Dean, the DNC and DPNM Activism

The DNC held their Fall Meeting this weekend in Phoenix. An article in the Washington Post provides a rundown. Excerpts:

Displaying the fiery style that excited many Democrats during his unsuccessful presidential campaign, Dean attacked "political hacks and cronies" of the president for eroding civil rights and voting rights protections, and said of Republicans: "Theirs is a party of self-absorption and selfishness."

. . . We're doing the things that need to be done, but we have a long way to go," he said. "The collapse of confidence in the Republican leadership is not enough to elect Democratic leadership. We have to stand up for what we believe."

. . . [Dean] won near-universal praise among the DNC and state party leaders who gathered here this weekend, saying his emphasis on grass-roots organization was a welcome change from the past. Dean built his campaign for chairman by courting state party leaders, and many said this weekend that he had delivered on his promise to shift money and resources into their states. They defended the money he has spent by saying it represents an investment in party-building in places long ignored by the national party.

My DD also has coverage of the DNC Fall Meeting. See Pulling Back the Curtain: Your DNC and The DNC Meeting, Part I (which includes praise for one of our new DPNM field organizers hired by the DNC, Anathea Chino, who will be working with our Native American populations), Part II and Part III.

My take on what this means for the NM Dem Party? It depends on what "grassroots organization" and "Party building" mean to them.  We have yet to hear any detailed plans on what our four new DNC-funded field organizers will be doing between now and the 2006 election. We have yet to see any of them show up at grassroots meetings. I don't know anyone from our grassroots Democratic community who has been contacted by any of them. What will be their goals, their plans, their strategies and tactics? How will they interact with grassroots activists who hold SCC seats, who serve ward and precinct chairs and who populate the rank and file of Democrats in the state? What will they be doing on a day-to-day basis, and what will they need our help with? We don't know yet.

Let's hope they have a better appreciation of grassroots activism, organization and outreach than does our State Party Chair. As we've discussed previously, John Wertheim's conduct at the recent State Central Committee meeting was incredibly disrespectful of the grassroots and our proposals for reactivating long-dormant elements of the Party. This, despite strong support from the majority of SCC members, as was evident by the motions that won passage. Instead of embracing efforts to strengthen the Party, however, the Chairman seems stubbornly and almost irrationally negative towards almost every suggestion we attempt to raise. What is he afraid of?

We keep hearing the question, "What do the grassroots activists want?" It's no secret. It should be perfectly clear from the suggestions we made at the SCC meeting. These aren't radical proposals. They're not even "progressive" proposals. They're plain old Democrat proposals. They consist primarily of asking Party officials to follow the rules laid out in Party bylaws, to reach out more, to be more proactive, to build on past achievements, to rebuild and revamp for maximum effectiveness, to be more accountable and transparent.

We want more outreach to neglected Democratic populations, using the bylaw requirements as a starting point for developing an effective affirmative action program. We want the Party to actively be pursuing an expansion of Democratic voters and participants, especially in areas long neglected and seldom visited.

We want the resolutions and platform process laid out in the rules to be activated and reinvigorated. We want Democrats all over New Mexico to have a chance to be heard so our candidates can gain a clear and realistic picture of what we believe in.

We want the State Central Committee to be treated as defined in Party bylaws: as the supreme governing body of the Party, with clear responsibilities regarding budget and spending that require the provision of adequate financial information from Party staff and officers.

We want the Party rules to be considered and improved to make them more democratic and inclusive.

Is this asking too much? We don't think so, and we know from our interactions with other SCC members around that state that they don't think so either. Now is the time embrace all the energy and activism and ideas that are springing up among Democrats here and around the nation and put them to work, not push them away. Why would anyone concerned about the future of our Party do otherwise?