Blue Mass Group

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Caucus reports?

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Anything interesting happen at your caucus?  New faces, old places?

Down in my neck of the woods, we barely filled our allotment of delegates, once again mulled how swell it would be if the state party had an event (say, a convention) in the southeast of the state for once, and had the classic discussion regarding endorsement in town elections.

By the way — Richardson for President meetup at 7pm at The Kells, this Tuesday February 6th.

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  2. Put my State Committee hat on and stopped at 3 Boston Wards as follows:

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    Ward 5 (Back Bay/Beacon Hill/Bay Village) — 21 delegates, elected about 15 or 16, including a couple of new people.  Senator Kerry stopped by, as did Rep. Marty Walz;

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    Ward 4 (South End/Fenway) — 16 delegates, elected 3 males, 6 females, I believe.  Congressman Capuano was there, Rep. Rushing, Jovita Fontanez of State Comm. and Susan Passoni, candidate for the late Jim Kelly’s seat (interesting that no other candidates stopped by)

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    Ward 10 (Mission Hill/JP) — 14 delegates, full slate (!)
    Councilor Mike Ross attended.

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    There was some discussion about the $75 delegate fee, and I’ve been asked to come to the Ward 9 (Lower Roxbury) Committee in March to talk about it.

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    Some presidential banter at Ward 5, but that was it for that, nobody plugging any candidates formally.  Talked with folks in all three wards about a Council forum later in the year (we did a Lt. Gov forum in 06 with a few wards).

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    For anyone in Ward 11 (part of JP), your caucus is Monday night at English High, see massdems.org for details.

  3. We filled our allotment of delegates except the alternates in Ward 8, and that was with fully half of the people who are newly involved largely because of the Patrick campaign came on board to run. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much of a contest, because just about enough people showed up in our ward as there were spots.

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    Still, the turnout was better than I expected, and I am happy to report that several other wards were able to send some or fill out delegations because of other Patrick people who came after reading my LiL post and/or the email I sent out this week trying to get people to go. That made me very very proud of what we accomplished in Lowell, because I felt like I didn’t have enough time to recruit prior to the caucus this time around (just really busy). There’s a lot of very good people (Hi Tim! Hi Paul!) who came today who I hope remain involved for the time to come.

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    See you at the convention!

      • Two members of the school committee, Jackie Doherty and JiM Leary were also in attendence in Ward 8, as was Dick Howe, North Middlesex Registrar of Deeds.

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        Come to think of it, Ward 8 is quite a hot bed of politicos. đŸ˜‰

    • Also filled our delegate slots (2 men, 2 women), but didn’t have enough turnout to elect alternates.

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      The current Ward Chair is trying to recruit my wife and myself to take over when the next officer’s election takes place (in ’08)….

    • Thanks for the kudos, Lynne!  But you forgot to mention Mimi who was also elected (unanimously, I might add!) from Ward 10.

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      In Ward 10 – Lowell we had just the right proportion of males/females (2/2) for delegates but only one female (my wife) for alternate so there’s a male alternate seat that will go unfilled).

  4. Arlington was prepared in case, of the 13,000+ registered democrats, enough attended an Issues Convention caucus for a contested election.  Unfortunately, though there was e-mail notice, newspaper notice, etc.  Of the 36 delegates alloted to Arlington 12 men and 12 women were selected; so 12 potential delegate seats were returned to the “pool”.  No one who wished to be a delegate, was a registered democrat, and committed to attend was turned away.

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    That means that there are more seats for “youth delegates” , disabled delegates, and seniors to petition for.  The way this works, is go to the State Democratic Web Site http://www.massdems…. and download the .pdf “Preliminary Call to Convention”. If you are 18-35, over 65 or disabled, even if you did not attend a caucus, you can petition for one of the unused delegate seats and I am told, unless more folk petition then there are seats, you will become a delegate.

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    Although this is “only an issues convention” if you fit one of those three categories, and care about the platform, well, go for it.

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    There were no legislators at the Arlington Caucus; just school committee members and candidates.  As far as I can tell, there were no selectmen or women, either.

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    I handled registration so I should know.

    • Arlington wouldn’t have been prepared for 13,963 enrolled Democrats, because we were in a room that was more appropriate for the small, intimate gathering that resulted.  However, the ADTC’s registration and balloting software moved 347 people though the doors with no waiting, and generated printed ballots that made vote tallying very easy.

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      This was like driving a BMW in a school zone.

  5. The Dedham Democrats are caucusing on Tuesday night.  I would imagine all the people running for Rep. Coughlins seat will be there.  I spoke to the Town Chair who tells me “all the usual clowns” from Dedham are floating balloons and thinking about a run, and a kid that works for Congressman Lynch in DC but who is from Dedham is thinking about running as well.

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    For those of you itching for a Spring Campaign it might be a good time to scope out the field and pick a horse.

  6. We filled our full slate of 14 delegates as well as 2 alternates and several other who are planning to petition as delegates.  It was terrific to see so many people showing up to represent our ward.  Perhaps it’s just an aftereffect of Deval’s campaign, but I’m hoping that this is a trend that continues.  I’m absolutely hoping that everyone who showed up and wanted to represent our neighborhood gets to go to the convention.

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    Both State Rep. Gloria Fox and Liz Malia showed up at our meeting.  We didn’t talk about candidates, but Rep. Fox started with a summary of her current House assignment and information regarding the MA Black Legislative Caucus.  And after the election process, we got an update from the new president of the Boston branch of the NAACP. 

  7. Maybe a dozen folks show up.  Only public officials of any sort were a couple members of the town finance committee.  14 delegate slots to fill and we only got 4 volunteers.  Very discouraging, though I now understand why I got no help from the town committee when I was running the Patrick campaign in town.

  8. David and Sabutai, thanks for asking!  Like Howard, I will put on my DSC hat and make a few comments.  I attended eleven caucuses today.  In the interest of full disclosure seven of them were in the same building!  I was impressed with the interest I saw.  I went to caucuses in Marlborough (seven wards), Ayer, Harvard, Northborough and Southborough.  Rep. Jamie Eldridge, Vice Chair of the MW Dems, was at two of the caucuses I attended.  For people who were not able to vote or run, because of the change in rules, I apologize.  Please don’t let it dissuade you from attending other meetings and events.  We’d love to have you take part in the Convention, either as a visitor or volunteer.  The chair of one of the caucuses I attended, did ask me to pass on to the DSC, the request that we reinstate the fifteen minute grace period.  As DSC members we work hard to try to spread the word about change in policies, but it doesn’t always reach everyone.  As a Democratic activist, I edit a weekly e-mail newsletter that is part of my outreach to interested Democrats.  I did highlight the change in the grace period polcy in the newsletter.  So once again, I will encourage those who may find it of interest, to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter, the Dispatch.  Just send an e-mail to me at KateDonaghue@gmail.com. 

    • Kate,

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      As somebody who got locked out of a caucus, and who is
      relatively new to the party and the caucus system, might I
      make a suggestion.

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      In the future, don’t publish the caucus time as the time
      registration is closed. If the caucus, begins at 1:00 PM,
      the public announcement of the caucus should be published
      at opening at 12:30 or 12:45.

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      I don’t know what the history is behind this rule change,
      (I’m so new to the party, that I wasn’t aware of the old rules), I’m sure the a solid reasons behind them. But I
      think the implementation needs to change.

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      I saw the announced time of 1 P.M., so I showed at arround
      1 P.M., having not seen or heard the announcement of the
      hard 1 PM deadline. (I sat in stuck in traffic in Northborough
      center, literally yards away from the caucus site, for
      several minutes which only adds to my frustration).

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      Any system that turns away people who want to be
      actively involved, is flawed. And should be fixed.

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      For the record, I accept responsiblity for my missing the
      caucus. After the fact I went and re-read the Email I had
      received announcing the caucus, I clearly didn’t thoroughly
      read it. My fault.

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      I just think better communications and announcing the opening
      of registration time instead of the closing time, would help
      avoid this problem in the future.

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      Jim

      • and a very sound overall sentiment.  Having been turned away once before to one of the relatively small versions of the caucus (I think 1998), it was hard to escape the impression of a small clique of insiders managing things as they saw fit.  I wouldn’t say that’s the case in Amherst now, but imagine the impression that an apparently arbitrary closing leaves on a first-time participant.  Are they going to be a second-time participant?

        • I agree that it is lousy to be turned away becaues you’re two minutes late (as opposed to the gentleman who strolled in 20 minutes late at ours who was permitted to sign up, but that’s another story.

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          Perhaps notices should read “doors close at 1:00 pm sharp” — I’ve seen caucuses advertised either way.

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          All that said, I think that the idea of having a firm exclusion time is common to all caucuses, whether for state or national conventions, or the grandaddy of them all — the Iowa caucuses (7 pm).  To figure out who’s eligible to vote you need a firm deadline, and better to have it at the start of the meeting than the start ofthe voting.  Things get real ugly in caucuses when there is confusion over who is eligible to vote.

      • As a DSC member, I very much appreciate hearing the input from people about the perceptions caused by the change in time relative to the grace period.  I apologize for the frustration and hardship you encountered.  And if you are interested in taking part, do take advantage of the opportunity to be a visitor or volunteer.

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        Jim, Thanks for your comments.  I actually did that for my own caucus next door to you over in Westborough.  I have publicized it as meeting at 7:30 and caucus at 7:45.  We will have a meeting both before and after the caucus, much the same way there are sometimes special town meetings, within annual town meetings.  A few of the other committees I represent did the same thing.  Your chair and I discussed the situation after the caucus and she was very receptive to the suggestion I made, which is comparable to yours.  If you’re free, please come to our meeting on Tuesday.  I’d love to chat.  One of the reasons that I was able to be a five locations, is that my committee gets a waiver to caucus on Tuesday, our regular meeting night.  We will have the president of the local chapter of the NAACP speak after the caucus.

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        Howard, thanks for your kind words.  I met someone who had been on Peter Welsh’s campaign last weekend and she mentioned how helpful you had been. 

  9. Ok turn out at the caucuses today. Basically the usual suspects. In my ward we filled all our delegate (including me)  and alternate spots and have one person applying as an addon delegate. I think everyone was pretty happy with the results.

    • Rep. Peter Koutoujian and several members of the city council were there, but I did not notice any others.

  10. does anyone know how proposals will work this year? Seeing as the DNC just approved a plan to give states that move BACKWARD in the primary schedule additional delegates for Denver 2008 I was hoping to formulate a proposal to move the primary backwards. By super Tuesday the primary race will have already been decided (especially if CA, FL and NJ move forward as they are threatening) and Bill Galvin has already basically put the kibosh on us moving up so I thought maybe we could move backward. This would help folks like us who might want attend have a better chance of going to Denver and increase our pull in the election if in some crazy circumstance we end up with a brokered convention. How would I got about proposing this to the party?

    • This will be the passing of the gavel meeting, I assume, from Phil Johnston to John Walsh.  I’d write John a letter after the vote, maybe cc: to the Secretary of State and your electeds, including State Comm.

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      While more delegates may be nice, Massachusetts Democrats go into this primary season without a local candidate (Dukakis ’88, Tsongas ’92, Kerry ’04), or an unchallenged incumbent (Clinton ’96).  It would be nice to see some serious campaigning in our state this time around.

  11. Even five locations is stunning, especially since your locations are probably more spread out than ours in Boston.  Kate, you are always an inspiration to all of us as to how active State Committee members can be.

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    Also, congrats to Boston Ward 12 for putting together a full slate, as did Ward 19 (JP/Roslindale), I’m told.  Sorry I couldn’t make it by, but you can only make so many 10 am caucuses — :).

  12. Greetings from the NW corner of the Commonwealth.

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    There are five wards in North Adams. This was our attendance:

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    Ward 1 – 4 people
    Ward 2 – 4 people
    Ward 3 – 5 people
    Ward 4 – 2 people
    Ward 5 – 5 people (including me)

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    I can’t remember off the top of my head how many each ward gets (it’s either 2 or 3 per ward), but I do believe we filled all the delegate spots (though some alternate spots were not filled).

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    Elected officials in attendance: State Rep. Dan Bosley and City Councilors Gailanne Cariddi and Marie Harpin.

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    WF
    (who is one of the delegates from Ward 5 – how ’bout a BMG get-together in Amherst?)

  13. We had to re-form when the past chair let the thing go dormant. But a subset of the more progressive element in town petitioned the state and a rep will be on hand when we elect new officers.

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    Then we’ll begin running people for town and state office. We have a lot of time to make up for.

  14. Pretty well attended, approximately 21 people.  All delegates spots were filled.  Caucus went well.

  15. What are these caucuses?  Why do we hear about them after they  are already over?  What are the delegates for?  Hopefully not to represent Massachusetts at the national conventions for President!  It is way too soon to be picking people to go to that.

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    If they are being picked to be the delagates to the convention, isn’t it a little soon to do that?  And on what basis are these people being picked?  Being one of the “usual faces”?

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    I have an idea for our primary: instead of having a primary that is a non-binding confused farce, we should do what we are supposed to do: carefully select (or elect) the delagates that go to the convention, and let them vote!  Not just reward them for the delicious apple pies they baked for Aunt Silvia’s christmas party, or how nice they were at Uncle Bobby’s funeral.  Why don’t we take our delegates seriously, probe their values, ascertain their motives and beliefs, and select true DELEGATES to go to the conventions who will vote for the candidate to be the nominee based on their own best judgement at the convention?

    • and I posted about it earlier in the week so folks would know about it. Basically this year is only an “issues” convention so we will vote on amendments to the state party charter, rules, and regulations.

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      As for national delegate selection, that takes place after the primary (I want to say in late April) at larger caucuses, not run at the city or town level but at the congressional district level. I will try to dig up the info on how the 2004 caucuses were conducted over the next day or so. Gotta head out right now.

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      For either type of caucus, any registered Democrat may run to be a delegate and vote at the caucuses. You must be physically present at the caucus to vote. Basically you sit in a room with your neighbors and vote on who should represent your ward or town at one of these conventions. In nonelection years like this one, it is usually a lot easier to get elected. Some of the caucuses are not taking place until next weekend. You can find a schedule here. Also if you would like to go to this year’s convention and missed your local caucus, you may qualify for one of the add on delegate positions. Rules for add on delegate selection can be found in the call to convention.

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      Hope that helps.

  16. Brookline, pop 57,000, has one caucus (no wards).

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    We elected our full allotment 46 delegates and 5 alternates.  Attendance was likely around 100 people, including the ex-officios and friends of delegates.

      • Brookline is both organized and active.

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        The slate was pre-chosen.  Of course, anyone is free to organize his own slate, but with such a huge slate you’d have to find something like 70 or 80 people minimum to counter the 46+5 locked in votes, plus spouses and ex officios who will tend to vote for the slate.

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        I’ve been fortunate to be on the slate for the past two years, and went as an add-on the year prior.

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        Because it’s neither a nominating nor a year-prior (where the candidates make big speeches) I don’t think anyone felt too left out.  On the big years, its a big deal in Brookline and there is always suspicion/speculation of a “rogue slate” that will challenge the “incumbent slate.”

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        Of the 51 on the slate, two were no-shows and were quickly replaced by others.

        • As someone who wanted to attend, the start time was never posted on the MassDems web site. I also couldn’t find it online — Brookline’s DTC doesn’t have a web site, apparently. I also tried to find an e-mail address or phone number for our chair or anyone else involved, but couldn’t find that either.

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          Not that it should matter, but I also made a contribution to the town committee last year. I never heard back from anyone. I know the check was cashed and assumed I would be added to an e-mail or mailing list. Ironic, isn’t it? The one time I want to be added to someone’s mailing list and I can’t even “buy” my way on!

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          This post isn’t meant to bash anyone. I genuinely want to be active in my town committee as I am active in state and Boston politics, but have struck out in every one of my attempts.

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          Can someone suggest a better way?

          • Darkhorse,

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            Thanks for your support of the Democratic Party.

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            The listing of chairs is indeed on the http://www.massdems.org site.  This is the link: http://www.massdems….

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            Although there is not an e-mail listed for the chair, there is other contact information.  If you contact me at KateDonaghue@gmail.com, I will forward your e-mail to the chair.

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            I can appreciate your frustration, while at the same time, I know that in a volunteer group, sometimes things fall through the cracks. 

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            Kate Donaghue

            • Ah … excellent. I hadn’t seen this list online, which definitely would have helped.

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              Like I said, I wasn’t out to bash Cindy or anyone else involved as I definitely know these things happen in vol-driven organizations, I was just looking for help. Especially since I was disappointed that I missed out on the chance to attend the caucus.

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              Thank you for providing that help, Kate!

  18. I am glad Subutai started this thread.  The Democratic Party in Massachusetts is – and will become – what we all make it.  It is a work in progress.  Supporting one candidate and going dormant will NOT lead to change…but doing the nuts and bolts work of building real local “Town Committees” and “Ward Committees” of involved constituents, over time WILL create change. 

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    And the “issues convention” actually creates a climate which determines in large measure what the elected representatives “hear” that people care enough about to show up.  Or hear that no one is watching, and therefore, no change is needed at all…

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    So delegate slots that go unfilled are not a good result – maybe in the future that will not happen as more folk actually get involved.

  19. Okay, so you wanted me to give up the better part of a Saturday, to go to a caucus to get elected for the privilege of paying $75 to give up a spring Saturday to sit in a room with more Democrats in Amherst?

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    Why don’t we cut out the middle man and just spend $75 on beer and pizza for BMG.

  20. For an “off” year we had a pretty good turnout, though we are sadly lacking in women delegates. We filled our quota of men, but only had 4 women (not including me–as chair, i’m ex-oficio).

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    But I was still excited, because we had a lovely gentleman show up who had seen the notice in the paper, and of our male delegates, we have three who are very new to Natick democratic politics and a couple who were baptized during the gubernatorial campaign, along with several long-time members. Of the women, we have one long-time and three fairly new participants.

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    The proceedings were kind of rough since I’m not up to speed on Roberts Rules of Order yet. But we were very lucky to have a visit from John Walsh and Stacey Monahan (Mass Dems) at the beginning, as they did some caucus-hopping throughout the state.

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    Going to try to get more women through add-ons, but it might be a hard slog.

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