Due Process and Delegate Selection

Like some BlueNCers on here, I have a friend who attempted to run to be a national delegate at the state convention (for Sen. Obama). Her name, it turns out, will not be on the candidate slate for the state convention on Saturday. I'm sad and disappointed for her...but what concerns me is how the process seems to work (or not work). What follows is what little I know about how the process works for the election of national delegates at the state convention of the North Carolina Democratic Party:

Individuals interested in becoming a delegate filled out the appropriate paperwork and sent it to the North Carolina Democratic Party earlier in the year. It was due by a certain date. One could mark whether they were a candidate for their district convention and/or the state convention.

Following the state party receiving the applications, a process began in which the respective Democratic presidential campaigns (Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton) approved their respective delegate candidates. I don't know of anyone who got "rejected" by their preferred campaign, but anyway...

A delegate candidate then (theoretically) received word, most likely by e-mail, from the special projects coordinator of the state party that their candidacy had been approved by their preferred campaign.

District conventions elected their delegates, where the only "affirmative action" goals were by sex. The Plan of Organization for the NCDP explicitly states the number of delegates each district has to slate and the number of men/women quota that is required.

This brings us to this month. From the elected district delegates, the state must "fill in" the remaining affirmative action goals that were not met by the elected district delegates, to include race, age, orientation, and disability. The list of campaign-approved delegate candidates for the state convention, in the interests of organization, etc. is "whittled down" by the state party so that the election of delegates at the state convention can be relatively painless and timely in nature.

A delegate selection committee of the NCDP is comprised of various Democrats in the state (not sure how this committee is selected, but needless to say, it's made up of a mix of Democrats across the state).

What follows next is what has occurred this year (I have no knowledge of how previous elections were conducted). At the meeting of the delegate selection committee on June 19, 2008, held at the NCDP HQ, with committee members allowed to attend by conference call, the "proposed" delegate slate was given to the committee by the state party. It was not explained what person(s) created this proposed list. No one explained how the initial larger campaign-approved delegate candidate list for state convention was edited into the "proposed" delegate slate.

As way of further explanation, the "proposed" delegate slate is organized in such a way that the top name is the "preferred" candidate while the second name is...not preferred(?). In other words, the NCDP "prefers" the first name listed to be a delegate (I'll let other people draw their own conclusions about what all those names have in common, I'm just trying to give a objective description here). As has been related to me (hearsay!), is that most of the time, the preferred candidate wins, b/c the "fix" is in with NCDP unofficially stating that the first name should be the person selected by state delegates at the state convention for election.

To my knowledge, no names were allowed to be redacted by the delegate selection committee, though it was possible to add names. To my knowledge, whatever debate occurred, a motion was made to accept the "proposed" slate (which was not created, modified, edited, or ... any work done at all by the very committee which is responsible for it, other than accepting it for presentation to the state convention).

So, on Saturday, June 22, the state delegates of the North Carolina Democratic Party state convention will vote on a select group of delegate candidates that were selected by unknown person(s) for unknown reasons.

I have no idea what appeals process would be appropriate. I have no idea who would be the appropriate person to ask about this system and how the names were chosen. And, to my knowledge, this is the way it's usually been done. I have heard names about who may have been involved in this process, but I'm not repeating what I don't know to be true at this time. I can also point out certain names appearing on the "proposed" delegate slate which indicates the reasons for their selection, but I'm not here to shine the spotlight on any one person. This is about the process, not individuals.

This year, one would assume, our state convention will be about the values we NC Democrats are celebrating and the candidates we hope to usher to victory in 2008. But the process we use to elect delegates to our party's national convention doesn't seem to mirror the values and candidate we are offering as a nominee for President this year. So, I have a few simple questions for the NCDP:

1) What process was used to created the "proposed" delegate candidate list, who was involved in this decision, and what standards/metrics were used to determine which candidates made it?

2) What actions/reforms has the state party enacted/planned to enact to reflect our presumptive presidential candidate's call to end "politics as usual" and the audacity to change the way we operate in politics?

All in all, this isn't a big issue. But if our state party operates in such a way with delegate selection...well...I just don't know.

In the end, really, is it all just empty rhetoric?