Convention Notes
UPDATE 5/17 4:19PM (the platform has been posted here)
Hi Mass Dems.
We're back!
The Party was running a skeleton crew Monday (not that we have a large crew to begin with) as folks took a much deserved day off to recoup after a busy and long convention week. We hope everyone had a great time and enjoyed the break-out sessions and the speeches and are starting to get excited about winning for the Democratic ticket in '06. Thanks to all of the volunteers, delegates, elected officials, candidates, party members, activists, and everyone else for all your support and hard work.
A few things of note:
- We are in the process of preparing the final versions of the official new Charter and Platform. We should hopefully have it live by today but it may be tomorrow.
- We are trying to gather the final versions of the speeches delivered to the convention, and we will try to post those as well.
posted by Shawn Hartman @ 4:21 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
For a platform convention that was pretty good. It still had some logisitcal issues but what conventions don't?
I enjoyed hearing all the candidates speak, and it was good to see some new and younger faces in the crowd. The breakout sessions were an excellent way to get people involved in a more intimate way. A lot of people seemed to enjoy them.
I think the party officials should understand that there is some degree of concern about the manner in which the changes were pushed through. It has further reinforced among some, the feeling that the state party is not in touch with the grassroots of the party, feeling it is their toy to play with.
I think the second commenter is onto something real. There's a lot of discussion of these issues in the comments to this post at the Blue Mass. Group blog. I would like to hear what the party has to say to the activists who felt shut out. Jane? Anyone?
If you read the convention wrap-up in the Phoenix you get a pretty good idea of Jane's opinion of activists who felt shut out. I'm disappointed, but not terribly surprised that the state party has chosen not to speak to the concerns that many delegates have.
Just based on the charter changes it's very obvious to this activist that our voices are not welcome. I'll keep that in mind the next time I get a request for a donation. Then again, I guess that $55.00 delegate fee WAS a donation. It sure wasn't for participation.
I went to the convention as a delegate under the impression it was to be a "platform convention". After several hours of speeches, that business was summarily executed in 15 minutes.
For future platform conventions, let's set the order of business realtive to the objectives. Take up the platform first, then move on to the politics.
"We are trying to gather the final versions of the speeches delivered to the convention, and we will try to post those as well."
Deval Patrick's speech was posted immediately to his campaign website, literally from the convention floor. See http://www.devalpatrick.com/releases
Seems to me that this could have been copied from there, and it and all other speeches posted to http://massdems.blogspot.com/ by now (8 days after the convention).
As a member of my ward committee, and a delegate to multiple MA state conventions, I can tell you that:
i. The charter changes, and the way they were made, were one of the slimiest, undemocratic exercises I've seen in a long time. Sort of embarrassing coming right after Howard Dean's speech.
ii. Pretty much all the members of our ward committee were appalled by the exercise.
Hi!
I'm a true hollywood republican
I am sure that the readers of your blog
are interested in reading about
hollywood republican
Here's the website where they can!
hollywood republican
Post a Comment
<< Home