{"id":23571,"date":"2022-09-16T12:19:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T19:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=23571"},"modified":"2022-09-17T02:25:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-17T09:25:31","slug":"democratic-national-committee-edited-bylaws-to-let-it-overrule-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/09\/16\/democratic-national-committee-edited-bylaws-to-let-it-overrule-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE EDITED BYLAWS TO LET IT OVERRULE CONVENTION"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>BECOME A MEMBER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attendees during a rally for the Democratic National Committee in Rockville, Md., on Aug. 25, 2022. Photo: Anna Rose Layden\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new language requires the smaller committee to ratify any changes that its broader membership at the national convention wants to adopt.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Akela Lacy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 14 2022, 11:45 a.m. (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DURING ITS SUMMER meeting over the weekend, the Democratic National Committee quietly amended its bylaws, giving the narrower body power to override decisions made by its members at its quadrennial convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The national committee approved language requiring that it must ratify any bylaw amendments that the convention, a broader body, wants to adopt. \u201cNo such Bylaw or amendment shall be effective unless and until it is subsequently ratified by a vote of the majority of the entire membership of the Democratic National Committee,\u201d the amended measure from the Rules and Bylaws Committee states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese decisions are made to move ultimate power from the members of the convention into the hands of the committee, and that can become a dangerous precedent,\u201d Nevada Democratic Party Chair Judith Whitmer told The Intercept. \u201cThese seem to us as increasingly anti-democratic decisions. And it brought a lot of outrage from progressives and moderates alike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amendment removes the authority over DNC decisions from the national convention, which includes thousands of members, and places it instead with the smaller national committee of just under 500. According to three people present, several DNC members were frustrated with the change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hearing that a very small group may try to disrupt the General Session,\u201d read a text a DNC staffer sent to members on Friday. \u201cWe cannot afford this disruption less than 60 days before the election (also, it could prevent the VP from being able to speak tomorrow). We recommend you enthusiastically vote to support the reports as written and adopted overwhelmingly by your colleagues on standing committees. Wondering if we can\u2019t count on you to support the chair and reports?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following day, when the general session took place, Democratic National Committee Member Jessica Chambers of Wyoming \u2014 who received the text and is among the leaders who will now have the power to approve bylaws \u2014 read the message aloud on the floor. Chambers said the text went to at least 100 individual members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is not a disruptor among us,\u201d Chambers said to a round of applause. \u201cOur staff should not be telling us how to think or vote.\u201d The Intercept reviewed an audio recording of her remarks during the session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur staff should not be telling us how to think or vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chambers called the DNC \u201cthe least democratic organization that I\u2019m involved with,\u201d in part because paid staff whip votes against members. The recent attempt to suppress dissent is an example of how committee staff undermine elected members \u201cfor someone else\u2019s agenda,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know whose agenda it really is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitmer, who did not receive the text herself but had it shared with her by a fellow member, called the message an \u201cintimidation tactic\u201d that created division within DNC membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two press representatives for the DNC did not respond to The Intercept\u2019s request for comment, nor did Rules and Bylaws Committee co-chairs Minyon Moore and James Roosevelt Jr. Moore is the former chief executive officer of the DNC and was the director of White House political affairs under President Bill Clinton; Roosevelt has provided volunteer legal counsel to the Massachusetts Democratic Party and is a former associate commissioner of the U.S. Social Security Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe DNC members are at a very clear disadvantage to the staff and the interests of the establishment,\u201d Chambers said. \u201cI hate that word, but I don\u2019t know how to describe it. There are people who are running the DNC that are not the DNC members.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BECOME A MEMBER Attendees during a rally for the Democratic National Committee in Rockville, Md., on Aug. 25, 2022. Photo: Anna Rose Layden\/Bloomberg via Getty Images The new language requires the smaller committee to ratify any changes that its broader membership at the national convention wants to adopt. Akela Lacy September… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23571"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23573,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23571\/revisions\/23573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}