We all can agree that if more people were involved in political parties, political parties would be stronger. Andrew and I can agree that stronger and more inclusive political parties would benefit the democratic process.
The problem comes along now as the parties try to grapple with the new Top Two primary in their current state. Right now, the parties aren’t exactly the most open organizations around, and it looks like their King County parties are nominated county council candidates that probably won’t get beyond the Top Two primary in September.
The Top Two conventions for both the GOP and the Democrats proved one thing, that in this crazy world, it counts more to motivate people than raise money. In my humble opinion, that is what matters most in politics, or should matter most. Unfortunately, Bob Ferguson and Steve Hammond are likely to get beat in September because people matter little in elections, it is money that counts. And, if Edmonds and Dunn can get on the ballot (we’ll see what the federal courts have to say later), money may very well trump people.
I guess my point though is that it shouldn’t be that way, people should matter more than money.
And, political parties have a lot to say about to what point people can be involved in the democratic process. In short, political parties should be a significant conduit for people to easily involve themselves.
Think yourself a Democrat, though, and show up to the King County convention last weekend, you wouldn’t have had any say on who was nominated. It was PCOs only that could vote.
In a way, that is an open nomination process, because, all King County residents could vote for PCOs. But, how many of Democrats in King County knew they were electing nominators last fall? Either way, there aren’t enough people who are active in political parties for nominations to mean anything really right now.
Now, if we had half the turnout and the exact same setup that we had for the presidential caucuses for the county conventions this year, that would be an entirely different bowl of noodles.
Other King County Dem Convention stuff:
NPI Blog: KCDCC media coverage
NPI Blog: Summary of the KCDCC Winners
Pleasing to Remember:The King County Democrats Nominating Convention
Bob Ferguson did win. I saw him as a winner from the word go.