Many Democratic Party faithful are hitting the road for Kingman today to attend the State Committee Meeting of the Arizona Democratic Party (ADP). The big doings this weekend will be election of Arizona’s Democratic Party “Super Delegates” to the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
Anyone following presidential politics has heard about the “Super Delegates” and their sway on decisions at the national level– from who they back for President to their power in choosing the head of the DNC. (DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has been under a lot of fire lately for the short and oddly-scheduled presidential debates and other controversies.) It wasn’t until I read this blog post by the Arizona Eagletarian that I realized the DNC representatives we State Committee Members elect periodically are our “Super Delegates”. This puts our vote into a whole new light! (For the record, I don’t buy the conspiracy theory in the Eagletarian’s article about the location of the meeting. Far too many State Committee Meetings have been in Maricopa County.)
Two people are running for re-election as Super Delegates– Carolyn Warner (who has been a Super Delegate for as long as I can remember) and former ADP Executive Director Luis Heredia. Phoenix City Councilwoman Kate Gallego is stepping down from her DNC post. Running for the open seat (or perhaps hoping to bump out one of the incumbents) are Doug Ballard of Flagstaff, Kristie O’Brien and Krista Pacion of Phoenix, and Emily Verdugo of Tucson. It should be fun.
Also, on the agenda, is a proposed bylaws change which would allow the ADP’s Executive Committee to have a “vote of No Support” regarding candidates for office. This is painted as a way to eliminate fake candidates or candidates for which there are “serious questions about a candidate’s legitimacy and intent”. The bylaws text states this is not a candidate endorsement process, but obviously this clause could be used against candidates who don’t fit the mold. A second bylaws change regarding how resolutions are handled is also up for consideration.
These votes all take place in the afternoon. In the morning, the caucuses meet. The Arizona Democratic Progressive Caucus, which I co-chair with Scott Prior of Apache Junction, has a packed agenda with discussions of the bylaws changes, proposed resolutions on supporting the Tucson Post Office and supporting the use of supplemental funding for the schools (anti-Prop 123 resolution). We will also hear DNC candidate speeches.
Here is a video from the Progressive Caucus Meeting last January.