Post Thoughts And Observations On The 2017 WISDEMS Convention

By Jeff Simpson

I attended my first Wisconsin Democratic Convention this weekend and wanted to share a few thoughts.

1.  The Voting has to get better!

People were lined up way early on Saturday morning to vote for chair.  Congrats to Martha Laning, David Bowen, Meg Andriesch, Mandela Barnes and Khary Penebaker, for being elected to leadership positions in the Wisconsin Democratic Party.  Now lets lead the party into the 21st Century and make sure in two years, party voting looks completely different.

First, let us look at the results.
Laning - 722
Kennedy - 569
Finch - 50
Donovan - 48
-----------------
Total -1839

Vote total needed to beat Scott Walker last election  - 1, 259, 163

Vote Total needed to win Assembly District 14,723

Ok you get the idea, we need more people involved.   The more people involved, the more people who feel they have a stake in the party and the more people who feel they have a stake in the party, the more people will participate.    The more people who participate, the more elections we win.... See what I did there

So how do we fix it.

1. We need a way for everyone to have a vote.   Designating certain people as delegates and others as not, to decide the future of the party, is not the way to do it,    If you are a member of the party, you should have a vote as to who is the head of the party.   Period.

2.  At the very least, everyone who attends the convention, pays their money to be a member and then pays even more for the convention should have a vote!  No excuses for this.   '

3.  There has to be an APP or a way to vote online, with a code or at your local county party if you can not make the convention etc... While you are at the convention, two boxes at a time for each CD is archaic.   Give people their one ballot as they walk in the room and then let them vote and have numerous boxes all around the room to put yours in.    We would raise bloody hell if this happened at regular elections and rightly so!

**  As a quick aside, to worry about Republicans joining and screwing with the vote, that is an impossibility.  The numbers do not add up!   Secondly, do not tell me its a priavte club and they do not have to follow those rules, and then be mad when so many people walk away and vote third party.  
4.  Another problem was the candidates WORKED THE LINES!  How is that even acceptable?  When we minimize the waiting times to vote, this will be somewhat fixed but it also needs to stop.

5. WISDEMS staffers.  This is a problem that numerous people who talked to me at the convention brought up.  There was a group of people, staffers, who showed great enthusiasm for Martha, during the speeches, and were strategically placed in front of the cameras, and brought a decent amount of votes.

 Now I am not blaming Martha's win on this, but it is something people noticed.  DO they truly think Martha was the best choice, or was Martha being re-elected their best chance to keep getting paychecks?    I would propose that anyone who gets paid by the WISDEMS can not vote in the election, with the one exception of the current chair(while they get paid they also are answerable to the voters, the staffers are not).   I would be more flexible on this if the voting was opened up, but when you limit delegates, then you give them an incredible amount of power.

6.  Please Martha, David, Meg and Mandela - Fix the voting system for next time.

Now the rest of the convention, thoughts and suggestions.

I understand that there has to be party business, I understand that the long time electeds need to have their ego stroked and have to speak, I understand that its cute to have cutesy slogans and themes,

* However, I would have one theme at every convention - Win the next election.     Anyone who plans to be in a race coming up, should have 3-5 minutes to speak.  They do not need to be introduced fancily, or any music played, just a quick introduction.   That allows Democrats from all over the state to meet the people who might/will be running for major offices.

Tammy should have spoken for sure, and anyone running/thinking of running for Governor, anyone running against an entrenched Republican, etc...  3-5 minutes max!  Then people can seek them out for more information as the convention goes on.

*  If we can eliminate the two hour wait to vote, that will open up more time for breakout sessions.   Maybe something like speed dating where you sit 8 people at a table and have different candidates, party members, etc...move around every few minutes to introduce yourself and answer questions.    Make everyone feel they have a voice and are being heard.

*  More interaction is what is needed to keep people involved, and interested.

*  Sorry, I have no suggestions on how to make resolutions and by-laws more exciting.

*  I heard Sachin Cheda and Nation Consulting was there working behind the scenes,...I don't think the people could be more clear that we need to rid ourselves of these toxic high paid consultants.    If they are involved the state loses.

*  There were some very good people running for these offices.  It is imperative that the people who did not win their races be an integral part of the WISDEMS going forward,   Eric Finch, Bryan Kennedy, Joe Donovan, Adam Brabender, Luke Fuszard and Peter Peckarsky all brought many strengths to the table and we need all of their skills going forward!

The best line of the whole convention was this one from Eric Finch:

Eric Finch, chair candidate at #DPW2017, tells crowd to take the anti-Scott Walker bumper stickers off and put on one for their candidate.

— Jason Stein (@jasonmdstein) June 3, 2017

I agree whole heartedly, dump the old recall signs and stickers and lets look forward not backwards!


* Finally, we found out something that anyone who read the Walkerdocs, already knew.   That the opposition, the WISGOP is run by a bunch of immature fools with the creativity and wit of a 12 year old math wiz.

The WISGOP put this billboard up (although not sure where because i never saw it):

But thats not all.  They vandalized cars all over the parking lot by putting this(which they did not have permission to use) on windshields:

But Wait there is more:

The WISGOP spent all hours of the night, stalking the WISDEM members and putting this under their door.  Kind of very creepy if you ask me! 

Whoever is running the WISGOP, seems to have a weird obsession with animal cruelty.  I hope that those close to him keep an eye on him before innocent others are endangered!
Seriously, please let us stop losing to these childish lunatics!

 

Kennedy for DPW Chair

By Jeff Simpson



Capper and I both did something that we thought we would not do - join the Wisconsin Democratic Party.  After Capper joined, he endorsed the BAM ticket of Bryan Kennedy, Amanda Stueck and Mandela Barnes to run the Wisconsin Democratic Party!

Now it is my turn.  I spent alot of time thinking and debating this topic and after long thought, I have decided that I will fully support Bryan Kennedy for Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair.

I appreciate and respect the hard work that Bryan Kennedy has been putting in.  I appreciate that Bryan has had a long career in the Democratic Party, from an elected official, to a union President, to a candidate against the Tampon King of Menominee Falls.   It is no small feat to run against a firmly entrenched multi millionaire in today's political culture.   I like the fact that while the rest of Wisconsin Democratic insiders, and electeds were falling over themselves to endorse Hillary, Bryan was unapologetically behind Senator Bernie Sanders for President.  I respect the fact that once the race was over, he jumped in line and supported Hillary(if only her loyalty had been a two way street).   I like the fact that he has put the time and effort into running for the party and has a solid plan and the optimism to retake the state in 2018.   The final straw that put me over the edge is the fact that Bryan, not only has been available throughout his run, but he personally stopped by my house and asked for my vote.  

Bryan now officially has my vote, and I hope he has yours also.

While telling you why I am voting for Bryan, I have to also have to explain why I feel there is a need for change.  

First, I have to say that I like David Bowen and feel he is being under utilized as Vice chair, otnd one big step to taking the State back from the far right extremists, would be to make David Bowen, minority leader and have Peter Barca give up his reign(but I digress).

While I want to acknowledge that the election debacle has plenty of owners, being head of the Democratic Party, you have to shoulder your share of the burden!

Now let's look at where things went off the rails.

* Martha rode a wave of change to the chair of the Democratic Party, unfortunately, she did not acknowledge that change.   She kept everyone on board for months, despite the fact that she inherited a staff that was known for losing elections.

* There was a special election as soon as she took over, and it was all but ignored.

*  Bloggers and grass roots seem all but ignored.  When Kory Kozlowski, executive director of the party was leaving and Martha was hiring Jason Sidener, Daniel Bice was the person who was breaking all of the stories.  

*  She oversaw the party during the primary of 2016, where there was an incumbent protection plan, which caused primary challenges to big of a burden to overcome.

*  She oversaw the party during the 2016 debacle of a statewide election.

*  She promised to vote for the winner of the Wisconsin Primary and as soon as Senator Sanders won, she immediately broke her promise.

* She was one of the few state chairs, who signed up for the Hillary Victory Fund, which turned into the Hillary Fund and they forgot all about the Victory part.  Really this, in my mind, is the one thats inexcusable.  

*  Speaking from personal experience, Martha has not been approachable or accessible. A mailer and a phone call from a supporter is the way to win elections in the 1980s.

I plan on critiquing Bryan every step of the way, and criticizing and complimenting the party as needed,  

The 2018 elections are the most important of our lifetime and we can not afford another debacle.  

It is time we put the party in Union hands and started to win elections again.  

See you this weekend!

BAM For DPW

Two years ago, former DPW Chair Mike Tate did the best thing he could ever have done for the party....he decided not to run for reelection.  Tate saw the writing on the wall.  After years of failure, losing control of every aspect of the state government, people wanted a change.

So Tate slunk off to become Boss Abele's personal toady while the party's future was up for grabs between Tate's hand-chosen successor, Jason Rae, and outsider, Martha Laning.  The people voted for the only chance for change and elected Laning to be the new chair.

Unfortunately, everyone's hopes were dashed when Laning proved herself to be no better than Tate.  To be fair, Tate had sabotaged the party so much that it was going to get worse before it got better.  But the only positive move that Laning has taken in the past two years was the hiring of Jason Sidener to be the political director.

Which leads us to this year.

Another election is coming up.  Laning and her vice-chair, David Bowen, are running for reelection.  While Laning has been a disappointment, Bowen has continued to show the strong leadership that we have come to expect from him,   The second vice-chair, Jeff Christensen, has chosen not to seek reelection.

Opposing the incumbents is the ticket of BAM -  Bryan Kennedy for chair, Amanda Stuck for Vice Chair and Mandela Barnes for Second Vice Chair,

Bryan is the mayor of Glendale and is a good union man, having been president of the AFT..  He is fairly progressive in his attitudes and, more importantly, his actions match his words when it comes to these policies and attitudes.  He also has great organizing skills and a plan on how to make the DPW much more effective and to actually gain some seats.

Amanda Stuck is the State Representative from Appleton (yes, Appleton!).  I had the chance to briefly to briefly talk with her and I am very, very impressed.

First, she is not afraid to speak truth to power, such as when she called on Scott Walker to apologize for insulting single moms.
Stuck really won me over when she called out the Republicans for their most recent attack on Labor (emphasis mine):

Democrats spoke at length against the measure. Rep. Amanda Stuck, D-Appleton, said the bill will lead to lower wages for workers and lower-quality work on public projects.

Stuck said Republican lawmakers with "soft hands and round bellies" voting in favor of the bill could not do the work her husband, a steelworker journeyman, does.

She told me last night that she is frustrated at how the Party has being useless at best and a hindrance at worst for candidates.  She said that the Party needs to stop treating candidates with contempt in order to grow the base (I would add that this would help in building the bench as well).  She is disappointed that so many people have a negative image of the party but she understands why they do and wants to fix that.  She said that she is tired of having people's rights trampled because the Party can't get their act together enough to even offer resistance.

The ticket's candidate for Second Vice-Chair is Mandela Barnes, a former state representative from Milwaukee.  I've known Mandela for years and can fully attest to his positions on every issue that are important to progressives, from racial and gender equality to workers rights.  Barnes was the guy that got kicked out of Walker's presidential bid announcement when he declined to be the token African American on stage.  He also is not afraid of taking on the establishment as evidence when he went up against Boss Abele's favorite senator, the sellout Lena Taylor.  In fact, it was when Barnes announced his candidacy that I had reversed my decision to stay out of this race.

Needless to say, I feel very strongly about endorsing the BAM ticket for this upcoming election to lead DPW out of the political wilderness.  So much so that I did something that I never ever thought I would do - I actually joined the party to make sure that my voice was heard from the inside as well as out and would not be so easily dismissed by the Establishment Democrats.

I urge my fellow Democrats who are hungry for a change to join me in supporting Bryan Kennedy, Amanda Stuck and Mandela Barnes to lead our party out the miasma it is currently in.