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| By Spider Martin |
I don't have any illusions as to my "influence" or importance in the world, but I love my country, and in my own way I hope to make a difference because I want to make this world we live in a better place for everyone.Let's Recap:
The challenge for Mr. Jones is whether voters see him as reasonable and unbiased, as he hopes, or as an appeaser of the other side. His appeals risk alienating not only the Trump-supporting Alabamians he has to answer to when he faces re-election in November, but also liberal Democrats — his base — some of whom he says have wanted to remove the president since “the minute he took his hand off the Bible when he was sworn in.”Um No, Mr. New York Times Columnist Jeremy W. Peters Doug Jones doesn't have to answer to the Trump-supporting Alabamians. As a matter of fact, listening to advice like this is why his re-election is in jeopardy.
History to the contrary, too many white Democrats refuse to learn that Blacks can win elections. Less than a week after Black voters were hailed for having “saved America” through a record turnout in Alabama to defeat Roy Moore’s bid for the U.S. Senate in December, pundits were advising the Democratic Party that it should reward its Black supporters by shoving them to the back of the political bus yet again. Bill Scher’s Dec. 20 article in POLITICO was typical of this bad advice. He suggested that in 2018, Democrats should run candidates like Doug Jones, who won a narrow victory over Roy Moore but polled lower than Moore among white voters.And how are Alabama's African American voters being rewarded? By being thrown to the back of the bus.
This is what punishing the base to spite your face in Sweet Home Alabama looks like.Worley and attorney Benjamin Maxymuk appeared before the Credentials Committee today. Worley argued, in part, that the election last year was challenged only because she won. She characterized the DNC’s demands on the state party to change its bylaws as an effort to take from black party members the ability to elect blacks to the State Democratic Executive Committee.“So just get your boots on because you’re going to need a whole lot of water sprayed on you,” Worley said. “Not from those water hoses that we saw in Alabama back in the 60s. But it’s because you’re going to be burning in hell for taking away people’s voting rights.”
“We not go let folk kick us around and dog us around and keep putting them back in office,” he charged from the podium. “We are not going to do that.”And that's unfortunate since Alabama is key to Democrats gaining control of the Senate.
Reed didn’t mention folk’s name. Didn’t have to.
But here is the Political Play of the Decade: For Democrats to have any realistic hopes of taking control of the U.S. Senate from Republicans they need to hold on to Jones seat. So control of the U.S. Senate is in the control of Alabama's Black block vote and we are damned if we vote for Doug Jones and damned if we don't.
Ain't that a dip?
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| Democratic Party nomination intra-party fight concept as two mountain cliffs each shaped as a donkey clash head to head damaging the party as a 3D illustration. (Photo: AdobeStock) |
In her open letter, which was released by the ADC on Facebook, Bright said, “I am so saddened, insulted and outraged at the DNC for their plan to strip voting rights from blacks elected to serve on the SDEC in order to give Doug Jones the ability to control the outcome of an election he has conspired to have in order to control the majority of blacks presently serving.”
Speaking specifically of Jones, Bright continued, “He attempted to replace those black officers in last year’s election with an almost entirely white slate and failed because black members voted his slate down. His insistence in this effort, aided by the DNC, speaks volumes to me and echoes what many of us have long understood.”
She then said that black Americans have historically been taken advantage of after being integral in a political movement’s success, comparing black support that aided Jones’ 2017 special election victory to the efforts to end “slavery” and “Jim Crow.”
“Although blacks have been faithful to the Democratic Party and are largely responsible for electing Doug Jones and any white seeking office in this state, once elected on the backs of blacks, the urgency to remove black leadership begins,” Bright stated.
“In other words, as long as we’re working in the fields all is well, but when we move to positions of authority, a challenge begins,” she added. “From slavery through Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement, we are constantly being shown how little respect blacks receive for being hard working and loyal.”
Bright went on to say the electoral challenge to Worley is “a smoke screen to make it appear that Jones and the DNC is not attacking his true target, blacks.”The minority assisted by DNC Chair Tom Perez and the Republican-controlled Alabama Supreme Court received permission to rule the majority and start their own separate and unequal party
“This is a huge taint on the national Party and the Senator (Jones) who depends on our vote to get re-elected,” she concluded.
Blacks got their position in the ADP largely because whites left it. We should not be penalized for our loyalty. White voters should not resent blacks on the SDEC or disparage them publicly for insisting on fairness for everyone. It is incumbent upon all Democrats to recruit new Democrats daily, through their friends, their families, and common concerns.To be clear, this is about the Minority deciding who represents the Majority under the guise of diversity.
The Democratic National Committee (“DNC”) Charter has two slightly different “inclusion” provisions. Article Eight, Section 2 provides that “discrimination” in the Party (including state units) “on the basis of sex, race, age (if of voting age), color, creed, national origin, religion, economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnic identity or physical disability is prohibited.” There is really no comparable provision in the ASDEC Bylaws.
Article Eight, Section 3 provides that “to encourage participation by minority groups, blacks, Native Americans, Asian/Pacifics, Hispanics, women, and youth ... [the state parties] ... shall adopt and implement an affirmative action program which provides for representation as nearly as practicable of the aforementioned groups, as indicated by their presence in the Democratic electorate ...” This is the language the Shadoin amendment copied, which is why LGBT and disabled persons were not included.
There are effectively parallel provisions in the ASDEC Bylaws with respect to women and blacks. Article III, Section 1(d) provides that one male and one female shall be elected from each State House district, assuring gender equity in the overall membership. Gender equity is further enshrined in Article IV, Section 1, which requires that the Chair and First Vice-Chair of the SDEC be of differing genders. Article III, Section 1(a) provides the mechanism by which the black percentage of the SDEkC is the same as the black percentage of the Democratic presidential electorate.
This is necessary to prevent black under-representation, as many of the 210 “district” members are elected from heavily white Republican districts in places like Baldwin and Shelby Counties. Members elected by the Minority (black) Caucus under Section 1(a) are required to be elected in equal numbers of men and women, to preserve gender equity.So while the Republicans are recruiting candidates and winning elections the battle continues.
The DNC ordered in February that the state party hold new elections and review bylaws to diversity(sic) the membership of the SDEC, the governing body of the Alabama Democratic Party. Since that order, the DNC and the Worley faction have clashed over how the reforms should be implemented and concerns surfaced earlier this fall that all of the squabbling could prevent Alabama delegates from attending next year’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee.Stay tuned.
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| Parker Griffith submits his paperwork to run for governor at Alabama Democratic Party headquarters in Montgomery on Friday afternoon. (Mike Cason | mcason@al.com) |
Bentley announced his re-election campaign in 2013. Griffith waited until 15 minutes before signup deadline for candidates on Feb. 7.Let's recap for those who don't know. There is an old saying "don't burn the bridge that will take you over the water", well Artur Davis is attempting to walk on water and rejoin the democratic party after he not only set fire to the bridge, but blew the bridge up.
Griffith said he had been considering it for a few months. He even had a poll done in December by Public Policy Polling in Raleigh, N.C., that indicated Bentley's favorability rating was low enough that he might be vulnerable.
But Griffith said he waited because he thought former Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. or state Sen. Billy Beasley might enter the race. When it became clear they weren't, he and his wife, Virginia, dashed to the state Democratic Party headquarters in Montgomery. He walked in, filled out the qualifying papers, but then walked outside to the sidewalk with his wife to give it one more thought.
"She said, 'How will you feel if you get in the car and drive back to Huntsville not having thrown your hat in the ring? I think you ought to do it.'"
At that, he walked inside, filled his paperwork and began another campaign.
As mentioned earlier, Davis defected to the GOP and in 2012, he supported Mitt Romney for president, giving a speech from the floor of the Republican National Convention. Before that, while still in Congress, he voted against Obamacare -- the only member of the Democratic Black Caucus to do so.About that Radney Rule.....based on the al.com article Parker Griffin didn't write a letter to the party's executive committee asking them to open the door
Now he wants back in the Democratic party, if not their good graces, and he has written the party's executive committee a letter asking them to open the door.
The only thing is that the party has something called the "Radney Rule," which prohibits anyone from qualifying as a Democrat if that person has supported Republicans in the last election cycle.
Griffith, 71, was elected to North Alabama's 5th District congressional seat as a Democrat in November 2008 but switched parties less than a year later. At the time, he said there appeared to be no place in the national Democratic Party for a "pro-business, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment" congressman.Really?But GOP voters never embraced Griffith as one of their own: He lost his bid for re-election in 2010, finishing more than 12,000 votes behind then-Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks in the Republican primary.
He tried to reclaim the 5th District seat from Brooks in 2012 but fared even worse, despite pumping more than $568,000 of his own money into the campaign.
Last fall, Griffith briefly explored the idea of challenging Brooks as an independent candidate. He recently rejoined the state Democratic Party and said earlier this week that most people have been "gracious" about his return.
It's incumbent on the Party leadership at every level, both in the Party proper, and among the caucus leadership in legislative bodies, to help remind the entire office-holding Party of the likely futility of switching. This is not something you want to do with a high degree of visibility, and even a private, but overt “conversation” might be over the top. But the occasional joke at a banquet about “One-Term Griffith” will not only bring a laugh, it will serve as a reminder. Post-switch retaliation, such as letters to the editor (and the occasional lawsuit!) demanding refunds of contributions are less effective, though a few switchers have been shamed into refunding Democratic contributions.
The Radney Rule allows a party member to challenge a potential candidate’s ballot qualification if the potential candidate supported a candidate for another party within the last four years. According to the challenge from Miles, Grimsley gave $500 to Secretary of State candidate Beth Chapman in August 2006 when Nancy Worley was the Democratic nominee. Over at Left in Alabama (who was first out with the story), Grimsley’s potential candidacy is finding few friends.Again, exactly WHO forgave Parker Griffin? Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison said it best: It's like he thinks nobody remembers what he said when he ran for office and nobody has a video camera or even some old newspapers laying around."
Speaking of the Radney Rule… Democratic political consultant Steve Raby has been mentioned as a potential candidate for Congressional District AL-05. Would he be vulnerable to a Radney Rule challenge himself through contributions he directed to Republicans through his PAC [.pdf]? Or would it be not so much of an issue because the contributions are technically from his PAC (albeit presumably at his direction) and not directly from himself?
Update: Readers have pointed out that the Democratic Party by-laws state that no candidate is permitted to qualify as a Democrat “who did not support the nominees of the Democratic Party in all Special or General Elections during the past four years.” While Raby has given to plenty of Republicans, he seems to do it during primaries, not during the general election cycle where you could say he was not supporting the Democratic nominee, at least as far as I have seen. Furthermore, the by-laws allow such a potential candidate to renounce his previous allegiance, explain the error of her ways, and “If, after such a hearing, the Executive Board is convinced by a preponderance of the evidence that such a person would be an asset to the Democratic Party, the Executive Board may, by a vote of two-thirds of those present and voting, allow that person to seek office as a Democrat.”
Whats the matter with Democrats in Alabama you ask? Take a look in the mirror. The Alabama Democratic party has been infiltrated. That's what's wrong with the democratic party in Alabama. You know the drill. Find an effective liberal group/blog. Pick a fight. Have the groups pick sides. And who wins in the end? Not democrats that's for sure.Waiting on someone to blame Joe Reed and his bunch in 5-4-3-2-1....
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| Left in Alabama: Terrie Sewell It's a historic election because it's about you,not about me. |
Black Agenda Report is once again publishing the annual CBC Monitor Report Card. The former all-time worst Black Congressman, David Scott of Georgia, has passed the torch to a new generation of corporate-bought politicians, represented by Alabama’s Terri Sewell – although Scott remains a close second.Are you happy now?
As a Democrat running in a D+18 district, Terri Sewell is without question the Alabama Democrat most likely to be elected to Congress tomorrow. If that happens Sewell will become Alabama's first African-American Congresswoman and the first woman elected to Congress from this state in a regular election. But, as the Birmingham News recently said when they endorsed her, that isn't the best reason to vote for her. The best reason to vote for Terri Sewell on Tuesday is the same as it was last spring ...she's simply the best candidate. From the early days of her campaign Sewell has maintained, "I'm the best candidate on the issues." On the eve of the general election, she still is!What did the residents of the 7th district to do deserve this?
My worst fear has come to past. Republicans, enabled by the media (again) and the neo liberals (again), bought and paid for the only African American seat in congress (again). I'm sure they are patting themselves on the back and high fiving their "victory" this morning, but this is wrong on so many levels. For one thing it proves it's not about the people, it's about the money, the power and the influence. It's proof the residents of the 7th district didn't get to decide who represents them in congress (again).Again, this is what happens when the white wing of the Alabama Democratic Party decides who should represent the black wing of the Alabama Democratic Party. Say what you want to about
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Kyle thinks he is a defender of the oppressed when he is actually an offender.
Kyle left out some very pertinent information. According to Joe Reed, new members aspiring for the Executive Committee have normally been interviewed by the current Executive Committee. The rejected candidates did not bother to do so. There had already been information circulating that the new majority Caucasian members would work to change the current bylaws, obviously, to attract more Caucasian members whose losses by the Democratic Party have been devastating in the South. I see no reason that Joe Reed would oppose regaining more Caucasian members.
Apparently, Joe Reed felt threatened by them not following common procedure for the interview and failed to support them. Hopefully, Joe Reed will give his own position regarding this matter, as we have only heard Kyle's viewpoint.
This is Whitmire's reply:NufocusfromBham I have been to enough executive committee meetings in the last 10 years to safely say that this argument is a bunch of nonsense. It's what Reed's folks like to argue, but it just ain't so.Actually it just ain't so that his argument is a bunch of nonsense, because the white wing of the democratic party pulls this crap year after year, and are foiled year after year by an old black man named Joe Reed. This rule is nothing new but don't let the truth stand in way of a lie Mr. Whitmire, sir.
And this is why we have undeclared voters, their party is control by black jim crow, who cannot let go of their past and they would rather control their sand pile even if it's filled with tape worms. Massa still controls these people because they can't let go and offer equal representation to whties from fear. FEAR stands for 'Frad each arian is racist. Fear.
Reed is the worst thing that has happened to the Democratic party in Alabama and until their party realizes this it will only continue to diminish. Democratic candidates used to be able to garner lots of Republican votes in most counties in Alabama. No longer is that the case.
A new Democratic Party out side the claws of the current State Democratic Executive Committee is a must. The Democratic Party as it exists now is dead in the water in any state-wide race and/or any white majority legislative/county/school board district.According to Whitmire an old black man named Joe Reed is racist because he's standing in the way of these voices. Voices that don't want to be known as the party of blacks. EYE HOPE the Alabama Democratic Reform Caucus is the answer for those who no longer want to identify with blacks, I mean , democrats, too. This is further evidence today's Democrats want to go back to to being the party of Jefferson Davis not Lincoln.
Legislative Redistricting/Reapportionment by Republicans in 2011, with Joe Reed's acquiesce, has guaranteed that.
Democrats can now only be elected in Black majority districts. Alabamians of good will have been driven out of the Democratic Party by the antics of the current leadership and allies of the Alabama Democratic Conference.
Alabamians of good will and a sense of fair play are turned off by the extremism in both the Democratic and Republican Parties. Extremism, in any form, will not solve the real problems facing Alabama and the Federal Government and thus, the quality of life of its citizens.
The ADC Chairperson has total control of the Democratic party structure. But what has he got?
Nothing but a toothless party whose proud history has been shattered by his drive to control. He has destroyed the Democratic Party as if the Republicans paid him to do it.
The head of the ADC is the best thing that the Republican Party has going for it.
For progressivism, instead of re-gressivism, moderates want a choice. A middle of the road party is what Alabama needs to move the state forward to elevate the living standards of all our citizens.
Hopefully, the Alabama Democratic Reform Caucus is the answer.
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Sen.
Hank Sanders, D-Selma, said Friday he had hoped President Barack Obama
would move his planned visit to Selma from Friday, March 7 to Sunday,
March 8 to better accommodate local commemorations of the 50th
anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.” Sanders was joined by (left to right)
Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery; Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery; Rep.
Thad McClammy, D-Montgomery and Alabama Democratic Conference chairman
Joe Reed.(Photo: Brian Lyman/Advertiser)
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The annual march, usually held on a Sunday in the first week of March, has been planned by state Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, and others annually since the 1970s. Sanders and other leaders said they were blindsided by Obama's announcement -- made in conjunction with U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. -- that the president would march on the anniversary date: March 7.
Sanders said there is a very specific reason for a Sunday march -- to commemorate "Bloody Sunday," that day on March 7, 1965, when state police beat marchers attempting to walk from Selma to Montgomery.Ya think? The end result, President Obama will speak in Selma on March 7, but there will be no march. The one and only march will take place on SUNDAY, March 8, 2015.
The marchers were stopped on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, and driven back. The incident was recently captured in the Paramount film, "Selma."
Sanders said it has always been especially poignant that the civil rights marchers were beaten on a Sunday.
The 1965 march, which was eventually successful later in March 1965, was seen as helping pass the U.S. Voting Rights Act, which invalidated state laws designed to keep blacks from voting.
Sanders said any attempt to hold two marches, one on March 7 and one on March 8, would be "divisive," and would send the wrong signals to the world.
“Senator Barack Obama came to Selma and marched on Bloody Sunday when he was seeking to be President. President Bill Clinton came to Selma and marched on Bloody Sunday on March 5, 2000, on the 35th Anniversary. Vice President Joe Biden came to Selma in 2013 and marched on Bloody Sunday. Attorney General Eric Holder came to Selma and marched on Bloody Sunday. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came to Selma and marched on Bloody Sunday. They and so many others all recognized the sacredness of Bloody Sunday in their pilgrimages to Selma. Many leaders, civil rights and otherwise, have come to Bloody Sunday every single year for decades. Bloody Sunday is sacred. The Bloody Sunday March is sacred and cannot be aborted or redirected. It must be commemorated. It must be reenacted. It must be respected. It must be lifted. And it will on Sunday, March 8th,” said Sen. Sanders.The Bloody Sunday march is about something far greater than a presidential visit, rescheduling the observance to fit the schedule of a dignitary is unreasonable. State Sen. Hank Sanders, Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford and others who have stood firm on the scheduling should be commended.
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| H/T Speaking Out News |
Dr. The Arthur D. Shore Superior Leadership Award was presented to Eddie Cedric Sherrod, Sr. on May 11, 2013 by Dr. Joe L. Reed, chairman, Alabama Democratic Conference (ADC). Eddie Sherrod, Madison Co. ADC chairman, received this award for his consistent record, community outreach, dedication, and overall effectiveness for more than a decade of service to the people of Alabama and ADC.
It has come to my attention the Chair(s) of the Madison County Chapter of the Alabama Democratic Conference thought it was appropriate, for lack of a better word, to have District 1 School Board mis-representative Laurie McCaulley, who was ostracized from the black elected officials group for siding with WARdynski against her constituents, serve as Mistress of Ceremonies for their annual membership breakfast, and, to add insult to injury, honor Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Casey WARdynski for doing the following:"The Alabama Democratic Conference, formerly known as the Black Political Caucus of Alabama, was established in 1960. Its leaders were African Americans who wished to encourage all voters, but especially other African Americans, to vote for the democratic candidate, who at the time was John F. Kennedy with vice president Lyndon B. Johnson. The founders of this influential group include Arthur Shores, Rufus Lewis, Dr. C.G. Gomillion, Q. D. Adams, Isom Clemon, and Beulah Johnson. All of these individuals held respectable positions in their communities and were looked up to by the people, especially by other African Americans."
Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!Why? I mean, seriously, why would a group of democrats honor a card carrying, republican for proving he is not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu tyes and the entire entitlement crowd?
a black who is overeager to win the approval of whites (as by obsequious behavior or uncritical acceptance of white values and goals)With democrats like this, who needs republicans? Psst Madison County Chapter of the Alabama Democratic Conference, you either need to lead, follow, or get the heck out of the way of those of us who are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
