Ceasar Victory: Where Demos Go From Here
BY BUDDY NEVINS
The Broward Democrat’s family fight is over.
Mitch Ceasar won easily…as if there was ever any question he would.
One thing I have learned about the dissidents who challenge Ceasar:
They can talk, complain and bellyache. But they can’t win elections. At least the one they want so badly to win – chairman of the Broward Democratic Party.
Many of the same malcontents have tried to topple Ceasar every four years since 1996. This year they poured a lot of money into the campaign, complete with advise from long-time political strategists and a fresh new candidate Cynthia Busch.
Shellacked again!
Ceasar disposed of Busch easily Sunday, winning his fifth term as party boss 58-42 percent.
Now what?
The biggest mistake the Democrats could make is for the losers to take their ball and go home. Or for Ceasar to rest on his laurels.
Both sides need to clear the acrid atmosphere that has enveloped the party. They need to join in a common quest – to beat Gov. Rick Scott in two years.
So Mitch needs to:
- Reach out to his opponents and give them meaningful roles in the next election. Busch and her cohorts have some good ideas and should be asked to help carry them out.
- Modernize the communication efforts of the party. Now. Immediately. Again, the dissidents have recognized this and folks from their ranks like Phil Busey would surely have ideas how to improve the party’s Internet presence.
- Improve the grass roots reach of the party, another solid Busch idea. Hold neighborhood meetings for Democrats. Get the local college students involved. Make the committee members work their precincts or remove them.
- Pass a new party rule (If this is legal under the state party.) that would require committee members to work on Get Out The Vote efforts a certain number of hours or be removed.
I could go on and on.
There are so many possibilities in the party. There are so many people who want to help elect Democrats.
Ceasar’s job is to find a place for each and every one of those folks. Together they will win elections.
The election of Busch as first vice chair is a step in the right direction.
Unfortunately, Busch ran and beat a black candidate as a fall back to her loss for chair. Not the best move.
Basically, Ceasar needs to rebuild a party that has become largely irrelevant.
Mitch won his election Sunday, but his work has just started.
December 9th, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Today Broward DEC Party have a problems with the Black Community, now we not at the table and 2014 is coming,Black were booty out from table when Vice Chair were taking away from them.
December 10th, 2012 at 7:45 am
The criticism I have heard is that Mr. Ceasar while personable and outspoken publicly has not been sufficiently attentive to building and maintaining an effective ground game throughout Broward. Democratic politics in this county used to be about just going to condos. That is no longer the case.
Single family communities now dominate the vote and condos, while still important, play an increasing lesser role in securing elections for the county. That change is significant enough to inform any smart political party to amend how they do business. Under Ceasar’s leadership Broward Democrats have been slow to that call.
Mitch is smarter than that. He should dedicate this term in office fully and exclusively to rebuilding Broward’s ground game.
There is great frustration among local party members that this has not occurred. Instead of confronting that sense with denial and excuses, Mr. Ceasar would be smarter in this instance to use his ears ten times more than his mouth. He has many strengths but his stubborness and unwillingness to listen to the good advice of others has hurt the party as much as helped it.
The departure of Diane Glasser is important because it signals the disgust associated with her taking a bribe for which she cannot be prosecuted because she became a witness. Nonetheless she is a corrupt person and nobody like that should hold any position of prominance in a political party.
December 10th, 2012 at 10:08 am
Chair Mitch Ceasar is to be congratulated for his victory and for conducting a clean election with the exception of two voters who I believe were wrongfully disqualified and probably would have tipped the balance for Rick Hoye, a Black candidate.
First Vice Chair Cynthia Busch is to be congratulated for her victory and for bringing to the process a robust legal team and trained observers, without which this easily would not have been a clean election.
Like Sallie, for a Broward County that in the 2010 US Census the total population was 43.5% White Non-Hispanic, there is a huge problem in the disparity of representation of Blacks and Latinos among the 8 newly elected officers of the Broward Democratic Party. While no one was “booted,” the result is just as bad, not one Black elected.
The new leadership must consider, among other things, natural pathways to encourage Black and Hispanic leaders to become recognized and known, so that there will never again have to be an appointed “slate” made up of unknown Black and Hispanic nominees.
One of the ways the new leadership may assist in pathways of leadership is in the districting of Area Leader areas to ensure equal representation and the ability of Democratic Commitee people in those areas to elect Area Leaders of their choice. Past gerrymandering for individual candidates and packing of large number of Blacks in a single area should not be repeated. The Democratic Party has been renourished and will be stronger, and will be capable of dealing with the problem.
December 10th, 2012 at 11:42 am
Phil
Tomorrow the School Board Redistricting Committee, which you are a part of, submits 4 maps to the School Board for redistricting. Those four and 8 others not put forth for reccomendation all have one thing in common, they all disenfranchise the voters who voted for SB Member Dr. Osgood as it appears every map draws her out of her current district.
After Cynthia usurped Ruth Lynch from Vice Chair yesterday and now this on the School Board, I would imagine it is hard for any active black Democrat in this County to feel the local party takes them seriously.
FROM BUDDY: I listened to tapes of the redistricting committee meetings. Phil Busey was one of the two members I heard who tried to place Osgood back in her district. Chair Michael Rajner shot them down. (See the next post on this issue.)
December 10th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
This is the first time in more than 12 years where there is no 1st black Chair who just so happened to be a black women. Mitch screwed this up, Jasmine Shirley was a snake to be used by Mitch and Ruth purposely ran fo re-election after knowing Mitch was supporting Jasmine Shirley, to split the vote and someone else would get the title. Dems always short change blacks and give them the crumbs…and blacks always vote Dem and don’t hold leadership accountable
December 10th, 2012 at 12:37 pm
The AfAm community has no one to blame but themselves for the fact that they didn’t win a position in the Broward DEC leadership. They all decided to support Mitch, they didn’t focus on actually being the force that they could have been at the meeting yesterday, and his one AfAm candidate was never involved with the DEC and didn’t really campaign for herself. Ms. Shirley cannot, nor can anyone else, expect Mitch to deliver votes or a position for them. Everyone has to earn it themselves.
December 10th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
“Now the party is without a black on the Democrat’s management committee” – not true!!! The Affirmative Action Committee Chair is a member of the Management Committee; that’s required by the Bylaws.
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http://files.meetup.com/171873/BCDEC%20Bylaws%203-21-94.rtf
BY-LAWS OF THE BROWARD COUNTY DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
ARTICLE VIII – STANDING COMITTEE AND SUBCOMMITTEES
8.01.1 The Management Committee shall be comprised of the Chair, First VIce Chair, Second Vice Chair, Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, Treasurer, Chair of the C.O.L.A. Committee, Chair of the Affirmative Action Committee, a representative appointed by the County chair from the Democratic Womens’ Clubs in Broward County, the President of the Young Democrats of Broward County, the State Committeeman and State Committeewoman. […]
FROM BUDDY: I stand corrected. I should have said “as an elected member of the management committee.” I removed the sentence and appreciate you pointing it out.
December 10th, 2012 at 7:23 pm
“I should have said ‘as an elected member of the management committee.'” – Buddy, you could still be wrong even with that correction! Bylaw 8.01.1 goes on to say, “Additionally, the Area Leaders shall serve on the Management Committee.” – and the Area Leader election hasn’t happened yet!
FROM BUDDY: I lost my Tarot cards and my crystal ball is cloudy. My name is Nevins not Nostradamus. So I can’t predict the future and who will win the area leader election. “You could still be wrong”. Anybody could be wrong about the future. I wrote about yesterday — the Democratic Party election.
December 15th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
correction
I disagree that AFAM community is the blame for management team only one AFAM put they hand in DEC who you call big Chief, who put AfAm candidate was never involved with the DEC, Also AFAM Community went to Mitch express their concern with his ticket, this is where money oriented and cronies came in.