It is true, THERE WAS A promise to visit each county when she was elected vice chair, but we must not forget she was elected at the end of April, she was not even in office for a full 8 months (6 of those 8 months were during the election which makes it more difficult to travel around the state) and, as she said in her speech and to many state committee members, that is one of the reasons you should re-elect her to let her fulfill her promises (remember that = members are elected for 2-year terms).

The second accusation about the proxies is one that has been said so many times and each time the number and the severity of it increases. Yuma has 38 state committee members this time around, in April we had 42. Now, as everyone knows, we haven’t had a meeting closer than 3 hours to Yuma so not everyone can afford to make that trip, necessitating the use of proxies. Proxies were usually is divided between the 5 or so members who are able to come. The myth of proxy abuse was advanced by folks who aren’t willing to work with coalitions to elect officers who best reflect Arizona’s Democratic Party. We no longer have a person of color as a DNC delegate and our State will suffer in the long run.

Regardless of Eli’s arguments, my mom fought very hard to try and bring about change in state party strategy in the months proceeding the election. She did not succeed in shifting strategy, as we all know, but she was fighting an uphill battle and there were many cases where she was left out of the loop.

Harriet Young worked hard but she also used her authority as Chair to divide the party during a contested primary. Her viewpoints are not rooted in bread/butter issues but more of an academic approach to politics. My mom is the real deal and her loss is a set-back to our Party.

Making that point, I don’t think many new State Committee people came in THAT bitter to vote Bivens “off the island” but then again Paul gave this great empowering speech and Don still didn’t realize what was happening at that point.

At least that was my take.

I am hopeful that this new exec board can get going fast with fundraising and getting the staff/state committee/PCs/Districts pumped to go for this upcoming local elections and state elections that are coming up quick!

First, I personally felt that the vote was for something and someone rather than against something or someone. I (reluctantly because I believe the job that Bivens did in building the party will bear fruit in the future) voted for Eckerstrom because his speech bore on some things I’ve felt for a long time– that in our haste to not lose we’ve not put out a strong enough message that we can win by being Democrats. The national party has clearly demonstrated they can win, and it was the messaging angle that caused me to vote for Eckerstrom. I do respect Bivens enough though that I told him why I had voted the way I did because he was as stunned as anyone and certainly deserved to know why. I disagree strongly with your portrayal of the way Bivens has run things. I felt he has helped build a much stronger and broader party, and if he’s been a successful fundraiser, why is that such a bad thing?

I also disagree with your take on Fernandez. I voted For Harriet Young at least as much as I voted against Fernandez. Let me repeat that– FOR Harriet Young. She has done an outstanding job in building the Coco Democrats, and also in extending the reach of the party onto the reservation and worked well with surrounding counties. As far as Fernandez is concerned there were two things that may have worked against her. The first is that last year she pledged to visit every county. Didn’t happen (certainly she never made it up here.) The second (I heard this after she was defeated but the person, who will remain nameless, said she had ruffled some feathers by this): she had a habit in the past of bringing dozens of proxies and swinging elections with large blocs of votes. Certainly this is legal (or at least it was then) but at the same time it caused at least the individual I spoke to (it’s a name you’d recognize and who has some pull in the party) to feel like she was abusing the system. Ergo that individual supported Young this time around.