V for Victory

Jerry Gettinger, fourth from the left

The next in a series of guest posts from Jerry Gettinger, a delegate to the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, and a friend -

I had indicated that I was not going to write until I was in Charlotte and the Democratic convention had begun. However so much has happened and the excitement has soared. In view of that, I want to share with you some details that I have learned. The goings on at and before the convention are quite intricate. As you can imagine, there are thousands of people converging to meet and spend time smoozing, socializing and politicking. In order to keep the proceedings from deteriorating into sheer chaos, every detail has to be coordinated to the smallest item. Credentials are the currency of the event. And, not everyone has the same credential. In order to attend presentations or meals or locations, delegates need certain credentials. For example, one of the days, the vice president may make a presentation concerning civil rights. Not everyone in the Arizona delegation will have the credential to attend the presentation. As you can imagine, security is very tight. So far, the list of items that are not allowed on the floor is 2 pages. It makes an airport checkpoint look easy. By the way, it is reassuring to have such care.
 

We just learned that the voting delegates (of which I am one), will be sitting in the choice area called the bowl. All 46 will have seats in that area. That is new. The last convention the seating was all over the place. I recently discovered that I will be having breakfast with a member of the president’s staff, a good friend. In politics, as in other gatherings, it’s how close to power one can get that measures a person’s importance.
 

The campaign has gotten fierce. The birther issue was raised by Romney who claimed it was supposed to be a joke. It reminded me of the Jackson girl saying that she had a wardrobe malfunction at that Super Bowl event. I didn’t believe her anymore that I believe Romney. Shameful name-calling is rampant and the opposition would seem to fall back on using lies and half-truths to make a point. I’m reminded of a Jewish saying that goes “a half-truth is a whole lie.” There is a mean tone to the Republican words. A hint of racism and xenophobia. And while we Democrats have not been exactly pure at heart, rarely have mean and vicious themes been used to gain voters. The effort to re-impose on women restrictions that were lifted in the mid-1960s is troubling. It is similar to the type of restraints the Taliban imposes when they are in control. The attitude toward women is as if they were chattel to be owned with limited liberty.

 

I just received a revised schedule of the convention. And the city is going all out also. Complicated and exciting. The Arizona delegation will have the entire hotel except for one area where CBS will set up shop. Is there an interview in the future? As I write, a hurricane is coming within shouting distance of the Republican convention in Tampa. Divine intervention? Most likely not, but Michele Bachman blames the Democrats for climate change, then why not a hurricane? One never knows.
 

Next stop…Charlotte and victory!!!!!

God to GOP convention-goers: "Bring your umbrellas and hip waders"

What is it about massive storms and Republican conventions?

Four years ago, right about this time, the Republicans were preparing for their national convention in Minneapolis.  At the same time, Hurricane Gustav was bearing down on the Gulf Coast.

Remembering the utter devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, people all over the southeastern US, and all over the country, feverishly prepared for possible imminent disaster.

Gustav turned out to be a serious storm but nowhere near as damaging or deadly, as Katrina. 

However, it thoroughly disrupted the Republican convention as many R electeds chose to stay home to avoid the heavy criticism that dogged the Rs in the aftermath of Katrina, when the Bush Administration all but ignored the disaster for days.

Fast forward four years, and history is on track to possibly repeat itself.

Tropical Storm Isaac is working its way across the Caribbean toward the Florida coast, and the panic in Tampa is setting in.

The grand ol' poobahs of the Grand Old Party are pledging to stick it out, but if Isaac strengthens into a hurricane (expected to happen on Friday) and makes landfall at or near Tampa (murkier, but on track right now), they may be the only ones left in Tampa when the convention begins - most residents of Florida know enough to "get the hell out of Dodge" (so to speak).

Many GOPers spout some of the most inane, insane, and just plain hateful rhetoric ever heard, and justify their spoutings by claiming that "God spoke to them."

Well, I'm not qualified to say if God spoke to them before one of their number murdered a doctor in a church in Kansas, or another slaughtered six Sikhs at a temple in Wisconsin, or shot at a mosque in Chicago (no deaths yet, but give the shooter time), but with two storms in two conventions, it looks like God (or Mother Nature or Random Chance, or whatever you prefer) is saying something to the Republican Party and its convention delegates now -

If you go to Tampa, dress appropriately.  It's going to get deeeeeeep.

More victories in '12

The second post in a series from Jerry Gettinger, a friend and a delegate to the 2012 Democratic Convention in Charlotte...

In the last communique I promised to explain why it was important that I declare my representation as a delegate for a particular candidate. Since there is an incumbent, it is assumed that the president would be candidate and the VP would also run. However, if there was no one in office, then my declaration of candidacy would mean that I was obligated to vote for the candidate that I stipulated in my application. The vote would be binding on the first tally. After that I could vote for whomever I chose.

However that is only important if there is a convention where there is more than one candidate. At any rate, I declared for the president and the VP. By the rules there would be only a certain number of voting delegates. As I mentioned before, the number of delegates was based on the number of Democrats in the state. So, the race was on! The contest was between a relatively large number of candidates vying for the positions. There would be a total of 46 elected delegates, of which I was fortunate to be one. The 46 was in addition to the PLELO delegates.(party leaders). This year was more desirable because of the president. There would be no contest as to who would be the candidate. Just fun.

It is August 6^th. The time is rapidly approaching when I would leave. It will be very exciting to see democracy in action. I can’t say that I will write again until the start of the convention. If anything of interest and/or importance comes about, then I will make certain it will be conveyed. If not, I’ll see you from Charlotte.

Later...

The way to Victory

This is the first in a series of guest posts from occasional contributor and steady friend (and friend of the blog) Jerry Gettinger concerning the Democratic National Convention taking place in Charlotte in September.  Jerry won a spot in Arizona's delegation to the convention earlier this year.


The delegates elected to represent the Democrats of CD5.  Jerry is fourth from the left.

He has submitted the first piece in the series.  This one is on the genesis of his run for a delegate spot.

More will follow.

From Jerry:

A few months ago, my wife Ruth, who is as apolitical as you can get, was reading her email. An announcement from the State Democratic headquarters asking for applications for State Committee persons who would be interested in an appointment as a delegate to the national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Up until then, I hadn't thought about it. However, at my wife's urging, I began thinking. (That may sound bad, but I tend to leave the thinking part to my wife). This time, I decided to look into the matter on my own. The editor of Random Musings has been kind enough to allow me to tickle my ego by writing a travelogue detailing my experience. If all works, I will be writing in a Random (get the pun?) time frame inviting you to share. Anything in particular you would like to hear about, let me know.

Here is what I found out in order to be a delegate to the Democratic Party convention this year: First of all, the purpose of a convention is to nominate a candidate to be president and a vice president. that is what the Party officers want you to think. But...there is also the matter of having fun. And a convention is fun. anyone who has attended one comes back with the same description..."wow, did I have fun".

However, you have to get there. So I looked around and found the page that explained what I needed to do to become a delegate. In order to be a delegate one has to be a Democrat. That is a registered Democrat on the state of Arizona.  In order to become eligible, I had to submit a statement of candidacy.

What does it mean to become a delegate? Quite simply it means you can vote to nominate the Party's candidates to be president and vice president along with any other business relating to the state. That said. I was curious as to how many and what determines the number of delegates from each state.  Each state has a number of delegates according to the number of registered Democrats in that state.

   Part of my statement of candidacy was if I were to be elected a delegate, for whom would I vote. So there I was, telling everyone that if you elect me a delegate, I will vote for OBAMA. I'll tell you why that makes a difference in my next epistle.

 

For now, adios and hasta la vista, baby



CD5's Democrats select their delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention

On Saturday, Democrats from all over Arizona's 5th Congressional District gathered at the Pecos Community Center in Phoenix to select their representatives to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

CD5's Democrats, showing that they are perhaps the most active in the state, had the most delegate candidates in the state -

After a few hours of speeches, campaigning, and voting, six candidates were elected -

(L-R) Janie Hydrick, Chase Williams, Laura Copple, Jerry Gettinger, Lauren Kuby

Congratulations to the delegates and thanks all of the candidates.for all that they do (and they do a LOT).

On to Charlotte!

Short Attention Span Musing

Just a mish-mash of (mostly) lege-related stuff...

...Governor Jan Brewer has vetoed HB2462, Rep. Ed Ableser's proposal to rein in predatory towing companies. In her veto letter (linked above to the word 'vetoed'), she cited a few reasons she was opposed to this bill, including that she felt that it added responsibilities to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) while not funding those new activities. What she didn't cite, in the letter anyway, was the fact that Rep. Ableser is known as one of the most progressive members of the Democratic and is vocal about his positions.

Including his opposition the Brewer's proposed sales tax increase (voting closes next Tuesday).

According to sources, one of the big motivations behind the veto was Ableser's vocal opposition to the tax hike because of its regressive nature.

Now to be fair, it probably wasn't her only reason for the veto - most Ds voted against the referral of the sales tax increase to the ballot, but there have been a *few* D-sponsored bills signed by Brewer.

Still, an aroma of "payback" is surrounds this veto.

...There's also a whiff of hypocrisy surrounding it, too. In her letter vetoing the bill, Brewer also cited a concern for maintaining local control of local matters.

This the same day she signed HB2281, barring local school districts from offering ethnic studies courses to their students.

...There is a rumor that there will be yet another special session of the lege (8 and counting so far). The plan for this one, if it goes off, will be to pass some version of the Republicans' corporate bailout bill (HB2250 in the regular session).

They'll want to do this ASAP, in order to maximize corporate spending on their campaigns, but this move may be bad tactically. They should have passed this *before* passing SB1070, Russell Pearce's "show us your papers" anti-immigrant bill. If they had, their corporate tax cuts would have been lost in the uproar over their scheme to suspend Bill of Rights protections for people with brown skin.

Now, the AZ lege is under a nationwide microscope, and anything they do will be dissected.

If more of the Rs had attended last week's Project Civil Discourse Town Hall on the sales tax (only House Republican leader John McComish was there), they might be rethinking their plans.

While there was a variety of perspectives on the sales tax proposal, one thread seemed to run through all the comments, whether supporting or opposing the referendum - almost nobody trusts the legislature to handle things properly.

...The Arizona Democratic Party has come out in opposition to the calls for a boycott of Arizona over SB1070. They feel a boycott will hurt the average Arizonan, most of whom have nothing to do with the bill, and prefer to rally support and change the composition of the legislature. (my paraphrase, so if any nuances have been missed, the fault is mine)

I understand the reasoning and even would agree with it, except that this is Arizona.

Here, the Republicans refuse to hear any of the voices raised in protest to their anti-immigrant law, but they will hear (and have heard in the past) the sound of closing wallets.

Until the ADP implements a "30 District" strategy to contest every seat in the lege and sticks with it, and either gains control of one or both chambers of the lege (or at least makes the Rs learn that they can't take control of the lege for granted), the Rs aren't going to change.

As such, while I agree that a boycott will have negative effects on many Arizonans that weren't involved in the passage of SB1070, those effects will be less bad than the effects of the law if it goes unchallenged.

...It looks as if even national Republicans are embarrassed by their Arizona counterparts. In what comes as a bit of a surprise, the GOP has bypassed Phoenix and awarded its 2012 convention to Tampa, Florida.

Tampa???? Phoenix was stood up for Tampa?? Thank you Russell Pearce and Jan Brewer...

Hmmm....wouldn't it be sweet if the Democratic National Committee now decides to hold its convention here? You know that the R whackjobs would crawl out from under every rock in the Southwest to make their presence known...colorfully...in front of half the TV cameras in the known universe.

Just randomly musing... :)

...Yesterday, I got a dirty look from a signature collector for one of the three Democrats who recently jumped into the race to challenge for John McCain's Senate seat. When she approached me for a sig, I advised her that I couldn't sign the petition because I had signed another candidate's paperwork (Rodney Glassman). The dirty look came when I further advised her that she and her candidate should have begun collecting sigs months before the deadline, not three weeks before.

The sad part is that I was trying to be helpful. I think a couple of the candidates are interesting, even intriguing. However, a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat can't make the run/don't run decision on the spur of the moment, and it looks like these three did so.

May 2010 is the time to start building the foundation for a 2012 run at Jon Kyl's seat, not for a 2010 run at John McCain's seat.

Later...