Facebook Event:

There’s always another side to the story…well in this case a huge clarification!

This Facebook Event above,

is the only event I saw, and it seems innocuous enough. We are going to Rally for Keith. Cool! and, I support our right to “rally and make some noise” because I am a Bernie supporter still frustrated and angered by what the National Party did. But I don’t support using a very unfortunate incident, as a way to characterize the whole MDP, as behaving this way (shoving and pushing people).

Whoops. Wrong meeting.

The Labor Caucus was not voting for DNC members (which was the purpose of the DSCC meeting). Our purpose was to rally for Keith Ellison and make it known to the DSCC delegates, that we support him. At least I thought that was the purpose.

Instead, this rally morphed into something completely different. We marched into a closed-door meeting chanting “who’s party? our party!” at my suggestion (4:22 mark in the video below) when Sam took us into the lobby area where DSCC delegates were still hanging out eating breakfast and waiting for the DSCC meeting to start.

So, we marched and chanted and held our signs. Once Sam opened the door and started to march us inside, two “goonish” behaving dudes walked towards us and started to push Sam and others (including myself) back outside the door.

Maybe they should have had a sign on the CLOSED-DOOR, since it was the same room to be used later, for the DSCC meeting. And definitely the response by the Labor Caucus was overkill. I do think Sam Pernick deserves an apology. But I don’t agree with painting the whole MDP, as the perpetrators of this conflict.

We had no right to march into the closed door meeting of the Labor Caucus. They were NOT voting on the 6 new DNC members to represent Michigan. They were having a meeting about the pension attacks from the republican legislature. They knew they were running out of time. And we interrupted their meeting. The DSCC was to start at 12:30. We barged in at 12:15 I think.

I am wearing a black & white plaid shirt and a Thank You Bernie T-Shirt, under it. You can see in the video below what happened. Note that Sam kept motioning us to follow him, without seeing the very large, not so happy dudes, coming towards him — or maybe he did see them, I don’t know. Judge for yourself.

A few things did happen though, as a result of our “rally”

they abandoned the voting on the Unity Ticket as a Slate and put each candidate up for a vote individually. It seemed to me that the chair, Brandon Dillon, says he did that because of some heartburn over the fact that there was an endorsed slate. The chair of the 13th district, Jonathan Kinloch, did make a motion to have a resolution state that the MDP supports Keith Ellison. I feel that was because of our “rally”. The motion was not passed, because it has to go to the Resolution and Policy Committee where they will vote on it, before the Feb 11 State Convention. Maybe we should find out when that committee meets, but not march into it. Yes, the outcome of the election turned out to be the same 6 people that were on the ticket, but Michelle Regalado Deatrick is a Bernie supporter and also supports Keith Ellison. So we do have a “win” with her on the DNC committee. And the DSCC delegates were not forced to vote for her. The DSCC are made up of “delegates”, which means that they are to represent the members of the Districts. We, members, voted for them. So, it really isn’t in our power to DEMAND they do things a specific way, in the middle of their meeting. If we don’t like who is representing us, then we have to vote for new people, to represent us. And that occurs every two years at the Spring State Convention. They did allow Sam to speak at the DSCC meeting, because a DSCC delegate made a motion to bring forward “good and welfare” (10 minutes total) so it could occur BEFORE the election.

There is plenty of criticism to go around, when it comes to the MDP, but this particular incident, is not one of them.

The drawback to all political parties, is that there really are like private clubs and there ARE rules of operation. Some written. Some unwritten. They can be complicated, misunderstood and even abused, if used in a manner not originally intended. I mean, maybe that type of voting — ”Unity Ticket” — is actually against the rules of the MDP? That probably needs to be discussed further, in the proper forums. And hopefully it will be.

But, in the end, I feel Brandon Dillon did what he could, to accommodate us (he made adjustments) and he kept the meeting from getting out of hand.

Here is the ACTUAL DSCC meeting (doors open and pretty boring)

Note how Sam took up most of the ten minutes of the special session of “good & welfare”…

Rules & Bylaws

MDP rules & bylaws talk about “all public meetings of the MDP being open to all members of the MDP”. However, the Labor Caucus was having a closed-door meeting (in the same room, that later would have been the DSCC meeting). The Labor Caucus has their own rules. That is just the way it is. You must be a current member of a Union to join the Labor Caucus. This is in stark contrast to the MDP bylaws, in which you can join ANY other “chartered” caucus by being a MDP member alone. You ARE allowed to be present in their meetings, but you are not on the agenda, nor do you have the floor.

Sam has this idea that ALL meetings are open…well they are, for the MDP and it’s “chartered” caucuses, but not the Labor Caucus.

List of Chartered MDP Caucuses

About that so-called “Backroom Deal”

Here is Sam talking about the 6 people on a piece of paper, that NONE of us can vote for, because we are not DSCC delegates. Only the DSCC delegates are allowed to speak or vote at this meeting. This is part of the rules of the MDP that were sent out before the meeting. Below is an excerpt.

Also, I was nodding along with Sam about the 6 names, but I have done further research about this process. The 6 names were an endorsed slate, by Labor. This is NOT against any rules or bylaws of the MDP. Anyone can seek endorsement from Labor when running for positions inside the MDP.

Also, we elect statewide delegates to represent us, meaning THEY are tasked to vote in our best interest at the four DSCC Meetings. THAT’S why we voted them in. The represent each of Michigan’s 14 Congressional Districts, proportionally, based on the result of the last vote.

MDP members don’t have a right to demand to see the list of DNC candidates beforehand. Because nominations are taken from the floor. How do you know who all of the candidates are? How can you demand a list that you can’t even vote on? That task is for the DSCC Delegates, per MPD bylaws. They have the floor. They can make the motions. And they do the voting.

Only State Central Committee members can nominate, vote or speak on the floor.

Bylaws and Rules Matter

Sam likes to make up rules and hold MPD accountable for a rule(s) that does not exist. I am writing this article to explain the real rules, not the fake rules.

So was this a “backroom deal”?

Actually no.

It was a “Unity” slate which is a Labor endorsed 6 candidates (3 male, 3 female). Anyone could have put up a slate against the “Unity” slate. Slates are made beforehand and sometimes, right before a meeting.

The rules & bylaws of the MDP say that we use proportional slate style voting. What people object to, is when there is only ONE slate and only one vote. Someone objected, before the meeting was called to order and the Chair announced that he would open up the floor to nominations in which each person could be voted on, one by one.

Slate-style voting is proportional voting and allows candidates from each slate to win, according to the proportion of the vote. 10 candidates on two slates — slate A gets 80% of the vote, so 8 people win from slate A and 2 people from slate B. This way there is proportional representation. There are usually more than ONE slate.

But in some instances, there is only ONE slate.

This occurred recently at the 13th Congressional District Convention, in which we voted on ONE slate for the Rules, Resolutions and Credentials Committee members that we would be sending to the State Committees. A 13th CD member actually objected and produced a verbal slate, that was voted on and lost.

It should also be noted that on this “Unity” slate, one candidate happened to be a Berner, Michelle Regalado Deatrick . This is a sign of Labor wanting to work with Berners, not shut us out. They didn’t have to do that, because they currently have the numbers to out vote us (labor, clinton supporters, long-time active democrats). And Michelle is a well qualified candidate to be added to that slate and serve on the DNC. She is a Washtenaw County Commissioner that won her seat, in a very red district. She won by talking about the “progressive” values we all share, not just for the democrats.

So that brings me to Feb 11, 2017,

The upcoming Spring State Convention of the MDP will be held. ALL seats are up for grabs. We vote in Constituency Caucuses (officers and exec committee members), Congressional Districts (officers, exec committee members and delegates to the State) and the State (Officers).

This is a reorganization that takes place EVERY two years.

So, if you want to have more control over who sits on the DSCC for the NEXT two years, you have to mobilize like-minded people to run for these delegate positions. Every Congressional District gets at least 4 delegates, 2 men, 2 women. But they are also allotted more, based on the outcome of a national vote. If your District pulled in a ton of Democratic votes, then your district gets more delegates. There are a about 150 delegates representing 14 Districts.

Full disclosure:

My brother was a UAW President of his Local, about 10 years ago. One of the dudes that pushed Sam and the rest of us (because I was there, in the front of the march) turns out to be someone who knows my brother, from way back then. Mike Stone is much higher up in the UAW now, but when he was a President of his local, my brother was a President too. That’s all I know. I’m not in a union. I’m white collar, management, at Ford.

Now, because I was being pushed also, I had no clue who those guys were, that did the pushing. I was just trying to get the hell out of there. I found myself pinned in the door. So, they were just some big white dudes to me. Later, during the DSCC meeting, Mike reached out to me, because I live in Detroit. He wants some Detroit input, on some project. When we were all leaving, Mike gave me his card and asked me to call him about this project. I was completely oblivious, that he was the same guy that pushed us. Believe me, if I had realized that, I would have given him a piece of my mind. Unfortunately, this encounter happened right next to Sam.

So now, Sam Pernick is going around saying that I have a personal relationship with Mike Stone and I am biased. Honestly, I didn’t know it was Mike Stone, until I watched the Facebook Video several days later, when it went viral. And I have not spoken to Mike Stone since.

My reason for speaking out:

I am a fighter for social justice, always have been outspoken and very out, especially being a black lesbian.

I believe we have to fight legitimate fights, not fabricated fights to help elevate your status in the protest community, if that is your goal. Because, I really don’t see how alienating everyone around you, by being disingenuous, advances the causes, we as progressives care about.

It’s unfortunate this happened with the Labor Caucus but it also shines a light on some real issues around the amount power they wield. It also shines a light on their willingness to include us.

The way to challenge Labor or work with Labor, is at the upcoming Feb 11 Spring State Convention elections. We should be mobilizing and getting people into the party to vote. That’s all I am saying.

Conclusion:

This fight is between Mike Stone and Sam Pernick, not between Sam and me, or Sam and the MDP. And these larger issues can be dealt with in, the proper forum. Let’s be genuine in our discourse with the party.

We have had significant victories inside the MDP. They CANNOT be overlooked. But inaccurate info such as the stuff in the two hit pieces I sight, overshadow the work Berners are doing inside the party and have been doing for months. The Unity ticket was a way to reward us by putting a Berner on the ticket. Debbie Dingle, 12th CD Congresswoman, pulled her candidacy to allow Michelle to be on that ticket.

Maybe I am a hopeless optimist.

But I believe we need to celebrate our victories no matter how small. And having Michelle on the DNC is a victory for Michigan.

Also, being a person of color, I could assume all white people are racists, but I don’t. I feel we need to give the same courtesy to other democrats in the MDP. There are folks who agree with us currently on the MDP DSCC.

WE NEED TO SHOW UP ON FEB 11 2017, at Cobo Center Detroit for the Spring State Convention of the MDP.

Don’t shoot the messenger.

I’m just trying to set the record straight. I was there and am part of this story. But, this type of spin does absolutely NOTHING to help us mobilize Progressives, to help us transform the Democratic party in Michigan. It just adds fuel to the fire and keeps people away from the Party. We have enough real battles to fight.

THIS IS A MISLEADING TITLE AND MISLEADING STORY. Clinton supporters DID NOT assault Bernie supporters.

Updated Video with Jimmy Dore: Of course, this continues to perpetuate the Clinton/Bernie fight.

Is it now against our Party to actually work with each other? Because that is exactly what is happening — we ARE working with each other. If you are so mired in hatred for the so-called “establishment”, you will NEVER allow yourself to see that progress.

We have bigger fish to fry, called the Republican Party in Michigan, that holds all three branches of government. If the Democrats want to win elections, they need to start listening to us Berners. We won Michigan for Bernie! Railing against false issues (endorsements from labor is not against any bylaw) does not advance our cause for social justice, racial justice, environmental justice, economic justice. Labor agrees with us and wants to work with us. We have to allow all of us to participate and quit calling them “Clintonistas”. It’s childish and unproductive.