Credentials, Resolutions, and Crypto

PRESENTED BY A PLUMBEOUS VIREO

Last night’s deadly plane crash hung over the Democratic National Committee Winter Meeting, with hundreds of members having come in through National Airport, including the Kansas delegation, whose chair Jeanna Repass is a vice chair candidate. One member of the delegation had even been scheduled to be on that plane until a last-minute change. Everyone was disgusted by Trump’s bigoted, partisan response and his administration’s attacks on the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic controllers.

Debris from the crash floated down the Potomac to National Harbor, where the meeting is taking place at the Gaylord Convention Center.

Today, your intrepid Hill Heat editor (me) and chief political reporter (okay, also me) traveled to National Harbor and Georgetown University to cover the first day of the meeting, at which new officers will be elected on Saturday. My overly detailed preview allowed me a foothold on the gathering.

Before I get into what happened today, I want to state that I met any number of dedicated, compassionate individuals from around the nation from all walks of life who are dedicated to the proposition that the purpose of politics is to come together to make people’s lives better. They are fiercely committed to opposing the corrupt, oligarchic, cruel, and fascistic Trump regime. And many, like my long-time allies Michelle Deatrick and Jane Kleeb, are fierce climate activists. The worst behavior of any member of the DNC is incomparably better than any of the cavalcade of clowns trotted out today in Senate confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kash Patel, and Tulsi Gabbard.

I’ll start with my Big Scoop^TM: When I met DNC chair candidate Martin O’Malley in the hallway outside the Small Business Council meeting, the former governor of Maryland, I thanked him for for sharing his campaign’s donor list, walking the walk of accountability and transparency.

“One of my competitors is backed by crypto money,” O’Malley replied. “The tall guy who just went in that room.”

He meant Ben Wikler, one of the top contenders for the seat.

Although it may seem like a million years ago, it was only three years ago that Sam Bankman-Fried was the Democratic-donor crypto king, before his Ponzi scheme blew up and he went to federal prison. I’ll pat myself on the back for calling that one early.

Ken Martin has promised to release his donor list before Saturday’s election. If he wants O’Malley’s backing, that probably would be a smart thing to do.

Ken, Ben, and Martin are taking the stage in Georgetown tonight before an audience mostly closed to DNC members, some Georgetown students, and the press, to be interviewed by MSNBC anchors Jen Psaki and Symone Sanders-Townshend, both former Biden White House staffers, and Jonathan Capehart. The chair forum begins at 7:40 pm.

I made sure to arrive in time this morning for the Credentials Committee meeting, where the fate of the three DNC state members from Alabama under dispute was determined.

It was a shambolic, sordid affair.

The Alabama Democratic Party is in a state of constant disarray, thanks largely to the corrupt efforts of long-time powerbroker Joe Reed to stay king of an increasingly irrelevant hill, with the support of his ally, state chair Randy Kelley, who attack their fellow Democrats with virulent, racist rhetoric. As former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), the last and only Democrat elected statewide in the past decade, put it:

The problem the credentials committee faced this time was that no elections had taken place to replace the DNC members whose terms ran out in 2024: Josh Coleman, Caroline Self, and Charlie Staten. The Alabama party bylaws state unambiguously:

However, chair Kelley claimed that the offices were vacant and, in a series of actions that were invalid either because they lacked a quorum, or used methods forbidden by the bylaws, or lacked proper notice, &etc. etc., claimed to fill Coleman and Self’s seats with Joe Reed and Donna Foster. He re-installed the elected member Charlie Staten.

Understandably, Coleman and Self objected, filing a challenge with the Credentials Committee, which brings us to this morning.

In a truly execrable affair, the committee—led by chair Rion Ramirez (co-chair Hilda Solis was absent)—desultorily and distractedly voted to recommend seating Kelly’s invalid slate for the winter meeting. Only California member Michael Kapp objected to the decision.

DNC legal counsel Andie Levien and parliamentarian Helen McFadden disgraced their respective professions, with both somehow failing to mention the above bylaws section or the relevant passages in Robert’s Rules of Order, both of which are designed to prevent fuckups like this and protect the rights of elected officials.

Democrats are fighting against a president who is disregarding the clear letter of the law to illegally fire people and install his cronies.

So I sure would be happier if the Democratic Party didn’t do the same fucking thing.

Seating the disputed members is the required first order of business at Friday’s meeting (Bylaws Two.10.b.iv).

The Resolutions Committee meeting was a little better, though its power was neutered by the 2022 bylaws amendments after the powers that be accidentally let a resolution opposing fossil fuels make it to the full assembly.

Although, again, only the barest glances were made by the committee at following regular order, with resolutions improperly amended (but for a better result) and not updated for how Trump’s threatened actions have now happened. More importantly, one resolution (No. 12) included “harassment” in its definition of political violence and does not explicitly defend nonviolent civil disobedience. Many climate activists and organizations are threatened by SLAPP lawsuits and new laws criminalizing nonviolent civil disobedience and restricting the right to protest, including laws that include vague restrictions on “harassing.” The resolution was endorsed unanimously without discussion.

I then dropped by several council meetings, where DNC chair candidates addressed those gathered, including the Seniors Council and the Interfaith Council. In no surprise, both Ben Wikler and Ken Martin availed themselves well.

In the afternoon, I zipped past the emergency officials staged for the crash response along the Potomac over to Georgetown University, and attended the first few hours of the candidates forum. National Finance Chair Chris Korge defended his strong record of commitment as a key Democratic fundraiser, but also blustered and heaped scorn on his challenger Tim Lim. Brandishing his reputation as a voice for the little guy, Korge said: “Big donors don't have any control of anything. They have as much control as small donors, which is nothing.”

The most charitable interpretation is that he and other donors, big and small, dislike the way they have to raise money into the DNC’s black box, with almost no access or say over the budget.

Incumbent treasurer Virginia McGregor, appointed by Biden to the position, did a better job by focusing on her understanding of the responsibilities of being the DNC’s chief fiduciary officer.

Okay, that’s all I got, until tomorrow. I’ll be up early to be live-posting the general session tomorrow morning, which, given today’s demonstrations of parliamentary procedure in action, to be perfunctory, or worse, a shitshow. And yet, it’s so much better than the alternative.

Hearings on the Hill:

• 9:30 AM: Senate Judiciary Committee
  Nomination of Kash Patel to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

• 10 AM: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
  Nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services

• 10:25 AM: Senate Foreign Relations Committee
  Vote on the nomination of Elise Stefanik to be the Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations

Climate Action Today:

• 8 AM: Democratic National Committee
  DNC Winter Meeting: Day One

• 3 PM: Democratic National Committee
  Eastern DNC Party Officer Candidate Forum

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. If you’ve got job listings, event listings, or other hot news, I want to hear it. Connect with me—@[email protected], and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky.

P.S. In the comments, please let me know if you like this kind of in-person reporting! It’s a different kind of work than my average newsletter, and I’d love to know if it’s something you’d like me to pursue more.