Donna Kundtz Moore

Happy to see that one of my new Democratic Party friends, Donna Kundtz Moore, will be the guest preacher at the New Hope Lutheran Church on Catalpa Dr: October 20, Sunday, 9:55 AM.

At 7:55 AM this morning Donna wrote the following on Facebook: “I am preaching Sunday. First time in years. I want to do it. But… Not written yet. So here I am on Facebook. How do you spell procrastination?” I’m getting a little worried because now it is 12:32 PM and it looks like Donna is still on Facebook.

Donna will speak about the Poor People’s Campaign and our Moral Agenda and the scripture for her sermon will come from Luke 18 — Jesus’s parable of the widow and the unjust judge. Donna wrote that she sees the Widow in this story as standing for who need help and that the parable is one that teaches the value of persistence. I’d love to hear Donna speak and I’m going to make the effort to get to the New Hope Church on Sunday.

This is what I wrote to Donna:

The theme that could unite Christians is patriotism — broadly defined.

Ok — You got me to read Luke 18. Amazing how easy it is now to compare multiple and multiple translations. I like Phillips: “There was a magistrate in a town who had neither fear of God nor respect for his fellow-men.” I assume this judge could take such a haughty and independent attitude because he was an agent of the totalitarian state. This “unjust” judge finally gave the widow justice simply for his own comfort — not because the judge felt obligated to dispense justice — and she was lucky because in some totalitarian states her annoying behavior would have got her shot or sent to the archipelago or work camps.

I like the idea that “the Widow in this story stands in our culture now for all who need help.” In America — those who need help are standing before an unjust judge and they are not just asking for help. They are asking for justice. They are asking that America fulfill its pledge of “liberty and justice for all.”

The unjust judge is the status quo — a corrupt and broken system controlled by legalized bribery — and this status quo has contempt for those with no money or no power. The widow in the Bible story had zero power to change the status quo of the system she was born into. Her only hope was to beg and beg the status quo to give her a crumb. Here in the United States the Widow is empowered by our Constitution to transform the status quo.

I checked. Every week in America 37% of the population attend a religious service. Astonishing. In England the rate is only 2 or 3%. You’d think a Christian nation would have Christian policies and would have actions reflective of Christian ethics. Christians are divided and polarized. The theme that could unite Christians, I’m thinking, is patriotism — broadly defined.

I’m urging the MCDP to agree to a resolution that the number one issue in America is the brokenness of our system of representative democracy — that all of the sins of the system are explained by the simple fact that our Constitutional democracy is in shambles. My idea is that this resolution will lead to a “Contract With OH-10 Citizens” that Democratic candidates to the Ohio Assembly and to congress (OH-10) will sign and will make the center of their campaigns. This “Contract” will specify commitments for accountability, transparency and citizen engagement, etc. I’m thinking that repairing the system could be the theme that unites American Christians — Christians now divided by identity and culture — the rise of a new understanding of what it means to be a patriot.

I’m thinking I will try to make it to your church on Sunday.

The MCDP Central Committee meeting last night rejected making any requests of Chairman Mark Owens to implement changes to its standards of procedures of operation.

Originally the five proposed rules (below) were suggested changes to the MCDP by-laws — requiring a two-thirds vote to be approved. The motions were changed so that rather than a vote to change the by-laws, the motions were simply requests of the Chairman — requiring only a majority vote.

Last night’s action culminated in complaints going back to January of this year that the Central Committee procedures were unacceptable. The complaint was that the expectations for the Central Committee — procedures and standards — should at least be comparable to what one would expect to find in a well-run student council at a high school: agendas, notifications, minutes, financial reports, etc.

In the discussion, Mark Owens pointed out that because of the interest in improving Central Committee procedures, he has already implemented some changes (R & T, below). The group voted to table item U to the Finance Committee to come up with a plan.

The biggest point of contention was item Q — the radical notion that attendance at Central Committee meetings should be part of the minutes  — and this was rejected. Amazingly, this was criticized as too dangerous — potentially providing important information to the Republicans. What? One positive outcome was that Kurt Hatcher, our Executive Director, promised that if any member wanted a report on attendance, that he or she would be provided that report. So, this morning, I made my request.

Somehow, as part of the discussion, the charge was made that failing to report attendance was a violation of Ohio’s Sunshine laws — the responsibility of public bodies to be transparent. I looked it up. The Central Committee is an elected body, but according to this information from the Open Government Resource Manual: Ohio Sunshine Laws, the sunshine laws generally do not apply to Central Committee meetings.

c. County political party central committees
The convening of a county political party central committee for the purpose of conducting purely internal party affairs, unrelated to the committee’s duties of making appointments to vacated public offices, is not a “meeting” as defined by R.C. 121.22(B)(2). Thus, R.C. 121.22 does not apply to such a gathering.

Our obligation for transparency is not to the general public — but to the Montgomery County Democratic constituency. Our obligation is to conduct ourselves as an accountable legislative body that follows long-held standard procedures expected of responsible groups. At the beginning of this year, the work of the Central Committee was very disordered — not worthy of our constituency. This process of complaining and making motions for improvement has never won a vote, but Mark Owens has responded by making positive changes — including the formation of committees, assigning committee chairman, etc.

Proposed Changes To The MCDP Constitution

Q. Minutes of the Central Committee shall include a record of all members in attendance at the meeting and identify the precinct that each attending member represent. The record of attendance shall be included in an email communication to Central Committee members with the minutes from that meeting.
R. Each regular Central Committee meeting will include a review of the minutes of the previous meeting and be presented for changes and vote approval by the Committee.
S. Each regular Central Committee meeting shall include a financial report of the income received and money spent since the previous report.
T. Each regular Central Committee meeting shall include a vote to open the meeting with the adoption of an agenda.
U. Each calendar year, the Finance Committee will propose a suggested operating budget dealing with all income from dues, gifts, and fundraisers. The Executive Committee will review the suggested budget and vote on whether to recommend approval. The budget and recommendation for approval from the Executive Committee will be presented to the Central Committee for discussion and vote for approval.

Zach Dickerson, Chairman of the MCDP Rules Committee, at the coming August 29 MCDP meeting, will present five possible additions to the MCDP Constitution. The purpose of these additions is to establish standards to strengthen the MCDP Central Committee.  According to Ohio Revised Code the Central Committee is the legislative body that is the “controlling committee” for the county party organization.

The proposed addition to the MCDP Constitution arose from complaints of members. I met with Mark Owens in April and he agreed to present to the Central Committee five proposed changes to the MCDP Constitution. These were printed in the June agenda. I presented these changes to the Central Committee at the June 27 meeting and after a brief discussion, the Committee voted to refer the proposed changes to the Rules Committee to check any legal issues and to improve the wording of the proposed changes.

The Rules Committee met in July and studied the proposed changes and made improvements in the wording and in clarity. The Rules Committee did not take a vote on whether, or not, to recommend approval. To change the MCDP Constitution requires approval by two-thirds of Central Committee members in attendance and voting.

Proposed Changes To The MCDP Constitution

Q. Minutes of the Central Committee shall include a record of all members in attendance at the meeting and identify the precinct that each attending member represent. The record of attendance shall be included in an email communication to Central Committee members with the minutes from that meeting.

R. Each regular Central Committee meeting will include a review of the minutes of the previous meeting and be presented for changes and vote approval by the Committee.

S. Each regular Central Committee meeting shall include a financial report of the income received and money spent since the previous report.

T. Each regular Central Committee meeting shall include a vote to open the meeting with the adoption of an agenda.

U. Each calendar year, the Finance Committee will propose a suggested operating budget dealing with all income from dues, gifts, and fundraisers. The Executive Committee will review the suggested budget and vote on whether to recommend approval. The budget and recommendation for approval from the Executive Committee will be presented to the Central Committee for discussion and vote for approval.