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Category: Thurston County Democrats (Page 9 of 10)

Thurston County Democrats: No longer elitist

June 26, 2007 / / 0 Comments

I never actually believed that the Thurston County Democrats were ever elitist, but now even Particle Man (who does things that particles can) can agree that the above statement is true.

After working since January to open our membership to non-Precinct Committee Officers, the central committee voted earlier tonight to give every member not only a voice, but a vote.

My favorite moments during this debate included Ivan Weiss’s talk last month on how open membership has really made a difference in his King County legislative district organization (I was thinking “Ivan for Governor” after his talk).

The other came tonight when uber-member Rhenda Strub talked about walking her precinct. Rhenda’s not a PCO, but she takes on that most common of PCO tasks. She said that no one asks her whether she’s a PCO, they don’t even ask what her name is, they know who she is, she’s that crazy Democratic woman. Nice.

Anyway, I’m glad this happened. We have a lot of work in Thurston County and the more folks that feel invested in our organization, the more work we can pile on to them.

Which brings me to a point that an opponent of the bylaw change made. There should be something in what we ask members for in terms of their commitment to our organization. Originally, I’d asked that we require members to volunteer before we give them the vote. But, taking into consideration the hours it would take to manage such a requirement, while also realizing you get more volunteers with an incentive rather than a requirement, changed my mind. Excellent point though.

Open membership in Thurston County (vote in June)

May 30, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Last night we (the executive committee of the TCD) presented another version of the open membership amendment to the central committee.

And, wow Ivan Weiss, chair of the 34th LD gave a great five or so minutes on why open membership is the core of his organization. 100 to 150 folks show up to each monthly meeting, because “they have a voice.” They also get out in the community (volunteering at a food bank for example), trying to get more folks involved while also helping their community.

Rossyln Reed, chair of the Mason County Democrats, followed up with her organization’s more recent experience with open membership. Last August they amended their bylaws to allow open membership and since then they’ve seen a sharp increase in participation.

So, next month we’ll be voting again. Last time around the amendment was tabled. Here is some information on a powerpoint I presented last night as well (more technical that rah rah stuff).

Thurston County Dem membership marching on

May 29, 2007 / / 0 Comments

After a few months off, we’re going again at the membership thing starting tomorrow night. We’re cleaning up the language a bit, but the intent is basically the same. Like some other counties and tons of legislative district organizations, if you think you’re a Democratic person and want to give a bit to your local party, you can vote. Not for everything, but for a lot.

We’ll have a handful of presentations during this month’s meeting, explaining the point of the bylaw change and talking about the benefits of open membership in Mason County and in an LD up in Seattle. Then in June, we’re going to vote again.

Participatory democracy and caucuses

April 24, 2007 / / 2 Comments

The participatory democracy argument in favor of caucuses is disingenuous at worst and misguided at best. Last night when we were debating whether to support a primary election or caucus system for next year’s choosing of presidential delegates, two people argued the participatory democracy side of the caucuses.

This isn’t a direct quote, but it gets pretty close to what one of the guys was talking about:

It takes more of a commitment to come to a caucus, very little commitment to vote in a primary. We want to encourage commitment, not just drop in participation.

And

The caucus system is where people are coming together, and talking, it’s a real plus. It shows that the people in the state of Washington are really interested in creating relationships with people in their communities.

I agree with the sentiment of both of those arguments, caucuses are awesome in that they are participatory. People come together and chat, which is much more what democracy should be about than just indicating your preference in private.

That said, the Washington State Democratic Party does nothing else beyond the caucuses to encourage participatory democracy. Actually, its even worse. Before last night’s vote state party chairman Dwight Pelz gave a talk to the 22nd LD meeting (which every quarter happens right before the TCD meeting). He spelled out the ground game plan for 2008, which centered around a lot of people coming to the caucuses.

When all those folks are sitting on their hands while the precinct results are being tabulated, we PCOs are supposed to chat them up to see who we can get interested in volunteering with the party until election day. “We can use them for the next six months,” was something he said towards the end of his talk.

The caucuses aren’t about coming together and knowing your neighbors, if they were we would be doing them more often. They’re about recruiting ground troops for the fall of 2008.

What was implied to me was that after November of 2008, we don’t really care what happens to those folks. Some of them may stay on and stay engaged, but we’re not really worried about that.

The precinct caucuses should be the end result of a civic engagement campaign, not the beginning of a faux engagement campaign. People should come to the caucuses because the party is relevant and important to them in their community, not because we’re blackmailing them to come because its their only opportunity to vote in the Democratic primary.

Open membership tabled, marching on

February 28, 2007 / / 0 Comments

On Monday night the Central Committee of the Thurston County Democrats decided to table the open membership by law change. This would have allowed regular, non-Precinct Committee officers, the ability to participate in our affairs, up unto the point banned by state law.

Basically, our most open option, giving anyone who comes along and pays $20 gets a vote, failed. Open membership didn’t, just that version of it. From here, there seem to be two ways to go about it. One is the “club idea,” which is basically the same as wide open membership, but creates a club around the central committee that does a lot of stuff (like spend money on campaigns) that a central committee would do, but isn’t exactly outlined in state law.

The other is my favorite, earned membership. You wouldn’t have to just pay your way in, you would have to earn it. Which is sort of the argument anyway, because we have a good number of folks that do a lot for TCD, but who don’t get any vote.

Open membership discussion

February 9, 2007 / / 0 Comments

We’re going forward in Thurston County with a discussion on open membership for our county Democratic organization. Right now, only PCOs have a vote at all in our organization, this idea would open it up to anyone who either works or pays enough.

Things seem to be going well, and I’ve been doing some research into what other local Democratic organizations do. In addition to three county organizations that have open membership, I’ve also come up with 16 legislative district organizations that do.

Last Monday and roles of PCOs provided by statute

January 26, 2007 / / 0 Comments

During the county central committee meeting on Monday we introduced the bylaw change that would allow participation by “paid members” in local Democratic affairs. Right now, the only people who vote on what our local party does are PCOs, who are elected or appointed.

This change, that would allow pretty much anyone who is interested into the process, is important to me because it recognizes how things have changed in the past 100 years. Neighborhood political organizations are reflected in the PCO idea (only one representative for a geographic area). But, we don’t live in an era of neighborhood connections, we live in an era of much more flexible social connections.

Anyway, there is some confusion about what roles PCOs are afforded under state law. Some think that PCOs are the only ones allowed to vote in our affairs, but that isn’t actually true. There are very specific roles for PCOs:

What Roles are Provided for Precinct Committee Officers by statute?

  • Electing a chair and vice chair of opposite sexes during a county party reorganization (29A.80.030)
  • Electing a state committeeman and state committeewoman to the state central committee. (RCW 29A.80.020)
  • Electing a chair of a legislative district chair (RCW 29A.80.061)
  • Fill a vacancy on a major party ticket (RCW 29A.28.011)
  • Nominating qualified polling place workers (RCW 29A.44.430)

Beyond the above, votes on who to endorse, our budget, resolutions, etc…, our affairs can be open to all comers.

Other counties and their membership

January 19, 2007 / / 0 Comments

You’d be surprised by how many county Democratic organizations don’t post their bylaws on the internet. Though here are some examples of Washington county organizations that don’t follow the strict PCO-only rule.

Whatcom County:

Section 1: Open Membership

The Central Committee shall be open to all who support the party and wish to be known as Democrats. All members shall enjoy equal rights, protections and opportunities in all proceedings. Discrimination on the basis of sex, race, age (except where state or federal law precludes participation), religion, sexual orientation, economic status or ethnic origin is prohibited in the conduct of Central Committee business.

Section 2: Membership
The membership of the Central Committee shall consist of:

  1. Precinct committee officers (hereinafter referred to as PCOs), elected or appointed, who are duly certified by the County Auditor in accordance with RCW 29A.80.040.
  2. General members, who are registered voters, residents of Whatcom County and have paid their membership dues to the Central Committee.
  3. Associate members, who are not registered to vote in Whatcom County but have paid their membership dues to the Central Committee.

Clallam County has a Democratic Club, a parallel organization that meets separately from the county central committee, which might be something to consider if this membership idea fails. Or even if it doesn’t, I don’t know.

The Grays Harbor County Democrats mix the Club idea with membership. Central Committee meetings are limited to what is actually outlined in law, and everything else is at the club level:

3.2 All citizens who wish to declare themselves Democrats are eligible, upon payment of a $5.00 annual dues, to be members of the Grays Harbor Democratic Club. Democratic Club members will be eligible to vote on all matters not restricted by law at the next GHCDCC meeting following the meeting at which their yearly fee was received.

3.3 The right to vote in all matters not specifically restricted by state law to Democratic precinct committee persons is granted to Democratic elected officials and members of the Grays Harbor Democratic Club with legal voting residence in Grays Harbor County.

Membership debate to go on one more month

January 19, 2007 / / 0 Comments

The vote on whether to allow earned voting membership in the Thurston County Democrats won’t happen next Monday, but rather at February’s central committee meeting. We’ll certainly discuss the idea, but not vote on it. There is a requirement for ten day notice for any bylaw change, which wasn’t met this month. Anyway, gives us more time to sharpen the idea.

Currently only Precinct Committee Officers can vote for anything in the central committee, the governing body. State law only requires them to vote for a limited amount of positions on the executive committee, making all other decisions by the central committee (like how to spend money and what positions to take on policy issues) open to a vote by a membership, if there is a membership. My idea was to give a vote on the central committee to folks who have “earned” it.
The debate on our PCO email list is continuing, with a handful of folks criticizing the idea by explaining how the PCO system is supposed to work. Neighborhood based organizations, with PCOs door belling and organizing their neighbors. Though, people hate answering the doors to strangers and neighborhoods ain’t what they used to be.

That’s not to say that people aren’t organized socially, in the way that neighborhoods were once the strongest of peoples’ social ties. We just have to recognize the more organic way people are organizing themselves nowadays, and it isn’t by neighborhood. It is through interests, social circles or any number of social ties.

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