CDP E-Board: Torres' Comments and Resolutions Committee

by dday [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Let me just say that I think this resolutions thing is a much ado about nothing.  More than anything it is instructive for how the party responds to its rank-and-file.  Nevertheless, I'm here, and so your intrepid blogger will follow it for you.

But first of all, let me make a couple remarks about Art Torres' comments in the general session.  I'm disappointed and annoyed that he resorted to blaming "the blogs" for criticism that the Party received after the last convention, as part of some comments that he made justifying the CDP?s efforts to compete statewide.  It's an unfair and deliberately vague characterization.  What blogs?  Which bloggers?  Is there anything specific?  And can you say with a straight face that the ONLY or even the main people to take issue with various matters that happened at the convention are bloggers?  The rank-and-file grassroots wrote those resolutions.  The rank-and-file grassroots had the problems with how they were handled in the resolutions committee.  They had the issues with the quorum call.  They led the fight to create an Audit Committee and the resultant fallout.

We REPORTED it.  And I stand behind my belief that reporting the facts and making opinions on policies and events are NOT personal attacks.  It's a convenient excuse to blame "mean dirty hippie bloggers" for every criticism ever leveled at the Party.  People have substantive questions, and blogs are one way, and really one of the smaller ways, for people to express those questions.  I think that, at least on this site, there was an extremely healthy debate about the convention fallout, and it's simply unfair for Torres to lash out in that way.

I will add that the fact that Torres felt the need to defend himself, and defend the Party's goal of electing Democrats statewide and implementing a 58-county strategy, is a win in itself.  I think we all want to work to that end; it's certainly a major part of what we do here at Calitics.  You can quote me on that, Art.  By name.

I'll toss some notes about the Resolutions Committee in the extended entry.
So far, not much has really happened.  The Iraq resolution (the real sticking point at last year's convention) is being worked on through Karen Bernal on the sidelines.  Still waiting on the only resolutions that interest me, one on parole and sentencing reform, and the merged net neutrality resolution.