Remember the challenge filed by Rick Boylan, regarding how Florida’s Democratic National Committee members are elected?
I wrote about it here.
That challenge is scheduled to be heard this week at the DNC meeting in Washington, D.C.
Enter challenge No. 2.
Terrie Rizzo has appointed Judy Mount to take over her elected DNC seat.
No one is sure when that appointment took place, because Terrie Rizzo didn’t officially notify anyone until questions arose as to how Tom Perez could appoint Mount to the DNC Rules Committee, when Casmore Shaw is now the gender-balance to Rizzo, and took over Mount’s DNC spot.
What I’m sure of, though, is that it didn’t take place at the FDP chair’s election, where Terrie Rizzo became chair.
I was there as a proxy, and voted in that election.
Judy Mount intended to run for FDP chair, but was told by “the powers that be” (ha!) that she could not! POLITICO Florida reported on that.
Here is the problem with the appointment: Other registered Democrats had plans to run for that elected seat and were waiting for the announcement of when the election would take place.
That has now been taken away from them.
In sending the certified packet that Judy Mount is now holding an elected position to the DNC by appointment, the Florida Democratic Party has once again shown Democrats in this state that the FDP’s backroom deals supersede the platform that Democrats supposedly stand for:
Democracy.
In her haste to “pay back” Judy Mount for having a seat in the chair’s race, Terrie Rizzo acknowledged that this suspect appointment has not been confirmed by the State Executive Committee.
There has been no meeting since Rizzo took over as chair.
Patrice Taylor in DNC party affairs acknowledged that the FDP says this appointment has not been confirmed.
They claim it will be confirmed in April.
Ok, Miss Cleo!
Tom Perez is making an appointment to the Rules Committee of someone who is not a confirmed DNC member.
A challenge is now being filed with Credentials at the DNC by registered Democrats.
The DNC Credentials Committee has to rule according to the bylaws of the DNC:
“Jurisdiction of the Credentials Committee:
(1) The Credentials Committee shall determine and resolve questions concerning the seating of members of the Democratic National Committee pursuant to the Charter and Bylaws of the Democratic Party of the United States.
(2) Any challenge to the seating of a member of the Democratic National Committee that is not made in conformity with these Rules shall be deemed waived.
(3) The Committee shall report to the Democratic National Committee for final determination and resolution of all such questions.”
According to the DNC’s bylaws:
“Section 6. Vacancies. Vacancies created by resignation or removal of any member of the National Committee shall be filled as follows:
(a) Vacancies in membership apportioned to the states and territories pursuant to Sections 2(b) and 2(c) of this Article and Article Nine of the Charter shall be filled by a state or territorial Party in open meeting called after effective public notice of the agenda.
(b) Vacancies created by the removal or resignation of a state Chairperson or highest ranking officer of the opposite sex shall be filled only by their successors in accordance with Section 3(b) of this Article.”
There was NEVER an open meeting called, and this appointment was NEVER placed on an agenda, especially the Dec. 9, 2017 chair’s election.
Florida is certainly not batting 1,000 with DNC matters.
Stay tuned for an upcoming column on John Parker, another DNC member who has had a grievance filed against him by the Democratic Black Caucus for making racially insensitive remarks toward black people in Jacksonville.
Leslie Wimes, a Sunshine State News columnist, is founder and president of Women on the Move and the Democratic African American Women Caucus, www.daawc.com. Follow Leslie on Twitter: @womenonthemove1
