Outgoing ADP chair announces the formation of a separate and unequal new "democratic organization"

Once again I find myself having to use a scene from the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 to describe the present state of the Alabama Democratic Party, but first, let's recap.

Outgoing ADP chair Judge Mark Kennedy told al.com on Thursday he was was going to announce his resignation Friday effective  Monday.  Well, on Saturday I get an email from the Judge inviting me to a press conference on Monday to announce the formation of his new organization, the Alabama Democratic Majority.

   While my time as Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party will come to a close at noon on Monday, a new chapter will begin at 12:01 PM in Birmingham.  I want to invite you to join me, my family, and Democrats from Ft. Payne to Fairhope and communities across the state as we unveil a new way forward.

At 12:01 PM on Monday, I will become Chairman of Alabama Democratic Majority--a non profit organization dedicated to voter registration, voter education, and voter participation--and will continue to volunteer my time and what talents I have.

We will have current and past elected officials joining me to show their support and I need you there to show our state the new face of Alabama Democrats!

Can't wait to see who the current and past elected officials joining him to show their support and the cough cough new face of Alabama Democrats are.

Tacky is as Tacky does.

Tacky is using the ADP mailing list in an attempt to divide a party that already has dwindling market share.
Tacky is announcing the press conference using the official media organs of the state Democratic Party to promote something that doesn't appear to be an official arm of the ADP .
Tacky is trying to go around Joe Reed instead of working with Joe Reed for the good of the party.
Tacky is taking his young staff from the ADP to this new organization.

Now back to 42 and the reality of the Alabama Democratic Party.

It is time that we all call ourselves Republicans since that is the only way any Democrat can win public office in Alabama. It is the painful truth that this conservative, impoverished state will not vote for anyone who is a Democrat other than in an African American community. We need to face reality.

And therein lies the reason Judge Kennedy is picking up his marbles and starting his own game.  As much as it  pains me to agree withe radio boy,  intentional or not,  Kennedy might as well hang a "no blacks allowed" sign on his new organization.  Yes, I'm sure there will be one or two non threatening blacks as window dressing, but let's be clear, this organization is for the money folks who won't contribute to the democratic party as long as there is a perception that the ADP caters to black voters but ignores white voters.

What does all this have to do with the movie 42?  Well, there is a scene  where Robinson's white team mate, Pee Reese puts his arm around him in front a hostile crowd and says (para quoting)  Thank you Jackie.  Jackie ask why he's thanking him.  Reese says, because I got family up there from Louisville and I need them to know.  I need them to know who I am. Maybe tomorrow we will all wear #42 that way they can't tell us apart.

I could understand the resentment ( for lack of a better word) directed at Joe Reed if his long record of public service and commitment to the democratic party and it's principals were in question, but  there are some  democrats who  resent (for lack of a better word) Joe Reed for the power he wields as chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference ,which some see as catering to black voters at the expense of white voters, like that's a bad thing.

Since 1960 ADC’s basis mission has been to organize and unify the black vote and to have it respected by candidates and elected officials alike. Initially the organization moved its mission through a network of committed volunteers who traveled across the state establishing local chapters, holding district meetings, and educating voters. It took at least one decade for ADC to consolidate the black vote, build credibility, and create political clout in the state.

There are some democrats who don't believe blacks should have credibility and political clout in this state.  They believe they should be seen and not heard.  Candidates run as conservative democrats to take advantage of the black block vote, then govern like republicans.   Being seen as the party who caters to black voters, and by cater I guess they mean party that stands  for equal, civil, and human rights, access to quality affordable health care, a women's right to choose to have a safe, legal abortion, and equal access to a quality public education f,  is like the kiss of death.  And that's sad.

Instead of Mark Kennedy emulating Pee Wee Reese actions and working with Joe Reed, sending the message we are team mates on the same team,  he decided to fight against him, when Reed refused to bow out gracefully he decided to go around him and start his own team.  

All I'm going to say is good luck with that democratic majority Judge Kennedy.  Everybody knows separate is not equal.  Your end of the boat will be nice and clean, and my end of the boat will be full of holes, but guess what...the whole damn boat is going down.

"Politics is a noble profession but politics is not a love affair. Sometimes someone comes along and they say a lot of things, use a lot of nice words and people fall in the love with them, the people who think this business is a love affair. That's all fine but it won't get the hard work done of saving the party and building it back. That takes hard work every day and like I said, I get up every day and work for the party and if you find someone who works harder than me, I want to meet them."~Joe Reed

Edited~"Race is the Donkey in the room", but let's not talk about it and maybe it will go away

Alabama Democratic Party chair Judge Mark Kennedy told the media he was resigning as party chair before the told the ADP he was resigning.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Democratic Party Chairman Mark Kennedy will announce today his intention to resign the top job in his party.Kennedy confirmed to AL.com late Thursday that he will begin notifying leaders in the party today that he is resigning, effective noon Monday.

According to Left in Alabama Blogger countrycat, it's the beginning of the end for the ADP

Judge Mark Kennedy's resignation announcement closes a door on the Alabama Democratic Party and may succeed in bringing the whole house down.  Kennedy's resignation is effective at noon on Monday.  He cited continuing conflicts with the party's Executive Board, which is led by Dr. Joe Reed and Nancy Worley.

This whole media-enabled Civil War reminds me of the Jackie Robinson biopic 42, " that smashed the opening-weekend record for a baseball movie and is now looking, this weekend, to continue that hot streak, the reasons for the film’s success might seem to be obvious. It is — at least in my book — a rock-solid sports movie, and it’s also a drama of race in America that allows us to experience the well-worn past with a new vividness and insight. It’s worth noting that a number of people don’t agree with that: They look at 42 and see a complacent liberal message movie with a flawless and therefore overly sanded off and uncomplicated hero."    Stay with me now.

Without giving too much away for those who haven't seen it yet, there is a scene where Herb, the owner of the Philadelphia baseball team, tells Branch Ricky, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, his team is not going to take the field if that negro, Jackie Robinson shows up.

Intentional or not, this it's time for Joe Reed to bow out gracefully and make room for a new generation of leaders,  withdrawing support, forming a third party, forming a new state party under Kennedy, and refusing to contribute support the Alabama Democratic Party as long as Joe Reed  has a visible role sounds a lot like what Herb said.

The Alabama Democratic Party in bankruptcy court.  I don't blame Kennedy for refusing to preside over that PR debacle.
Oh, and good luck with the fundraising and candidate recruitment after that happens.

It just does.

Mind you some of the same people making these declarations, are the same people who supported then democrat, now republican, Artur Davis for governor over the real democrat, Ron Sparks, and are the same loyalist who supported Judge Mark Kennedy for chair of the Alabama Democratic Party.

Kennedy is a former Alabama Supreme Court justice and the husband of Peggy Wallace Kennedy, the daughter of former Gov. George C. Wallace.
He agreed two years ago, at the urging of a small group of party loyalists, to seek the chairmanship when no other credible candidate wanted it. The party Kennedy took over in early 2011 had just lost control of both houses of the state Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. That loss, coupled with the Republican Party's dominance in gubernatorial and judicial races and its almost unchallenged dominance in mostly white suburbs across the state, had combined to leave the party at perhaps its lowest point in history.Since taking over, Kennedy has attempted to stabilize the party’s teetering finances while also beginning the effort to rebuild and rebrand a party that has fallen out of favor with a majority of voters across the state.

The reason the party is bankrupt is that the GOP supermajority in the state legislature banned PAC to PAC transfers which were the lifeblood of the party. The reason the Alabama democratic party has fallen out of favor with a majority of voters across the states is that the majority of voters are Suckers.

There are two types of republicans:  millionaires and suckers.  Considering the policies of the modern Republican Party, this is very true. Their main policy is to make the rich even richer at the expense of everyone else. Anyone who is not rich and still votes Republican is voting against their own interests -- and therefore is a sucker.

For the record, I do not know Dr. Joe Reed personally, but people I know and respect do know him. Any power Joe Reed has is power he earned the hard fashioned way.

Joe Reed brilliantly championed the cause of African Americans as a Montgomery city councilman and then as the leader of the Alabama Democratic Conference. For that he deserves a revered place in Alabama history books.

Joe Reed is a bold, unapologetic, liberal.  He is a reliable voice for civil, equal, human, woman, public schools, public school teachers, labor, immigrants,  protecting the poor, the marginalized and the working class.  You know, the Democratic traditions the party stands for. Or at least traditions the party used to stand for before some felt the need to "reinvent" it. 

My Daddy use to say never burn the bridge that carried you safely over the water.  Like him or not. Joe Reed is that bridge.   Blaming the demise of the party on him is like blaming Saddam Hussein for 9/11. People who won't contribute to or support the Alabama Democratic party unless Reed bows out must care more about personalities than the democratic party agenda. 

So long as Joe Reed has control of it, there will be no viable Democratic Party in Alabama. The best we will get is a zombie.  

Oh, really?  First of all Joe Reed doesn't have "control" of the Democratic Party and he doesn't want control of the ADP,  he is an elected leader. It's up to the people who elected him to decide when it's time for him to go. The people who say they won't join the party unless Reed doesn't have a visible role are people who probably aren't real democrats in the first place.

 The Democratic Party in Alabama is never going to be stronger until we deal with the issue of race. ... To me the greatest problem with the Democratic Party right now is that we've taken every Democrat in the state of Alabama and divided them into little categories.  And everybody stays in their little category and nobody wants to work together.  So then we can't have a cohesive message about something like the sales tax on groceries, which is something that everybody agrees on.  It would have been a fantastic message for this election.  But we can't have a cohesive message until everyone gets out of their corner.

Imagine an Alabama Democratic Party without black folks. Intentional or not, that's what you are asking for when you say it's time for Joe Reed to step aside.  If the party is tired of one, the party is tired of all.   United we stand.  Divided we fall.  That's the lesson Alabama democrats should heed.

Captain America said:

 I'm as anti-Reed as aynone... (sic) but I saw little out of Kennedy and his operation to indicate that he had any real plan to move things in the right direction.He talked about blowing up dysfunctional county parties? I saw no evidence of that.He talked about throwing people off the committee who missed multiple meetings? I saw no evidence of that.He talked about distilling the ADP message into a bumper stick approach? I saw no evidence of that.He talked about reinviograting (sic) fundraising? I saw no evidence of that.In a choice between Kennedy and Reed, I'd choose Kennedy every time - but the man was chair for 2+ years and I am not sure what he did other than get into fights with Reed.

For the record, I am not anti-Kennedy or pro-Reed, I am pro the Alabama Democratic Party.  While we are waging war with each other the red, republican, controlled state legislature is getting away with murder.  Para quoting Dubya, you are either with the Alabama Democratic Party and what and who it stands for or. you are against the Alabama Democratic Party and what and who it stands for.

EYE report.
You decide.