The following item will be on the agenda at the Minneapolis DFL Convention this
Saturday:
Consideration of Constitutional Amendment (30 minutes)
Earl Netwal (Ward 12, Precinct 9) will move the following amendment:
Resolved, That the constitution is amended by striking from article IV, section 2, the
second and third sentences, thereby repealing the amendment adopted at the 2001 City
Convention requiring precinct caucuses in the same calendar year as municipal
elections.
Note: The amendment would result in the following change to the current provision
(wording to be struck out is struck out):
The business of the ward convention shall include consideration of endorsement for
City Council and the election of ward coordinators and alternates. Each ward
convention shall consist of delegates and alternates elected by their precinct
caucuses, in a manner for which the bylaws shall provide and pursuant to a call which
the Central Committee shall issue, in the same calendar year as the general election
for which the convention is considering an endorsement. No amendment to the bylaws
affecting these precinct caucuses shall take effect before the end of the calendar
year in which it is adopted, unless the Central Committee finds by a two-thirds vote
that earlier implementation is necessary. Ward conventions shall be convened by the
ward coordinators.
There are any number of nice sounding reasons that Earl and others will trot out for
proposing this amendment, many regarding expense and other factors. The reality, IMHO,
is that this is a cynical attempt to limit the number of participants at our ward and
city conventions. There are any number of people who are more engaged on city issues
than on state and federal issues who may want to participate in a ward convention or
city convention, but this amendment would restrict the participants to those people
who were elected delegates and alternates out of this year's precinct caucuses. I
would also add that people who move between now and next April would lose their
delegate status and be relegated to the last alternate of their new precinct.
I am adamantly opposed to this constitutional change and would ask for your support at
the convention in defeating this attempt to limit participation in our city endorsing
process. Furthermore, please let your precinct delegation or any political campaign
you may be participating in know what this amendment would do and ask them to vote it
down. Thank you.
Loki Anderson
Marshall Terrace
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
-Martin
Luther King Jr.
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