The Chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, Brian Moran,
showed again that he is willing to set ethics and proper procedure aside when
it suits him, like it did at the Democratic Party’s convention held in Fairfax
in early June. According to a formal letter of appeal written by Ben Tribbett,
Moran violated procedural rules at the DNC which, according to Ben, negatively
affected his chances at election.
The election went to Hampton Vice Mayor George Wallace
instead.
According to Ben’s appeal, Brian Moran instructed delegates
twice to “stand for “division”…when they were actually standing to suspend the
rules.”[1]
Then Moran ruled that two-thirds of the attendees was standing, suspending the
rules, and immediately moving to a standing vote for election to the DNC[2].
For anyone who’s read Ben’s blog, “Not Larry Sabato,” it’s
not difficult to see why Moran would have brushed aside proper procedures to
derail Mr. Tribbett’s chances at election.[3]
But as Chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, these kinds of power plays
are not supposed to occur if only because they shine a terrible light on the
Democratic Party in general, and the Virginia Democratic Party in particular.
Furthermore, as Del. Joe Morrissey pointed out, “Importantly,
it’s a sense of fairness and due process not only for Mr. Tribbett, but for all
the delegates.”[4]
And isn’t that what the Democratic Party is supposed to be
about, fairness? Economic, social, and political fairness? If some of the
Democratic Party’s highest ranking officials and electors are not exemplifying
fairness themselves, then the Democratic Party itself has lost one of its core
values in practice.
Mr. Moran has given the Democratic Party of Virginia a black-eye
with his tactics and possibly stripped Virginians of a DNC official who would
have truly put fairness above all other considerations.
No comments:
Post a Comment