Chester County Committee Reorganization

The reorganization process for each of Pennsylvania's Democratic county committees is going on across the Commonwealth. The effort this month is showing deep schisms in the Party as progressives are asking for more and more say in the Party. These elections are coming down to battles between the "old guards" who have run these counties for years and the "new blood" progressive reformers.

The new people have gotten actively involved through Democracy for America, Progressive Democrats of America, those who volunteered for the Kerry/Edwards campaign in 2004 and some independent groups. Last evening I went to West Chester to observe the Chester County Democratic Committee election. It was an interesting event.

The first eye opener was the finding that the County Board of Elections had yet to certify the election results meaning none of the new committee persons had been certified. I was surprised they went ahead with their meeting under that circumstance. None of the new committeepersons was sworn in as such. The Chester County by laws may allow for this but I found it unusual.

Then I saw some of the usual crap that has progressives looking to reform the way things are done. I often see Old Guard types either refuse to comply with established rules and procedures or change them to suit their whims. This happened again in West Chester. Though the agenda clearly stated that the two candidates for Chair would be given five minutes to address the Committee outgoing Chair Wayne Burton summarily reduced this to two. Since both Tom Sennett and Michele Vaughn had prepared five minute speeches predicated upon the preset procedure, this change resulted in a bit of instant theatre.

Tom Sennett spoke first and managed to alter his remarks to the shortened time period and explain his progressive agenda for reform. Ms. Vaughn, however, stubbornly stuck to her speech and went well over the allotted time. When it became clear she intended to use the full five minutes the audience began applauding loudly and drowned her out until she got the message and left the stage. It was amazing to watch someone so totally humiliate herself.

Burton then announced there were 303 total committee people and that 290 of them were present, either in person or by proxy. I saw many committee people come to vote and to also vote for someone else by proxy. In my county a proxy can only be given to someone in that same precinct. Many in Chester County wound up voting twice, once for their precincts and again by proxy for another. Interesting.... Kevin Fiztpatrick, one of those who counted the votes informed me that ten members didn't vote. The total went 146-144 for Michele Vaughn. This meant that 300 of the 303 maximum votes were present and that 95.6% of those eligible to vote did.

Those are amazing numbers. The commitment of Democrats in Chester County was astonishing. When most county committees have hundreds of vacant precinct captains Chester County has filled most of them AND they actually show up at meetings, at least last night's meeting. On the other hand many of those voting were doing so by proxy. Nevertheless the auditorium at Stetson Middle School was full. I was impressed.

The Sennett camp was concerned with the way the vote was conducted because there were no precautions in place to prevent anyone from voting twice. With the large crowd it would have been quite easy for someone to vote then return to the back of the line and vote again. The vote totals led me to believe that happened. I found it incredible that 290 of 303 people voted. A 95% turnout is unheard of. Then add in the ten present who did not vote....

I suspect these anomalies are being examined and the result challenged. Stay tuned.