Colorado State Dems Elect Progressive as Party Chair

Progressives and DFA folks are making their mark in Democratic Party politics:

From the : State Dems oust leader: Chris Gates loses post to Pat Waak

Months after their historic wins in November, Colorado Democrats have ousted party chairman Chris Gates in an upset organized by activists angered by his handling of Mike Miles' failed bid for the U.S. Senate. Pat Waak - a nonprofit director from Erie who is little-known in statewide political circles - narrowly edged out Gates in a final vote of 187 to 184 during Saturday's meeting of the Democratic State Central Committee.
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Gates' apparent ouster comes less than a month after former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean won the national Democratic chairmanship, promising to return the party's power structure back to its liberal roots.

Dean's message caught on in North Carolina and Arkansas, where state Democrats recently elected insurgent newcomers as chairmen instead of more establishment candidates.

In Colorado, many say Waak's victory stemmed less from a liberal Democratic trend nationally than from a rift in the state party since the 2004 U.S. Senate race. Miles - a Colorado Springs educator who, like Dean, opposed the Iraq war - had been running for the seat for two years when party brass backed Salazar as soon as he announced his candidacy last spring. Miles complains that Gates placed fundraising over political conviction and urged donors not to give to his campaign.

"He created lots of obstacles," said Miles, who distributed a letter Saturday supporting Waak and citing "disturbing evidence" about Gates' record. Gates says he never endorsed Salazar, but he acknowledges that his apparent loss "exposes a disagreement, a rift in the party that is very real."

Best-known politically for her unsuccessful 4th Congressional District run in 2002, Waak is executive director of the High Plains Environmental Center and Foundation in Loveland. She has called for more grassroots Democratic organizing and greater respect for underdogs such as Miles.

Her victory Saturday isn't the first for disaffected Miles backers, many of whom are new to party activism and have e-mailed and met regularly since their liberal candidate lost to moderate Salazar in last spring's primary. Last summer, the group sent by far the nation's largest contingent of Dennis Kucinich delegates to July's Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Art teacher Mark Benner of Hugo was one of those delegates. Under Gates' leadership, he said, "I didn't feel like I was a member of the state party."

Another Miles backer and Kucinich delegate, sculptor Vicki Rottman of Denver, has worked on Waak's behalf, ensuring that "people friendly to our cause were elected to the State Central Committee."

"People are ready for a change," she said.