The Continuing Saga of State Party Politics

For ready reference, I thought I'd gather together links to recent media and online coverage on State Democratic Party politics and issues raised by State Central Committee members:

Steve Terrell had an article in the Santa Fe New Mexican on October 29th (pdf) that didn't show up online, as well as an extensive article and sidebar in the New Mexican today that you can read on his blog.

UPDATE: Terrell has more on Richard Buckman in the 11/3/05 Santa Fe New Mexican.

Kate Nash had a column in the Albuquerque Tribune on October 31st.

Joe Monahan has put up two posts in the last two days, here and here.

DFNM featured a post on October 25th on staff leaving the DPNM, as well as the one yesterday in response to Joe Monahan's first post.

I've received a number of emails from people wanting to know more about Richard Buckman of TCB after Terrell's coverage on this. He was paid tens of thousands of dollars by the State Party for consulting, supposedly to lobby on the Party's behalf at the DNC and DCCC. People are finding it odd that the DPNM felt it had to pay someone to interact with the Party in Washington. It's also been stated that one of Buckman's accomplishments was to arrange for Wesley Clark to appear at a Party fundraiser in Hobbs, NM.

Here and here are articles I found by Googling on Buckman. In one of them he's referred to as "formerly a GOP consultant." Both articles cover his involvement with the appointment of U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pickering of Mississippi to the federal Court of Appeals. Pickering was eventually appointed to the post by Bush in a temporary recess appointment.

Although I think some of the comments in yesterday's thread provide more heat than light, and are too personal in some cases, I still believe a dialog on where we are as a Party and where we're going can be a positive thing. I don't censor commenters on this site. You're on your own in judging how accurate or reasonable their points are. Blogs always attract juvenile comments along with the more rational ones.

I want to reiterate that the majority of Dems who are speaking out, publicly or behind the scenes, are seeking only to encourage better accountability, transparency and results from the State Party. These are all  touchstones of any effective and professional organization. We are regular, rank and file members of the Party's State Central Committee, its wards and its precincts -- workers from within the mainstream of the Party who are committed to getting things done and making sure our Party infrastructure is efficient and honest. Don'' believe anyone saying otherwise.