Dems Shouldn’t Seat Florida or Michigan's Illegal Delegates

The bigwigs in the Democratic Party are about to address the mess that the States of Florida and Michigan have created for the party. Because they held primaries before party rules allowed, they currently have no representation at the Denver convention. The state big-shots got themselves into this mess, and it’s time to take their lumps, but they’re trying to weasel out of it like some juvenile delinquent begging a judge for another chance. If the rule of law means anything, neither state should get a single one of their illegally elected delegate seated.

To understand what the situation is, it is best to review the time line involved. On August 19, 2006, the DNC approved a calendar which allowed Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina to host early nominating contests in January of 2008. The measure passed with near-unanimity, only New Hampshire voting “no”. Florida and Michigan delegations supported the measure. On May 21, 2007, Florida’s legislature moved the primary to January 29, 2008 violating that rule. Only 2 Democrats in the state senate vote “no.” The rest of the legislators of both parties voted to violate the DNC rules. On August 25, 2007, the DNC told Florida it must hold its primary at the proper time. Florida missed a 30-day grace period to comply and lost its delegates. On September 4, 2007, Michigan moved its primary to January 15, 2008. Its Democratic governor didn’t veto but rather signed the bill. On January 7, 2008, the DNC formally stripped Michigan of its delegates.

Now, there’s a lot of crap from the Clintonistas about how every vote must count. However, in order for votes to be counted, they must be cast within the rules. What Florida and Michigan’s Democratic Parties did was to arrange elections that violated the rules for selecting delegates in the hopes that those two states’ influence in picking the party’s nominee would increase. If the illegally elected delegates are given any recognition whatsoever, the DNC will have effectively sanctioned the violation of its own rules.

And remember, the Democratic Party, like its Republican counterpart, is a private corporation (just like IBM, Microsoft and Ford Motor). It can decide any rules its wants for its own governance. If it decided every delegate must play three musical instruments and speak Flemish in order to be validly seated, then, prospective delegates need to start music lessons in Belgium ASAP. As it is, US territories that do not cast electoral votes will be helping choose the nominee (that’s why Mrs. Clinton will make such a big fuss over Sunday’s primary in Puerto Rico) because the party gets to make it own rules.

There has been some nonsense from the Obama camp and others who fear not seating the illegal delegates would harm the Democrats in November. One cannot imagine a single voter choosing a candidate based on whether or not superdelegates Carl Levin of Michigan and Jon Ausman of Florida get to vote in Denver. Besides, Florida is going to vote for John McCain, and the union guys in Michigan will deliver for the Democrats regardless of whom the Democrats nominate. Also, most congressmen are superdelegates, but if they aren't seated, would any of them choose not to campaign to keep his job in November?

Yet in the spirit of compromise, if there is to be a delegation seated for both states, let it be Howard Dean. As chairman of the party, he can represent both Florida and Michigan and cast all their votes on his own – he should vote “present.”

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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