PDNC Caucus at the NCDP SEC Meeting

The PDNC met on Saturday, January 20 in Elon, prior to the NCDP State Executive meeting. About 62 people attended the meeting, either in part or full. Guests who addressed the meeting included NCDP Chair Jerry Meek, Rev. Curtis Gatewood and Al McSurely from the NAACP, and Stella Adams.

Ms. Adams was seeking PDNC endorsement for her candidacy as 1st Vice Chair of the NCDP. Stella talked about her long record as a progressive party activist. PDNC voted not to endorse in this, the only contested race in the slate for NCDP officers.

One of the main points of discussion during our meeting centered around a proposed amendment to the NCDP Plan of Organization, which would have eliminated the State Legislative Policy Committee and made one of the NCDP chair's duties to: "Formulate and promote a legislative policy agenda, based upon the Platform and upon resolutions adopted by the State Convention, the State Executive Committee, and the State Executive Council."

Mr. Meek explained that in his experience this council is ineffective and the party needs a different approach. While it was felt by the PDNC board that this approach to handling resolutions and platform might be well guided under the chairmanship of Mr. Meek, we were clearly not in favor of the overall approach, anticipating that future chairs might not as well represent grassroots’ interests as Mr. Meek has. Prior to Mr. Meek’s address, there was consensus at the meeting to oppose it. After his address, we discussed how opposing the proposal might be constructively handled during the SEC meeting.

There was consensus that one solution was to be found in our Resolution for Legislative Advocacy (see our PDNC resolutions below) that, in sum, says the NCDP chair, officers and staff will advocate resolutions and platform to the members of the legislature.

Jerry announced that he has appointed a committee to look at rewriting parts of the POO. Delmas Parker is to chair the committee. Pete MacDowell and Mac Whatley will serve on the committee.

The PDNC Executive Board was unaware that a Platform and Resolutions Committee had convened
prior to the SEC meeting. Since we did not receive notice of the meeting, our resolutions were not on the agenda and were left for “New Business” at the end of the meeting. A quorum was called before New Business was complete and we were unable to present most of our resolutions to the SEC for consideration. Many people took our resolutions back to their counties with the intent of taking them to February precinct meetings. We encourage you to
do the same. (See below for link.)

PDNC endorsed two of four resolutions that had gone through the NCDP Resolutions Committee to be considered by the SEC. One was a response to the Report of the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot, in which the NCDP formally apologized for its racism and defining role in this tragic chapter of NC history. The second endorsement was for a resolution in “Support of Orderly Redeployment and Withdrawal from Iraq” that was virtually identical to our own (and authored by former PDNC board member, Susan Oehler, of Asheville).

Mike Oder, our webmaster, addressed the issue of communications. We continue to work on how best to improve communications between the PDNC board and membership, and to develop our website as one avenue to this end. Look for a new, interactive forum feature (Workgroup on our website’s menu), which should be an excellent tool for people to communicate their views about PDNC and a range of progressive issues. A bimonthly (monthly, as needed) newsletter will be emailed to our membership, this one being the first.
See: www.progressivedemocratsnc.org

Rev. Curtis Gatewood and Al McSurely from the NAACP spoke about the HK on J Rally in Raleigh on Feb 10th. Rev. Gatewood is the State Organizer for this event, and has succeeded in pulling together a dynamic coalition of progressives to cosponsor. The PDNC strongly supports this event and encourages others to participate in the march, which will conclude when 14 Legislative Priorities are nailed to the door of the NC Legislature. Delmas Parker was asked to introduce a resolution to the SEC, in which the NCDP endorsed the HK on J.