400. Kentucky Democratic Party State Central Committee Appointments

Members of the Kentucky Democratic Party State Central Committee have received their (our) committee assignments for the upcoming term. The appointments were made by KDP Chair Jennifer Moore, at left, in a letter dated October 17, 2008. This letter also announced the next meeting of the Committee slated for 1:00 pm on Saturday November 22, 2008 at the Wendell H. Ford Headquarters, just outside Frankfort on Democrat Drive.





Here are the assignments:

By-Laws Committee
George Mills, Chair
Chad Aull
Jamie Jameson
David O' Neill
Harold Robinson
Kerry Morgan

Communications Committee
Tim Longmeyer, Chair
Allison Amon
Carla Arnold
Gary Best
Ann-Lynn Ellerkamp
Nathan Smith

Finance Committee
Charles Wells, Chair
Jennifer Moore
Jeremy Horton
Kathy Jo Stubblefield
Winnie Townsend
Bill Ryan
Marcus Woodward
Denzil Allen

Organization and Membership Committee
Millie Diehl and Jane Jensen, Chairs
Queenie Averette
Chrystal Chappell
Betty Morrow
Georgia Quisenberry
Roy Sizemore
Lisa Tanner
Charlotte Lundergan

Steering Committee
Steve Gold and David Tandy, Chairs
Sheryl Edge
Clay Ford
Martha Jane King
Michael Meeks

Faith-Based Caucus
Brad Bailey
Martha Jane King
Betty Morrow

Labor Caucus
Allison Amon
Gary Best
Phinis Hundley

Minority Outreach Caucus
Micheal Meeks
Jeff Noble
David O' Neill

Women Caucus
Carla Arnold
Queenie Averette
Sheryl Edge
Ann-Lynn Ellerkamp
Georgia Qusineberry
Kathy Jo Stubblefield

Young Democrats Caucus
Chad Aull
Chrystal Chappell
Jamie Jameson
Clay Ford
Lisa Tanner
Marcus Woodward

*****

Let me make some comments on these assignments.

First, I've sent an email to the Chair expressing my desire to "aggressively attempt to move the Party forward in matters of importance in the various minority communities where my input is appropriate." The Chair has included Michael Meeks and David O' Neill in this caucus. I've known Mr. Meeks for nearly thirty years and have confidence in his ability to serve in this caucus as well as the overall Committee. My experience with David O' Neill is less lengthy, only knowing him during his recent service on the Committee in his role as the Fayette County Democratic Party Chair. I attempted to make State Party By-Law changes which would have affected both Fayette and Jefferson County during my previous term on the Committee, a move in which I did not have his support. I am hopeful I can work with Chairman O' Neill to complete that task, educating him in my belief that such changes are necessary for a more democratic Kentucky Democratic Party. Further, I intend to use my voice on the Committee to further values important to various minority communities, such as Gays and Lesbians, others who share my beliefs on immigration (surely a minority group of its own given my personal stance on the matter, and further as the immigrants are a minority body themselves), and others whose voices are sometimes lost, or can only be found on blogs here and there, blogs usually ignored or ridiculed by those in positions of power within the Party. I am hopeful I can help these voices be fully heard, and I fully expect the current Chair to listen.

Next, I wish to express my great disappointment with the Chair's failure to reappoint me to the By-Laws Committee, a request I specifically made at the meeting at KenLake where I was appointed to a newly created seat on the Committee. I have expressed this disappointment in an email. I worked assiduously with the former By-Laws Chair, George Blackburn, for four years, along with several others in crafting changes we believed were needed in our By-Laws. I believe there is much work left to be done.

I am looking forward to advancing those beliefs on to those appointed by the Chair for the new term of the By-Laws Committee. I do not know Mr. Mills, but I have known of him for years. He has served Kentucky Democrats well for some time, most recently working as part of the Governor's transition team after his election in 2007. I have great confidence in the professionalism he will bring to this committee with his wealth of experience. I know each of the other members of the Committee, and with the exception of those serving at the pleasure of the current chair, I have a similar respect for the work and support they can offer the Party, especially Harold Robinson of Frankfort, a former Franklin County magistrate and good friend.

Those are the two sets of the Chair's appointments I am most concerned about - those of the committee I sought and those of the caucus where she placed me.

As for the other committees and caucusses and their members, I offer the following. The inclusion of Lisa Tanner on the Organization and Membership Committee is a mark of genius on the Chair's part. Lisa is one the most knowledgeable people I know where it comes to organization within the State Party. I saw this first hand during my involvement with Governor Beshear's campaign, and am seeing it again in the reelection campaign of my congressman, John Yarmuth, where she holds the position I held two years ago, that of Field Director. The truth is, when this election is over in fourteen short days, some effort should be taken by whoever is in charge of the KDP to better and more fully utilize her talents in some high-paying position at Party headquarters, perhaps the only high-paying one there. I am confident Lisa's presence there would bring a more focussed energy as well as a degree of fairness which is presently missing. And we need to keep in mind that those in charge of such decisions are, ultimately, the State Central Committee members themselves and not the Chair, the Vice Chair, or the Executive Director. But, that is another discussion for another day.

Looking at the Steering Committee, my only thought is Steve Gold is a good man and, like Mr. Mills mentioned above, puts the needs of the Party well ahead of other interests and we are well served by Gold's chairmanship of this committee. I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Gold.

The chair has created a Faith-Based Caucus. This frankly concerns me. As someone who has written at length herein about my personal faith, as well as my belief in God, in "in the beginning God," and other "faith-based" values, I am hopeful that it is not the intention of the Chair or this committee to force into our Party policy or further, to force into our governments more than is already there, any additional support of "church" by "state," something I think is ill-advised and unConstitutional. At yesterday morning's mass, the Gospel reading came from Saint Matthew, Chapter 22, Verses 15 through 22. It is a discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees about the divide between church and state. Jesus responds to the Pharisees' questions about paying taxes with the famous retort, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." In the older versions many of us learned as children it was "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and render unto God that which is God's." Even Jesus Christ, the man for whom Christians named their [our] religion, was a proponent of the separation of church and state. I think we should follow Jesus' lead in this matter. I do not have a problem with individual expressions of one's faith, as I do from time to time here in the blog, but to memorialize those beliefs into a Party creed or platform is, for me, a bridge too far to travel. It is a bridge that is already travelled far too often in government.

Finally, I wish the Chair well for the remainder of her term, however long or short it may be, and pledge to work with her for its duration. I am looking forward to working with my old friends and new on the Committee as we move the Party forward during the next several months and years. As 2009 is a non-election year in Kentucky, we have the great chance to capitalize on gains I am confident we will make on November 4. They will be our guide as we head into the 2010 elections, where our goal will be to take back the Kentucky Senate, add to our numbers in both the state and federal Houses, and defeat whichever Republican advances to November in the election for the United States Senate, whether it be Jim Bunning, who I know we can beat, Trey Grayson, who I think we can beat, or Richie Farmer, who is a nice young man.

There are fourteen days remaining until this November's election. There are (as of right now) 91 days and a little over 14 hours left in the administration of George W. Bush.

Thanks Be To God.