I attended the 'Democratic Reunion' at the Pierce County Democratic headquarters in downtown Tacoma yesterday and, boy, what an eyeopener.
I found that this party, which I thought was inclusive, is in fact rather exclusive. I brought with me flyers for democratic senatorial candidate Hong Tran thinking that my fellow democrats would allow me to distribute them through their good offices. Wrong!!!!
It seems that those in charge of the headquarters building only allow the main stream (translated 'those already in power') candidates to use this building or the resources supposedly under the banner of the Pierce County Democrats.
This is the primary season! There is more than one democrat running for a bunch of offices. Isn't that what a primary is for? It seems totally unfair for any organization that is designed to support Democrats to deny legitimate candidates access to their resources. Pierce County Democratic Headquarters? No No No No!!! The building should be renamed 'Pierce County Democrats to re-elect Cantwell, Dicks and Smith plus a few select others that we like".
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. Indeed, organizations throughout the state that say they are Democratic Party organizations are very selective about who they make their resouces available to. Democratic candidate Hong Tran, for example, cannot get a list of democrats from Washington State Democratic Headquarters. But Maria Cantwell can.
But this is not about Tran or Cantwell. This is about fairness.
I attend meetings of democrats quite often and one of the complaints I hear is that they cannot get anyone involved (especially those much younger than I). Yet with this exclusionary attitude, is it any wonder?
What can you do?
Take a moment and send an email to the State Democratic headquarters, your local democrats club, your democratic representives and tell them that, in the primary, you want democratic resources made available to all democratic candidates. And ask them for a response.
Thanks