The NCDP’s Jonestown moment

by | Feb 2, 2015 | Democrats, Editor's Blog | 53 comments

In his column this weekend, the News & Observer’s Ned Barnett wrote, “The Democrats have been vanquished, undone by their disorganization and lack of conviction and gerrymandered into irrelevance.” The backdrop to that statement is a race for chair of the Democratic Party that’s just disheartening. The race is not to lead the state’s Democrats. The race is to elect someone who can make the party relevant again.

The past two chairs, Randy Voller and David Parker, have run the party into the ground, making it a laughingstock and leaving it deeply in debt. They alienated “the electeds,” as they call them, and lost the trust and confidence of the big donors, the national party, and the campaign professionals. Instead, they surround themselves with people who don’t understand that without the support of the elected officials who run on the Democratic ticket, the state party has no power or influence at all.

There are a number of candidates running for chair, but former State Representative Patsy Keever is the only candidate with the experience, connections, and clout to turn the party around–and it won’t be an easy task for her. However, unlike either of the past two chairs or the people surrounding them, she knows what real campaigns look like and she has raised real money. She’s also served in the General Assembly, was party chair of Buncombe County and serves as first vice-chair of the state party.

Given her background and experience, Keever should be a shoe-in, but with the dysfunctional state of the party, she’s being attacked by conspiracy theorists and the left’s version of the Tea Party. They’re more interested in controlling the mechanics of the party than making it relevant to the political landscape. They don’t understand that the people who organize, run, and fund campaigns have already set up their own networks to work around the state party if necessary. The party was marginalized in 2014 and will have even less of a role in 2016 if the voting members don’t install competent leadership.

This is the North Carolina Democratic Party’s Jonestown moment. On Saturday, the state executive committee can continue on the road to oblivion or they can take steps to re-emerge from the wilderness and re-enter the political fray. Don’t drink the Kool-aid.

53 Comments

  1. wafranklin

    Well a year and months have passed. I told all you people and whoever would listen that Hunt’s raid on the Party would cripple it and so it happened. I also told them that the pumps would never be up and running again. Jim Hunt’s disdain for the NCDP knows no bounds and that has been for 30 years. He is one of the main reasons for demise of NCDP and Democratic losses. I see that Mills has gotten no smarter, no surprise there. Keever has destroyed the COR and put maggots in it. She has violated the POO randomly and any trust. Act in haste and repent in leisure!

  2. wafranklin

    Mills ignorant hubris knows no end. Parker and Voller did not do in NCDP, a number of electeds and perennial know it alls coupled with consultants have done the damage. There is a dissident group who have worked hard to damage the party with the thought they would ride in to the rescue as the cavalry and make NCDP solvent, after they fought to defund it for two years. The fact that the Democrats are flat on their asses was not caused by Parker/Voller. Hunt, the COS, consultants and freewheeling pundits looking for a meal ticket all contributed to the disfunction of the NCDP. Anyone who thinks NCDP is not needed as a coordinating agency full time is a damned fool, understands nothing about managing anything.

    Democrats in NC are wondering in the desert and have rejected two Moses’ for no good reason, and have no idea who was behind the rejection. They do not realize that a good part of all this is class – a class which feels it rules the lesser classes – who obviously know nothing. Until all Democrats realize the levels to which they have been reduced, and frankly speak of it, without the usual cheerleading and whoop de la–business as usual, they will stay in the cellar. And turning Blue Dog, as many want will not cure things. If the people want a Republican, why settle for a Democrat cloaked with business nostrums?

    Face it, Democrats are out! The leadership of the past 20 or so years all bear heavy responsibility for lack of a well seasoned, trained bench. Parker and Voller did not cause this and anyone who says they did is LYING and a Goddamned Fool.

    But, beware people like Mills whose only interest is the money to be made from punditry and poor advice to candidates. False prophets and liars. I have hears NO reasons concerning why Democrats should come back, and they exist in spades, but are alien to many in this string – and will remain so as they are all about the artificial and temporary, not the real and more permanent ideals and guidelines which will allow recover. And, no we do not need Willie Stark. Hunt leads you falsely and astray. You have chosen the Golden Calf. Fools.

  3. Tom High

    Well this is a swell cat fight in a pigsty. Maybe unaffiliated independent progressives should run the party until you get your act together. I left the DP in the early 80s when the money grab and bidness became more important than the poor and middle class. You’ll get my one vote a decade for a faux-progressive (see Hagan, Kay), that’s it. It takes a decade for me to wipe away the resulting stench in my soul. Organize the party around a real progressive agenda, or die from a cancerous rot. Quit worrying about electability and stand for something. You’d be better off recruiting and training 20 year-olds from college campuses than what you’re trying to pass off as current strategery. We’ve already got a bat-poo crazy Republican Party. Despite what you think, it’s not a choice just to have something a tad left of that, in some quest for the aforementioned ‘electability’. Grow some spine.

  4. Jade

    Mr. Moore throws names around, but who are Priorities USA & Ready For Hillary? Certainly not Hillary Clinton’s official campaign group. Mr. Moore and his friends have been slamming Ms. Keever all over social media by distorting facts and complaining that “big money” and “beltway” bigwigs don’t support her. What is the basis for these claims? Mr. Moore and his friends distort their own role in Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

    • David Moore

      Jade, while Patsy’s slate continues to utilize their county roles to censor negative information regarding their candidate, people nationally active will address the situation before it permanently damages the functionality of the NCDP.
      The election of Patsy Keever to the Chair position has been slammed by “Laura Leslie of WRAL” to “Dane Strother of Strother Strategies” have denounced Patsy as the potential North Carolina chair. We are only the messengers, your candidate is the offender.

      • Matt Phillippi

        I think I can say pretty safely that the NCDP in its current state has some fairly serious ‘functional damage’ as it is and there’s nothing Patsy could do to hurt it worse than it is now. Furthermore, if Thomas and Jamie think shes the best person for the job that shed have my support. But what do I know, I just spent six years on NC politics working long hours for terrible pay in the service of Dem candidates. Then the last two party regimes have gone out of their way to insult people like me. Wonder why I left all of that?

        • Chris Telesca

          What did David Parker do to insult people like you? What did Randy Voller do to insult people like you?

          I can tell you that I have seen several people like you steal from the NCDP, and saw that even more people like you steal from the DNC in Charlotte. Both Parker and Voller ran on a reform platform – which meant more oversight on campaigns and consultants/staffers. Everyone with a real job has oversight and supervision – especially if they work in a job where there are problems with stuff “walking away”. Certainly not saying that you did that – bu some folks did do that. And reforms had to be made.

  5. River Rat Dem

    Randy Voller spends way too much time commenting on Thomas’s blog posts. That alone reveals his lack of credibility.

  6. RedHotPoker

    NC would be so much better served if the NCDP would just shut themselves down as
    a criminal organization. Just be gone…they are nothing but criminal corruption and have ruined our once great state after decades of dominant control and power mongering.

    • Progressive Wing

      RedHotPoker: You are being a “Johnny-One-Note” in constantly labeling Dems and/or the Dem Party as “criminals.” You’ve set an annual record for doing so, just one month into the new year. Trust me, I think all loyal readers of these comments threads know how you feel about Dems. Please move along and offer some less repetitive and more thoughtful contributions?

  7. David Moore

    Indeed, the democratic parties relevance and very existence is on the line Feb 7th, and to follow the normally sound reasoning mentioned in this article by electing the embattled Patsy Keever to chair will only expedite campaigns with no funding issues away from the state, and conclude the NCDP’s fall into irrelevance and bankruptcy.
    The five points that ARE REALITY and not debatable are:

    [1.] To state Ms. Keever knows fundraising and campaign success is an outright “LIE”; her congressional campaign manager’s success is his, and for to be denied by the voters in the otherwise democratic hotbed of western North Carolina is a testament to her unworthiness.

    [2.] The embattled Patsy Keever is a 1 term legislator, that makes her a loser to her constituents, not a winner.

    [3.] Priorities USA & Ready For Hillary all know Ms. Keever well, and have been invited to and encouraged to attend the Feb 7th SEC meeting, including the Hillary Bus, and all it’s senior staff. After early enthusiasm and a desire to be in North Carolina, they have “REFUSED” and will not participate or include NCDP.

    [4.] For the author of this blog to suggest that the Ms. Keever’s election would reestablish donor funding is outrageous; as the majority of the party activists are on some sort of public financial assistance and are not members of the donor class, but the receiving class. Corporate democrats, and campaign donors will not financially support an embattled chair with constant negative publicity!
    To suggest that there is a “Pot of Gold” or a magical donor influx waiting to join in next week is not only misleading,and “out-right lie”, but a reprehensible encroachment on the truth itself.

    [5.] Corporate and conservative democrats WILL NOT join their party brethren on the far left, regardless of the party label (evident with the inclusion of Clay Aiken and not Keith Crisco). The election of the embattled Patsy Keever ensures the complete collapse of the NCDP, and the state’s path to bankruptcy, thus solidifying the county parties collapse under organizational insolvency.

    • NCnewcomer

      Please sir what is your job with the Hillary Clinton campaign?

  8. Lucia Messina

    Lots of comments and some good suggestions. Here is just a few points. The NCDP is not a campaign, it is an on-going organization that should represent all the Democrats in NC. Not just the elected officials. The money raised should go to fighting for this issues, we feel are important and to organize the local county organizations. How can you know why and who are not voting, if you don’t know the voters in these counties? The campaigns that raises funds for elected officials , state and national, have had their own efforts , for a long time, this is nothing new. If fact , they have fed off the NCDP and given little in return, thus when Parker and Voller took over, the Party had always been beaten down, used by the elected officials , abused by consultants and the national campaigns and the SEC members were not involved enough or didn’t care or were too dumb to know. Of course …revalent is a term, where you must ask — revalent to Whom? to the next National Presidential campaign, the elected officials , consultants … that make money from their sage advice or for North Carolina ? North Carolina is too important for the next leader to do nothing, but raise money and give it to candidates and their campaigns, this will not rebuild the Party. I wait to see now long it takes, if the SEC elect someone who believes that the next Presidential race is more important than NC….. It will not take long.

    • Will

      Lucia, thank you for your thoughtful comments. I thought they were a great rebuttal. Without going into specifics, I have seen first-hand that when local parties can actually deliver support to campaigns they get things in return. This isn’t always just money. But it can be other things that help bolster the infrastructure of the party. I think also that when a strong County Party is well run and well organized it benefits because when it works with campaigns it allows more networks to emerge between activists. It lets the local party learn procedures and practices and get used to working and thinking of themselves as a team.

      But I think you pointed out something key that Mr. Mills mentioned in a previous blog post. It can’t just be about elections. I think elections are important because they demonstrate to volunteers and others that the state and local parties are viable organizations and must be reckoned with (if you have a strong party that can help the campaign bolster it’s turnout or donor efforts then you also have something to negotiate with). But it’s also important for the NCDP to show that it has a purpose besides just being a component to the electoral process. Like Mills previous blob post noted Art Pope and the Koch brothers are in the position they are because they were also willing to play the long game. They helped establish issue orgs, and provide a place for activists to meet and network.

      But again, I think that you can only get to that point when you show that you have an organization made up of people who have a serious, programatic vision of where they want to take the NCDP in a concrete way. When the party is marked by lethargy you don’t get money because if you can’t even be an asset during election season then why would you be trusted with money for more difficult and long term projects.

  9. Will

    People keep replying as though the relevance of the NCDP is a given. It’s not. Ready for Hillary and other outside groups are already laying the ground work to be the dominate actors in lots of swing states. They’re already raising money, recruiting volunteers, and setting up activist networks. They don’t need the NCDP. Neither do any of the other multitude of outside groups.

    It’s not written in stone somewhere that the NCDP has to be a relevant organization. The NCDP has to prove to people that’s it has something to offer if it’s going to survive as anything other than a titular body

  10. Will

    A question that I’ve heard again and again from people who had worked with the NCDP before was ‘what the hell happened?’ A lot of people remember to NCDP as being one of the better run state parties and they’re confused by the implosion. It won’t get better until more people like are willing to do what Mr. Mills does here: admit that there’s a serious problem and ditch the hand waving and whining. The solution to the NCDPs problems are going to involve hard work and a willingness to get into the nitty gritty of organizations restructuring and brining in people are are willing to work (and that includes getting rid of inert County and precinct chairs). I think that what has happened on the RNC nationally here is a good example. The RNC recognized that Michael Steele was interested in flash and self promotion. So they ditched him and put in Priebus. Priebus avoids the limelight. He focused on making a lot of phone calls and doing the grind to bring in money and bring the RNC up to date to make up for the deficit that the experienced in tech & voter turnout skills relative to OFA and restructuring the Republican primary process for 2016.

    That’s what the NCDP needs. It needs workhorses who aren’t afraid of rolling up their sleeves and dedicating a lot of long hours to doing the grinding work that it’s going to take to get the party back on track.

  11. Chris Telesca

    I can’t agree less with Thomas. He totally ignored that we lost the big election in 2010 under David Young – a Chair from Western North Carolina hand-picked by then governor Bev Perdue who had all the confidence of the donors and the consultants and electeds. Why no mention of that?

    As soon as OFA took over running the DNC, they cut the money they gave NCDP in half – from $10K to $5K per month – a loss of $60K per year. Even before we lost the 2010 election, electeds (like Bev Perdue) and former electeds were telling donors not to give to the NCDP. Not really sure how much money was lost there. Why not give to the NCDP if your own hand-picked choice was running the show – unless you just wanted to make sure the money stayed AWAY from a group that ran by democratic principles – give it to top-down organizations that would follow “orders”?

    Then when we lost in 2010, the transactional donations went away. Once again – don’t know how much that was. But I do know that 100% of the Taxpayer Checkoff money was targeted by the consultants. In both 2010 and 2012 – that was $1.5 million. Problem was – half of it in the even years wasn’t really theirs to control. By law – half was controlled by the Taxpayer Checkoff Committee which was composed mostly of District Chairs. Consultants and politicos got a State Senator to change the law at the last minute, which allowed the party Chairs to stack the deck and cancel out the votes of the District Chairs – allowing the party Chair and Treasurer to control the votes – and presumably they’d vote to give the District Chair’s half to the NCDP for the consultants to spend. Parker interfered with that – so of course the consultants and staffers didn’t trust him.

    Both Parker and Voller were elected to reform the political process that allows donors and consultants/staffers to control the electeds by the campaign donations laundered through Goodwin House. The sooner we party officers realize that and find a way to replace the various types of funding (DNC, transactional donations, donations with strings, taxpayer checkoff money) with money we can get from an energized and empowered base, the better off we will all be.

    Think of that $1.5 million – that was 500K checkoffs worth $3 each. There were no strings attached to that money. How easy would it be to replace it? There are 2756 precincts in NC. I showed Patsy Keever a spreadsheet in Nash County that showed different variables:

    from 50% to 100% precinct organization in 5% steps
    5 to 10 donors per precinct donating $10, $15 or $20 per month.

    There were 66 different dollar amounts with those variables – and 82% of the dollar amounts were over $1.5 million. They ran upwards of $6.6 million per year. Think what NCDP could do with that much money coming in every year from active precincts ready to get out and elect EVERY Democrat on the slate in their county – not just focus on the top-ticket races using whatever message the big donors fund?

    That’s what both David Parker and Randy Voller were elected to try and accomplish. If the NCDP wants to be relevant and elect Democrats to turn out party platform into public policy, we will have to figure a way to get free of our past reliance on big donors and consultants who are in bed with them.

    • Will

      The problem is that the precincts are not active, with some exceptions. The complaint I have heard over several election cycles from a few different outside groups is that precinct and county chairs are just not really interested in actually doing serious work when the time comes. So the predictable result is that when serious campaigns come in they don’t want to become entangled.

      It wouldn’t be hard to set up regular small donor fundraising efforts that were precinct targeted. You just need people who know what they’re doing and are ready to grind it out. Which is what Mr Mills is pointing out.

      Fundamentally, the theme that I take away from his blogs are that the NCDP is dysfunctional because you have a lack of focus on making sure you get the fundamentals right and too few of the activists in the NCDP are willing to really do the hard work needed to make the party viable. This is absolutely correct, in my opinion.

      I personally have no faith in the NCDP at this point. I tried to volunteer several times and have emailed county chairs et cetera. I’m not some big talent but I’ve done major donor fundraising, have some experience in how to make a small donor fundraising/membership program work, and have some campaign experience.

      I’ve just emailed them and said, basically ‘I have a few years experience in ‘x, y, and z’, I’m willing to do whatever I can to help, please let me know how I can get involved’

      No response. My experience is not unique.

      • Will

        I guess I’m saying that you’re putting the cart before the horse. You have to have someone willing to put in the grind and hold people accountable before you can even thing about the more ambitious stuff. I’ve lost a lot of faith in the Progressive movement but I do care about competitive politics. If pivotal counties like Durham are so dysfunctional that young people with real experience can offer to do free work on the weekends (as friends of mine have) around their day jobs to help and receive no response than what does that say about the state of rot within the party? It says that you have a lot of party officials who like the benefits of being and chair (I guess they feel like it caries social prestige?) but not interested in doing the real work necessary to win.

        Until you fix that projects like you’re describing are not even viable

    • Sherry Ellis Eason

      I agree. Obama was successful because of grassroots volunteers and fundraising, not just big donors.

  12. Ldsmith

    I have been Registered as a Democrat since 1950 and living in this state since 1973. I have never been asked to attend any meeting of the Democratic Party even though I have made substantial financial contributions both to the party and to individual candidates…why is this?

    • George Greene

      @Ldsmith Precinct meetings are generally announced. Maybe, instead of feeling entitled to be asked because you have contributed, you should just be PROactive AND GO.
      You have now been asked.
      In fact, you have almost now been TOLD.

      • Lucia Messina

        Thank you , Mr. Greene.

    • Chris Telesca

      Ldsmith: what county do you live in? Let me know and I will tell you who your county party chair is (unless you live in one of those unorganized counties in the 3rd Congressional District) and make sure you get asked to attend your precinct meeting. But in the event your precinct is unorganized – are you ready to step-up and ask your county party Chair to appoint you acting Precinct Chair so you can get organized?

    • Kristine Cole

      You are hereby invited! Precinct meetings start at the end of the month. All registered Democrats are welcome to attend. All positions from the precinct level on up are up for election. Contact your county party for more information on dates, times and locations.

  13. Walter Rand

    I’m an independent & not as knowledgeable about politics as the other writers above, so maybe I’m wrong but it looks as if the apocalyptic, gloom & doom scenario is greatly exaggerated. The two parties take turns see-sawing up & down. The positive part about being the party on the down end is that your time to swing up is just ahead. That up-and-down cycle occurs no matter how bone-headed the recent leaders have been.

  14. Tom

    See my comment after the earlier story about Patsy Keever.

  15. Steve Harrison

    While I agree Patsy is the most qualified of the candidates and will likely be more successful in generating the funding the Party critically needs, I’m still concerned about her ability (desire?) to bring together all the diverse elements that have made the Party strong in the past, and are desperately needed to make it strong in the future.

    Setting aside the poorly thought-out comment from a few weeks ago, her absence from the African-American Caucus’ panel a few days ago was a serious mistake. Whatever her reasoning for this actually was, the message it sent and the ever-present empty chair spoke volumes. And before any of you try to explain it or put me on a specific shelf somewhere, close your eyes and sit in one of those chairs in the audience, and try to imagine how it felt looking at that empty chair. A chair that represented the most likely winner of the election.

    • George Greene

      @Steve Harrison if everybody already knew she was the most likely winner of the election, then she didn’t need to be there. There is no black candidate for the position she is running for. She has endorsed two black candidates for lower positions. What exactly does the African-American caucus have TO WHINE about, versus Patsy Keever? She was in the right place: She’s from the west and she needed to make friends in the east. She ALREADY HAD lack friends in Zack Hawkins, Veleria Levy, and their constituents and supporters.

      • Steve Harrison

        I don’t even know where to start, George. First of all, there most definitely is an African-American candidate running for that position, and she even posted a comment on this very thread. But even if there wasn’t, what the heck would that have to do with Patsy showing up or not? You know what, don’t answer that, because there is no reason that wouldn’t be demeaning to the people who did show up.

        Second, the African-American Caucus isn’t “whining” about it, I am. A white male who was disappointed that Patsy didn’t give them the courtesy of showing up and educating them about what she would do if elected Chair.

        And third, your insinuation that Patsy has already taken care of the African-American votes by endorsing Zack and Valeria is exactly the kind of dismissive and two-dimensional outlook that I don’t want Patsy to engage in. It’s not just about securing votes, it’s about empowering people, and you can’t do that by marginalizing them.

    • David Moore

      Steve, a candidate (such as Patsy) that continues the manifestation of detrimental publicity before even elected to chair, and chooses to ignore others, especially those that disagree with her is not going to represent any change of direction or increased prosperity for the NCDP.

      • Steve Harrison

        I know this might sound confusing to some, but I think Patsy has the potential of being a great leader for the NCDP. The issues I’ve brought up aren’t intended to change the outcome of the election, they’re intended to change (open) the minds of Patsy and others.

        Winning the election for Chair is actually the easy part, at least for somebody who has a large base of support like Patsy does. The hard part will be bringing all the disparate elements of the Party back together and get them moving forward. That takes leadership, but a whole lot of people don’t really understand that word. It’s a complex formula that contains both confidence and humility, because the people below you need to feel what they’re doing is important. If they feel it isn’t, the work simply won’t get done.

  16. Troy

    Reading this latest piece gives me both cause for concern and a sense of optimism at the same time. No doubt the next two years will be telling for people in North Carolina. No doubt that without a return to what I can only term ‘sanity’ will the fortunes of most people begin the long and arduous trek back from the abyss that we have seen develop and then grow.

    But I likewise wonder whether with the ‘right’ leadership, the ‘right’ funding, the ‘right’ organization, if enough people can be convinced resolutely to do the ‘right’ thing and reject the party of the wealthy and affluent from office. When you look at what Mr. Sexton said about “…our civil rights, voting rights, and women’s rights being trampled…” one must wonder what it is that would cause someone who works every day for someone else, or for themselves to making a living for themselves to vote to return the group that suppressed those rights to power. In a classic purview of ‘say one thing, do something else’ why would the bottom 99% or 90%, or any number greater than 50%, of common every day folks want more of this. Why?

    The party that needs no mention supported the export of jobs, industry, and technology to enable other countries to build their middle and working classes on the back of cheap labor along with the bank accounts, well-being, and homes of our middle class has not only been returned to political control, but continues to gain in dominance. The same party that will embrace the Trans Pacific Partnership as a ‘return to prosperity’ for Americans when it comes up, but knows full well that it will seal the fate of working class Americans for generations to come, if not for good.

    It’s time to erase that line that has become almost indistinguishable to many between the two parties. It’s time that Democrats ‘remembered’ that they represent, or should, the little guy. That man and woman that gets up and goes to work and tries their level best to make their lives better and give their children a better future.

    Whoever that person is, by clear and convincing evidence and not by words, that’s who’ll I support.

    • cosmicjanitor

      It is also time Troy that our votes are counted transparently and verified by hand count or paper trail. It is not only ‘odd’, but statistically ‘improbable’ that the corporate ‘red’ party that has: impoverished the middle class, bankrupted the country with military spending, privatized war as a corporate profit-motive and pushed this country toward a corporate run police state continues winning disputed elections nationwide. All this rubbish about the Democratic party being irrelevant is nonsense and is an attempt by the right-wing to make the recent ‘improbable’ election results appear reasonable – which they are not!!! Joseph Stalin’s sums-up the whole ‘rigged election result’ quite succinctly: “I care not how someone votes, I care only about who counts the vote” – and republican corporately owned electronic tabulation machines are counting our votes. Do you remember the guy, Mike Connell in Ohio, who was to be disposed by the US Congress – looking into the Ohio vote swap that gave Bush/Cheney their 2004 re-election victory? He was killed in a fiery plane crash just days before his deposition; do you think the republicans only did it that one time and then stopped. ‘Nondisclosure of trade secrets’ allows these companies tabulation machines to operate without verifiable proof of accuracy; shouldn’t that disqualify these machines from counting our votes?

      • Troy

        I do recall your Stalin quote for a previous post, but knew nothing of Connell; until now. Since your post I’ve been reading voraciously about him, the crash, and the investigation.

        What he did, his company and those with whom he was associated; he had the ability to certainly manipulate Ohio’s election. And Connell was a believer, not in the religious sense, but political. He was resolute in the fact that he was right and his cause just and righteous.

        Absent proof however, there is only speculation. And the investigation is such that any evidence or proof was removed and/or destroyed. I want to believe that the quest for power has not brought us to this point, but I’m not that naive.

  17. Andrew Dedmon

    I found her thoughts disjointed also. The Democratic party in this state has taken such a leftward tilt we are doomed to the minority for a long time. The only bright spot is the Main Street Caucus in the General Assembly.

  18. Apply Liberally

    Constance:

    With frankness and with due respect, I must admit having real difficulty understanding the point of this passage: “Comfort is not how you win elections. My seminary leaders remind me of Patsy. They tell you to get a job when Jesus tells you the opposite. They tell you to study theologians but students leave not persistently reading the bible. So the churches close by the hundreds every year.”

    And, for that matter, I also have real trouble following your lines of thought in the two paragraphs that follow.

    I am willing to admit that perhaps my own naivete on NC Dem politics is why I am adrift trying to follow your train of thought. But adrift I am…..

  19. Mark Hufford

    Well said, Thomas. Pull it together, SEC, it’s time to get to work.
    I’ve known Patsy for more than 10 years as a tremendously hard worker who is perceptive, strategic, compassionate, fair to everyone, and morally driven. She can begin to rebuild the Party if anyone can, as she has the skill set, the experience, and the contacts to do so.
    Honestly, I’ve been disheartened by comments I’ve read over the last few weeks by ego-driven folks who are ignorant of the past. One, which said that Patsy was unsupportive of grassroots efforts in the Jerry Meek years, couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only was Patsy encouraging and supportive of Jerry’s campaign, she immediately donated $10,000 to the Party when he was elected. I wish people who are ignorant of history would cease their incessant babble. Patsy’s not perfect, but electing her as Chair would move the ball forward in a huge way.

    • George Greene

      @Mark Hufford “It’s time to work”?? LIke working isn’t what we’ve been doing THE WHOLE time??

  20. Jaimey Sexton

    I couldn’t agree more, Thomas. Patsy is the only choice to be the next Chairperson of NCDP. The facts are the elections matter. Since 2009, Democrats have lost nearly every major office and both chambers in these losses have had a drastic effect on the lives of our sons and daughters. Our civil rights, voting rights, and women’s rights have been trampled, our education system has been gutted, and a concerted redistribution of wealth ***Upward***, have changed the arc of the life chances of future generations of North Carolinians. Electing a Chairman from the same mindset as the previous 2 Chairs will lead the NCDP closer to irrelevance.

    • David Moore

      “Electing a Chairman from the same mindset as the previous 2 Chairs will lead the NCDP closer to irrelevance.”
      YOU ARE SPOT-ON JAIMEY, and Patsy Keever has proven by the swirling controversy and bad decisions that she cut directly from the same cloth.

    • Chris Telesca

      Elections have been lost since 2009 because the Party was directed by folks at the top from OFA on down through the consultants and campaign staffers who have the ear of the Governor and other electeds. They screwed the pooch and they forgot about what led the NCDP to victory and turning NC blue in 2008. It was the grassroots. That was done by a grasroots party Chair named Jerry Meek. I doubt that could have happened with the person who was Chair until 2005. Problem is – Jerry didn’t want to run again in 2009, and he recommended David Young, who was the Governor’s choice and cut from the same cloth as the Chairs BEFORE Meek. He let OFA and the consultants lead him around by the nose, focused only on winning Congressional races in 2010 and not realizing that the NCGA races were the real important races. We lost the NCGA in 2010, and Young decided not to run again.

      Parker ran based on his experience in the Party, to try and fix what broke from 2009-2011, and make the Party work again given the realization that the transactional donations weren’t coming in once we became the minority party. There was also the matter of Bev Perdue and other electeds telling donors NOT to give money to the Party but to them instead. The sexual harassment scandal in Spring 2012 was manufactured by consultants to force our Parker and Parmley because they were trying to get the consultants to do more and better work with less money – and God Knows we can’t have that!. The SEC stuck with Parker, and they also elected Voller to vowed to clean up the grifters and con-artists consultants and campaign and party staffers we have been stuck with over the years.

      With VERY few exceptions, the same people who supported Patsy Keever were exactly the same people who originally didn’t support Jerry Meek, who supported Young in 2009, who supported Faison in 2011 and attacked Parker from Spring 2012 till the end, who supported Etheridge and attacked Voller his entire term of office. They couldn’t win party offices unless the engaged in proxy and other games – but those games won’t work when trying to get people elected to public office. When they last had power in 2009-2011, they failed miserably, and they kept on failing. They failed to get Hagan re-elected. Don’t blame Voller for that – NCDP was taken out of the money-laundering loop for 2014 not because Voller wasn’t untrustworthy – but because he wouldn’t go along with the usual “games” people wanted him to play. So Kay lost – but the judges and other candidates WON who were on Voller’s coordinated “blue ballot” campaign.

      And Keever is on a roll now, with party elections from the precincts on up through county party officers/SEC members, to the District Conventions. Parker and Voller were protected from the Establishment Dems (including the Young Turks) by the SEC and the Executive Council. That’s been fixed. The Council of Review that could protect Democratic voters and preserve their rights (like in Mecklenburg County in 2007) doesn’t exists now, and the Executive Council appellate process is now a joke. Nothing can get in the way of laundering money through the Party so that Young Turks can get jobs on campaigns – whether they win or (most likely) will lose.

      The Party should have kept going forward from 2008, instead we decided to go back to the old-ways of doing things and letting the Governor or some high-ranking elected “anoint” a Chair and we just rubber stamp it. Better get used to the next 4 to 14 years of being a minority party. But I guess it’s ok as long as the right people get elected to public office to give jobs to their friends.

  21. Constance L. Connie Johnson

    I don’t believe we should take indictments and the refusal to adhere to the standard rules of order when making decisions for the vast number of people in our party. What we need are people who can give the party a fresh start. Who doesn’t ignore the hierarchy but knows it, abides by it, and can point to the discrepancies and disparities directly to them.

    Today we are dysfuntional because we shoot down the middle class Martin Luther Kings, Chavez’ that are sold out for the false illusion of money equates victory. It does not and never has. Those Republican rich were middle class folks put into leadership due to their skills. They were made rich through law making. I have watched the party die under Keever’s inability to follow the leadership and lead. We still watch her suffer because she could not follow Voller and the party leadership. She will not unite us. She does not know how and will quickly forget this objective.

    Comfort is not how you win elections. My seminary leaders remind me of Patsy. They tell you to get a job when Jesus tells you the opposite. They tell you to study theologians but students leave not persistently reading the bible. So the churches close by the hundreds every year.

    It is strategy not money that wins elections. I ran for the tate senate office as a seminarian and could not sustain my belief and avoid merging seminary funds with political contributions. Had I allowed extra funds to remain they would have watched the funds to arrest me. But they had no funds to watch because I left no funds to watch. I have six figure concerts and have raised thousands to hundreds of thousands for organizations. Keever has only raised $17,000 for organizations. I covered $8,000 in expenses not calling contributors but on what they voluntarily contributed. And still matched and exceeded the votes for other Democrats and Republicans that have run in this race.

    There is a process and a pattern of money worship to the detriment of the party. And a thought that money can buy people and victories. But I ask you to remember her level of success as Vice Chair, because had she supported the party in her office as she states she will as Chair we may have not lost so many seats. As a state candidate I never knew Keever until the Chairs race.

    We need a fresh start not the continuation of the legal woes!

    Constance Johnson
    http://www.constancejohnson.com

  22. Hayes McNeill

    Here’s hoping when the SEC assembles this weekend, that we remember what our goals are, that we behave like adults, that we vote, unify, and go home to go to work.

  23. Pat Ferguson

    And the NCDP needs to recognize that the power of being a good party is at the precinct level. It has been too much elbow rubbing by the uppers and too little inclusion of the precinct chairman, their bloc of voters and college students. It ain’t about what goes on in Raleigh or the SEC – it’s about what the voter does on Election Day. Getting to that point with people at the voting booth is a long way from who is elected Chairperson of the NCDP – except that the elected person needs to be a leader and not someone who already has tracks in the snow leading nowhere.

    • Randolph Voller

      Agreed, Pat. That is why GOTV training needs to be upfront with substantial electioneering on the back end during canvass periods, early voting and election day.

  24. Randolph Voller

    Ned is correct. The Democratic Party needs to show a backbone and be willing to invest in organizing its county operations. The election that set the current template occurred on maps Democrats drew in 2010. With high tech gerrymandering after 2010 the people are generally ruled by districts that vastly favor one party or the other with only the illusion of choice. We need nonpartisan, citizen driven redistricting and Democrats need to face the reality of a post tax check-off world that will require a broader, deeper and more committed base of support regardless of who leads the party.

    • Progressive Wng

      Randolph: Did you misspeak when you said “The election that set the current template occurred on maps Democrats drew in 2010”? Did you mean to say Republicans or “in 2001”? In other words, you lost me on that statement. Please clarify or fill me in?

      • Randy Voller

        Thank you for clarifying. I am aware that the maps after the 2000 census were challenged and were later modified. My point was that Democrats have drawn a lot of the maps in the past, too. We ran an election in 2010 that was pre-2011 when technology really assisted to draw maps that raised gerrymandering to a leve and an art that was heretofore not able to be done with such ease and brutal efficiency. I question whether any of the parties (Libertarians, too) should favor a process that produces such results and with such detachment from the citizens. Our districts need to be more compact and relate better to the citizens and local officials who reside and govern within their confines. Reform is needed.

        • David Moore

          Unfortunately, anyone with the actual ability to do just that won’t be allowed in the room when legislative boundaries are drawn.

    • George Greene

      “without the support of the elected officials”, the party has no relevance at all?? Hmmm, not clear what “the party” even IS as an institution, at this point, but if it is the people going to these meetings, how far exactly do said electeds get without OUR support?? Anybody who is trying to portray that as a one-way street is “irrelevant”, but if that is going to be the adjective of the moment. It is comical FOR ANYone from PRINT MEDIA to be calling “irrelevance” on anOTHER institution.

      • Will

        You’re conflating Democratic voters with the NCDP. Nobody needs the NCDP. There are plenty of outside groups and professionals who will just do the work while the NCDP fades further and further into obscurity. The NCDP is the one that needs to prove it has something to offer.

        • David Moore

          Will, you are absolutely correct, and any candidates manager that takes the position to misuse the candidates funding with a state or county party would be fired immediately for being irresponsible.

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