BlogChapter Six
Standing Committees
CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE: SNAPSHOTS FROM HISTORY
The 2008 Convention Credentials Committee is a body similar to other credentials committees that have met prior to every recent National Convention to resolve any questions of who is seated as a delegate or alternate. In some cycles, the Credentials Committee has had to resolve fairly mundane, yet still important issues that are quickly forgotten. In other cycles, the Credentials Committee has had to act on matters that have left a lasting impression on the Party.
A couple snapshots from history:
In 2004, the Credentials Committee had to resolve an issue regarding the seating of a pledged Party Leader and Elected Official (PLEO) delegate and an at-large delegate from Vermont. The challenge had been filed with the Credentials Committee and alleged that the election of the two delegates had violated the Vermont Delegate Selection Plan. At the time, the Credentials Committee Chairs determined there were no issues of material fact in dispute between the parties and because there was no violation of the 2004 Vermont Delegate Selection Plan, dismissed the challenge. Following the dismissal of the challenge, the challenger filed a petition for review by the full Credentials Committee. A full hearing was held before the 2004 Convention Credentials Committee. Ultimately, the Committee upheld the decision of the Chairs’ dismissing the challenge.
Perhaps the most famous challenge filed in recent time was the 1964 challenge led by Fannie Lou Hamer to the credentials of delegates elected from Mississippi. Hamer was a sharecropper who had helped form and became Vice Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), an alternative to the Mississippi State Democratic Party, which at the time excluded African Americans. The MFDP elected its own delegation to the 1964 Convention in Atlantic City that included Hamer and others. Hamer and the MFDP challenged the State Party’s all-white delegation to the Convention on the grounds that the delegation did not fairly represent all the people of Mississippi, as most African Americans were denied the right to vote. Hamer testified before the 1964 Convention Credentials Committee about the injustices that allowed an all-white delegation to be certified from the state. Her live testimony before the Credentials Committee was pre-empted by a presidential press conference and the national television networks aired Hamer’s testimony in its entirety later that night. Ultimately, the Convention Credentials Committee offered a “compromise” that seated two MFDP delegates as at-large delegates to the Convention, a “compromise” rejected by the MFDP at the urging of Hamer.
This historic episode led to the adoption of a resolution at the 1964 Convention that conditioned the seating of delegates at future Conventions on assurances that discrimination in any State Party affairs on the ground of race, color, creed, or national origin would not be permitted. That challenge began the modern movement to reform the way in which the Democratic Party selects its nominee for President and has culminated in the issuance and implementation by the DNC of its Party rules governing the selection of delegates to each presidential nominating Convention.
The Convention has three standing committees that are responsible for reviewing Convention business and formulating recommendations for consideration by the Convention delegates.
Each committee has three chairs and a total of 186 members, casting 183 votes. The chairs vote only in the case of a tie. A total of 157 members are allocated to the states based on each state’s population and Democratic voting strength. (The District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are treated as states.) Four members are allocated to represent American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Democrats Abroad, with each member casting ¼ vote. For a full list of Standing Committee member allocations by state, please see Appendix D of the Call.
Once all of the Convention delegates are selected within a state or territory, those delegates then meet to select the state’s standing committee members. All state-based members of the standing committees will be selected by the end of June 2008. Each committee also has 25 Party Leader and Elected Official (PLEO) members. These members were nominated by DNC Chairman Governor Howard Dean and elected by the DNC Executive Committee in January 2008.
Standing Committee members do not have to be Convention delegates. Committee members selected within the state and territories are allocated to presidential candidates based on the results of the primary or caucus. Presidential candidates who have qualified to receive committee positions nominate the individuals for these positions and they are selected by each state’s National Convention delegation. If you are interested in serving on one of the Standing Committees, please contact your State Party for additional information.
Credentials Committee
The Credentials Committee determines and resolves issues concerning the recognition and seating of delegates and alternates to the Convention. (It does not determine the distribution of passes for admission to the Convention Hall.) Its recommendations are presented in a report voted on by the delegates as the first item of business at the Convention.
The Credentials Committee is expected to meet sometime prior to the Convention with the date and location to be announced. As with the other standing committee meetings, the Credentials Committee meeting will be open to the public and to the press.
Elected to chair the Credentials Committee are Alexis Herman, James Roosevelt, Jr. and Eliseo Roques-Arroyo. Alexis Herman served as U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1997 to 2001. She served as DNC Chief of Staff for Chairman Ron Brown and later was named CEO of the 1992 Democratic National Convention. Since 2005, she has served as a Co-Chair of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee and also served as a Co-Chair of the Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling. James Roosevelt, Jr. is President and CEO of Tufts Health Plan, a Massachusetts based Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and was formerly Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy of the Social Security Administration in the Clinton Administration. He is the chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts Democratic Party and Co-Chair of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee. Eliseo Roques-Arroyo, a native of Puerto Rico, served as Executive Assistant to Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Senate Minority Leader Miguel Hernandez-Agosto and to Puerto Rico Delegate to Congress Antonio J. Colorado. He is a former Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Puerto Rico and presently a member of the DNC.
Click here to download a complete list of 2008 Credentials Committee Members.
Rules Committee
Using the Call for the 2008 Democratic National Convention as a framework, the Rules Committee recommends the procedural rules of the Convention, the agenda, the officers of the Convention and other matters not covered by the other committees. Its recommendations are presented in a report voted on during the first session of the Convention.
Elected to chair the Rules Committee are Sunita Leeds, Mary Rose Oakar and David Walters. Sunita Leeds, a software developer by training, is deeply involved with progressive non-profit causes focused on education, breaking the cycle of poverty and women's issues. As Chair of the DNC Indo-American Leadership Council Advisory Board, she coordinates a network of Indian-American activists, community leaders, elected officials and VIPs to support the fundraising and outreach work of the Council. Mary Rose Oakar is President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the largest Arab-American grassroots civil rights organization in the country. From 1977 to 1993, she represented western Cleveland in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she worked on several pieces of legislation related to peace and justice in the Middle East and for those of Middle East ancestry. Oakar served as secretary of the House Democratic Caucus. David Walters is president of Walters Power International, which specializes in electrical generation equipment. From 1990 to 1994, he served as governor of Oklahoma, where he made education a top priority - increasing education funding by 30 percent and investing heavily in construction and renovation at state colleges.
Click here to download a complete list of 2008 Rules Committee Members.
Platform Committee
The Platform Committee prepares a document delineating the Party’s position on a variety of issues. This document is the Party’s proposed “Platform” and is presented in a report voted on by the Convention.
The national platform is an official statement of the Party’s position on a wide variety of issues. Each issue category included in the platform is a “plank.” A new platform is adopted every four years at the Democratic National Convention. Click here to read the platform from the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Click here to read more about the 2008 Democratic National Convention Platform.
Elected to chair the Platform Committee are former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid, former Discovery Communications CEO Judith McHale and Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts to serve as the Chairs of the 2008 Platform Committee. They were nominated by Governor Dean and elected by the DNC Executive Committee.
Decisions concerning the number and locations of Platform hearings and meetings will be made later in the spring. Under the Democratic Party’s rules, any person may submit a written statement concerning the platform to the Platform Committee at any time prior to the Committee’s meeting. In addition, any person may request permission to testify at a public hearing and/or forum. Individuals interested in learning more about the Platform drafting process should e-mail platform@dnc.org.
Click here to download a complete list of 2008 Platform Committee Members.
