National party threatens to bar state's delegates from 2008 convention

(Caucus members Michael Albetta and Ron Mills mentioned)

LOU CHIBBARO JR, DC Blade
Friday, August 31, 2007

Gay Democratic activists in Florida appear to be backing a decision by the Florida Democratic Party to defy national party leaders and refuse to reverse a decision to choose national convention delegates at the state's presidential primary on Jan. 29.

By siding with their state party, Florida gay Democrats are at odds with most of the gay members of the Democratic National Committee and its Rules and Bylaws panel, which has threatened to strip Florida of all 240 of its delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

"The national party has to be serious about this," said Rick Stafford, chair of the DNC's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus. "If they are not, Michigan will jump in and other states will follow and we'll have chaos in the nominating process."

Stafford was echoing concerns by national party leaders that strict rules on the timing of primaries and caucuses were needed to retain a carefully crafted agreement reached by the DNC and all state parties, which allows Iowa and New Hampshire to continue holding the earliest contests.

If the DNC backs the Rules and Bylaws panel decision, among those likely to be barred from the convention are 25 or more gay delegates expected to be chosen in Florida under a party delegate selection plan aimed at reaching out to minorities, including gays.

The Rules and Bylaws Committee voted Aug. 25 to ban the Florida delegate contingent from being seated at the Denver convention unless the state party separates its delegate selection process from the Jan. 29 primary and adopts another system for selecting delegates at a later date, such as a party convention or state-wide caucuses.

The committee gave the Florida party 30 days to come up with an alternate plan before the ban on its delegates would take effect.

Ron Mills, a member of the GLBT Caucus of the Florida Democratic Party, noted that the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature moved the state's primary date to January 29, and Democratic lawmakers didn't have the votes to challenge the proposal. He said holding caucuses at a later date, as the DNC wants the state party to do, would cost as much as $8 million and result in far fewer people turning out than they would for a primary.

Presidential nominating caucuses are usually held in a single meeting place in a congressional district, which often covers several counties.

Advocates of primaries note that they are held in the same voter polling places as general elections and are more accessible to voters, which encourages a larger turnout.

"We are not going to disenfranchise our voters in a caucus," Mills said. "We are a primary state."

Mills and Michael Albetta, president of the GLBT Caucus of the Florida Democratic Party, said they believe any DNC ban on Florida's delegates from the 2008 convention would be reversed soon after the Democratic Party's presidential nominee is identified in February or early March. At least a dozen presidential primaries and caucuses are scheduled for Feb. 5, known as "Super Tuesday." Most political observers expect one of the candidates to win enough delegates that day to secure the nomination.

Traditionally, the presidential nominee consolidates enough support within the party to take over the party apparatus and leadership before the national party convention in July or August. Mills and Albetta said they were certain that the nominee would not want to risk alienating Florida's Democratic voters by barring the Democratic delegates from the convention.

Gay DNC member Gary Shays of California, who is a member of the Rules and Bylaws Committee, told the Washington Post it would be unfair to other states if the DNC made an exception for Florida.

"Rules are rules," the Post quoted him as saying. "California abided by them and Florida should as well."