A county Democratic committee in New York voted down an extreme proposal on Tuesday night that would have required all members to pledge loyalty to candidates endorsed by the state, local, or national party. Progressives on the committee in Chemung County, on the Pennsylvania border, viewed the proposed loyalty pledge as an attempt by establishment Democrats to silence their dissent; they spent the week leading up to the meeting organizing opposition from members of the 20-person committee. At the meeting, the committee voted down the oath in its current format, but did not get rid of it entirely. “First we voted on removing that paragraph entirely, and we lost,” said Deb Lynch, first vice chair of the committee. “Then we voted on rewriting it in a way that was palatable to everyone in a month, so that’s where we’re at.”

Photo: Courtesy of the Chemung County Democratic Committee

The controversy started last week when Jim Carr, the party chair, sent an email to the executive committee announcing that they’d convene on Tuesday, an hour before their already-scheduled Chemung County Democrats meeting. The agenda would consist of one thing, Carr wrote: a newly proposed code of ethics for all committee members to sign and related changes to the bylaws. The code of ethics document, which seemed to come out of the blue, proposed that all committee members “promise to be loyal” to the Chemung County Democratic Committee “by supporting the activities and candidate endorsements made by CCDC, State or National Democratic Committees. Such examples of disloyalty include, but are not limited to, activities such as displaying political signs or other activities for candidates opposing Democratic candidates. This also includes any form of social media.” Cindy Emmer, another Chemung County Democratic Committee member, sent the language at Carr’s request. Both Emmer and Carr sit on the New York State Democratic Committee, a body that is closely aligned with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is now facing a primary challenge from the left. Emmer and Carr did not respond to The Intercept’s requests for comment. “It’s totally undemocratic and unconstitutional to tell me I would need to support a Democrat even if they don’t display Democratic values,” Lynch said. “This has nothing to do with party loyalty — it has to do with the establishment wing of the party not understanding why some of us are still so upset about the 2016 primary.”