A Word Of Warning For Caucus States
I attended my precinct caucus in Minnesota on Super Tuesday. In fact, I was a Bernie Sanders Caucus Captain. Bernie took my county, Hubbard, with 55% of the vote, compared to Clinton's 45%. At our caucus, delegates to the county convention were chosen. Last Saturday was the county convention.
The county convention started out great! There were probably 150-200 people there. The party people who were running the show were effusive in their praise of the number of people, and the number of young people, in attendance. They said several times that the county party needs new people, and really needs young people. Well, as the afternoon wore on, things changed. For one thing, the convention lasted for five hours, on a Sunday afternoon. By the third hour, people started to leave. Many had to work, and it was a 60 degree March day in northern Minnesota. The weather may have contributed!
Finally, after more than four hours, we voted on delegates to the state convention. Our county sends four delegates. Guess what?? Three out of the four delegates to the state convention are Clinton delegates! By the time the results were announced, there were about 20 people still in the building.
That evening, I e-mailed the county party. I reminded them of their excitement to see new and young people interested in electoral politics. I reminded them of the fact that Sanders won the county. I told them that those same new people they were so excited about would likely feel betrayed by the delegation and would not continue to be involved in the county party. I implored them to direct the delegation to vote in such a way that it reflected the will of the people. The next day I received a reply. Here is a direct quote:
"Read and re-read your e-mail. I think part of the problem was the convention dragged on so long we lost Sanders supporters - just guessing. I was glad to see delegates with some diversity elected this time, not just the same old faces. All I can say is an election is an election and the result is what it is. I just hope that if Clinton is endorsed, all these new people will hold their noses and vote for her as opposed to staying home and letting the Republicans win everything."
It's been a long time since I've been this filled with rage.
I do not know if other caucus states operate similarly. Sanders supporters and delegates need to be hyper-vigilant to this type of bullshit! I will continue to be the squeaky wheel. I'm considering some letters to the editor. In small-town rural areas like this one, letters to the editor can be effective.
I don't know what else to do. Does anyone have any ideas?
Comments
They actually said, "hold their noses and vote for her"?
They actually said, "hold their noses and vote for her"? Amazing. There is no denying the fact "party regulars" tend to be Hillary supporters. Good for you to highlight this issue.
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
Hold your nose and eat the
Hold your nose and eat the shit sandwich we are serving! DNC to Americans.
Yup...
That's exactly what they said.
Interestingly, during the convention the topic of repealing Citizens United was discussed. Someone wearing a county party t-shirt and a Hillary sticker actually stood up and said "Citizens United isn't ALL bad".
Never thought I'd see the day!!
"Stand Up! Keep Fighting!" - Paul Wellstone
Thanks for sharing this.
I am not familiar with this process. Did they need 5 hours? Once the vote is over, what's to discuss? Not only do the candidates such, the election process is rigged. If they aren't denying the vote, they're stealing it.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
They wouldn't have needed five hours
Unfortunately, the vote doesn't come until near the end of the convention. Before that is a lot of boring stuff related to party housekeeping, and then there is discussion of resolutions. There were 20 resolutions to discuss. That's where I learned, according to a Hillary supporter, that "Citizens United isn't all bad".
The vote happened after about 4 hours and 20 minutes. It then took about 45 minutes to tally the votes. I have no idea why that took so long.
The entire convention was pretty unbearable. I highly doubt that any of the new people who turned out for Bernie will be interested in attending any party functions in the future!
"Stand Up! Keep Fighting!" - Paul Wellstone
Thanks for sharing this.
I am not familiar with this process. Did they need 5 hours? Once the vote is over, what's to discuss? Not only do the candidates such, the election process is rigged. If they aren't denying the vote, they're stealing it.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Seems like a pattern is developing.
I am not sure if the essay/diary is here, but there was a similar incident in Iowa recently.
Skip the party apparatus and go public with it. Letters to the Editor may be a good place to start. If it is possible to find the Iowa person and others who have seen this happening, it needs to be advertised that the election is being stolen from the voters. I would suggest contacting MoveOn, DFA and others as they may be able to help in getting the word out and maybe gathering others before this goes any further.
My 2 cents.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Getting Move on and DFA involved
Seems to me to be a great idea. It also seems to me that the party needs a good thorough house cleaning. And part of the duty of the new young millennials is to take the damn thing over and rework it from stem to stern. Becoming precinct committee people is a start. BOORING but necessary. And it really doesn't have to be boring if there is a network of these folks doing the work. Kick the status quo crowd out. Clean house and change the rules to make it more democratic. DO NOT GET CO OPTED IN THE PROCESS!
glitterscale
I'm going to our county convention tomorrow
as a Bernie delegate. I'll certainly keep my eyes open to see if that sort of thing goes down there...
Be on your toes
and be ready to raise hell!
"Stand Up! Keep Fighting!" - Paul Wellstone
Thanks for the heads up. We
Thanks for the heads up. We plan to go to caucus Tuesday; I just got a call from the campaign saying as long as we get there before 8:30 we can still vote, so even if we can't start early that day at work we should still be able to make it. We'll see how it goes; if I get a chance to be a delegate I might do it this time, depending on when the county and state conventions are. If it's a Saturday I can do it.
This shit is bananas.
I am a PCO in WA. We'll be
I am a PCO in WA. We'll be caucusing tomorrow. I've been part of the team that has been planning these things in my LD, we started in December. We divvied up the tasks, and my major job was the design and printing of our promo materials, including a mailer that went out to 26,000 people. We started allotting funds for this in 2013, and we have dropped $25K to hold these. We are one of 49 LD, and the this process is being repeated to some degree or another across the state. This Saturday is the first step in a 3-step process. After this caucus comes the LD caucus, followed by the CD caucus, where the actual national delegates are selected. Some additional delegates are chosen at the state convention, I have no idea how that works, but I've never heard of complaints.
Our precincts are small. I have roughly 350 voters in mine. I have a lot of experience with caucusing, while unexpected things happen every year, it's usually minor stuff like folks turning up at the wrong site. Fortunately our groups are smaller and easier to control. We're going to move'em it and move'em out.
One concern that might pop up is the fact that there are a TON of registration forms floating around. Both campaigns have been hitting the rallies and passing them out. As a result, there is a possibility of illegal proxy voting...someone comes with a bunch of forms their buddies filled out perhaps. We're on the lookout.
This year the absentee Surrogate Affidavit criteria was loosened to allow "work schedule" as an excuse, and the campaigns pounced on that. Normally the party receives 500 or so, they got over 35,000 this time. Clinton even went so far to send SA's (with a pre-paid envelope no less) out to a targeted demo...my "feelin' the Bern" wife got one. (I gave it to a disabled Sanders guy). Of course, since this is an honor-based system, there will be abuses that occur, but the deadline for the SA's has passed. The state party did a pretty good job of vetting them.
So, I'm hoping these things go well. I'll end this on a happy note: I was at a work party last night to sort through our 3 foot-high stack of Surrogate Affidavits and put them into the 210 precinct caucus packets. Although this is totally anecdotal, the batch I did was overwhelmingly for Bernie
Wish us luck...Go Bernie! He's in town tonight!
Very important post.