On Tuesday, May 17, 2005, at 07:43 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I'm just talking about the city convention.
I'm not saying reduce the number of people elected to ward conventions or SD conventions.
If you cap the number of delegates at 1000, each ward would send 50-100 delegates to the convention, which is a reasonable number. In addition, most subcaucuses I have been in usually send a mix of old pros and new people up to the next level. That gives a good mix of delegates to the convention.
The DFL party has a priority of recruiting for diversity and newcomers. Reducing the number of delegates to the city convention works against this priority. Diversity is slowing catching up with the demographics, but we are far from being there yet. By saying only so many seats are available at the convention, we force difficult choices at the caucus and ward levels. That opens the party up for criticism (probably deserved) that elitism is at work to confound the efforts at recruiting new and diverse members.
This is perhaps the last DFL city convention where diversity is still a challenge. I fully expect that the next precinct caucuses, ward conventions, and the city convention will be more representative of the demographic changes going on in the city.
So I wouldn't want to restrict access just when the new groups are making advances into the political process.
None of this of course changes the ability of groups to rally around tactics intended to sway the endorsement process one way or another. That part of the political process has always been with us. What will be interesting to see are the waxing and waning abilities of the various groups and affiliations to gather the steam to be influential. It is possible that more diversity will bring more independent minded individuals who are not group joiners. (National trends are in this direction). This could change tactics considerably in future conventions, but probably not anytime soon.
Electronic voting by the way will encourage this independence rather than retard it as lowering the number who can participate does.
As for venues, we may be facing the day of paid entry like the state conventions. That will force fundraisers for the participation of those with financial needs, but I think I would prefer that to limiting who can go to the convention because the space is expensive. Pre planning will also be essential.
Best wishes,
Laura
Laura Waterman Wittstock Minneapolis, MN 612-387-4915 www.laurawatermanwittstock.com http://laurawatermanwittstock.blogspot.com/
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