State's Dems Meet In Prescott; No Chairs Thrown

The drama was mild, though just enough to keep the quarterly meeting of Arizona's state Democratic Committee yesterday in Prescott interesting. The rumors of delegates charging the stage or walking out over the choice of the new state party chair did not come to fruition, and as soon as the vote was over, the four or so uniformed Prescott police officers left the building. Former ADP (Arizona Democratic Party) Chair David Waid took over last year from now-Congressman Harry Mitchell, then was re-elected Chair in January. By April, he reportedly confided in Don Bivens that he would be resigning just months after being elected to a full term, and asked Bivens to consider running to replace him as Chair. And so it was, but many delegates felt it wrong of Waid to give someone else a chance to organize a campaign for Chair before letting anybody else know he was resigning. These concerned delegates wore orange arm bands (although the Cindy Sheehan wing of the party mostly wore them as bandanas - looking fresh from Woodstock) and handed out orange papers stating their concerns. They nominated two other candidates who used their 5 minute "acceptance" speeches to say the party needed to operate in a more open manner, then decline the nomination. In the end, Don Bivens was the only nominee, and was declared the new Chair of the ADP. Nobody walked out, but in a peaceful way, concerned delegates made their concerns known. Thank God for democracy.

The other point of contention for many activists was seperating the actual state committee delegates, who had to show credentials to get on the floor, from others in attendance, including many leading party activists, who were relegated to the balcony. Many folks old enough to remember segregation, which we did have in Arizona, did not like the connotation.

The late, great AZ Congressman Mo Udall said that when Democrats form a firing squad, they form a circle. But the Democrats are still more united than the Republicans in Arizona. Their state party chair, Randy Pullen, has sent out e-mails blasting his party's own two Senators, caused the entire party staff to resign upon his election (which was opposed by all Republicans in AZ's congressional delegation), and has caused many donors to stop contributing. Meanwhile, since he took over as the GOP chair, Democrats have out-registered Republican new voters by a margin of 3-to-1 in Arizona (15,000 new Democratic voters since January, to 5,000 new Republican voters).

Post Script: The Democratic State Committee also approved a resolution calling for investigation and impeachment of President Bush, VP Cheney, and Attorney General Gonzalez. While many delegates (myself included) feel impeachment would be a waste of time at this point, taking away attention from presidential candidates and tying up Congress, this resolution passed easily. But the Democratic Congress should know those who put them there at least want them to take the necessary oversight of the Bush Administration that previous Congresses refused to do.

P.S.S. Thanks to all who told me yesterday that you read this blog. Now comment and take the poll!