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Thursday, February 07, 2008

(Updated) NM Dem Prez Caucus: My View on the Blame Game

Update: I've been informed that Sen. Jeff Bingaman did indeed donate significant funds for the Caucus and also did outreach to get other constituencies to do the same when he was asked to help.
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This post is very long but I hope you'll hang in there with me. First, go read Heath Haussamen's update about the problems associated with New Mexico's February 5th Democratic Presidential Preference Caucus. Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Brian Colón explains what happened with the three Rio Arriba ballot boxes and asserts that the results on the top two candidates were called in to the Party in Albuquerque before the boxes left the caucus sites. Colón then takes responsibility for problems associated with handling the massive turnout on Caucus day:

Pointing out that turnout on Tuesday was much greater than the 105,000 who showed up in 2004, Colón said the story could have been about how the two Democratic presidential candidates inspired New Mexico Democrats to vote.

“What we can write about is how two candidates came and lit the state on fire in less than 10 days, and that’s amazing,” he said. “I regret that I allowed this other situation and the party’s organization to become the story instead of that.”

Colón has taken responsibility for the problems and apologized in other statements to local media as well. Why? Because he's an incredibly hard-working, sincerely caring, principled individual who doesn't have a habit of creating convenient scapegoats. Don't take my word for it -- ask other people like me who work within the Party structure. I'm a precinct chair and a member of the State Central Committee and I've seen the Party improve in leaps and bounds under his leadership. It's been like night and day.

New Energy in the Dem Party
In my view, Colón as Chair has been a huge breath of fresh air within a Party that was sluggish, lazy, anti-outreach, anti-transparency and downright nasty at times to rank and file Dems when John Wertheim was in charge before Colon. Wertheim was the kind of Party Chair who seemed to resent an influx of new faces into the Party as volunteers, ward and precinct chairs and elected members of the SCC. (Google his name within this blog to read about some of the epic battles activists had with Mr. Wertheim.) Colón has been just the opposite in my experience. Has he made mistakes dealing with an often raucous Party with a variety of factions and complex political alliances? Sure. But I think the Party has been operating incredibly well compared to how it functioned previously under Wertheim. It's a tough and time-consuming job for anyone.

How We Got Here
Certainly Colón and others were caught flat-footed when turnout surged on Caucus day. Although there was excitement about the presidential primary in other states where early contests were held, there wasn't much here until we got barnstormed in the week or so before our Caucus. Before that, with Richardson in the race and no interest at all in our Caucus from the other candidates, it was assumed there'd be no real contest here. After all, Bill Richardson insisted until the day he dropped out of the race that he was in it until Super Tuesday. Many of us believed him and figured the turnout would be rather light and made up mostly of those loyal to Richardson in the state.

By the time momentum picked up in the race, which really happened when Obama started being perceived as a serious challenger to Clinton, it was very late in the game for our caucus process.

The Role of Richardson and Other Dem Powerhouses
Even though Colón appears to me to be falling on his sword for Richardson, I want to point out that there are many within the Dem Party who should be held accountable in my view -- including Richardson himself. I'm especially appalled at what I consider to be a pompous, selfish, spin-loaded statement by the Governor about the situation, one obviously designed to protect his "national standing" and transfer the blame to someone else.

Everyone knows the early, Party-run and paid-for Caucus was Richardson's baby and part of his presidential run strategy. He "urged" the SCC to approve his plan to institute the Caucus and was heavily involved in the 2004 version. Contrary to what he says in his statement, that year's Caucus also had its serious problems, but the positive spin applied by his forces that year was strong enough to head off most negative media attention.

In addition, the '04 Caucus was clearly better funded by Party bigwigs and benefited from an influx of volunteers and other help steered to the process by the campaigns of Dem prez nominees like Howard Dean, as well as interest generated by a presidential primary debate held at UNM. Richardson's wide-reaching political network was also central to the process. That help wasn't there this time. That kind of money and attention from the top echelons of Dem power in the state wasn't there this time either.

Yes, I think Richardson should own up to his share of the responsibility for the kinds of problems that arose with the Caucus this year. Busy with his presidential run and sucking up virtually every spare dollar in the state to fund his presidential campaign, Richardson obviously paid little attention to the 2008 Caucus or helping to make it a success. It was left almost entirely in the lap of Colón, other already hard-pressed State and County Party officers, the tiny State Party staff and hundreds and hundreds of volunteers around the state -- all of whom worked like dogs under very trying circumstances to run what amounts to a state election on a shoestring and a song.

This is a poor and sparsely populated state. We don't have thousands of big donors and experienced political operatives to help make something like this work like a charm. Our Party doesn't possess state of the art technology or highly skilled people paid to design and run its systems. Yet what happened here is being compared by many -- like the Albuquerque Journal's political reporters -- to state primaries that are run by state governments and caucuses in states where the Dem Party is flush with cash, much of it generated by the presidential campaigns.

Richardson, however, isn't the only one I think needs to step up and be accountable. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish has built up a personal warchest of more than a million dollars for a gubernatorial campaign that won't happen until 2010. Where was she in this process? Her email list must be in the thousands and her political network is large. Did she strongly urge her supporters to volunteer to help put the Caucus together and staff the Caucus sites? Not to my knowledge.

Where was Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez? I notice he was quoted in the paper today badmouthing the Caucus, but I don't believe he or his minions lifted one finger to try and ensure its success. How about Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Rep. Tom Udall? Were their people out there urging supporters to help and donate for the Caucus? If so, I didn't notice.

I could go on.

Party Bigwigs vs. Party Grunts
The lack of interest and participation in the Caucus by most of the powerful officeholders, poobahs and big donors within the Dem Party has been palpable in my view, as it generally is in terms of anything to do with the grunt work of the Party. These faces are almost never seen at Party events or business-related meetings, or when work is to be done to make Party efforts a success. About the only time we see them is when they are running for office and seeking volunteers, donations and petition signatures. Or when they want to make a speech and get a big round of applause at big Party gatherings. Then they do their star power thing and leave before the, you know, boring business of operating a political party begins.

I want every bigshot in the Party -- including the Governor -- to publicly apologize for not doing more for this Caucus or anything else to do with operation of the Party. I want them all to apologize to the incredibly hardworking volunteers, county chairs and others who donated innumerable hours to this process under very trying circumstances -- and who pulled it off admirably in most locations despite the massive turnout and lack of support. I want them all to apologize to the 150,000 or more Democrats who turned out to vote on Tuesday and stayed the course to do so despite the lines, the weather and the chaos in some places. I want them all to apologize to the Dems who showed up to vote but never got the chance because of problems in the setup.

Ordinary Democrats are doing just fine. Grassroots and netroots interest and participation in Dem politics is exploding. More people are taking the time to be better informed than ever before. More people are donating time and money. More and more citizens are engaged and responding to the myriad of emergencies we face in our nation with passion. Many have even decided to run for office. The problems, in my view, originate in the business-as-usual, insider segments of the Party -- with the public officeholders and candidates and power brokers who believe they're rock stars and VIPs too high and mighty to get their hands dirty with mere Party matters. Too many concentrate solely on their own political expediencies, their own campaign fundraising and big donor asskissing, their own narrow interest in making personal political gains. Too many could care less about building the Party or serving the real interests of the people. They're much too involved with their own private empires.

Bottom line: I believe the problems with the New Mexico Dem Caucus reveal more about the disdain for the Party evident in its upper echelons, candidates and people who hold higher offices than they do about the failures of those forced to actually put it together and run it. We're tired of the massive egos and private agendas of too many of our candidates and those who are supposed to be representing the people.

This situation is just another example of the disconnect between those who inhabit Governor's mansions, statehouses, the halls of Congress, and other niches of privilege and the ordinary people who are the real backbone of the the Party and the nation. We're tired of doing all your dirty work for you and having you show up only to get your egos stroked or to blame all the wrong people for your own failures. Ask any ordinary Dem.

Also check out recent coverage on the Caucus at New Mexico FBIHOP, which includes many first-hand accounts of what went on at the Caucus sites, as well as m-pyre. Previous DFNM posts on this are available here and here and here.

February 7, 2008 at 10:31 AM in 2008 Presidential Primary, Democratic Party, Local Politics | Permalink

Comments

I'm tired of being tired of Bill Richardson.

I think I know why he not only threw Brian under the bus, but ran over him a couple of hundred times just for shits and giggles.

Bill Richardson is trying to preserve himself as a VP for either HRC or Obama.

That's why he has his staff posted at the counting site. So, he can be the first to call whoever won and kiss their butt.

Barb, you’re right on, on not only calling the Governor out but the other elected officials as well.

Brian inherited a system that is designed to do the Governor’s bidding, and look what’s happened. After the Governor sucked up every single dollar out of NM for his colossal failure of a Presidential campaign, he shrugs and says, it’s not my fault, and blows off the caucus that he created.

It's amazing that the Democratic Party of NM was even able to raise enough money to do what they could do..

But what would you expect from someone who was too weak, out matched, and out played by every single candidate on the Presidential trail. So what does he do, he lashes out at someone who is probably one of the most loyal people to him.

Really Classy Governor.

It would have been nice to see some of that gusto on the presidential trail or maybe firing whoever managed your campaign. If you want to talk about incompetence, your campaign will be a case study of how not to run a presidential campaign.

But I digress, what's troubling is that this is part of a trend that has been going on for quite some time. Just look at the Rail Runner and spaceport funding woes.

We should have seen this coming, but let’s face it, it's all about Bill, it will always be about Bill and thank goodness, the citizens of NM will have to put up with is fat ego for another 2 years.

Let's hope that the legislature grows a pair, stands up to his arrogance, and do what's right for New Mexico and not for a carpetbagger that has made NM his own little kingdom.

YES WE CAN

Posted by: | Feb 7, 2008 4:43:38 PM

You ask where Denish and Chavez were...I saw them both on the stump for Hillary on Saturday night (the night before Richardson was set to watch the big game with the other Bill) at Highland HS. I think that since a high voter turnout probably favors Obama, perhaps they weren't so concerned about long lines at the caucuses. Just speculation of course.

I'll second the notion that Brian Colon did his best. I, for one, was in and out inside of ten minutes up at Hoover Middle School.

As more and more citizens decide to get involved in the electoral process, we should expect that the system creaks a little to accomodate them. There is a learning curve here, and the trend is certainly in a positive direction.

Were polling places kept open past 7 to accommodate the long lines in Rio Rancho? The only real 'drop the ball' moment was election workers taking ballot boxes home in Rio Arriba Cty.

140,000 caucus voters...how can this be a bad thing???

Posted by: | Feb 7, 2008 4:45:17 PM

Hi Jason: Anyone who was in line at 7:00 PM at any site was allowed to vote, even if it took hours to finish up.

Another point to remember is that a large percentage of the 104,000 who voted in the '04 caucus here did so via absentee ballot because the presidential campaigns that were active here pushed that heavy with their supporters.

This year, I believe only about 1500 absentee ballots were submitted, which means that 140,000 plus were all trying to vote on the day of the caucus.

Posted by: | Feb 7, 2008 4:53:37 PM

Hurray for Barb for telling it like it is!!! You hit my thoughts exactly!

Posted by: Dallas | Feb 7, 2008 5:13:21 PM

Well Barb you pulled my post from the forum wow ! progressive democracy at work I see. You have proven my point ! Thanks. I guess I was a little to stinging about the truth of it all. It proves you dont want to listen to the truth and will abuse your power as the mod of this forum. Farewell to the Jacobin mobs

Posted by: I cant Believe it | Feb 7, 2008 5:27:18 PM

We are Anonymous , We are Legion , We do not forgive we do not forget !

Dont post on this forum Barb pulls the post that dont follow the party line !

Posted by: Anonymous | Feb 7, 2008 5:34:51 PM

Barb and Yes We Can: How is/was the financing for Bill's presidential bid related to the money available to the party for this caucus? I don't know much about this aspect of campaigns but think it is worthy to follow up on it. Lots of rumors out there that Bill has bled the coffers dry. I would like to know if they are true.

Thanks.

Posted by: JaciCee | Feb 7, 2008 6:10:44 PM

I worked the polling site in Bernalillo and we began the day woefuly under-staffed. Bless those experienced poll workers who showed up to vote and "put and apron on."

We did run out of ballots for a while, but more were on the way. The lines moved faster than the typical McDonalds line, and the last voter was finished about 7:15. Spliting the voter list into smaller and smaller seconds the average time per voter was less than 4 sec. over the 7 1/4 hours.Unfortunately thre were 300 people in line before the flow really got rolling and there was the time waiting for ballots which allowed it to grow again.

Provisional ballots cause quite a hazzle, but I prefer that to dis-enfrancishing voters. Unlike our 'loyal opposition' Democrats have that attitude that voter accessability should be honored and not unfairly restricted.

I join with terry in saying: "I worked hard to get Brian elected as our chair. I am awfully glad that he stepped up to take the post and I am glad that he won the election." I'm damn glad we were with many activists who did!

And to play on Terry's supportive comments: Some folks not in the trenches may say he fell on his face....I think he caught his balance as he pitched forward and is handling the with class and aplomb.

I have some serious issues with several people but I'll express those to them personally. Dirty laundry doesn't need to be washed in public.

BTW: Brian Colon won't be one of them.

Posted by: Roy Streit | Feb 7, 2008 6:17:58 PM

Wonderful post, Barb!

And I'm so glad to see someone sticking up for Brian. What little time I spent with him, I felt he was a great guy. I was glad to see him elected, and sad to see him being blamed for this. Sounds like he's taken the blame for himself, though.

Posted by: KathyF | Feb 8, 2008 9:32:32 AM

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