How the NCDP Built a New Generation

by | Sep 2, 2016 | Democrats, NC Politics | 8 comments

As Democrats have suffered attrition in state houses, and national analysts have argued that their bench is in trouble. The NCDP has had the same experience of defeat, but despite substantial losses has emerged with a stronger bench–and possibly a brighter future–than its Republican rivals can boast.

The closing of the Basnight-Easley-Perdue era triggered an episode of panic. Experienced Democrats at the state and federal levels resigned en masse. More than a few analysts thought Team Blue had lost a generation.

Sitting in his office with Project Redmap, Bob Rucho must have delighted in that prospect. Instead, gerrymandering appears to have had almost the opposite effect. Rucho’s digital carving knife mostly shaved off fringe legislators with little future in the party. He’d unwittingly whittled the caucus down to some of the Democrats’ most vigorous and skilled pols. Gone were the Yellow Dogs who overrode Perdue’s vetoes; Deborah Ross, Tricia Cotham, Larry Hall, Josh Stein and, eventually, Grier Martin remained to press our case.

But it didn’t end there. Gerrymandering allowed Republicans to get lazy about candidate recruitment. They’ve doled out seats to hacks they like personally. Whereas faced with the challenge of tough districts, Democrats have had to find candidates with the talent to transcend them. This imperative brought people like Sarah Crawford, Uriah Ward and Chaz Beasley into the fold. Although Crawford and Ward fell short, the experience of campaigning has readied all three to win in the future.

Best still, the NCDP’s difficult short-term has focused them on the long game. While Republicans indulge their longstanding buddies with the ability to do damage now, the donkey party has set itself up for a strong showing in cycles to come. Of today’s rising stars, the eldest is Josh Stein. Stein happens to be forty-nine. He’s got plenty of time to make a difference. So do his colleagues.

8 Comments

  1. A D Reed

    I don’t pay much attention to in-the-party politics, but to what the party’s elected officials and candidates are doing.

    Here in Buncombe County, surrounded by some of the reddest counties in the state (shut-down king and Boehner-slayer Mark Meadows and GOP Whip Patrick McHenry are our “representatives” who don’t represent us), we’ve maintained a progressive City Council for two decades, including a young black female mayor for two terms (Terry Bellamy) who was succeeded by a young Jewish female mayor (Esther Manheimer, incumbent), along with two other progressive women, three white men and one black man, ranging from mid-30s to mid-60s, and all progressives. What? White men are now a minority on our City Council.

    At the County level, despite a determined effort to take over the Commission with Republicans from conservative areas of the county by changing from at-large to district seats, we’ve had a progressive Democrat, David Gantt, as chair for two terms and 4-3 majority overall. And this fall Jasmine Beach-Ferrara (lesbian founder of the Campaign for Southern Equality) is running unopposed for one seat; Councilman Brownie Newman, who guided the state’s Clean Smokestacks Act 15 years ago, is running for chair; two “old white men” who are both 60-ish, middle-of-the-road progressive Democrats (Ed Hay and David King) are running for two seats for the conservative western district seats … Two other women and two other men round out the current commission, and it’s very likely that come December, Buncombe County Commission will also comprise four women and three men (if Brownie wins and a woman is appointed to replace him).

    We also have four top-notch Democratic state legislators: Senator Terry VanDuyn and Representatives Brian Turner, Susan Fisher, and John Ager, who are all fighting back against the right-wing insaniacs controlling K Street.

    To me, it’s not so much a question of what the party insiders do or don’t do; it’s what the candidates we elect do on our behalf, because they’re the ones who are the bench for the next stage.

    If a City Council member moves up to the County Commission, and a commissioner moves to the legislature, and those folks move to Congress, that’s the process. All politics really IS local, after all.

    • Maurice

      Well said. The Boehner-slayer and Republican whip don’t have to represent us because they have already chosen their voters and diluted the voting power of voters in Buncombe County with their “digital knife.”

  2. Chris Telesca

    Good Lord – what a crock! NCDP focused on the long-game? If by the long-game you mean control of the party and the campaign money rests with the white, largely older, largely male, establishment conservaDem elite led by Jim Hunt, then you are right. The same crew that got back into power in the party in 2009 pissed away the 2010, 2012 and 2014 elections – and are well on their way to pissing-away 2016. Even if Roy Cooper gets elected, he’ll be in EXACTLY the same position that Governor Perdue was in.

    If by having the NCDP led by the Democrats that make up the majority of the votes – which would mean non-white, non-male, non-establishment conservaDems – then you are sadly wrong. Other than the LGB/YD crowd, the NCDP is right now trying to prevent a larger and more diverse group of Democrats from having a say in the party affairs and having a seat at the table. There is so much conflict of interest in the NCDP now it isn’t funny.

    They are trying to amend the Plan of Organization to allow the Chair to appoint 4 Council of Review members as well as a Chair and Secretary who served at the pleasure of the Chair. Since many petitions involve the Chair, wouldn’t it be a conflict of interest for the Chair to be able to fire at will a COR Chair or the other at-large members to obtain a favorable verdict?

    What about letting the Executive Council decide which groups get to be party auxiliary sub-committees – with a seat and a vote on the Executive Council? Isn’t that also a conflict of interest?

    We have an auxiliary for the 100 county chairs who don’t seem to give a damn about organizing precincts – and none of them seem to know how many precincts we have and how many are organized and not organized. We even have some counties with elected county party officers, delegates and SEC members that have no organized precincts. Yet the same folks who pushed for that auxiliary and are sitting on it or leading it are trying to prevent an grassroots progressive auxiliary from being formed that would focus on precinct organization so that we can have a larger and more diverse Democratic Party with more voices being heard and with more hands to do the work of electing Democrats to turn our party platform into public policy.

    What about forcing elected precinct Chairs who also serve as officers of county party auxiliary organizations to designate someone else in the group to represent them on the county executive committee? Here in Wake, we have two elected county party officers who also are presidents of their county auxiliary organizations – yet you don’t see them being required to designate someone else to take over for them at CEC meetings?

    And what about allowing the Presidents of College Dem and Teen Dems chapters at colleges and high schools to flood the County Executive Committee with their votes? Here in Wake County, we have 7 colleges and universities and 28 public high schools (not including private schools). Does it really make sense to allow an extra 35 members into the CEC that don’t count or take away from quorum but let them have a vote?

    In 2013 Young Dems pitched a hissy fit when they claimed Randy Voller packet the Executive Committee with a large number of appointees to the Sustaining Fund Committee. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, they are making what Randy Voller did look like a drop in the bucket.

    Please don’t tell me about the long game – we just don’t have one. It isn’t enough to win elections for Dems – we’ve also got to improve the lives of the majority of people living in NC. Just electing Democrats won’t do that – because I used to drive on the backroads and see the poverty and income inequality that was there even when Dems were in charge.

    • Jay Ligon

      As President of the Wake County Progressive Democrats, Mr. Telesca must know that the legislature has been in the hands of the Republican Party since 2011. So his complaint about the “ConseraDem elites” as being “the same crew that got back into power in the party in 2009 pissed away 2010, 2012 and 2014 elections..” makes no sense.

      The author of this article, Alex Jones, contends that being out of power, which the Democrats surely are at this time, has improved their bench. He mentions several up-and-coming fresh faces who would serve the State with distinction.

      He mentions two not-yet-elected people who are favorites of mine.

      Sarah Crawford, who ran against Chad Barefoot and the Koch Brothers’ deep, deep pockets, last cycle would do great service to the state and her constituents. Her opponent, Barefoot, was able to make a lie stick to her husband because Barefoot had about $3 million more dollars than she had. Barefoot painted Crawford’s husband as a cigar-chomping, deal-making lobbyist when, in fact, Crawford’s husband was a lobbyist for clean air and clean water. Barefoot was pro-fracking and opposed to clean air and water. He made the lie stick because he waited until she had no more money to run his dishonest TV ads. She could not respond. A good response would have been: Vote for Chad Barefoot: He’ll bring you dirty air, dirty water, and a dirty campaign.

      Also mentioned in Jones’ article is Josh Stein, the current Senior Deputy Attorney General. He waited for his boss, Roy Cooper, to make a decision to run for Governor before tossing his hat in the ring.

      His record of service to the State of North Carolina is exemplary. His accomplishments include actions against predatory lenders and loan sharks. He has pushed back against the power companies to keep electricity and water rates low, and he has worked to protect kids from on-line sexual predators. Stein has both the qualifications and the experience to do valuable service to North Carolinians. His heart is in the right place and he would make a substantial contribution to the State of North Carolina in whatever capacity he serves.

      The Republican Party has been in power for five years now, and the state is suffering from their hard-line stances against voting rights, against human rights, against education and against the needs of working people. They have raised taxes on the poor and middle class while cutting taxes for those at the top. They made the state a laughingstock. North Carolina is becoming a place with the reputation of one of those deep south backwaters where brains and teeth are in short supply. Progressive legislation is needed, but nothing will happen without a majority of Democrats in the legislature.

      Telesca’s Progressives are obsessed with finding Democrats who have supreme ideological purity. No one is really ever going to be good enough. Until those rare souls who pass the Progressive’s ideological entrance exam can be found, the Progressives will luxuriate in the purity of their irrelevance.

      Telesca complains about Jim Hunt, who is approaching 80 and has been retired since from office since 1993. Hunt was a master politician who is the only governor to have served two eight-year terms, but he’s doing stuff on his farm now. What can we do in 2016 to change what happened in 1986? Resentments going back 30 years do not address the questions facing North Carolinians in 2016.

      The Progressives under Telesca need to look to the future and forget about events that occurred long ago. The Progressives should focus on making progress.

      Many of Telesca’s complaints about obscure processes and slights that are so inside-baseball that I confess I have no idea what he complaining so bitterly about and I really don’t want to know.

      A deep bench is a good start for a promising future. We have seen a meltdown in the Republican Party this at the national level because the party lacks star power. There were 17 presidential candidates and nobody, including most Republicans, liked any of them. The Republican Senate has 54 seats, and 17 candidates must represent the cream of the GOP crop. In North Carolina, the Republican legislature is wearing thin with voters, and the public is becoming aware that the reason the GOP is the majority party is that the party played tricks with the map. The decade will end, and a new census will be taken. Democrats will not be caught napping. It is reassuring to know we have capable leaders who will be ready to lead the state.

      • Chris Telesca

        As a recent transplant from California, Mr. Ligon can be excused for his lack of knowledge of the workings of the North Carolina Democratic Party. But frankly if I were he, I’d be embarrassed to broadcast that ignorance here or anywhere else. It’s as plain as day – conservaDems were more concerned about getting back in charge of laundering political donations flowing to and through the NCDP and county parties that they took their eye off the “ball”. I don’t know any other way besides “pissed away 2010” to describe losing majority control of the legislature in 2010 under Democratic-drawn districts – so I fail to see why Mr. Ligon claims it makes no sense. Dems drew the districts and had a 112 year home-team advantage – and they pissed it away even though the conservaDems were in control of the NCDP and party caucus operations.

        Progressives are not looking for supreme ideological purity – we are just looking for Democrats who act and lead like Democrats instead of Republican-Lite. But had Mr. Ligon been living in NC BEFORE the Republicans took over, and had he driven around NC other than on interstate highways, he’d have seen a lot of misery that was not alleviated by the Democratic majority. Some of that misery had been caused by the Democratic majority.

        Progressives seek public policy that doesn’t favor economic elites over regular middle- and working-class people. We actually believe that the rank and file Democrats from the precinct-level on up should contribute to a party platform that elected Democrats work to turn into public policy. But when the former Chair of the Wake Dems says that we need to show the big donors “more love” – how much more love can we afford to show them when there is so much economic inequality at the time?

        No progressive expects perfection from any politician that takes campaign donations from ANYONE. We do favor an empowered party base that grades our elected public leaders on how well or poorly they work to turn our party platform into public policy, and holds them accountable for their work. What fault could Mr. Ligon possibly find with that – that is exactly what lobbyists and big donors do when they decide which politicians to make donations to.

        Why shouldn’t rank and file Democrats hold candidates and elected public officials responsible and accountable for how well or poorly they work to turn our party platform into public policy? Certainly they can’t do much good while in a minority. But the current party leadership pissed away the majority in 2010, didn’t win it back in 2012 or 2014 – and don’t appear to be on the way to winning it back in 2016. So perhaps the best way to win back the state is to replace the establishment conservaDems with progressives as precinct/county/district and state party officers? What possible harm could it do to replace loser party staffers/consultants/operatives that lost 3 straight election cycles?

        Mr. Ligon’s ignorance must be taken into account re Jim Hunt’s past history and current activities. Jim Hunt didn’t drop out of sight in 1993 – he served a third and fourth 4-year term as Governor from 1993 through 2001. And he didn’t just drop out of the picture in 2001 – he wanted to have a say in everything that went on in the NCDP. After his NCDP Chair candidate lost in 2005, Hunt wanted to have a say in who got hired to be Jerry Meek’s Executive Director – and he got the daughter of a big Hunt supporter picked for that job. And I know for a fact that he dropped over to Goodwin House shortly after both David Parker and Randy Voller were elected Chair to weigh in on who the new Chairs ought to hire for various jobs.

        And at least since the time of Jerry Meek, NCDP has held a Sanford-Hunt-Frye Dinner for fundraising purposes. And every year, the old Governor is trotted out to shake hands with big donors and then pontificates to the regular folk about needing to donate money to and volunteer to get out the vote for our fine Democratic candidates. Which is why I thought it was odd that Hunt donated $1000 to Republican Tea Bagger Justin Burr who turned around and donated the same money (the only individual candidate he made a donation to) to a Republican in Hunt’s district who was running against a Democrat that Hunt didn’t support. And Hunt continues to stick his nose into party business – both a candidate for NCDP Chair in February 2015 and a primary candidate for governor in 2016 reported getting calls from Hunt telling them it wasn’t their time to run for those offices.

        This isn’t about what happened 30 years ago – it’s about Jim Hunt being too big for his britches RIGHT NOW! You can’t make progress by being too conservative and letting old war horses run the party even from behind the scenes.

        When Mr. Ligon doesn’t know when Jim Hunt was and was not Governor and admits he doesn’t know and doesn’t care to know party procedures , he is really showing your ignorance. And if I were Mr. Ligon, I’d really want to get better educated about the Democratic Party and our processes. That’s like saying you have the right to vote, but can’t for some reason that you really don’t understand and don’t really care to find out about. He’s so proud of advertising his ignorance – you’d think he was a Republican!

        The bench is not deep. We have way too many people running for offices that have never been involved in the Democratic Party – or have served on advisory boards, commissions or panels. They don’t know how you get an endorsement or why endorsements are necessary, or why sometimes they can’t be given.

        We also have party leadership that is not ready for prime time. And who says “star power” is the most important thing? Who is responsible for our courts and jails being stuffed to the gills with black and minority defendants? Who is responsible for allowing police to stop/detain/arrest black people – especially young black men – as such high numbers and percentages? What responsibility does Roy Cooper have for the current state of our criminal justice system? What will Josh Stein do to reform and fix the system?

        And if Democrats couldn’t maintain a majority in the 2010 census year with districts boundaries they drew, what makes Mr. Ligon think that the rocket scientist consultants and operatives hired by the Democrats in 2020 will be able to take back a majority with districts drawn by Republicans?

        Mr. Ligon must still think he’s back in CA – NC Democrats didn’t know about the 2010 REDMAP project and got caught with their britches down. Hell – many NC Democrats didn’t know what ALEC was in 2010 either. The current crop isn’t focused at this time on doing what it takes to counter the 2020 REDMAP strategy. Our state party leaders don’t even know how many precincts we have in the state and most certainly don’t know how many of them are unorganized.

        At a candidate forum for NCDP Chairs in late January 2015, I was ready to ask each of the 5 candidates two questions: 1) how many precincts are there in NC; and 2) how many precincts are organized? Of the 5 candidates, three had no idea how many precincts there were, and only one was close – but under by 500. How can they possibly have a winning GOTV strategy that doesn’t include organizing and extracting every possible vote in every precinct in NC? Party leaders – especially types like Jim Hunt – are afraid of giving the base of the party too much of a voice in the party. They don’t mind hitting them up for money and getting them to go out and work for free for these candidates – but God Forbid giving them a say in the direction of the Party. That’s been the case through much of the history of our party in NC.

        Perhaps instead of advertising his ignorance of the North Carolina Democratic Party, I’d suggest that Mr. Liggon either go to a library or buy a copy of Rob Christensen’s book “The Paradox of Tarheel Politics” to find out how party leaders have fought the grassroots of the party and the people of the state for a very long time. Party leaders and Democratic electeds supported the 1898 Wilmington race riots and coup against legitimately elected white and black Republican and Populist leaders. They supported hiring goons to break strikes and shoot labor leaders and striking mill workers. To Christensen – the ends justified the means even if that meant using un-democratic methods. Mr. Ligon may continue to advertise his ignorance if he wants to, but he should be aware that the conservaDems continue to use un-democratic means to hold power not only within the party through rigging and otherwise cheating at party officer elections and preventing progressives from organizing their precincts and having a weighted delegate vote, to using party resources to support some candidates and not others in contested primary elections for public office.

        And with Mr. Ligon being on such a tear to advertise his ignorance about the North Carolina Democratic Party and our procedures, and personally attack me and my leadership of the Wake County Progressive Democrats – I have to wonder why Mr. Ligon attends our monthly potluck meetings? It’s not that he’s not welcome – I just wonder if perhaps he might find it more productive to read our party Plan of Organization and see how things are SUPPOSED to work in the party. Then he might be knowledgeable enough to engage in constructive criticism.

        A great progressive Democrat named P.R. Latta helped form the Wake County Progressive Democrats. A union activist before he got involved in politics, P. R. believed that Democrats should build from the grassroots up and have a say in how the party was run. Whatever beef Mr. Ligon has with me, I certainly hope that he can’t argue with folks like P. R. Latter who believed that grassroots Dems needed to organize to take back their party. Or does Mr, Ligon only believe that lawyers and other professionals should be the only people who have a say in the party.

        That being said, any Democrat who is interested in starting a statewide grassroots progressive auxiliary within the NCDP which will focus on organizing all of the approximately 2700 precincts statewide with Democrats who will work to craft a progressive party platform and elect Democratic candidates who will turn that platform into public policy are welcome to come to an organizational meeting on Saturday, September 17 at the NCDP State Executive Committee meeting in Rolesville, NC – details are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/568104623376840/

        • Jay Ligon

          In California Democrats win races, control the legislature and elected a Governor. In North Carolina, Democrats are the minority in the legislature and the Governor is a Republican. Chris, you rant and rave against the wrong kind of Democrat holding office and how unworthy and unrepresentative those Democrats are. Your message lacks hospitality and unity. The election is less than 60 days away. Couldn’t you hate your fellow Democrats after the election?

          Take my ignorant word for it that winning is much, much better.

          • Chris Telesca

            In CA Dems control the legislature in a much more progressive way than Dems do here in North Carolina. I dont rant and rave against anyone – I just point out the folly of doing stupid stuff that doesn’t win elections. And clearly since 2009, NC Democrats have been following the wrong leaders: establishment conservaDems out of touch ch with what it takes to win elections.

            Since CA is a much more progressive state than North Carolina, maybe one way we can win back the majority is to let Progressives haves seat at the table and a voice in the party? Maybe we need other voices at the table – like the Small Business and Labor Dems? We voted for their bylaws in Feb 2015 but the new state party officers and other Exec Council members continue to block them taking their seats at the council.

            Maybe we need a few more groups with seats on the council: Differently-Abled Dems, Native American Dems, and Grassroots ProgressiveDems? If you want to do things the way you do them in CA, then clearly you should support all those non-establishment caucuses to have a seat at the table and a voice in the party – just like they do in CA. Because CA is one of 17 states that have a progressive caucus. So by all means – lets have a progressives caucus in the NCDP and elect more Dems in NC – just like CA!

          • Chris Telesca

            Do you really expect anyone to love the party officers/electeds/staff/consultants and operatives who before the lost the majority were still stabbing working people in the back? I don’t hate these people – I just don’t respect them.

            And why do you seriously expect people to be hospitable to people who take money from donors to keep down the poor and working classes to enrich the donors and their enablers? These people are public servants – it’s their job to serve us. Not our job to kiss their asses and throw rose petals at their feet when they walk by. The sooner they realize the real pecking order the better off it will be for them and for us. I don’t treat any candidate like a rockstar because they are running to be nothing more than s public servant. Their job is to serve us – and the more we bow and scrape to them the worse off things will get for us. Because they and their handlers will grow to expect the star treatment.

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