After an extremely close election between Jim Webb and George Allen, Virginians in both parties haved expressed frustration with decisions made by their respective party. There have been frequent discussions, for instance, over how active the Democratic Party of Virginia was in the local Congressional elections and what could have been done differently. On the other side of the aisle, there have been some Republicans who have expressed disappointment with the likely appointment of Ed Gillespie as the partyGÇÖs chairman. According to an article in the Roanoke Times, however, it appears as though the Roanoke Democratic Committee might win the award of being the most frustrated with its leadership.
During recent elections for council, Mayor Nelson Harris and Councilman Bev Fitzpatrick supported three independent candidates, Alfred Dowe, Gwen Mason and David Trinkle, who were elected last May. Since it is against the CommitteeGÇÖs bylaws to publicly support candidates who arenGÇÖt members of the Democratic Party, Harris and Fitzpatrick have been asked to resign from the Democratic Committee.
There's more on the flip side
[Two weeks] ago the Democratic Committee, by a 26-12 margin, took a no-confidence vote on Harris and Fitzpatrick and also decided to ask for their voluntary resignations. It's believed to be the first time -- at least in the city's modern political history -- that a city political committee has moved to strip the status of a sitting mayor and an established councilman like Fitzpatrick.Democratic Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Word said Wednesday that she has mailed a letter to Harris and Fitzpatrick that addresses last week's committee vote. She said the committee will give the two men 30 days to respond, and if they don't, the committee will act. She said she copied the letter to Richard Cranwell of Vinton, a former state delegate who is now the chairman of the state Democratic Party. Cranwell declined comment this week.
Even though I disagree with the actions of Harris and Fitzpatrick, I also believe that having internal discussion over what approach to take on a particular issue is a good thing. After all, the election last month clearly showed that the American people have grown frustrated with what happens when a party maintains control of the Government and then simply acts as a rubberstamp for the PresidentGÇÖs (or other high official) policies.
On the other hand, the contributions of Fitzpatrick and Harris to Independent candidates could result in the Republicans exploiting the debate over Harris and FitzpatrickGÇÖs loyalty by making it appear as though the Democrats are having too many internal problems to productively govern. Furthermore, the resignation of the Harris and Fitzpatrick would ultimately mean that in addition to losing the three seats on the council won by Alfred Dowe, Gwen Mason and David Trinkle, the Mayor and yet another Councilman would no longer belong to the Democratic Party. The loss of so many officials would mean that it would be harder to run a campaign based upon the efficient manner in which the Democrats ran the local government.
The departure of Harris and Fitzpatrick hopefully wonGÇÖt have an extremely negative affect on the Roanoke Democratic Committee, but their decision to publicly contribute to the Democrats losing an election has forced the party to deal with internal struggles while it should be celebrating the Democrats gaining control of Congress.
Bryan Scrafford is the Online Outreach Coordinator for the Morris Meyer for Virginia Delegate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Bryan Scrafford alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Morris Meyer, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Let's hope all can be resolved without too much destruction of comity in the committee.
Something IS going on here, more than meets the eye.