Tonight, Rod Smith takes the next step in the process to become Chair through election in his local DEC. As Rod is elected locally, it's important to remember that cards are being played and now is not the time to hold your hand. Looking at how the process continues to play out, it's easy to see that no alternate voices or visions are being heard. In fact, some (myself included) may argue that we don't even have one vision. That's just the start of what's wrong with the broken process this year and why progressives should demand more to make sure we don't have a broken party heading into the 2012 cycle.
Progressives need to care. As broken and insider as the process may be, the election for State Party Chair is the one opportunity for grassroots, local Democrats, to demand more in the direction of our party and shape that future direction.
If this is the best we are getting out of the process, what is the best we can hope for in 2011? We had possible opponents to Smith drop out of the race behind closed doors. We have lots of top level Democrats, including Senator Nelson, spending more time telling Democrats to trust them than they are telling Democrats their plan to rebuild our party and win back the state.
Who are we electing? That remains a good question. But really, what are we electing as Florida Democrats? We still don't know much. But here's what we do know. Rod Smith was on Facing Florida November 5th and had a perfect opportunity to explain his vision for leading Democrats forward and introducing himself as the leader of our party publicly. He essentially had an open forum to present himself as an alternative for Independent voters who disagree with the GOP's far-right policies and/or rally Democrats after a bruising defeat. While he did good, as he always does, he didn't accomplish either. He wants to expand fundraising and trainings, and make them regional. One promise we should keep him honest on was his pledge to expand the state party outside of Tallahassee and have a permanent infrastructure in Central Florida. Another thing he made perfectly clear however was that Amendments 5 and 6 were saviors for the Democratic Party.
Now, I understand how important it is that we have fair districts, and I even helped the campaign. But I don't feel that saying two constitutional amendments are our party's savior is a productive message for our next Chair to lead on. So, as Fair Districts are very important, what's more important is that Democrats in Florida understand that our party's message is what will win elections. At the end of the day, Democrats will win on message not on district lines. Rod even admitted during the interview that there are "3 Floridas out there" but gave no specifics on how he believes the party can reach out to different communities or areas of the state. Now, he's not the Chair of the party yet, but he is running for Chair and we should demand more if he - or anyone - is going to be our leader.
Florida Democrats need to focus on building our party, expanding our message and outreach, and winning elections. We should be confident that our next Chair will fight in every aspect necessary to rebuild our party. We need to focus on distinguishing ourselves from Republicans and defining what is the new "Florida Democrat" in order to win elections. I'm surprised that Rod Smith and others have not been jumping on the Florida Republican Party. With Haridopolos pleading guilty to ethics charges and the Feds slapping the FL GOP with a subpoena for finance records, there are plenty of opportunities to be taking hits at the incoming Republican leadership and set the tone ahead of a very scary legislative session. And don't even get me started on Rick Scott. Where's the fire? Where's the fight? Where's the attempt to grow the Florida Democratic Party and set the path to win back Independents?
Also, Rod says he will only be Chair for two years. We don't need a placeholder for the status quo, we need a leader. By starting his administration by saying he will leave in 2 years, where will the accountability be? Where will the long-term infrastructure and planning really come from? Florida Democrats need a Chair who wants to be there and who has the desire to get the job of rebuilding our party done, not wait out his arbitrary two year term. We deserve a Chair who fights for that position because he or she has a vision to move our party forward in some of our darkest times in Florida.
In short, there are a lot of questions out there. As the process for chair moves on, it continues to be broken. If the party is not unified at the end of the process, the problems within the FDP will not be fixed. It's clear from recent election results that we don't have time to figure this out after the fact either; this Chair's election remains the best chance to get every Democrat on board. But it has to be more public. Progressives need to have a seat at the table. This election should be a call to action for progressives and local Dems to demand more for a plan and a vision, and some real accountability factors - of anyone too, not just Rod Smith. We should be playing our progressive cards at a time like this instead of following blindly into more of the same.
This blog cross-posted at Florida Progressive Coalition Blog.