With the Alabama Democratic Party on wobbly ground as next year’s elections draw closer, state Party Chair Nancy Worley today pinned problems on “an all-out attack” from Sen. Doug Jones and the national party.

Worley responded to a letter from Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez that made news on Monday. Perez outlined the year-long dispute between the DNC and the Alabama Party’s leadership.

The dispute started after the state party reelected Worley as chair in August 2018 over a candidate backed by Jones. Some Alabama Democrats challenged the results. The DNC investigated, found irregularities, and ordered the state to adopt new bylaws followed by new elections. Deadlines have come and gone without that happening. The standoff continues.

On Monday, Perez wrote about the missed deadlines and failure to follow DNC mandates. He said the Alabama Democratic Party has “fallen far short of meeting its basic obligations” and “chronically underperformed,” causing the DNC to cut off a $10,000 monthly payment.

In August, the DNC took credentials away from Worley and Vice Chair Randy Kelley because of what the DNC said was the failure of the state party to fix its bylaws and hold new elections. The DNC delayed consideration of the Alabama party’s plan for selecting delegates to the Democratic National Convention next year.

In her statement today, Worley said the state party is under assault.

“A year ago, Doug Jones and Tom Perez lost the entire slate of individuals they ran as their candidates for Alabama Democratic Party officers,” Worley said. “Instead of congratulating the winners and moving on to help build a cohesive, winning Party structure, they used the next 12 months as an all-out attack on the Alabama Democratic Party and its leader to achieve their negative goals. From a continuous ‘the sky is falling’ media assault on the Party and its leadership, to the DNC’s withholding $10,000 per month to Alabama, they have bombarded the Alabama Democratic Party from every side.”

Lizzie Grams, press secretary for the Jones campaign, said the campaign would not respond to Worley’s comments. Jones, the only Alabama Democrat to hold statewide office, is running for re-election next year.

Worley said the party and its lawyers have worked to follow the DNC’s orders for new bylaws and a new affirmative action plan but have “faced outright discrimination.”

A spokesman at the DNC today said the DNC had no response to Worley’s statement and would let the letter from Perez stand as its position.

Perez wrote the letter to Jefferson County Democratic Party Chairman Richard Mauk, who had written the DNC to ask about the state party’s status.

Mauk, as Jefferson County’s Democratic Party chairman, said he needs to know when candidates can begin qualifying for the March primary. It takes a resolution from the State Democratic Executive Committee to set the qualifying start date, Mauk said, but no meeting has been announced.

The Alabama Republican Party has set qualifying to begin on Oct. 8. State law requires qualifying to end for both parties on Nov. 8.

“We need to have some answers,” Mauk said. “And we’re hearing one thing from the state party. I’m just going to write the national chair a letter and see what are they doing, what are they going to do? Basically, I wanted to have a framework and a good practices manual to assist us. He sent that letter back which apparently detailed the comings and goings over the last year of the deficiencies of the state party.”

Mauk said he did not know the DNC was withholding the $10,000 monthly payment until he received the letter. The money is needed because the party has only two staff members and needs at least five, Mauk said.

“We don’t have a social media presence," Mauk said. "We don’t have a PR program to rebut what the Republicans are saying about us. We don’t have any type of proactive program to recruit folks, to register folks, to identify non-voters. We have nothing.”

In her statement today, Worley said Mauk was trying to undermine the state party and said the Jefferson County Democratic committee had too few minority members.

“Tom Perez’s recent letter to Richard Mauck (sic), a close ally of Doug Jones and a County Chair who did not meet required minority membership percentages on his own county’s committee, is a further example of ‘stirring the pot against the Alabama Democratic Party,’” Worley said.

Mauk said the Jefferson County Democratic Party has been successful and said it did meet requirements for minority membership on the county committee. Mauk has been chair of the county party since 2010.

“We have had a tremendous success in Jefferson County,” Mauk said. “In fact the last election we elected every Democrat that was running except one. We’ve turned the courthouse from red to blue. And for Chair Worley to state that the Jefferson County Democratic Party did not meet its minority requirements is a lie because she gave us the numbers to add.

“This continues to show how inadequate the leadership of the state Democratic Party is. And I am proud to be an ally of Doug Jones. And I’m going to work tirelessly to re-elect him. Which I doubt Nancy Worley will.”

Here is Worley’s full statement:

"A year ago, Doug Jones and Tom Perez lost the entire slate of individuals they ran as their candidates for Alabama Democratic Party officers. Instead of congratulating the winners and moving on to help build a cohesive, winning Party structure, they used the next 12 months as an all-out attack on the Alabama Democratic Party and its leader to achieve their negative goals. From a continuous ‘the sky is falling’ media assault on the Party and its leadership, to the DNC’s withholding $10,000 per month to Alabama, they have bombarded the Alabama Democratic Party from every side.

"Tom Perez’s recent letter to Richard Mauck (sic), a close ally of Doug Jones and a County Chair who did not meet required minority membership percentages on his own county’s committee, is a further example of “stirring the pot against the Alabama Democratic Party.” Seemingly the DNC Chair is working to “beat Alabama into submission while he frightens other states into submitting.

"For a year the Alabama Democratic Party has worked with its lawyers and the DNC and has submitted a timely Affirmative Action Plan, new Rules and Bylaws as required and other requests to the DNC. On one side, the State Party has faced outright discrimination, and the other side, the Party has been constantly attacked. It is time for Senator Jones and DNC Chair Perez to work and build with Party leaders rather than fight and destroy our Party.”