Jerry Meek goes to Charlotte!
The Dome is reporting that Jerry Meek, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party will be taking a job with Poyner & Spruill starting next year.
N.C. Democratic chairman Jerry Meek, who plans to marry a Charlotte legislator this year, will join a law firm Monday that has offices in Charlotte and Raleigh. Meek will join Poyner & Spruill, one of North Carolina's oldest and largest firms. He now works for a Fayetteville law firm, Jim Morrill reports.
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"This was a good time to sort of transition," Meek said this afternoon. "I know I'm going to get married to someone who's going to be spending a lot of time in Charlotte and some time in Raleigh."
From what I can tell, Jerry's done a darn good job of modernizing the Democratic Party in North Carolina, but I'll bet he can barely wait to get out of that particularly bright spotlight next year. Any thoughts on who should replace him?
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Name bandied about
in email is Hayes McNeill. Does anyone know him?
Progressive Democrats of North Carolina
former Forsyth Democratic party chair
And long-time Democratic activist. Grew up in Wilkes County and has lived in Winston-Salem for years.
Dan Besse
How about you Dan?
Do it, throw that hat in the ring!
"jump in where you can and hang on"
Briscoe Darling to Sheriff Andy
I'll second that..
n/t
Third.
Start the campaign now.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Pointing at Naked Emperors
Add to the growing chorus
Even if Jerry does run, that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't.
The time is ripe for a nudge even more to the progressive side.
If McNeil is the preliminary choice
then I would definitely support Dan!!!
But, I would sure miss Jerry, he served our party well.
Welcome to Mecklenburg
All I got to say is that they better move into an un-organized precinct in Trish's district and organize it.
"jump in where you can and hang on"
Briscoe Darling to Sheriff Andy
Why does someone need to replace him?
I cannot think of an immediate heir apparent.
Person County Democrats
Bev Perdue will
have a large say in who gets elected Chairmen. That's how it usually works. Having said that, Meek upset Easley's pick in '05!
If true, a great chance for her to start off right
To take a strategic view with a transparent process.
I'd almost be a Democrat again if the party handles this right and chooses an inspiring new chair.
The world is changing and I think Lieutenant Governor Perdue understands that. I think she recognizes that she'll be known as either the last of something or the first of something.
I recommend the latter.
Ed Turlington would be great
He would have been a good pick before (although Jerry has done a marvelous job) and he would be a good one again.
"Man is free at the moment he wishes to be." -Voltaire
Amen to that, bro' Frank
I think Ed Turlington would be a terrific asset.
He's smart as hell, has great experience and happens to be a fine person as well.
It's always a relief to feel good about a given political figure, and I'm glad to say I have no reservations about Ed Turlington.
YOU can decide who the next chair is...
...by being active in the party. The Chair is chosen by the State Executive Committee, a group of several hundred party activists from around the state.
Folks who want to affect who the next chair is should go to their precinct meetings next spring and become delegates to their county convention (in most precincts, everyone who shows up gets to go to the convention). There you can vote for the State Executive Committee or, heck, even run yourself.
Whoever's elected not only needs to have good, progressive values, but also needs to be a great fundraiser. Jerry spends hours every week on the phone raising the money it takes for Democrats to win. It's not as glamorous as the big strategy and policy decisions, but without it we lose.
-Ian, posting in a personal, not organizational capcity
Jerry can run again
I don't see anything in "Dome" that indicates that Jerry will not run again in January. Jerry has made the job of party chair a full-time one by his choice, but he receives no salary. The party has a paid ED and staff in Raleigh but there is nothing that says the chair has to live there or to devote the number of hours that Jerry has to the job. Jerry has his own plane and travels extensively around the state, although with the price of gas I would guess he will curb that a bit. Still, he could be as active a chair as anyone else who might reasonably be elected, even if his principal residence is in Charlotte. His firm has offices in Raleigh as well as Charlotte, so he may spend a lot of time there, he wife sure will.
I supported Jerry in 2005 when he squeaked out a win over Turlington, a huge upset as Turlington was backed by the "powers that be" with few exceptions (Insurance Commissioner Jim Long was one of them). But as Ian notes above, getting elected to the State Executive Committee is a "grass roots" process as each county elects its members at convention in April of odd-numbered years. The county chair is an automatic member and other members (evenly split by gender) are elected based on turnout for governor in the previous election. Here in Orange Co. we have 15. The SEC has some ex-officio members too, but not many; most of the 670 or so members are elected by the 100 county conventions, so the days of the governor dictating the choice are over (ironically, Easley's huge vote total in 2004 expanded the SEC membership by about 25%, furthering diluting the influence of his office in making this decision). That said I would certainly consider the governor's endorsement of a candidate for chair to be important, if in fact Jerry does not run again.
Deleted a duplicate
[Exercised the invisible hand of moderation and deleted a duplicate]
Two Dan Besses?
Wow.
There can be only one...
... and fortunately for us, Dan Besse does a darn good job of being Dan Besse.
(I deleted a duplicate posting.)
Dan and his evil twin
I would guess Dan's evil twin would be a Republican and work for Duke Power...... wait....... that would make Dan's evil twin.......evil music.....Pat McCrory
"jump in where you can and hang on"
Briscoe Darling to Sheriff Andy
Stop
You're scaring me.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Pointing at Naked Emperors
Too funny.
I'm sorry I missed this whole discussion on Friday. Pat McCrory, my evil twin. Hoot.
And if anyone is still reading this thread, thanks for the good words. I am hoping and assuming that Jerry is available for another term as chair. He's good at the fundraising side of things too--which I (surprise!) have not been.
Dan Besse
That's funny!
I think I donated more to your campaign than I ever did to anyone else's. Ever. You must be good at fund-raising. :)
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi
Pointing at Naked Emperors
Jerry and The Howard Dean Grassroots Support
When Jerry was elected it was seen as a win for the grassroots organizing principles, of working in 50 states, working in 100 counties, every vote matters.
And of course, Howard Dean has sent support to NC so that we can make the progress we have made in this state to be less top down, and more actively organized at the precinct level.
Turlington I am sure is a great guy.
But overturning Governor Easley's choice was still seen as a progressive move in the right direction.
And things that have happened since, while perhaps not all Jerry's doing, like the near defeat of Robin Hayes by Larry Kissell, and NC being on the national map as in play, these are evidence that the time was ripe for grassroots politics.
Hurray.
I received a very nice email from the law firm
clarifying that Jerry is starting with them on Monday - not next year. He will be working out of the Raleigh office while the lege is in session and out of Charlotte when it is not.