Chair Turner, with all due respect, this is a horrible idea. Understand that no matter whom you might endorse in such a convention, know that A) your ExecCom members will support whomever they damn well please regardless, which means B) they will undermine any Party efforts to coalesce behind any candidate.
There will be a wild, wide-open field for this race, because no elected official is up this year, so they risk nothing by taking a stab at the race. Everyone on your ExecCom has a friend, or more than ONE friend, who will be running, so they will stay with whomever they choose to support, regardless of who comes out of the convention.
To my friend and brother Mr. Gill: It's not 1991 any more, and people are not only comfortable with the prospect of an African-American Mayor, they EXPECT one. There are too many people in this race to have a consensus, so let it be. I've found that the community decides for itself which candidate they will unite behind, and it's wiser not to try to usurp their authority.
Back to you, Chair Turner: You've done fairly well so far, if you do this, it will make the Party look as disorganized as the old days, and no one wants this convention, except Mr. Gill. Please rethink this, and allow the people themselves to determine the best candidate for Mayor of Memphis.
Presuming of course, that we actually HAVE an election this fall.
UPDATE: You need to go to Reginald Milton's place, they're having a hell of a discussion about this, H/T to Diane Cambron!
11 comments:
just take one guess as to who is behind this.
Del wants this 'convention' and says it will happen regardless of whether the party goes along. I guess he was hoping we'd pay for it. Also it looks like a trap for Van. Just say NO!! Also, has anyone noticed Del's campaign against Reginald Milton's job as party secretary? Del and his mouthpieces (Boris Combest) are going out of their way to make him look bad. It also has the effect of damaging his campaign against Norma Lester (which is quixotic at best).
We need a mayoral runoff for city mayor. Not only that, we need properly assured instant-runoff voting for all city races. It would lessen negative campaigning and have many other advantages, such as making sure whoever ultimately wins has more of a mandate than just a sliver of the electorate.
Del is hoping this "convention" will endorse Charles Carpenter as the "consensus candidate. It's the only chance that Carpenter has to win but even HErenton's allies aren't going for this divisive idea.
Potentially huge mistake. The party should stay out of this race.
No matter what criteria is used and no matter who would end up with the endorsement some supporters will walk away angry and widen the rifts already in the party. Worse still is that the Party endorses a candidate and none of the other candidates get out of the race, which makes the Party look weak. Even worse still is the possibility that the process appears somehow "rigged" or biased in the public eye, this damages the party's credibility going into the 2010 elections.
Thinking about it, I see no real upside for the Democrats in this. Leave it alone.
On top of all the other reasons not to do this, there's almost NO chance a Democrat won't when the actual race so why should the party jump in? In a case like Kemp Conrad vs. Paul the party was right to jump in, but this is vastly different. Myron, Carol, A.C., Carpenter (I presume), and Strickland are all Dems.
If the SCDP wants Democratic nominees then they should just call for primaries instead of pretending to be powerbrokers instead of useless do-nothings.
Dave, Dave, Dave
Such anger.
Why be angry when today we found out douche bag extraordinaire Paul Stanley been banging his 23 year old intern. What a good guy Paul Stanley is. Wants to stop living wage, worked for Sir Allen Stanford, and cheats on his wife with woman less than half his age. That's a goddamn trifecta moral turpitude.
He don't give a shit about poor people. He don't give a shit about rich people. He don't even give a shit about the people that give a shit about him. At least we know he only cares about money and tail.
It also has the effect of damaging his campaign against Norma Lester (which is quixotic at best).
Explain???
SCDP will not have a mayoral convention.
I know I am an elephant, so you can probably discount my musings. But, I never see the parties taking an active role in cultivating agendas against high crime rates, poor schools, and poverty in Memphis. I guess it's not a high priority if you live in East Memphis and your kid goes to White Station or to a private school?
Tom, you said PARTIES, not PARTY, and you would also be correct in that regard.
Until this year, it was all the SCDP could do to keep from killing itself at every meeting, much less take charge of an issue. If Van Turner ducks away from the "People's Convention", they have a good chance of moving forward.
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