had supported us, which would have raised real barriers to any future national office candidates from Texas. This option was practically untenable.

However, to limit the votes of those who were voting for Alex de Ocampo would seem "wrong" in an idealistic sort of way. Even though conventions are not "one person, one vote" situations, and instead are based around delegation vote apportionment, there is a powerful emotional argument here. This option is philosophically unpleasant.

Veronica De LaFuente, the head of the Texas delegation, chose practicality over idealism. She did the best she could to allow the minority in our caucus — and it was a small minority — as much voice as was possible without endangering the position of the entire state. You may not like the decision she made, but there was at that point no other realistic option. Veronica clearly didn't enjoy her task, but she had the courage to do what was right for the entire state, no matter how much it upset some delegates.

She did the best she could to balance Texas's interests and voter independence; many state delegations made no such effort, and truly disenfranchised those who wouldn't vote along slate lines.

The subsequent character assassination being leveled against Veronica is unfair. Her decision was not malicious. At worst, it could be accused of being a bit cynical, but that's how politics works. Regardless, she did the practical thing. And, for the good of our state, the right thing. Texas is stronger, and better represented, within YDA than it has been in decades because of the hard choice Veronica made.

Make no mistake: Texas had a lot to lose. By the time our floor fight ended, Gallaway had already won, but Texas had not. With the Gallaway ticket-supported victory of Giovanni, Texas eventually came out on top. We've got a great guy representing our young people on the Democratic National Committee. That's something to be proud of — but let's not forget that we only won because of the decisions made by our delegation leadership.

Blind Spots Galore

And, please, let's not canonize all the Unity supporters just yet. There was plenty of poor behavior on all sides, in all delegations. On the second night of the convention, a Unity-backer from Texas accused me of having "no business being at the convention," and during the floor fight spat the same insult at another Dallas delegate. The broader Unity campaig was, at times, downright spiteful (and quite off-putting, perhaps explaining their average take of 40% of the vote).

Also, it should be noted that Texas's voting was much freer than that of many states. No effort was made in Texas to truly disenfranchise those in the political minority by refusing them delegate status. This happened elsewhere. Over the course of the election, Texas's vote veered wildly, giving a majority to one Unity candidate (Dwayne Bensing) and splitting our votes basically evenly in the hotly-contested race for Secretary. None of the other candidate home states supported nearly as broad a spectrum of candidates from both tickets. Had there been true "disenfranchisement," such varying support would never have taken place.

Full Disclosure

Just to be transparent: I was a Chris Gallaway supporter. Chris spoke to the July meeting of the Dallas County Young Democrats, and gave an impressive presentation on his goals for the future of YDA. I think he has done a great job as president, and that he will do a lot to help Texas. I was also unimpressed with his opponent, who would merely stammer vaguely and shift nervously from one foot to the other when asked how his administration would benefit Texas.

Naturally, I was strongly supportive of Giovanni. I also backed Rob Dolin from the Unity ticket, who was eventually elected YDA Secretary. Rob's a great guy, is full of ideas, is very positive and I'm glad to consider him a friend.

Beyond those three races, I voted the Gallaway ticket down the line.

In the end, the convention was both great for Texas and brutally scarring. We're in a much better position nationally now, but I fear that many of the cleavages opened up at our April convention have grown into chasms. The leadership and membership of the Texas Young Democrats have a hard task ahead in repairing these fissures. Let's hope they, and we, are up to it.