DNC warns Alabama Democratic Party over bylaw changes

[RandySF]

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said bylaws approved by the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP) on May 5 could violate the party’s rules and may have been adopted undemocratically, according to a letter obtained by the Reflector on Wednesday.

The letter from the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, addressed to Randy Kelley, chair of the ADP, said the new bylaws appeared to create “the unequal treatment of minority groups.” The letter also referred to allegations that voting at the meeting was not conducted properly, and that members of the State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) were charged a previously unannounced fee to attend.

“As you know, numerous members of the SDEC and the DNC from Alabama are alleging serious irregularities in the meeting’s conduct that call into question the validity of the actions taken at the meeting,” wrote James Roosevelt Jr. and Minyon Moore, co-chairs of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee.

At the May 6 meeting of the SDEC, leaders pushed through bylaw changes that abolished caucuses for Hispanic, LGBTQ+ and disabled members of the committee, and reduced the power of other minority caucuses created in 2019.

Supporters of the changes, including Kelley and Joe Reed, the vice chair of minority affairs for the party, said the changes would better reflect the presence of Black voters in the state Democratic electorate. But members of the affected caucuses said they were being erased.




https://alabamareflector.com/2023/05/17/dnc-warns-alabama-democratic-party-over-bylaw-changes/

[ariadne0614]

1. Troubling. Glad the DNC is on it. n/t

[Hortensis]

2. Good. I read that the SDEC is heavily controlled by black members, who say

the new racial and ideological caucuses created a few years ago (with the assistance of the DNC and then-Democratic Senator Doug Jones to increase minorities representation in the SDEC itself and in particular GOTV of the other minorities) diminished the ruling black caucus's power. Well, yes. So over time the new diversity caucuses have been/are being "erased." Other stuff going on in the various Democratic Party organizations, of course, but my eyes crossed.

(Being a Democrat does not always mean a person is inclusively liberal, and likely some of those opposing diversification are not and even firmly disapprove of some of the minorities on moral grounds, adding more shades of gray to the power struggle.)

One thing this isn't particularly affecting, as near as I can guess, is state government in Alabama, which is overwhelmingly controlled by the GOP. It's about changing that.

Good luck to all of them.