Next week, the Democratic Party will be having its Central Committee Meeting in Tonopah. (December 4th.) I attended my first of such meetings between the Primary election and the General election and it disproved (yet again) the idea that we live in a democracy. I attended the meeting with several of the DeVoe campaign activists, including Rick DeVoe and George Matthews, the campaign manager. When we arrived, we discovered there was free pizza, and enough for everyone, but there were not enough copies of the agenda.

Agendas be damned, the meeting was called to order and Adriana Martinez chaired the meeting under the strict direction of Rebecca Lamb, executive director. There were many representatives from all the different Nevada counties (called “rurals”) who gave reports on their Get Out the Vote efforts, and there was your typical treasurer’s report, no details, no written copy, no transparency, no chance for asking questions. There was encouragement and advice based on statistics of voter positions, and warnings about talking to potential voters about hot-button issues. Certain issues are approved for talking about- others, like the war, were more divisive. It’s all right there in the statistics- we should not be talking to our neighbors about the war, about abortion rights. Interesting how that’s what people are talking about now anyway.

Once old business had concluded, and we’d heard everyone’s reports, it was time for new business. According to the agenda, after new business was over, there was to be an optional canvassing training session- you know, one of those things no one actually stays for, but it looks good to offer. However, a strange thing happened: Rebecca kept motioning to Adriana to somehow manage to skip new business. Hmm.. What could be going on? The Chair (Adriana) started talking about unrelated things when Rick DeVoe asked the Chair when new business was going to begin. Instead of the Chair answering, Rebecca answered that she wanted to do the cavassing training first, then new business. This deviation from the agenda would effectively assure that no one would stay for new business, because the training session would break up the meeting and people would go home. Adriana recognized some people in the back who reminded them they’d driven four hours to cover new business. At this point, Rebecca moved that we do training first, then new business, and the entire room shouted the loudest “NO!” I’ve ever heard. Now *that* was unity! Defeated, they began new business.

George Matthews nervously walked up front, knowing what he was going to say was going to hit hard. A few of us in the meeting held a stack of copies of page 6 of the NV Democratic Party Bylaws when he started speaking. He started by saying he felt awful that he had to be up there teaching Democrats how to be democratic. He then explained that there is one bylaw that states it is unacceptable to endorse or promote primary candidates over another before the primary election. The rationale behind this is obvious, but to spell it out, party leaders should not pick a candidate, *the people* should. George was holding a list in his hand of four giant provable examples of this bylaw having been broken by the NV State Democratic Party, and all in one race: the race for Congress in Congressional District 3. Yes, Tom Gallagher. George read the crowd and made a gut decision to only attack on one of these issues. Debbie Trudell, who is the NV State Democratic Party Treasurer, took a paid position on the Tom Gallagher campaign well before the primaries. He moved that she be removed from her office as Treasurer. Rurals were gasping for air, I think Rebecca was blue, and everyone was talking at the same time. I passed out those bylaws as fast as I could, while Adriana tried to call the meeting to order. Of course, Debbie Trudell was not in attendance at this meeting, most likely busy campaigning for Gallagher. While everyone was reading and interpreting the admittedly vague bylaws the way that suited them best, the tension was thick. It was decided in the end that, as stated in the bylaws, a letter would be sent to Debbie informing her that at the next Central Committee meeting, her position as Treasurer would be voted on because she’d knowingly broken this bylaw. The rurals seemed completely disgusted at the conduct of those who let this kind of conflict of interest happen. There were some, too, who felt we should have kept quiet about all this until after the Kerry campaign was over. “Bad timing” we kept hearing. Well, is it our job to keep quiet about things or is it the Officers’ jobs to be honest? Bad timing on *their* part, I’d say. Not one of those people, though, felt that Debbie Trudell taking a paid position with the Gallagher campaign as Treasurer of the NV State Democratic Party was acceptable. I also heard a lot of patronizing remarks like ‘just accept that you (Rick) lost and get over it,’ etc. etc. It wasn’t about Rick, it was about democracy, but maybe from their perspective, they’ve forgotten that some fights are not motivated by personal gain, that some people do actually fight for what they believe in. Somehow they’re so cynical that they can’t trust that.

There was another motion passed, too, and that was that we attempt to get a motion in front of the Nevada State Legislature to move the date of the primaries to an earlier date so that the pressure on the Parties to pick a candidate to start backing even before the primary elections would be alleviated. It was half-hearted, and I would bet my right arm no one has done anything toward getting this done.

The meeting was adjourned and migrated outside where there were personal tangles and yelling and finger pointing. Everyone ducked into their busses, drove home, and concentrated on the Kerry campaign. I wanted to do anything other than work with the Dems at this point, but I rationalized that if I didn’t work my hardest to get Bush out, I’d regret it til the day I die. So I did that, but with determination to not let this drop after the election was over.

Yesterday, I received an email about the Central Committee Meeting on Saturday, December 4th in Tonopah. The original email stated that the meeting was “really inside info” and the person who forwarded it to me did so without the knowledge that I would be writing this article. Maybe they didn’t mean it- maybe they really are trying to get the word out about this meeting so that we the people can help grow our democracy. That is why I am helping them by publishing this article. I won’t even charge them for the time and trouble! I am definitely going to this meeting and I encourage anyone who would like to come with me, to please email me. Their only requirement is you must be a registered Democrat to attend the meeting. I am going to insist on integrity. Get the word out on this meeting to any Democrats you know, and see if they will too.

Democracy begins with the primaries. When there are several great candidates running, such as there were in the Congressional District 3 race, it is important to use this as an opportunity to engage voters and to support candidates. When voters feel that their vote in the primaries doesn’t matter, they typically don’t show up. This works very well for party leaders, as it gives them the power to choose instead. Shouldn’t candidates be encouraged? Don’t we want to be governed by people just like us? By blatantly supporting Tom Gallagher before the primary election, the Democratic Party leaders bypassed *the people* and this is the highest crime. Tom Gallagher (CEO of ParkPlace Entertainment, union buster, job cutter, $2,000 Bush donor, etc. etc.) was never going to beat out Jon Porter, and even if he did, it wouldn’t have mattered.

I don’t think the current system is working for the Dems anymore. The current system is basically this: to run a successful campaign, 1. you must have a whole ton of money and 2. you must go have a little talk with Harry Reid who will decide what you will run for and when you will run for it. There is no democracy here in Nevada- we have mindlessly given up our power to these people. What I want to know is when and how this system is going to deconstruct- when are the people going to insist on integrity? Why would a thinking person be a part of a party like this? Coming home to the Green Party is looking nicer and nicer………