The following is the text of an email I sent to the members of the Louisiana Democratic State Central Committee today regarding changing current party rules on who gets to vote in our party primaries in the upcoming federal elections. The research on voter registration that I did for this piece led me to make this call to limit voting in our party primary to registered Democrats only.
Dear Fellow Democrat,
I am writing you today on a matter of great urgency to our party.
Will Louisiana Democrats be part of the victory parade or engage in coalition demolition?
With Barack Obama on the verge of seizing the Democratic nomination for the presidency, Democrats across the South are poised to retake seats in the Congress that have been in Republican hands in some cases for decades.
Louisiana has already gotten a taste of what is possible via Don Cazayoux's special election win the 6th District earlier this month.
However, a combination of the Louisiana Democratic Party's past sins against and an ongoing indifference to the interests of its African American base, together with a profound misreading of the meaning of Obama's victory by some African American politicians have put even Cazayoux's newly-won seat in jeopardy, let alone possible gains in other districts.
(This piece was originally posted at Louisiana d2d).
Read More »Chris Whittington has resorted to subterfuge in a desperate attempt to hold on to his job as chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party (LDP).
He must be stopped.
Whittington's subterfuge became apparent only on Tuesday of this week, four days before the election for party officers. On that day, the Louisiana Democratic Party released a list of appointments made by Whittington to fill 27 of the 41 vacancies on the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC).
Whittington's defenders say that he did not try to "pack" those slots with people favorable only to him.
I don't believe that. One person personally told me that she was offered a seat on the DSCC if she would support Whittington's re-election. The offer came from a sitting member of the LDP executive committee who lives in the same House district as this woman. I don't believe this offer has been the exception; I believe it has been the rule.
The "not packing" argument also misses the point by a mile.
Read More »The Louisiana Democratic Party, just a few months away from a pretty dismal showing in statewide elections, has before it the opportunity to re-invent and re-invigorate itself this year thanks to developments in national party politics to which Louisiana Democrats have already contributed significantly.
The opportunity is not only to re-elect our senior United States Senator and retain our two congressional seats, but to take at least two more congressional seats away from Republicans and place Louisiana firmly back in the Democratic column where it belongs.
In order to seize those opportunities, we cannot play defense. Democrats must be on the offensive, using what will likely be a highly energized party base -- with Barack Obama as the national party standard bearer -- to re-establish Democratic control of our congressional delegation and to lay the ground work for retaking control of state government in the elections of 2011. Read More »
There is a lot of talking and maneuvering going on across the state now about who will be the next chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party (LDP).
It’s all interesting but most of it misses the point because the focus started on the candidates for the job instead of the tasks at hand.
The person best suited to lead the LDP can’t be identified without first identifying what those tasks are. Here’s what they are -- and what those tasks will demand of our next party leader -- from where I sit.
Three Essential Tasks
The next LDP chair faces three essential tasks in the coming year, all of which will demand immediate attention. They are, in order: 1) rebuild and re-unify the party; 2) serve as the leader of the opposition party in this state; and 3) win elections.
Read More »Their approach will be typical Perry/DeLay/Rove: endorse a few candidates, but make the focus of the effort smearing chosen opponents, all of whom happen to be Democrats.
I've written a fair amount about this at the Louisiana d2d site:
http://www.louisianad2d.us
The start party is focused on the gubernatorial election. The Democratic Legislative Caucus is focused on providing support to specific candidates.
A group of us has put together a party-centric response to this effort that we feel can focus media and public atttention on this cabal (there is no better name for it).
I'd be happy to discuss this plan. Contact me by email: mikestagg@mikestagg.us
We need your help here in Louisiana!
Mike Stagg
This week, hundreds of our friends and neighbors will qualify as Democrats to seek election to the Louisiana Legislature. They will carry with them our best wishes, our hopes. They will have the support of the people on this list as well as the people in their communities as they formally take the step of offering themselves as candidates for public service.
There are, however, 25 individuals and companies who are preparing to spend about $1.5 million to see that those Democrats don't succeed.
The Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority (LCRM) was concocted by Senator David Vitter and his wife Wendy in late 2005 or early 2006 when the rest of Louisiana was trying to figure out how to recover from the twin disasters of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the collapse of the levees in New Orleans.
The Vitters convened some of their biggest fund-raisers to put together this organization, which is modeled and named after Tom DeLay's "Texans for a Republican Majority" which engaged in money laundering as a means of gaining Republican control of the Texas Legislature in 2002. Read More »
My documentary on the Crawford Uprising coming soon to a film festival near you MASHED POTATOES Running Time 41 min. Film by Annie Spell Music by Brian Stoltz Film Synopsis: MASHED POTATOES documents the occupation of the Texas bar ditches by antiwar activists outside of Crawford near the Presidential Ranch in August 2005.
Link Read More »Monday, August 13, 2007
4:00 PM
Our Lady of the Gulf Church
228 South Beach Blvd.
Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Democrats to protest Pelosi on Monday.
SO LONG, SWEETIE...
by Buddy Spell
And there ya go.....
By way of background, Cindy Sheehan and I became acquainted in 2004. At the time, several Louisiana activists had established a resistance beach head in the Greater New Orleans Area to confront the war advocates regardless of whoever won the sham election in the coming November. Cindy contacted me seeking our endorsement of a new group she had organized called Gold Star Families for Peace.
I instantly sensed her strength, sincerity and passion. We became immediate friends.
About a year later, in June '05, Cindy came to Covington to visit following the Summer SOULstice action in New Orleans. At the time, we were organizing a Peace Train to DC for the mass protest set for September. Cindy was assisting us and would join the Louisiana Activist Network's journey to the White House. Of course, two events, back to back, would change everything. At least for me....
Around August 3, 2005, she contacted me and told me that she would attempt to confront Bush at his pretend cowboy ranch in Crawford, Texas. She asked me to join her as legal counsel. The days and weeks which followed were some of the most rewarding of a fairly long and very exciting life. At Camp Casey, we stomped on the terra. It was brilliant. No regrets. Pure patriotic rebellion. The best.
Then came Katrina. She made landfall on the very day Camp Casey closed down. I came home immediately to begin to rebuild and the movement moved on.....
As things got stabilized at home and the war drug on, I signed on as legal counsel to Troops Out Now for the week of last spring's March on the Pentagon. I came home bruised and disappointed...and tired of the uphill battle intrinsic to holding a mirror up to a society blind to its flaws. Without fanfare, I determined to take a sabbatical from the movement.
Thank God for Cindy Sheehan and the summer of '05. From those heady days of rebellion comes the strength to dust off and move onward. Her tour of duty is done...well done. She has suffered for the movement and has earned the right to slip away.
I could have never put up with the abuse she sustained from the pompous, disengenuous apologists and lock-steppers on the Right for as long as she did. They picked at every flaw, real and contrived, and attacked her with an unchristian ferocity which has been staggering. And she continued onward through it all.
Now, as she elegantly exits stage left, the pigs take one last, unnecessary shot. Well, as their Dear Leader has said in the halls of the Senate, they can go fuck themselves. Cindy Sheehan has, with all of her flaws, more humanity in an eyelash than these punks could ever garnish.
More power to her.
More power to us.
Cindy and I disagreed on tactics and political stuff all of the time. Constantly. We only agreed on that which was of primary importance...a yearning for a peaceful and just homeland. She remains my friend and fellow warrior. And, dare I say, a hero.
My rest is about over and preparations for the next "Big One" now begin.
See you at the DNC in Denver next summer. The Democrats have bitten the hand which fed them. Let's bite back.
Oh, and I'll bet Cindy will be there too.
No doubt about it....
Link
Buddy Spell is an antiwar activist and felony defense lawyer in Covington, Louisiana who, along with his law partner wife, Annie, served as "house lawyer" at the Seige of Crawford in August, 2005.
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