I haven’t written here recently, as I have been busy being Presidential. But, as the Young Democrats of America Rules Vice Chair, and an all-around Bylaws and Parliamentary Procedure wonk, I felt like I should weigh in publicly on this issue.
I haven’t yet decided who I will be supporting in the Democratic Party of Georgia Chair race. But with all of this craziness going on today, there are a few truisms people need to keep in mind:
1) Without rules, we are nowhere, and we cannot simply disregard the Governing Documents of our organization for the sake of political expediency. They all exist for a reason- good or bad- and the proper way to affect change is to procedurally change them. It’s called Democracy.
2) In this election, we are filling an unexpired term. This is a very different thing than those elections we hold every 4 years. Whoever is elected in August will serve until 2015, and will then have to run again (if he so chooses). At that point, all bets are off, and anyone can run for anything. Keep this in mind, because it actually matters.
3) There is a reason we have these rules in place. Jim Galloway doesn’t do a terrible job, but allow me to insert my two cents. We in the Democratic Party actually value diversity for its own sake. We understand that Georgia is diverse, and celebrate and embrace our diversity. We therefore locally and nationally, as a Party, have established that we believe that our leadership should be as diverse as the population it seeks to represent. Right now, we have a female First Vice Chair, and the rest of the elected officers are people of color. Ironically, therefore, the individual who will fill the unexpired term of Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia must be, by rule, a white male, just as Mike Berlon was. Certainly, the result is ironic, but in another sense it would ensure exactly what the Rules intend: as complete diversity as possible.
4) Yes, there will be some people that cannot run. Everyone knows that. And for those people, I am sure it stinks. But the fact is that we cannot bend the rules for your sake. This is an unexpired term. Whoever is elected will assume the role with all of its powers and responsibilities, but he will be joining a team of officers that have already been in their role, having been duly elected, for nearly 2 years. These folks deserved their positions, and were elected for a reason.
5) And I have said this before, those that cannot run in 2013 can run without a problem in 2015, when we will once again have a diverse and vibrant group of elected DPG officers, each elected in his or her own right. Just remember, this is not a normal election, because I feel like people think that it is.
I look forward to what promises to be a vibrant and not at all personal discussion on this post.
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