The Democratic State Committee met tonight, and the biggest news is probably that the state convention has been set for Saturday September 14th at Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, with a caucus window of May 11th-June 16th. Anyone who is 16 by May 11th and pre-registered may participate. There was a bit of a discussion about inviting the Mayor to welcome us since he is so anti-immigrant and even a motion made (which the Chair tried to discourage and I was one of only a handful to vote against) to not invite him.
There are also four vacancies currently on the DSC for anyone who qualifies and is interested: female college; female Middlesex & Worcester; male Norfolk, Bristol, & Plymouth; and male Worcester & Middlesex. The college seat will be elected by the DSC at our April meeting and the district seats will be elected by district conferences if the election is contested. There is only about a year left to these vacancies since the DSC is re-elected in the spring of 2020.
Thanks for the update! Curious – could you explain your thoughts regarding the Mayor? When I read about the motion elsewhere I thought it fitting.
A key argument made for not inviting him was his support for Charlie Baker, which I had forgotten about, but not surprised, and of course some pretty xenophobic attitudes and policies. Those making the argument said that we should not be inviting those who act like and support Republicans. However, if memory serves, both state and national conventions HAVE been greeted in the past by actual Republicans if the host Mayor at the time of convention happens to be one. Due to his public support of Charlie Baker our rules, which otherwise designate Democratic Mayors as automatic delegates, bar him from being one and that still applies. A statement of welcome from the Mayor would just be something like, “Welcome to Springfield everybody! We’re so glad you’re here. Springfield has a lot to offer, and please stay in town after adjournment to grab supper at one of our restaurants.” I assume he would be smart enough to not lecture us on the “perils” of immigration. Bottom line – I want no part of partisanship and ideology so extreme that we can’t even say hello to each other, which is all this would be. We should remember Deval Patrick’s mantra that we don’t have to agree on everything I order to work together on anything.