2/3: Adventure at the CDP Convention
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Guest Post by Ellis Goldberg, President of the Tri-Valley Democratic Club.
A couple of months ago I realized that there was no apparent movement to undo the 2/3 rule that prevents the CA legislators from doing their job. Sally Sweetser & I wrote a resolution to present to the CDP at the convention. The resolution calls for a change to simple majority for BOTH budget and revenue legislation. We went through the proper procedure and several Democratic Clubs and the Contra Costa Central Committee passed the resolution telling the state party to endorse this position.
Five resolutions were submitted to the CDP Resolutions Committee concerning the 2/3 rule. We attended the Resolutions Committee meeting. They decided to condense the five into one, which unfortunately did not include the part about revenue. It is like being strangled by two hands but only trying to remove one of them. The accepted resolution was written by not yet elected Chair John Burton.
Before the meeting I spoke to several committee members asking for their support and was assured by the Chair that I would get a chance to speak at the committee meeting. The meeting started and only members of the committee were initially allowed to speak. There were a total of 119 resolutions many of which were condensed. All were put on a consent calendar to be voted on at once. In order for any of the 119 resolutions to be considered individually, debated and addressed by their authors, a member of the committee had to pull the resolution to be considered separately. None of the committee members pulled the resolution, which meant it would go to the convention floor as is. Voting on these resolution would take place Sunday afternoon at the end of the convention. The committee rules as posted on the CDP website say nothing about the pull procedure.
We later heard that delegates are allowed to pull resolutions from the floor and request amendments. Sally did that. Sally, Contra Costa County Party Chair Chuck Carpenter and I were prepared to make our case to the assembled convention. We waited impatiently as members of the legislature & delegates debated props 1A-1F and other resolutions. Then someone asked for a quorum call which unfortunately would have ended all voting at the convention since many delegates already left. Then that delegate rescinded the quorum call. I thanked him for doing that.
Then another delegate approached Sally and I asking to speak on our resolution, he wanted to say something about term limits. Sally told him that is off the topic. He threatened a quorum call. Sally read the name on his badge and said she would remember him. I spoke to Chuck who said to let the guy talk. The guy seemed satisfied.
Chuck realized that any delegate opposing the resolution could make a quorum call, that would kill the resolution altogether, so Chuck and Sally decided to rescind the pull and instead try to pass our resolution at the meet e-board meeting in June on the peninsula. Chuck went up to the stage and got Alex Rooker the new female Vice Chair to support our position at the e-board meeting. I was really stressed by then and had a toothache to boot. I had a root canal today.
It ain't over. Chuck offered me a seat on the CDP Resolutions Committee, I said "no thanks". Burton will name a new Resolutions Committee soon.
A couple of months ago I realized that there was no apparent movement to undo the 2/3 rule that prevents the CA legislators from doing their job. Sally Sweetser & I wrote a resolution to present to the CDP at the convention. The resolution calls for a change to simple majority for BOTH budget and revenue legislation. We went through the proper procedure and several Democratic Clubs and the Contra Costa Central Committee passed the resolution telling the state party to endorse this position.
Five resolutions were submitted to the CDP Resolutions Committee concerning the 2/3 rule. We attended the Resolutions Committee meeting. They decided to condense the five into one, which unfortunately did not include the part about revenue. It is like being strangled by two hands but only trying to remove one of them. The accepted resolution was written by not yet elected Chair John Burton.
Before the meeting I spoke to several committee members asking for their support and was assured by the Chair that I would get a chance to speak at the committee meeting. The meeting started and only members of the committee were initially allowed to speak. There were a total of 119 resolutions many of which were condensed. All were put on a consent calendar to be voted on at once. In order for any of the 119 resolutions to be considered individually, debated and addressed by their authors, a member of the committee had to pull the resolution to be considered separately. None of the committee members pulled the resolution, which meant it would go to the convention floor as is. Voting on these resolution would take place Sunday afternoon at the end of the convention. The committee rules as posted on the CDP website say nothing about the pull procedure.
We later heard that delegates are allowed to pull resolutions from the floor and request amendments. Sally did that. Sally, Contra Costa County Party Chair Chuck Carpenter and I were prepared to make our case to the assembled convention. We waited impatiently as members of the legislature & delegates debated props 1A-1F and other resolutions. Then someone asked for a quorum call which unfortunately would have ended all voting at the convention since many delegates already left. Then that delegate rescinded the quorum call. I thanked him for doing that.
Then another delegate approached Sally and I asking to speak on our resolution, he wanted to say something about term limits. Sally told him that is off the topic. He threatened a quorum call. Sally read the name on his badge and said she would remember him. I spoke to Chuck who said to let the guy talk. The guy seemed satisfied.
Chuck realized that any delegate opposing the resolution could make a quorum call, that would kill the resolution altogether, so Chuck and Sally decided to rescind the pull and instead try to pass our resolution at the meet e-board meeting in June on the peninsula. Chuck went up to the stage and got Alex Rooker the new female Vice Chair to support our position at the e-board meeting. I was really stressed by then and had a toothache to boot. I had a root canal today.
It ain't over. Chuck offered me a seat on the CDP Resolutions Committee, I said "no thanks". Burton will name a new Resolutions Committee soon.
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