I have been an active Democrat since 2003. I’ve watched this party go from having majority control of NC state government for 112 years (won through a racist, white supremacist coup in 1898) that ended in 2010 because the party lost it’s “mojo”. We went from being a party chaired by the Governor’s choice prior to 2005 to a party chaired by the “People’s Choice” – which worked to turn NC “blue” for Barack Obama in 2008 with a 50-state and 100-county grassroots on up strategy started in 2006.
Then as soon as we nominated a white female candidate for governor and an African-American male candidate for President, a group (consisting of OFA, the DNC, our gubernatorial nominee and the usual round of “suspect” consultants started dismantling the 50-state/100-county strategy beginning in June 2008. It continued on through 2009 and culminated with a historic ass-kicking in the 2010 general election.
A lot of people have some interesting opinions of what happened in 2010 through now, but most focus exclusively on what I call “electionitis”. It’s been defined as “an abnormal tendency about elections” as in: “politicians are tormented by the obsession of electionitis”. Lots of money has been spent on these elections and all the consultants can brag about the number of “voter contacts” made by them or the campaigns, but that really doesn’t explain what happened from June 2008 that lost us the majority in 2010.
I have talked with two main challengers to Bobbie Richardson (Anderson Clayton and Eric Terashima) and neither of them know how the party worked to turn NC “blue” in 2008, only to get our asses kicked in 2010.
A little history...
The problem since 2009-2011, and from 2015 on was too damned much “electionitis” and not enough realizing that the party functions best when it’s organized from the grassroots on up so that as many people as possible have a voice in the party and a seat at the table. So that we have rules that create an open and transparent NCDP that’s accountable all the way from Goodwin House to the precinct level. So we can pass resolutions at the precinct level - and then incorporate those that are passed at the state level into the party platform. Then elect a majority of Democrats who will work to turn that platform into public policy.
OFA took over and started running the DNC after Hillary conceded to Obama in June 2008, giving the nomination to Obama. That’s when Obama For America took over control of the DNC, and started to dismantle the very 50-state strategy started by Dean that helped Obama overcome the internal advantage that Queen Hillary Clinton had for all those years PRIOR to 2005.
Right here in NC, SEC members who voted for Jerry Meek – a grassroots activist Democratic Party Chair in 2005 - lost their nerve and “mojo” and voted for the Governor’s choice for NCDP Chair in 2009. We went from having 3 staffers working for NCDP paid for by the DNC to 5 former OFA staffers who took their marching orders (but only half their pay) from OFA. They were sent down to Charlotte (along with $750K) to help elect Obama’s buddy Anthony Foxx to be Mayor of Charlotte (build up his resume) where he won by 3K votes. Basically the serious work of the party that enabled us to elect Obama in 2008 and hold onto the majority was thrown out the window for short-term gains.
By 2010, all OFA and the DNC (and most if not all state parties) cares about was whatever would get Obama’s legislative agenda passed - and nothing else mattered. So neither OFA, the DNC nor any state party thought it was important enough to win the majority of state legislative seats in 2010 in a census/redistricting election. But the Republicans knew better, and they targeted with laser precision those seats they’d need to win to take over.
Previous NCDP Chairs never ran for re-election after such disastrous results
The NCDP Chair who served from 2009-2011 at least had the decency to not run again in 2011. David Parker had some decent plans to reform the NCDP, but those plans were thwarted by greedy consultants who created a false sexual harassment scandal to try and get rid of Parker in May 2012 so they could elect a replacement party chair (current Mayor of Raleigh MaryAnn Baldwin – who never served as a party officer before May 2012) who would let them steal all of the Taxpayer Checkoff money. And those people attacking Parker were vicious bastards who also went after his business and livelihood. So after 2012, he decided not to run again for Chair. Randy Voller ran and won in 2013, but was under attack from the corporate establishment conservaDINOs almost from the beginning.
The People's Party vs the Governor's "Follow the Money" Party
Nobody seems to be aware of the tendency for top-down top-ticket campaigns like Obama, Biden or Cooper (and Stein) to interfere with the NCDP officer elections precisely because these campaigns and their BIG donors want a state party they can control so they can launder money through it and make sure that their favorite consultants, operatives and vendors get paid. In many ways it’s equally (if not more) important than actually winning the race. Because if you can’t control the money laundering, then - God Forbid - someone like Bernie Sanders (or Barack Obama) sneaks in and wins!
Virtual meetings suck!
And I don’t like these virtual meetings - it’s too easy for the people running the meetings to cheat and boot people they don’t like out of a meeting and blame it on stuff like internet access. They can and have cheated at in-person meetings as well.
Not all party staffers are neutral in party officer elections!
At the May 2012 SEC meeting which rejected David Parker’s forced resignation, I told one staffer about the results of the vote and that Parker was headed back to the meeting (he had been so sure he’d get the boot that he was cleaning out his office). That staffer said Parker “can’t do that - it screwed up everything” (meaning the money laundering). The issue that drove Parker to resign was a bullshit “scandal” that later on was proven to have been concocted by the consultants so they could keep nearly $1 million in taxpayer checkoff money for themselves instead of letting it be used by the Congressional District Chairs in their counties.
Less than a year later, that same staffer and two others were out in the hallway calling local DINO Dems to come in and take proxy votes to vote for the establishment candidate and against progressive Randy Voller. The staffers were cheating because by this time quorum had been declared and under Roberts Rules proxies weren’t acceptable. The staff and other establishment conservaDINOs didn’t want Voller (or Parker before him) because both promises party reforms that were desperately needed once we lost the majority so we could get it back again, and the donors and consultants involved in the money laundering didn’t trust that Randy would guarantee the flow of money would go the right way and grease the right palms. They hated Randy so bad that there were death threats made to him during an Exec Council meeting in April 2013 (also while Randy would not cover their asses during the investigation of a campaign finance worker’s murder that might uncover the whole house of cards).
Talk about potential and/or actual election fraud!
There is no reason why party officer elections shouldn’t be conducted with the same openness and transparency as elections for public officials. We don’t conduct those elections on the Internet and deny the public or the candidates the right to watch counting/recounting and audits – yet party elections are conducted via Google Docs and candidates are not allowed to be at Goodwin House to observe the staff and volunteers to make sure that people who support one candidate won’t commit an error or mistake that sways the election. And the rule about members being responsible for their own internet connections is BS as well. Does anyone remember the NCDP convention in June 2020 when hundreds of delegates got tossed out of the Zoom meeting? That was hardly their fault! With such a rule and no non-partisan observer at Goodwin House, how can we be sure that we actually have quorum if lots of people suddenly and mysteriously lose their connection to the SEC meeting?
The real disconnects with the NCDP!
And few of the candidates are willing to discuss the big disconnect in the Democratic Party that accounts for our party hemorrhaging voters. People are tired of being told they must vote for Democrats who once elected sell out those voters and stab them in the back.
Why do you think so many Obama voters in 2008 didn’t vote in 2012 and in 2016 voted for Trump? In 2008, Obama ran on “hope and change”, but once elected the first thing he did was protect the Wall Street bankster scumbags and let lots of people lose their homes and retirement nest eggs. He sold out on the public option to make sure that small business owners like me had health insurance costs rise so much that I’ve been without insurance (because ACA is ridiculously complex for self employed people who might have big income fluctuations) since 2013.
The incumbents have already had their chances and failed!
Since I am not going to be voting for NCDP incumbent candidates for any office (because they have utterly failed to lead the party and I do not believe they have the ability to fulfill their campaign promises recycled and reworded from 2021), I am only voting for the candidates with no previous state party officer experience.
If NCDP were a sports team with this win-LOSS record, the fans would be demanding to replace all the coaching and management staff and burn the playbooks.
My "Dream Team"
Here is my dream team (no incumbents serving in any other capacity):
Chair: Eric Terashima (second choice would be Anderson Clayton)
1st Vice: Anderson Clayton (second choice Eric Terashima – anyone else but Floyd)
2nd Vice: Nazim Uddin (anyone but Matt Hughes)
3rd Vice: LeVon Barnes (anyone but Chris Hardee)
Secretary: Anyone else but Melvin
What I want to avoid...
I am not really thrilled with the idea of putting anyone with experience or close ties (officers or staffers) to Independent Expenditure groups like Lillian’s List, New NC Project, Carolina Forward, etc. I agree with the former Florida Democratic Party Chair who said that those IE groups have been poaching volunteers and leeching money from the party over the years. And I can’t see that they’ve done a good job of increasing Democratic voter registration or turnout! And while a group like County 2 County is kind of a part of the Orange County Democratic Party, its work overlaps the work that should be done by the Association of County Chairs.
So let’s look at the candidates besides Bobbie...
Anderson has lots of energy and appears to be able to identify with rural voters, but like many of the other candidates fails to understand how we need to add rural voters to what works in the urban/suburban and exurban areas. In fact most of the slate is from rural areas. And even more concerning to me is that hardly any of the other candidates (except Bobbie and other incumbents) are talking about the non election party organization stuff that keeps the party running from the grassroots org perspective. Like the standing committees, or appointments sustaining fund committee, Council of Review, etc. To say nothing of their roles in shaping the makeup and providing oversight of the SBE and 100 CBEs.
Chairs of Committees:
Resolutions and Platform: Nazim Uddin (doing what Matt Hughes has done as Chair of Res & Plat Committee
PORC: Jonah Garson
Legit Concerns for party officers:
Anderson and LeVon are still working and trying to earn a living. And while the Chair might be getting a stipend (??), I am unsure they’ll be able to maintain their standard of living while being Chair. And they could very well be vulnerable to having problems with their jobs due to decisions they make as Chair being unpopular with establishment Dems, donors and consultants.
The only candidate with actual experience leading large multi-level organizations
Only one candidate has any experience with running a large organization from the bottom on up. And has the financial independence to buck the establishment conservaDINOs: Eric Terashima. He entered USMC as a 2nd Lt, and rose up through the ranks and retired as a full bird Colonel, earning each rank by successfully doing his duty and completing missions - not getting his badge of rank just because he showed up/as a trophy.
It's not just about electing Democrats - but electing them to turn the platform into public policy!
Being a party officer isn’t about showing that you care by holding “listening tours” or patting their hands. It’s simply being able to tell people that they should register as a Dem to join the party and work to elect Dems that will turn the party platform into public policy. And to hold those miserable corporate establishment conservaDINOS responsible for stabbing voters in the back and then kicking them out by running and voting for progressives who will do what’s expected of them.
Some Dems would rather lose to Republicans than have progressive grassroots Dems in charge!
That’s why I’ve said we have people in the party like donors and consultants who would rather lose races than lose control of the money laundering machine. I know Bobbie doesn’t get it - otherwise why are electeds like Cooper and Stein, and consultants like Morgan Jackson and former NCDP ED Scott Falmlen (who formed top consulting firm Nexxus Strategies after leaving NCDP in 2005) supporting Bobbie?
Sports-team comparison!
Bobbie has been an NCDP officer since 2019. Matt has been 2nd Vice Chair at least as long. If 2022 was the best Bobbie and the other officers and staff could do, then it’s time to give them all the boot and start fresh.
Follow the money!
But if Anderson, and Levon don’t get it (and I’ve really heard nothing from any of them that indicates that they do know about the money laundering and that they want to reform it), then I’m voting for Eric. Certainly not for Floyd as 1st Vice Chair and not for Matt Hughes as 2nd Vice Chair.
And last but not least...subject of another posting!
As for Chris Hardee as 3rd Vice Chair. Given his history with the party, I am appalled that he’s running for this position and making the claims he’s making on the candidate’s page.
