Tonight is the big Reorganization Meeting for the Montgomery County Democratic Party.  Those Democrats elected in the May 4 Democratic Primary to the Central Committee will be the voting delegates.  A county chairperson will be selected for a four year term, ward leaders will be selected via caucus, and a constitution and by-laws will be approved.

At this meeting, only a majority is needed to ratify new by-laws and I am proposing a big change — that the MCDP stop its practice of endorsing candidates seeking nomination in a Democratic Primary.  The point of a Primary is to empower regular Democrats, and, it seems to me that the current endorsement practice of the MCDP is anti-democratic.

According to Ohio’s Revised Code, each precinct may elect one member to the Central Committee, but of the 360 precincts in Montgomery County, only 186 precincts had any Democratic candidate.  This weak showing is not accidental, as I write here:  Special Interests Controlling Montgomery County Democratic Party Suppress Expansion Of Participation.

I first became involved in the Montgomery County Democratic Party in 2006, when I volunteered to become a delegate for the Kettering precinct (4-K) where I live.  I’ve been surprised to learn that the MCDP operates as a very anti-democratic boss driven system.

It took me a while to catch on.  In October, 2007, I made a motion that the Central Committee should make no endorsement of Primary candidates prior to the deadline for submitting petitions.  I thought this motion might get support.  After all, how does it make sense to endorse without knowing who all of the potential candidates might be?  See: Montgomery County Democrats Defeat Endorsement Motion

The point of the endorsement process, as traditionally practiced by the MCDP, I discovered, is to suppress primary participation.

I was enlightened about what MCDP is all about during the short debate that occurred in response to my motion.  One insistent person demanded that the discussion be stopped and the question called.  I thought there was a lot more to discuss about the whole matter of MCDP endorsement policies and didn’t appreciate the steam roller parliamentary action to suppress discussion.  The chairperson of the MCDP, Mark Owens, is an elected official, the Clerk of Courts.  My Aha moment occurred only later, when I learned that the insistent person demanding discussion be stopped is an employee in Mark Owens’ office.

At a later Central Committee meeting, as I looked around at the small group in attendance, I realized that,  at its core, the MCDP is a small clique of elected officials and Democrats with patronage jobs. It is the self interest of this group that drives MCDP actions and policies, and this small group is very unrepresentative of Montgomery County Democrats, in general.

At this evening’s Reorganization Meeting, of the 186 elected delegates, maybe 100 will show up for the meeting. The small number of precincts represented will mean, I’m sure, that the controlling clique will get its way. A central question for this Reorganization Meeting should be:  What are the organizational policies that we should consider adopting that could make us act as a more vigorous, more fully engaged, and more successful organization?  The secret, it seems to me, is that we should implement policies that will make us, as an organization, a more vigorous democracy — the that encourages meaningful participation.  We should find ways to use technology, for example, moving toward web-based meetings, rather than insisting that members each month drive down down to party headquarters.  And we need to change our endorsement policy.

Here is the motion I will offer. I do have a second.

Whereas, Thomas Jefferson said that we “are naturally divided into two parties: Those who fear and distrust the people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes [and] Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe ….”; and

Whereas, The Montgomery County Democratic Party identifies with the people and believes the best leadership is found through vigorous democracy; and

Whereas, The Montgomery County Democratic Party seeks to encourage grassroots participation where all citizens are encouraged to participate in the political process; and

Whereas, The Montgomery County Democratic Party seeks to strengthen all of our communities by connecting people to the political process; and

Whereas, The Montgomery County Democratic Party seeks to be the Party “of the people, by the people and for the people”; therefore,

Resolved: The constitution and by-laws of the Montgomery County Democratic Party shall include this provision:

The Selection Committee of the Montgomery County Democratic Party and the Central Committee of the Montgomery County Democratic Party in a Democratic Primary may endorse only those Democratic office holders seeking reelection to the same office.

The Selection Committee of the Montgomery County Democratic Party and the Central Committee of the Montgomery County Democratic Party, in those Democratic Primary contests where no current Democratic office holder is seeking reelection to the same office, are prohibited from endorsing any Democratic Primary candidates.

• Reorganization Meeting For Montgomery County Democrats Unlikely To Bring Any ImprovementBy Mike Bock, on May 13th, 2010
• Mark Owens Says Most Montgomery Dems Approve The Party’s Suppression Of Primary Participation
• The Montgomery Democrats Decide to Suppress Democracy — Just Like the Republicans By Mike Bock, on December 14th, 2007
• The Mission of the Democratic Party Should Be to Empower Democracy to Work By Mike Bock, on October 26th, 2007
• Victor Harris: Surprised That Local Democratic Party Wanted To Suppress Primary CompetitionBy Mike Bock, on February 25th, 2008
• The Dayton Daily News Criticises “Lackluster” Dems — Endorses Victor Harris for March 4 Democratic PrimaryBy Mike Bock, on February 8th, 2008

Simon Johnson, author of the book I am working through, “13 Bankers,” writes that he is disappointed that “after nine months of hard fighting,” an amendment proposed by Senators Jeff Merkley and Carl Levin was defeated in the Senate — without even being brought to a vote. The Merkley – Levin amendment, “would have forced big banks to get rid of their speculative proprietary trading activities.”

Johnson says that Merkley-Levin had gained momentum and, “the big banks were forced into overdrive to stop it.”

Johnson says that one good outcome of the Senate failure is that the issue for many people is now clarified. He writes, “Everyone who wants to rein in the largest banks now has a much clearer idea of what to push for, what to campaign on, and for what purpose to raise money. “

1. The Volcker Rule, as specifically proposed in the Merkley-Levin amendment
2. Constraints on the size and leverage of our largest banks, as proposed by the Brown-Kaufman amendment

According to the Dayton Daily News, a specially scheduled Democratic Primary will be held in mid-July to choose a Democratic candidate to challenge incumbent Republican Mike Turner to represent Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District. The newspaper reports that the Democrat chosen in the May 4 Democratic Primary, Dr. Mark MacNealy, has withdrawn from the race, mysteriously citing “a change in circumstance.”

MacNealy was the only Democratic candidate on the May 4 ballot. I helped Dr. Mark in his last minute petition effort and got a number of signatures for his petition from my neighbors in Kettering. Now, his sudden withdrawal comes as a surprise. When I last spoke with him, maybe ten days ago, he gave no indication that he was thinking of quitting the race.

David Esrati in his web-site reports that MacNealy’s campaign manager, Joe Roberts, has announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination in the special July primary.

Esrati attempted to have his name on the May 4 Democratic Primary ballot, but his petitions were rejected by the Board of Elections because of his error in failing to sign and date his petitions properly. So now, he has a second chance.

Esrati writes, “My initial reaction is to turn in petitions with the correct date for this primary- however, fundraising isn’t even a remote possibility to go head-to-head with Turner, and I can think of better things for people to spend their money on than a campaign- like hiring people in OH-3. What are your thoughts?”

According to Open Secrets, Dr. Mark has raised $10,605 for his campaign, and Turner has raised $461,950.

Any Democrat who wants to run for congress, and challenge incumbent Mike Turner in the November election, only needs fifty signatures, and a few dollars for the filing fee, in order to get his or her name on the ballot for the Special July Democratic Primary. The deadline for filing will be sometime in mid June.