State Central Committee Motions Announcement

The Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) State Central Committee (SCC) is meeting this coming Saturday, April 29th, in Holland, Michigan.

There are several motions being prepared by Michigan for Revolution. In order to give SCC members time to review and consider our motions adequately, we’re publishing them in advance. The links are below. I encourage anyone with any questions to post them in the comments. I and others from Michigan for Revolution will be happy to answer.

If you know a member of the SCC who might not have seen this — or anyone else who may be interested — please pass on the link.

Per the MDP Rules (13.E.7) the first order of business at the meeting ought to be the appeals committee reports and recommendations regarding the appeals filed following the Spring State Convention on February 11th. Unfortunately, the appeals committee does not appear on the agenda published by the MDP at all. I have contacted the MDP to alert them to the oversight. Hopefully this will be corrected soon.

The first motion from Michigan for Revolution proposes the appeals committee’s reports be rejected, and the appeals remanded to the committee for reconsideration, with instructions. The full motion, including the proposed instructions and discussion of some key points, is available here.

Our second motion proposes tabling election of officers until the rules can be amended to prevent undermining the will of the people. SCC officers are elected by majority vote of the SCC. There is no rule requiring SCC officers be elected from among the sitting SCC delegates. There is a rule granting SCC officers voting rights on the SCC. This effectively grants any simple majority of the SCC the power to give itself as many votes as it chooses, undermining the will of the people who elected delegates at their CD caucuses by proportional voting. The complete motion and key points are here.

Our third motion proposes tabling approval of the budget. We have learned that in past years, the SCC has not been allowed to seriously study the budget. The MDP Rules say that in the absence of a convened State Convention, the SCC is the highest governing authority within the MDP. MDP Rules specifically require the SCC to approve the budget. Viewing it for a few minutes on a screen, as we’ve learned has been the procedure in the past, is hardly adequate to exercise such responsibility. We understand that the procedure will be different this year. We hope it will be adequate. In case it is otherwise, we’ve prepared an appropriate motion to address the issue, available here.

Looking forward to any questions, and of course to seeing everyone in Holland this Saturday!

2 Comments

Herb Helzer on 26/04/2017 at 3:57 pm

The MDP Resolution calling for a line by line review of the MDP By-Laws by the permanent Rules Committee was approved at the February MDP Convention.

The MDP Rules Committee membership for 2017-2018 will consist of a list of recommendations submitted by Chaiman Dillon for an up-or-down vote by SCV this Saturday.

Are you aware of this? Do you plan to do anything about it?

Liano Sharon on 26/04/2017 at 7:10 pm

Hi Herb,

Thanks very much for the question.

Yes, the line-by-line review of the rules was precipitated by the nine resolutions we took to County and Congressional District caucuses ahead of the Spring Convention, many of which were approved by the County/District resolutions committees and forwarded to the State Convention resolutions committee. These can be found here

The State Convention Resolutions Committee noted that these were very wide ranging, and would have significant and numerous affects on the MDP Rules. Therefore, instead of recommending that they be considered individually, they decided the best course was to have the rules reviewed line by line. This resulted in the resolution passed by the full State Convention, instructing the MDP Rules committee to undertake the line by line review.

We have had several conversations with Chairman Dillon about the SCC Rules Committee and the other standing committees. Last Saturday he asked us for a list of volunteers for each of the standing committees, which we provided earlier this week.

We very much look forward to working through the rules review process and developing a revised set of rules that are written in clear common language, preserve and protect our core democratic principles and values, and ensure greater fairness and transparency.

Herb Helzer on 26/04/2017 at 3:57 pm

The MDP Resolution calling for a line by line review of the MDP By-Laws by the permanent Rules Committee was approved at the February MDP Convention.

The MDP Rules Committee membership for 2017-2018 will consist of a list of recommendations submitted by Chaiman Dillon for an up-or-down vote by SCV this Saturday.

Are you aware of this? Do you plan to do anything about it?
- Liano Sharon on 26/04/2017 at 7:10 pm
  
  Hi Herb,
  
  Thanks very much for the question.
  
  Yes, the line-by-line review of the rules was precipitated by the nine resolutions we took to County and Congressional District caucuses ahead of the Spring Convention, many of which were approved by the County/District resolutions committees and forwarded to the State Convention resolutions committee. These can be found here
  
  The State Convention Resolutions Committee noted that these were very wide ranging, and would have significant and numerous affects on the MDP Rules. Therefore, instead of recommending that they be considered individually, they decided the best course was to have the rules reviewed line by line. This resulted in the resolution passed by the full State Convention, instructing the MDP Rules committee to undertake the line by line review.
  
  We have had several conversations with Chairman Dillon about the SCC Rules Committee and the other standing committees. Last Saturday he asked us for a list of volunteers for each of the standing committees, which we provided earlier this week.
  
  We very much look forward to working through the rules review process and developing a revised set of rules that are written in clear common language, preserve and protect our core democratic principles and values, and ensure greater fairness and transparency.