The Committee of 10 is a group of Democratic African American Maryland State Senators who are trying to find a way out of the mess the Maryland Democratic Party has found itself in.
It seems to me it might have helped if they had spoken up earlier. Nevertheless this is where we are, having a very uncomfortable and public discussion about race and politics four weeks before the general.
Worried about a lack of diversity atop the Democratic statewide ticket this fall, Maryland's African-American state senators recently met privately with Martin O'Malley and Benjamin L. Cardin to plan ways of boosting support among black voters.
The private Sept. 27 meetings - including one with Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Terry Lierman - were called for shortly after the Sept. 12 primary by the state's 10 black senators, who call themselves the Committee of 10. Many say they are frustrated that both leading black candidates, Simms and Kweisi Mfume, lost in the Democratic primaries for attorney general and U.S. Senate, respectively.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/...
Treatment of Mfume has repercussions.
Some of the black senators said that during the meetings, they complained about their perception that the Maryland Democratic Party did not give Cardin and Mfume equivalent support. They believe that greater black turnout spurred by equal party treatment could have delivered a black Democratic candidate to the U.S. Senate.
"The response to [Mfume's] candidacy left a sour taste in our mouth," said Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden of Baltimore.
The loss of that opportunity, several senators said, has left black voters disillusioned and vulnerable to either staying home Nov. 7 or supporting Ehrlich and Steele.
"We represent a million voters in the state."
It's not their fault. Cardin and O'Malley have a demonstrated history and commitment to diversity in politics and personnel.
But McFadden said that Cardin's performance during last week's meeting reminded the senators of the congressman's commitment to diversity. When Cardin was speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, he appointed the first black to chair a committee.
"We wanted to make sure that they have on their agendas issues that are of critical importance to the African-American community," McFadden said.
Sen. Ulysses Currie, a Prince George's Democrat, said the meetings with Cardin, O'Malley and Lierman aired many resentments that echoed party divisions of 2002, when Kathleen Kennedy Townsend picked a white former Republican as her running mate.
"We talked about how to gin up the support we need from the African-American community in Baltimore City and Prince George's County because Ehrlich is really working hard in [both places]," Currie said.
The Democratic senators' suggestions ranged from asking O'Malley to pledge a diverse Cabinet if he is elected governor - including a spot for former attorney general candidate Stuart O. Simms - to demanding that Cardin consult more often with African-American leaders.
Currie said the group asked Cardin to talk with them frequently and Cardin agreed to improve communications.
In the meeting with Brown and O'Malley, black senators were a bit more demanding then they were with Cardin.
"We made a strong pitch to O'Malley that we want and expect to see African-Americans on his transition team and his Cabinet," Currie said. "He has said he would do that but is avoiding specifics."
O'Malley campaign officials said the mayor has proved his commitment to diversity with 12 black officials in his City Hall Cabinet and his support of increasing city contracts awarded to black-owned companies.
Everyone is frustrated. The Democratic Party should have addressed this issue a long time ago.
Does Lierman get it or is he just a Hoyer/Miller pawn?
Sen. Nathaniel Exum of Prince George's County said he was frustrated with the outcome of the meetings because he felt the candidates did not commit to much of anything.
"The concern was, 'Look at the ticket,'" Exum said. "Just look at it. Same as 1856."
Exum said he is upset that the Democratic Party had not resolved many of the same issues that surfaced in 2002.
"I haven't been satisfied since four years ago for what the Democratic Party has been doing to its most loyal supporters," he said.
Lierman said he felt that his meeting was productive and that the senators expressed support for what he has been able to do to expand the party's outreach to blacks. He also noted that the Republicans have no black members in the General Assembly.
"We have unprecedented numbers of minorities statewide," Lierman said. But, he said, the state senators "have some very legitimate interests that we need to work on" related to the top of the ticket.
Sen. Delores G. Kelley, a Baltimore County Democrat, said her concern during the meeting was that African-American voters would stay home because many black state lawmakers do not have contested races in November.
"Everybody knows that turnout among a constituency that large and that loyal" is critical to the top of the ticket, Kelley said. "They're distracted in the way that the Republicans have fielded their ticket."
Conway was more blunt in her assessment.
"A lot of people feel disenfranchised about what happened during the primary," Conway said. "If someone doesn't do something in terms of uniting the party, then we're going to be in trouble."
I sure hope things are done so we don't revisit this issue in 2008.