What do our DNC members do for us?

[johncoby2]

Do you guys hear from them periodically? What do they do? And why do I have to ask this question?

[johncoby2]

1. It is sad that no one has responded. I think that answers my questions.

[texasdnc]

2. I'll bite...

How are you? It's been a while - i hope you're doing well.

I just joined this site a couple days ago and ran across your question. I don't know how long you have been waiting for the answer in disappointment, but according to the time listed on your post, i am answering you before you actually posted. Now that's service... :)

First, I'll ask you a question: What do you expect them to do - the DNC members? And i ask that sincerely.

I ask that question, because there are few real guidelines in the party rules or anywhere else on what exactly DNC members are supposed to do. The National Charter talks about what the National Committee is supposed to do in general, listing things like: Issue call to the National Convention; Conduct Party's Presidential Campaign; Fill vacancies in the National ticket and DNC executive positions, and; "all other actions necessary or appropriate in order to carry out the provisions of this Charter and the objectives of the Democratic Party."

So, each DNC member basically decides on their own what he or she will do or not do.

Going into candidacy for the DNC, I knew how little influence DNC members have on the operation of the DNC, so I ran with my own goals in mind. When elected, I became the youngest member to ever be elected to that body from any state up to that point; so it won't surprise you to know that my goal was to use the position to attract and train more young people into the party.

My goal shifted during the last presidential election when i saw so many new activists show up who were not necessarily young; so my goal shifted from "more young people" to "more new people."

So, I go around training new activists on how to organize their precincts and how to move through the Democratic Convention process; I speak regularly to Democratic organizations on a variety of subjects; and along with friend and fellow activist, TG Caraway, I record a podcast twice a month with the purpose of keeping Dems across the state informed on what is going on in the party and campaigns.

Other DNC members in Texas do drastically different things - only one or two i'm aware of do little at all.

But you should also understand how our DNC members are elected. At the state convention in each Presidential campaign year, DNC members are elected following a tradition that you will not find in the rules or anywhere else.

We have ten directly elected members of the DNC from Texas and they are nominated by the following tradition to assure diversity: Two nominations are made from the Coalition of Black Democrats; Two nominations from Tejano Democrats; One nomination from Labor; and the other Five are nominated "at-large." The DNC stipulates that the delegation must be divided as equally as possible by sex - five of our members are men; five women.

Logically, then, the various members make certain that the constituencies who nominate them are represented by whatever method they find of establishing that representation.

My seat is considered "at-large", but i am determined that tradition become that it is always held by a Young Democrat (defined as under 35). If it does stay a youth seat, then you can expect that the holder of the seat will concentrate their efforts as a DNC member on making sure young people are represented.

I mentioned in passing above that DNC members have little influence on the activities of the DNC and this is very true. I am in the middle of my second term and the only votes that have ever been taken are for the election of two National Chairs (and they were each the only candidate in the race by the time we got to vote) and votes on filling various other vacancies on the DNC Executive Board.

There is an Executive Committee (chosen by the Chair) that makes some substantial decisions, but for all practical purposes, the daily operation and overall direction of the DNC are solely in the power of the National Chairman.

I would love to have more influence on the body to which i was elected, but essentially, John, each and every Democrat in the country has as much power as i do to influence the direction and actions of the DNC - through participation in the convention process (writing the platform, establishing rules, etc..); through direct appeal to the National Chairman; and through activism.

So in summary, what do your DNC members do for you? The National Party rules are designed in such a way that your DNC members have little, if any, influence on the direction of the DNC, so each of your DNC members does what he or she can do to represent those who nominated and elected them. In my case, that is to train and to inform with every resource I have to do so.

david holmes
Democratic National Committee, Texas

[WestHoustonDem]

3. Welcome to DU texasdnc!

:hi:

Will you be at the convention?

[texasdnc]

5. Yes...

I will be at the convention - i'm ready to get up there. It should be fun.

[Smarty Pants Liberal]

4. Welcome TexasDNC!

Love your show! I have them all on my iPod. Thank you so much for biting.

I love the explanation but can you tell me how one gets nominated? Is there an interview process? Are nominations taken from the floor?

[texasdnc]

7. Nominations Process (applies to Chair race too)...

Thank you for the compliment on the show - it's a lot of work and is nice to know that people listen to it...

On the Nomination process:

The process that is used to nominate DNC members is the same process that will be used this weekend to nominate Chair candidates.

When you caucus with your Senate District on Friday of the convention, your SD will elect one delegate to serve on each convention committee: Resolutions, Platform, Nominations, etc...

The Nominations Committee representatives from each SD (plus 3 appointed by the Chair of the convention) will then meet at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning to consider Nominations for each position elected at the convention.

Now, to skip ahead, nominations for any of these positions may be made from the floor of the convention just before the vote is taken, regardless of the action of the Nom. Cmte., but as in many cases, it is tradition that influences these transactions as much as the actual rules.

So, the Nomination Committee is important.

What generally happens is that the Committee nominates one person for each office. That list is taken to the floor of the convention and in the case of the DNC members is usually voted on as a group or as a full "report."

I can not recall having seen a real floor fight for Chair or DNC members at any convention in the last 15 years.

But understand: The Nominations Committee can do anything Roberts Rules would normally allow. They can nominate no-one, they can nominate multiple people for one position; and there is a process to establish a "minority report" of the committee if a portion of the committee would like to make a report in opposition to the majority of the committee.

The Committee is as important as it is because each of the members of the committee is chosen by their SD. They make their decision (usually one candidate), and then they go back to their SD to vote with them on the elections on the floor. Since the SD elected the person to represent them on the committee, it is understandable that the SD usually sticks with their representative.

This is what makes floor fights so challenging - you are asking individual delegates to vote against their own representatives that they put enough trust in to elect to the position in the first place.

As for DNC members - elected in Presidential years - the nominations follow the described process above except that for the "designated" positions, where the Nominations Committee (by tradition) receives the five designated nominations from the caucus that is nominating them: Coalition of Black Dems; Tejano; and Labor.

[Smarty Pants Liberal]

11. Thanks again

How did you campaign since you are one of the five at-large delegates?

That's a lot of turf you have to cover to get 31 people to agree to nominate you. Did you try to meet all of the people after they were elected to the nominations committee? Did you get to know the SDEC persons of the various senate districts before the convention with the hope that they might recommend you?

[texasdnc]

12. Well, that's pretty long story...

...best discussed over beer to get the full embellishments. :)

Convention politics involves unique tactics and strategies in the world of campaigning.

The first time I ran for DNC (Well, the first time i ran i was 22; didn't know what i was doing and I lost) but the first time i ran and won, I had five opponents.

The second time I ran, I had no opponent in the end, but several rumored opponents - one of them being Glenn Maxey.

Since we thought i might have strong opposition in the second race, we really put on a massive operation at the convention in Houston. The details of that might get dull, so i'll mention the basics of those two campaigns (and any good campaign for a statewide party office - you'll see this in the chair race for certain.)

As mentioned in the discussion in another post above, the Nominations Committee is a critical element in all of this.

Now, for this weekend, you may have seen the letter from Urbina-Jones and Maxey asking delegates to only vote for Nominations Cmte. members who will vote to make "no recommendation" to the convention at large. They're trying to make the Nominations Committee irrelevant with the gamble that leadership in each SD will oppose their candidacies, but the rank and file delegates will support them on the floor.

The traditional method of campaining is a twist on that: Each candidate tries to get their supporters on the Nominations Committee in each Senate District.

So, that's what i did when i ran. I had people running in each Senate District, then a process of finding out whether they won or not, and if not; who it was that did win. While that process was going on, I walked around the convention hall and spoke to every constituency caucus and Senate District caucus I could get to.

Well, and before the convention: In the past it was only really possible to reach the leaders in each county and SD before the convention. So I did that, but the last convention also brought the added benefit of the Party compiling a list of all the delegates with their emails. (actually, if i remember correctly, it was Maxey who ran that project.)

Anyway, that list let me communicate directly with all the delegates who had listed emails.

So, contact before the convention if possible, and mastery of the Nominations process leads to the vote on the floor. I have never had to take a fight to the floor of the convention - it's always been essentially over by the time it reaches the floor - but I was ready for that too.

This weekend, Richie will be trying to overload the Nom. Cmte. with supporters, Maxey and U-J will try to fill the cmte. with folks who only want a floor fight. Either way, we'll see a floor fight. It'll be interesting.

[Smarty Pants Liberal]

13. Well o.k. then, I look forward to beer and embelishments

We can trade embelishments;-)

[johncoby2]

6. Thanks for responding!

Well, I asked because I don't hear from our DNC members. Ever. But then again, I dont hear from my SD leadership either. Except every two years when they want a vote or to push their own agenda. Other than that, I dont see anything happening.

Now my SDEC member (Karl Silverman) is a model of an SDEC member. He keeps us informed of what is happening with the party. And decisions made. And upcoming events.

So, I have been asking questions. And getting answers.

I am surprised that DNC members do not have much power. Why is that? And why not?

I dont donate to my SD because of the lack of participation by the leadership. I dont donate to the DNC either. I am donating to my club, my county and my state, but the state may be losing my deep pockets if they dont pull thier head out of their butt, and real soon.

[texasdnc]

8. DNC and power

Do you get my DOT Show notices, John? I'll add the address you have on your posting to the distribution list.

There may have been a time when DNC members had more direct power on the DNC, but I am aware of a long-term deterioration from whatever peak that power achieved.

Over the years, more and more DNC members are added to the body - well over 400 now. Try to get a committee of 40 to do anything; much less a committee of over 400. About half of the members are now chosen by the chair or chosen indirectly by affiliate organizations as opposed to being elected like me.

For as long as I am aware, the bulk of power on the DNC has rested with the Chairman. I mean, in one way that's practical because relying on the committee to make daily decisions would be preposterous.

But there are a lot of large issues the body could and should have more say on.

To give you an example of how far we are removed from the leadership of the DNC - at a recent DNC meeting we were presented with a slide-show presentation of some National polling the DNC did on targeted messaging and public opinions on Congressional leadership.

The presentation that might have been digestible if given over a couple hours was squeezed into 45 minutes, then when asked, the DNC would not give us - the DNC members - a copy of the data to take home and use to help our state party and candidates to win elections.

Pretty frustrating.

[WestHoustonDem]

9. Have you seen any improvements since Howard Dean

has been chair?

[texasdnc]

10. Dean Changes

Not in the power of DNC members - in that regard, he is just as insular as any past Chair. He just brought his campaign staff and supporters in as opposed to whomever was there before.

But he has done some good things - or at least different things; there is some controversy of course.

I didn't support Dean for Chair - there were other candidates who I believed would much more drastically reform the party than any former Governor/Presidential candidate.

But I have been happy about his approach as Chair in many regards. He has taken the fight to many states that are normally ignored - like Texas - and has done a better job than I have ever seen in getting activists involved in Party affairs; like the national block walk that was held a few weeks ago...

[sonias]

14. Welcome to DU texasdnc!

Nice to see you post here too.

I love the DOT show!

Sonia

[texasdnc]

15. Thank you...

I hope to meet all of you there at the convention.

I wanted to post this to the main forum, but i don't have posting rights yet...

At the convention, TG Caraway and I will be selling DOT Show shirts and recording blurbs of delegates saying why they are a Democrat.

So, find us at the convention and be thinking of your version of: "I'm ____, from _____ and i'm a Democrat because..."