I present to the dailyKos a rundown of my experiences at the Johnson County Iowa Democratic County Convention. And comments, critiques, or questions are more than welcome. I've had a busy day though, so I might pass out soon, but I'll get to all questions eventually.
And for all those who remember my diary on the Iowa caucuses, I had a much more...sane...time at this event, though the physical stress level was much greater (I had duties to perform). The delegates present seemed in general to have had a good time despite several contenious issues and votes.
Izixs Reports on the Johnson County Iowa Democratic County Convention
My day began on a note of annoying. Craig had not gotten in touch with me. He's a fellow Dean supporter and someone who had offered to give me a lift over to City High School. I called his house, and his friendly wife of whom's name escapes me right now answered and informed me that he had already left. So I called Brian, the head of the Rules and Nominations committee (of which I'm a member) and uber uber person overall, but he was already at the convention doing his duty. So I ended up setting out about 7:40 am, dressed nicely with my backpack and began the two mile walk to the convention.
Once I had arrived, I immediately go in line for the alternate sign in. Gina, another member, gave me a sign to put around my neck that read 'Officer'. I was to wear that sign because I was in fact one of a number of Sergeants at Arms. So twenty minutes inline leads me to be before a lady asking me for my name. I give it and she finds that I am in fact not on the alternate list. Apparently more than a little paper work got lost at our caucus (which was really annoying overall, this experience is less annoying, but more fatiguing). So I was an officer at least, so I went to the floor.
I quickly settled in and started doing my regulating of sorts. I kept non-delegates out of the delegate section as best as I could. And since business hadn't started nor would it until we had a quorum, anyone with a very very good reason for getting passed me, I kept an eye on to make sure they were in and out quickly. Of course I had to also allow candidates for various offices through because they were planning on speaking. And pretty quickly the speeches began. Bob Franker was first, then several candidates for the state house, followed by county supervisor, county auditor, and county sheriff candidates. Strangely enough, one of the candidates for county sheriff is named Slaughter. Spooky, eh?
So there I was, regulating, trying to keep non-delegates out, when quorum was announced. A few more speakers went, including Cristi Vilsack, who made damn sure to mention Kerry winning in November (I was expecting it and it happened). Eventually alternates began to be seated, done by preference group. By the time the speakers were done and everyone had really just sat around for a while waiting for the credentials committee report (close of registration and delegate seating basically), the convention was called to order and business began. A motion was passed to extend the time for amendments to the county platform.
Tom Larkin appeared and announce the results of the 1st realignment. The 1st realignment occurs as you sign in, and it paints a general picture of what the preference groups were. There were a couple Gephart people still, a couple more Clark, 30 Kucinich, I believe 50 some Edwards, 76 or so Dean, and 119 Kerry. It was time for second realignment. By this time, the convention was already a couple hours behind schedule and it was starting to get passed noon. So the residing co-chair entertained a motion to recess for the second alignment of one hour. The confusion was that most people would also be getting lunch instead of caucusing and trying to gain delegates. This was not a real problem for the Dean people who were meeting were the food was being served, but both Kerry and most likely Edwards suffered from almost all their members going to eat lunch. The Kerry delegation was due to meet in the main auditorium (were the convention was being held), but ten minutes into the recess, the auditorium was nearly empty.
The confusion over what was supposed to happen got Brian a little upset (I could see it in his eyes, but he was already double stressed by this point). So the SAAs (the Sergeants at Arms) started going about making sure people knew what was happening, and most did, but that didn't mean we wouldn't have problems later...
Realignment done, ballots to change preference group were collected and sent to the balcony to be counted. Platform business began. A couple planks down. Of course, I'm back to regulating, but most of non-delegates had left at this point, so I only had to keep an eye on a couple people. I was also told to try to clear the aisles so that if a standing division was needed, there wouldn't be a large number of people standing who weren't paying attention. Delegates behave so much better and are quieter when they are sitting down it seems. This is also the point when my activities begin to get rather spastic as new duties and requests are made and people who have vital information are hiding off somewhere (running from one end of the building to the other, but we'll get to that).
So the results of the 2nd realignment come in. No much change in the Edwards, Dean, or Kerry numbers. Kucinich gained a couple, and so did Clark apparently. Gephart was gone simply enough. Viability of the remaining groups was determined, and the Clark and Kucinich groups were determined to be unviable. That's when the first matter of real contention arrived. Questions were made about what the Kucinich and Clark people could do for the 3rd realignment. The rules state (I know this because I helped write them) that all unviable groups must realign during the final realignment else you are not counted in any group and basically get no say over the delegate selection process for district and state conventions. The questions over what they could do lead the presiding co-chair to incorrectly to state that the two unviable groups could combine. Arguments and requests to suspend the rules were made to have an extended 2nd realignment (can't do, its only an hour and that hour was up, as well the credentials committee had made their report on the 2nd realignment, so basically tough luck). After a few moments of the chair waiting for the parliamentarian to figure out what to do, the chair made a ruling that unviable groups could not combine to form a viable group. An appeal was made to overrule that ruling by the chair so that the unviable groups could combine (they would make the viability requirements exactly, though I knew that at least one Kucinich person was waiting for the 3rd realignment to join Kerry so she could be a delegate to the district and state conventions, so really the entire argument was moot, but I was not a delegate and could not ethically go out shouting this).
The appeal was a little hot. A voice vote was EVENTUALLY held as to weather to support the appeal. And since the Kucinich people are quite vocal, they rivaled the majority voices who were against overturning the chair's ruling. The majority were at this point rather annoyed, though a Dean lady did give a statement in support of the appeal on the basis of democracy. So a motion for a standing division was held and the yes on the appeal delegates stood up. A quick count (its hard to count people in auditorium unless your on stage) showed that there were about 40 in support of the appeal. Then all those who wanted to vote no stood up, and though it was clear they were the winners, the count was made and they had over a hundred. So Kucinich and Clark people had to realign with viable groups or else not be counted. Some probably wouldn't of had a problem with the two combining, but there was fear that the entire county convention (yes, including the Dean, Edwards, and Kerry delegates) being contested as a whole because of a violation of the rules at the county convention, and no one wanted even that possibility.
So the 3rd realignment began with the Kucinich and a about half of everyone else going into the lobby and being really loud. I spent the next ten minutes trying to keep the doors shut when no one was going in or out. The convention soon was put into recess as a number of people started putting in points of order and motions to suspend the rules so that a recess may be had. Eventually the chair gave in and called for a recess, which was then extended from ten minutes to 2:56 (when the 3rd realignment was due to be over) by a rules suspension motion.
So eventually the Kucinich and Clark people realigned or left (I'm sure a few of them did, attendance continually dropped after the 2nd realignment). After the recess most people returned to the auditorium and more debate was held on the platform and a plank or two passed. Then Tom Larkin appeared once again to announce the results of the 3rd realignment and how many delegates each group was getting for the district and state conventions. At this time, I was off making photo copies of the lists of people who wanted to be those delegates. Running up stairs to staple and organize them turned into just running the Dean list off to the cafeteria.
Let me put the layout of Iowa City High School it perspective a little bit so you know exactly how I had to get around. There is the lobby and auditorium which are off in one wing of the high school. The auditorium area has a balcony area with a sort of mini lobby outside of it were most the counting and organizing of the realignment stuff was going on and had a majority of the supplies the Rules and Nominations Committee as well as Credentials Committee had. This lobby is accessible from two stairways that go directly into the auditorium lobby. From the auditorium lobby is a half flight of stairs that lead up to the school proper, which for most of the rooms where the preference groups were gathering were located. However, the cafeteria, with the Dean delegation was down a one and a half flight of stairs in the basement (compared to the main level at least, the school is on a hill so the cafeteria actually has a door outside). So to get from the balcony lobby to the cafeteria, I had to go down one level, up half, and then down one and a half. But going down isn't the problem, its going up that's annoying.
So a recess was held so the preference groups could elect their delegates to the next level conventions as well as various committees. The Dean group was to send 46 delegates to the district and state conventions as well as two people on each of the four major committees (Rules and Nominations, Platform, Arrangements, and Credentials). After some explanations by the oh so happy Dave Tingwall, big Dean supporter and convention parliamentarian, they settled on a quick and dirty process to narrow down the 70 some people who wanted to be delegates to the next level down to the 46 so that no crazy balloting had to be done. This sped things up by probably an hour and kept people in good spirits. But there was contention over who was to be on the Platform and Rules and Nominations committees, thus a ballot was to be had.
I was sent up to get some buckets for this balloting while they were selecting delegates. I tried the auditorium first and found out that the buckets 'had been taken by a guy with a hat'. So I went up to the balcony lobby, no buckets. Then I found Tom Larkin and asked him if he had seen them, so then he gives me the donation box and told me to take it downstairs to the cafeteria. The donation box!? Okay, so I was going there, but I believe he didn't actually understand what I was saying. I found out latter that someone had gotten into the habit of calling the donation boxes 'donation buckets'. Back down stairs, everything was cool and the Dean group was going to use the manilla envelopes to collect the ballots. So I gave to donation box to someone who had the other one who was on the Arrangements committee and was responsible for taking care of the donations and then I proceeded to grab an envelope and was soon collecting ballots.
After two rounds of balloting, both positions of platform committee were filled. But it soon became apparent that another vote was going to be made. And since we had to seal the previous ballots in manilla envelopes to insure they are on record, we needed at least one more envelope. Back up to the balcony lobby I went, to pick a couple up where I had seen a whole stack of them only a half hour before. But... again the missing continued. The envelopes were gone, likely taken by another SAA working with a preference group. But why take all thirty some?! So I went to the auditorium where the Kerry people were hanging out, having finished their stuff pretty quickly. I asked the other officers on the stage if they had seen them, but no one had. Eventually I found one laying on a railing of sorts that was clean and didn't have any markings on it, so I grabbed it and rushed back to find the first round of balloting for the Rules and Nominations Committee was about to be counted. I presented my envelope to Brian (again, he rocks, and deserves some huge prize for everything he did for the convention, I will send him a thank you e-mail too...) and started helping in the counting of votes. Eventually all the delegates, committee persons, and alternates (I know I'm an alternate this time!) were selected and the convention was continued.
Attendance began to really drop off at this point. Most people had shown up to get on to the next level of conventions and didn't care much about the platform debates. I was back to regulating, and yes, I don't just keep people from coming in and out and what have you, but I did on a dozen of occasions throughout the day helped convention goers with questions or problems. One lady for instance found her rail-road ballot had a printing error and I brought this to super man Brian who helped get her a new ballot. Planks began to fall into place on the platform, and I decided that the SAA in the auditorium could take care of things for a little bit and I decided to look around and see if I was needed anywhere, which I wasn't. But I did find out that the manilla envelopes had been returned to the table where I had seen them before and of which they had disappeared from. Annoying, yes.
I went down again heard an announcement about a missing purse. So I asked the lobby people if it was theirs, and a guy told me it was probably from someone who had been in the cafeteria, so I checked the cafeteria, and met the nice lady of whom had driven me to the original Committee on Committee's meeting (its complicated) but she hadn't lost her purse. By the time I got back, the platform was done and was just getting to a vote on weather to ratify the entire platform, which it passed. The slate of delegates was approved as well as a couple guys for affirmative action co-chairs (Iowa is a very white place unfortunately (I'm very pro-diversity), so it was nice that two of the four or so non-white people still at the convention were willing to take those positions. Though technically anyone can serve as the affirmative action chair, these two guys were the only ones nominated). I went out to take a quick look around again and came back to find that the convention was over and people were quickly filing out into the rain.
I met Craig again and he agreed to take me home. The central committee meeting began and we were on our way. It was about 5:30. Almost ten hours of convention.
Things of note from the convention:
Never ever EVER trust any one, even another sergeant at arms to know what's going on (except Brian who knows almost everything because he's like that) because even though all of us have the rules, not everyone reads them.
I do find myself with a strange sense of responsibility and duty when I'm acting as an officer. And it feels weird telling people twice my age to sit down. But because I was not a delegate, I tried my best to remain as neutral in the handling of any situation as possible. I would clarify the rules for those who asked without using my own agenda and worked as best as my situation would allow to make sure that the convention ran smoothly and fairly. But as only one of I believe eight SAA, that isn't a whole lot compared to say the duties of the chair.
The nicest delegations were the Dean and Edwards folks, though the Kerry people were more neutral at this convention compared to my experience at caucus night, which is a big bonus for my opinion of them. I didn't really talk to any Gephart or Clark people. The Kucinich people were determined, but I can forgive them for that. But Democrats are nice people in general though, and though there were some tiffs, everyone was still okay and didn't turn virulent. Though my personal biases make me have to declare the Dean group as the most awesome. To bad I wasn't able to get seated, they could of used me, but if I have the time and there is space, I could still support Dean again at the district or state conventions.
Some of my fellow students and Dean supporters, including Evin, Eddie, and I believe Eddie's sister, are moving on to the next level and are on committees, so kudos to them (or should I say kos-dos taking into account the forum of this diary?). Also, Dean got about 30% of the delegates to the next conventions. Kerry had about half, and Edwards made up the rest.
Even the most difficult to understand person can have a valid point that everyone is missing.
Even in liberal Johnson county, there can be contention over the morning after pill.
Finding change in a malfunctioning vending machine AND getting your quarters back is nice, though I would of loved that chocloate milk.
Overall, it could of been worse, but it could of also been easier/faster/less congested a the beginning.
Its strange, two math professors, of whom I've had classes taught by them, ended up as Dean delegates. Combine that with several physics students I know going for Dean at the caucuses and I start seeing a pattern (I'm also a physics major at the University of Iowa). Dean attracts physics and math people for some reason.
And finally, being the SAA who ends up running everywhere because the more experience ones are busy doing activity X is a very tiring job. I was one of two SAA who were not delegates at the end of registration, thus I wasn't tied down to any of the groups. So I was the get stuff guy at times (remember the balcony to cafeteria...)
I would like to thank all the committee members of the various committees for getting the convention organized. I would like to thank the officers for their excellent services. And I would like to thank the entirety of the delegates who made it to the convention today.
Because as my signature says: Let's get a (Democratic) party started! Because when its time to party we will always (Democratic) Party HARD!
I should eat something, I've only had a couple pop-tarts, four cookies, and a banana. And lots and lots and lots of water.
Good night everyone! And lets defeat this infantile president!