I spent the last several days in Denver, first enjoying reconnecting with friends, then attending the Reorganization meeting of the Colorado Democratic Party and the annual JJ Dinner.
With the exception of the Secretary, all of the officers at the state level are new. It is always good to have new blood, but it is also useful to have some institutional knowledge on a board. I hope we have the right mix.
The new party Chair is Rick Palacio, a sixth generation Coloradan with a family history of political activism and familiarity with labor unions and the battles that labor fought to get workers the rights we all currently enjoy. His grandmother, as a little girl, survived the Ludlow Massacre. His grandfather was a union mine worker, and his father was a union steelworker. Rick is also the first openly gay party Chair. He’s young, Latino, pro-union, and owns a resume that includes working for Steny Hoyer in Washington. His vision for the party is to reenergize it with new, young voters.
I’m amused at how voting at these events always turns into an ordeal. Imagine having about 500 people in a room that is so crowded that there isn’t space to walk between seats, or much of an aisle along the wall. Now imagine telling all 500 of those people to leave the room, make their way to one long table to receive a ballot, upon showing credentials, and then print and sign their name on the ballot, and vote for their candidate by placing the ballot in a sealed ballot box on the other side of the hallway. Allow me to put it into mother goose language: the expectation was that 500 people could fill one 8’ X 8’ space in a hallway, at the same moment in time, and still have room to move around. That leaves approximately 18 square inches per person. Can you say fire code violation?
I overheard two participants commenting that it was good to know that Democrats continued their tradition of being unable to organize anything. Will Rogers first noted the democratic trait when he said, “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.”
Homework:
Diary of DEM meeting in Denver
PBS Story of Ludlow Massacre
Steny Hoyer
Will Rogers Quote
With the exception of the Secretary, all of the officers at the state level are new. It is always good to have new blood, but it is also useful to have some institutional knowledge on a board. I hope we have the right mix.
The new party Chair is Rick Palacio, a sixth generation Coloradan with a family history of political activism and familiarity with labor unions and the battles that labor fought to get workers the rights we all currently enjoy. His grandmother, as a little girl, survived the Ludlow Massacre. His grandfather was a union mine worker, and his father was a union steelworker. Rick is also the first openly gay party Chair. He’s young, Latino, pro-union, and owns a resume that includes working for Steny Hoyer in Washington. His vision for the party is to reenergize it with new, young voters.
I’m amused at how voting at these events always turns into an ordeal. Imagine having about 500 people in a room that is so crowded that there isn’t space to walk between seats, or much of an aisle along the wall. Now imagine telling all 500 of those people to leave the room, make their way to one long table to receive a ballot, upon showing credentials, and then print and sign their name on the ballot, and vote for their candidate by placing the ballot in a sealed ballot box on the other side of the hallway. Allow me to put it into mother goose language: the expectation was that 500 people could fill one 8’ X 8’ space in a hallway, at the same moment in time, and still have room to move around. That leaves approximately 18 square inches per person. Can you say fire code violation?
I overheard two participants commenting that it was good to know that Democrats continued their tradition of being unable to organize anything. Will Rogers first noted the democratic trait when he said, “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.”
Homework:
Diary of DEM meeting in Denver
PBS Story of Ludlow Massacre
Steny Hoyer
Will Rogers Quote
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