Put the Democracy back in the Democrats

I've been a Democratic County Chair, delegate to the state convention and member of the Central Committee (in my role as County Chair) so I find it appalling as a Democrat to read in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the state Democratic Party is refusing to provide voter lists to Democrats who want to run for office in the State.

From the article..

The Democratic Party of Virginia is denying its voter file to challengers to its incumbents running for re-election to the House of Delegates in a June 14 primary.

Kevin Griffis, a state party spokesman, said the House Democratic Caucus asked that the voter file not be sold to challengers.

The file includes information such as past voting patterns and interest exhibited through volunteer efforts and phone bank calls. A list of potential Democratic voters in a Democratic primary could be useful to candidates.

...

Del. Brian J. Moran, D-Alexandria, the House caucus chairman, said the caucus decided during the General Assembly session to protect its incumbents.

"They pay dues to the caucus; it makes no sense to assist someone in trying to unseat them," he said.

The caucus regards McEachin, a former member, as a friend, he said, but the caucus adopted a policy to be applied uniformly to all challengers, Moran said.

The state party is providing the voter file to all candidates running for open seats, Griffis said. There are five open seats.

Griffis noted that Gov. Mark R. Warner is backing Miles. It would be self-defeating for the party to try to help someone whom Warner opposes, he said.

I thought this was the Virginia Democratic Party, not the Mark Warner party and incumbent fan club.

Write your Delegate and the state party and ask them to change this decision.

Run for the Central Committee so we can vote to change this decision.

Put the Democracy back in the Democrats.

Comments

[Jonathan S. Mark]

I have sent the following letter to Dan Steen:

Mr. Steen:

Thank you for your prompt response to my inquiry about proposing a resolution.

You may be familiar with an article in the 4/28/05 Richmond Times-Dispatch stating that the Democratic Party of Virginia is denying its voter lists to challengers in the 6/14 House of Delegates primaries.

Here is the URL of the article: http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=
MGArticle&cid=1031782404317&path=%21news&s=1045855934842

I would like to propose the following resolution:

====================
We note the statement by Democratic Party of Virginia spokesperson Kevin Griffis in the 4/28/05 Richmond Times-Dispatch. Mr. Griffis stated that the Democratic Party of Virginia is denying its voter file to challengers to its incumbents running for re-election to the House of Delegates in the June 14, 2005 primary.

Be it resolved that the Democratic Party of Virginia should provide its voter files on an equal basis to both challengers and incumbents in the June 14, 2005 House of Delegates Democratic primary and in future primaries.
====================
Based upon what you have told me, I will be at the Saturday, May 7 Resolutions Committee meeting at 11 AM at the Alexandria Democratic headquarters. If it is acceptable, I will prepare some non-confrontational informational flyers describing the background for this resolution.

The flyers will likely contain all or part of the 4/28/05 Richmond Times-Dispatch article, along with the above resolution.

[Jonathan S. Mark]

Modified proposed resolution. Please consider joining me on May 7 at 11am at the Alexandria Democratic Committee HQ to present and lobby for this resolution.

====================
WHEREAS Virginia has a long history of denying equal
rights to minority groups, from African Americans to
the GLBT community, and,

WHEREAS the Democratic Party took part in many of
these bad laws under the Byrd machine, and,

WHEREAS the 8th Congressional District was where Byrd
Democrats began to lose in party primaries, and,

WHEREAS the Byrd machine used the state party to
discourage and defeat challengers to their incumbents,
and

WHEREAS the Democratic Party is now once again
protecting incumbents against primary challenges, and,

WHEREAS we may support the protected incumbents, but
not support the precedent they are setting, then

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 8th District
Democratic Convention requests
that the Democratic Party of Virginia open its voter
file to all Democratic candidates and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that the 8th District
Democratic Convention requests that
House Democratic
Caucus Chairman Brian Moran play a lead role in
creating an open primary process.
====================

[ed_in_Reston]

Rich

Calm down, this issue had been debated for years in the Central committee and will be dabated again and again.

The "new" central committee may again debate this issue, but NOT until the June 18th meeting in Wlliamsburg, 4 days after the primary

The current policy is cast in stone, end of story until June 18th

As for folks getting ready to run in 2006 that is another issue

[rich^kolker]

Ed,

I refuse to believe any policy is cast in stone. I think this policy can be changed prior to the next regular Central Committee meeting with enough pressure on the party to do so.

I've been to enough central committee meetings to know how they work (and how they don't), which is why I'm running for a seat this time around. This party needs to be opened up if it is to be more than a club for the insiders.

[Charlie Fletcher]

This is utterly ridiculous. I like the junior Moran and many of his collegeagues in the house who came up with this policy, but it's just not right. The voter file belongs to the Democratic Party of Virginia. The House Caucus is but one subset of the party. If we are going to build a majority in this state, we need to let candidates (regardless of incumbency) use the tools we have to actually contact voters. The only good thing about the DPVA voter file, "Prevail" these days is the history contained in it. We need to continually ensure the quality of this information by allowing others to use it. Having contested primaries where both sides have access to it is one of many ways to do that.

Shame on you Delegate Moran and any incumbents who don't work to hold on to their seats. Getting elected is not a coronation, it's an interim appointment. There are enough advantages to incumbency without the DPVA adding more. This is a Democracy, it is hard work. Let's do the work and make it easier for others to as well.

[Scott]

Join with the Tea Party Patriots and dump your "label"!