MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Acting state Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Worley lowered her head and slowly shook it side to side when summing up the financial condition of her once powerful party.

"We're broke, broke, broke," Worley told the party's Executive Board in a special called meeting Friday.

How broke is broke? Worley didn't sugar coat the answer.

"This is my 18th day as chair and thirty minutes after I took over on April 22nd the landlord of the building where our party headquarters are came in and said he wanted us out, that the rent was overdue and was always overdue," said Worley.

Next came the water company with a message, said Worley: pay up by the next day or we're cutting off the water. Next came the same warning from Alabama Power. Next came news from banks that party credit cards had been maxed out and were now cancelled.

"I didn't even know where the checkbook was, not that it would have made much difference," said Worley.

Worley said she dealt with each demand for back payments the same way.

"I begged them to give me a few more days, that I had just taken over the job and needed a little time" said Worley. "I have never done that much begging in my life."

Nancy Worley

Last week's board meeting was the first since former Democratic Party Chairman Mark Kennedy announced that he was stepping down following a public fight with Reed and Worley over the party's budget and control.

Shortly after resigning, Kennedy announced he was forming a new organization to be called the Alabama Democratic Majority and that he would lead it in an effort to reshape and energize the party.

The Alabama Democratic Majority came in for heated criticism at the board meeting by not just Worley but by Joe Reed, the party's long time vice chairman and chairman of the party's black wing, the Alabama Democratic Conference.

Worley said in addition to the financial chaos there are equipment, supplies and art work missing from party headquarters. Worley charged that a quick review has shown that Kennedy and the party staff he took with him appear to have taken data including information on over 2.8 million voters and to have cut off bank drafts from donors to the party and diverted them to Kennedy's new organization.

Among the alleged missing equipment are laptops, cell phones and printing paper. Worley said she personally observed a car parked at the back rear of party headquarters over the weekend of April 20th and saw equipment and art work and printer paper lined along the back wall.

"There are a lot of questions, a lot of them, about what happened here," said Worley.

Montgomery lawyer and Democrat James Anderson, who volunteered his time to help the board, told the group that he had met with Kennedy before the board meeting and Kennedy assured him that anything that might have been mistakenly taken would be returned. Anderson said Kennedy very much wanted to work with the group to clear up any misunderstandings.

But that didn't seem to soothe the board.

One board member shouted out that it appeared to him that Kennedy's new group was trying to "sabotage" the party. When the man appeared to have second thoughts, Reed spoke up saying to the man, "No. You're right. Sabotage is the right word," said Reed.

Efforts to reach the Alabama Democratic Majority for comment were not successful.

Worley was critical of press reports about Kennedy's leaving and his disagreements with Reed.

"It was spun as a feud around race because race sells newspapers," said Worley.

Reed said Kennedy's leaving was about one thing.

"Financial accountability. That's what this is all about," said Reed. "The leaders of this party are going to insist on financial accountability. The rest is fluff."

But some on the board pointed out to Reed and Worley that the party's financial troubles are not new nor the fault of Kennedy who inherited most of the debt, which goes back to 1999 when the party borrowed money to help finance then Gov. Don Siegelman's failed education lottery campaign.

Worley said she and the board must be more financially accountable. But Worley said that she was kept in the dark by Kennedy about the party's financial condition.

On Kennedy's new organization, Reed never mentioned it by name but said this:

Joe Reed

"No one can cooperate with folks who do nothing to pay off their debts but in fact add to the debt and then walk away," said Reed.

Reed charged that Kennedy and some others in the party had plotted to break away for a long time and in the process leave the party damaged.

"This was a concerted effort to undermine, weaken and sabotage the Democratic Party and we are not going to let it happen," said Reed.