Not that things need to be stirred up, but...

Well, your friend and mine, that bon vivant, that Commission candidate, that shrinking violet Del R. Gill his ownself has proposed an interesting resolution for the perusal of the SCDP ExecCom.

He sent it to the party and graciously included me in the email, so here it is:

Where As, Building Loyalty for the Democratic Party name is Job One of the Executive Committee...

Where As, Our Local Party has a Covenant of Beliefs and Values...

Where As, Our next Biennial Convention (est. April 2007) is about a year away...

Where As, Tennessee has no State Wide Party Registration process...

Where As, Party Identification is usually derived from Primary Vote Participations...

Be It Resolved, The Democratic Party of Shelby County commits to adopt a rule for the 2007 Biennial Convention that will EXCLUDE any participating voter who shall have voted in a Republican Primary between August 1, 2006 and the conclusion of our 2007 County Convention.

Ok then. I forwarded the email to my list with the following observation:

You know, at the risk of having some of my favorite people hurl bricks at me Friday night when I host the Tunica trip for the TFDW Convention, I'm not so sure he's wrong here.

On the one hand, we have always bent over backwards to welcome new people, as we should. And, who's to say that people who voted R in August might not have a change of heart?

On the other hand, look at what the party has had to put up with in the last 10 months. We had to boot one ExecCom member who was actively working (and, despite his departure, still IS) against a Democratic elected official.

Then, we had two fellows (one of whom, I understand, has given his mea culpas and given the SCDP money), who had shown to have been involved with the GOP, one as late 2005! And they are running in our primary!

Folks, I don't want to be a spoilsport or someone who's exclusive. Dammit, though, we have people who are very willing to take advantage of our good natures. In the long run, that hurts us.

Now that Committeeman Gill has been good enough to offer this for the ExecCom's perusal and consideration, it's time for us to think about this, too. Mull it over and then let your reps on the ExecCom know how you feel.

Whaddaya think????

UPDATE: I have received some feedback via email, and Joe Weinberg has graciously allowed me to share this response with you, our loyal readers:

Problem is there are lots of reasons why one might vote occasionally in a Republican primary aside from the people who crossover to hurt the other side. Out east there are often no Dem primary contests to speak of & the local elections will be decided in the Republican primary. so if you want to have a say over who will represent you in the legislature, sometimes you might vote republican. Or someone might have a personal friend running in an election. I think using one ballot is unwise. I'd be more comfortable looking at a pattern of voting Republican or voting democrat.

Joe