Join us below for an ongoing update of today's State Democratic Executive Meeting in Austin, Texas. This is the second full meeting of the SDEC since the 2010 November elections.
BREAKING: Boyd Richies announces that he will not seek another term as TDP Chair and will continue to serve to provide a smooth transition over the next 14 months until a new chair is elected at the State Convention in June of 2012. I have posted his full statement below the live blog.
Letter from Chairman Boyd Richie on not seeking re-election.
Dear fellow Democrat,
I want to share with you the following statement I've just released.
"Every day, as both state and national Republicans wage war on working families, the vital nature of our mission becomes more obvious.
"Knowing how important our work is - it is a very real and special privilege to be Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. I've enjoyed wonderful experiences, met scores of remarkable people, and I've learned a lot.
"As a three-time candidate for Party Chair, one of the things I've learned is that there is always a little friction between running for the position and doing the job. And frankly, we don't have time for that.
"Betty and I have reached the difficult but honest conclusion that, at this point in time, our Party needs a Chair who is not encumbered by also being a candidate.
"Therefore, I have two announcements today. First, I will not seek re-election. Second, and perhaps more importantly, I will dedicate the next 14 months to working with you to build the strongest, most prepared Texas Democratic Party possible
"Now more than ever, Democrats must unite, because a Republican political agenda that threatens to shut down government, schools and nursing homes is one that has turned its back on the people.
"I have faith that our Party will meet that challenge. We have work to do. Given what's at stake, we can afford to do no less."
This is interesting. The Tuition Relief Now campaign is going to be at the SDEC meeting in Austin this Saturday, between 9am-noon at Hilton Hotel (500 E. 4th St., Austin, TX). They are going to vote on whether to endorse SB 105 which is the legislation being pushed by the Tuition Relief coalition.
Students from University Democrats as well as LULAC, University Leadership Initiative, and Texas College Democrats will be present to show their support for this great step towards tuition relief. Rallying in their TUITION RELIEF NOW! T-Shirts, these proud Students, those who have gained the attention of a national political party, will continue the fight for Tuition Relief on behalf of all Students in the State of Texas.
The other week they rallied at the capitol and had over 100 students involved in a lobby day. It got a lot of coverage and unfortunately hit during a time when Matt and I were swamped and didn't have time to write about it. Here's some of those stories.
I just got back from a full day of SDEC watching. There was one bit of news announced by Boyd Richie that I haven't read about anywhere before, so if it is not news for everyone, it was news to me. (Update: the Texas Observer did report last week that Richie was working on this, so today I guess was the official announcement that it is definitely being done.)
Boyd Richie has created a committee chaired by Sen Royce West of Dallas to gather input from grassroots Democrats on their experiences with the primary/caucus system. No word on who is on the committee. Richie said committee membership is largely up to West. I asked Richie about hearings and he said there will probably at least be hearings in Houston and the Mid-Cities area. The committee will also go over the communications the party has already received via emails and such regarding the primary/caucus. I think I also heard him say that there may also be a survey done of state delegates.
The committee is advisory and is supposed to send its recommendations for reforms to the Rules Committee at the State Convention. But, Boyd made it clear that he doesn't want any major changes adopted at this year's state convention. He says wait till next time.
Of course, it will be up to the Rules Committee to pass any rules changes that its members want. It could take the recommendations of West's committee and act on them at this year's convention or ignore them, or its members could come up with its own proposed changes independently of West's committee. The Rules Committee could pass major changes or it could just make the minor adjustments to the rules that usually occur every two years, and put off major changes till the 2010 convention as Richie seems to prefer.
It all depends on what a majority of convention delegates want. As Boyd was quoted on April 1 in the Dallas Morning News, "If a majority of folks there say they want to do away with it [the caucus system], it'll get done away with." He wasn't taking a position one way or the other in that article. He was just making the point that majority rules.
Of course the Rules Committee members are elected at the senatorial district caucus meetings on Friday, June 6 at 3 PM.
I personally hope there is a majority of progressive-minded reformers elected to the committee ready to make some changes this year. No time like the present.
After lurking and commenting for ages, I finally have my first diary on Burnt Orange Report. Hi, everybody!
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."
(Anyone who was at the SDEC meeting Saturday understands how important this issue is to discuss. So please do. - promoted by BOR)
Yesterday, January 12, 2008, the state chair of the Democratic Party and the majority of the SDEC disenfranchised me. Yesterday the Texas Democratic Party embraced heavy-handed procedural tactics worthy of Tom Craddick.
My residence is in Senate District 25. Zada True-Courage is one of my SDEC representatives. At yesterday's SDEC meeting Zada's husband John Courage - who has run two inspiring, spirited campaigns against Lamar Smith for U.S. Congress - sat in Zada's place by lawful proxy and served as my representative.
John Courage is the founder of an organization called the True Courage Action Network. In just one year's time, TCAN has taken the lead as a single-minded champion of campaign finance reform. John is of the opinion that the influence of big money in our political system has corrupted the system and is destroying democracy. Does any reader of this blog disagree?
(For community discussion. - promoted by Burnt Orange Report)
The following is a letter from David Van Os to one of his core supporters following last week's SDEC meeting, where the existence of a campaign/GOTV budget of $400,000 for the 2006 cycle was discussed by finance chair Dennis Speight, prompting questions from several SDEC members.
I asked DVO for permission to reprint it here. I removed only the name of the party to whom it was addressed in order to preserve that person's confidentiality.
I would be interested in BORers' thoughts regarding the ideas advanced here.
(I missed this from earlier this week. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
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 have only a hazy notion of what was said from there on because I could not hear clearly. I shall have to wait to read the minutes of the meeting to get an idea of what transpired. I did hear a bit of an exchange concerning the fact that unfinished and new business were not included on the proposed agenda.
