Florida DNC Member: Superdelegates In FL To Count

** I originally identified Ausman as a Clinton supporter. There is some dispute about that, and I have not been able to get in touch with him to settle it.

It depends on what the meaning of the word "shall" is.

Jon M. Ausman, a member of the Democratic National Committee from Florida, has filed an appeal with the party's rules and bylaws committee, arguing that its 2007 penalties against Michigan and Florida violated the DNC charter itself.

Why?

Because the charter explicitly states that the following members of the party are automatically granted the status of delegates no matter what: “members of the Democratic National Committee, Democratic members of the United States Senate and the Democratic Members of the House of Representatives, former Chairs of the Democratic National Committee.”

Basically: the DNC can take way the earned (pledged) delegates... but it can't touch the automatic (super) delegates, because they're protected by the DNC's charter, which supercedes the DNC's rules and bylaws committee.

The verb used by the DNC charter is "shall."

So -- if the RBC hears the appeal, which they'd do at a meeting in, I think, April, and if they agree, the 23 superdelegates from Florida will be eligible for counting.

Read the appeal here.

Comments

any everyone of those 23 superdelegates should vote for Barack Obama.

Posted by whoa now | March 12, 2008 3:50 PM

No way in hell.

Figure out a way to deal with the voters? OK

The Florida Democratic Party officials and politicians? Go jump in a lake.

Signed,

Voters in the other 49 states who have had to suffer for 8 years because you guys don't know how to run an election or design a friggin butterfly ballot.

Posted by Kristi | March 12, 2008 3:50 PM

The super delegates are separate from the pledged delegate. Wonder if Teddy, Kerry and Patrick will switch their votes to Hillary since she won the popular votes in Mass?

I live in Florida and I voted for Hillary in the Democratic primary in January.

If a re-vote is decided in Florida, I WILL VOTE AGAIN FOR HILLARY.

HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT !!!

Posted by tsr | March 12, 2008 4:35 PM

I don't happen to think that this suit is going anywhere, not least because of the courts manifest reluctance to intervene in internal party affairs.

To address the key point, however, the relevant section of the charter mandates that "the delegates shall be chosen through processes which...provide...[and] permit" the various categories of superdelegates. It's the first part of that phrase which is material - this section of the charter regulates the processes used to select delegates, and sets the standards to which those processes need conform.

When the DNC wrote the Delegate Selection Rules and the Call to Convention, they were careful to comply with the applicable charter provisions - both of those documents mandate that all state delegations include the relevant categories of superdelegates. If the DNC's BRC were to have approved a state-level Delegate Selection Plan that excluded superdelegates, then there would indeed be grounds for a suit. No such plan can be approved.

But I think it's transparently obvious that the charter doesn't mandate the approval of a delegate selection plan just because it happens to meet with one or more provisions of the charter. The next section of the charter stipulates how delegates are allocated to the states; surely we would laugh out of court any lawsuit that claimed that since the charter envisioned delegates being allocated in a certain manner, it also requires that the delegates thus allocated be seated at the convention.

Bottom line - the charter's talking about how delegates need to be selected; the DNC rules on whether or not they can be seated. This is another futile attempt to deny the obvious - the DNC can do more or less as it pleases, and at least for the moment, it's determined not to seat Florida and Michigan. No court's going to change that. Florida and Michigan are going to have to find some other way forward.

Posted by FlyOnTheWall | March 12, 2008 4:36 PM

I think the pledged delegates should be split between the two candidates evenly.

As for the superdelegates, the ones who created this fiasco. Who approved and supported moving this date up despite the Democratic rules, they should all lose their seats at the convention as punishment.

That would be fair. Punish those who caused this whole mess!

Posted by Mike in Sac | March 12, 2008 5:07 PM

Just for reference California Evidence Law states shall is forceful, may is permissive.

Posted by Californian | March 12, 2008 5:28 PM

The campaigns and the DNC need to invite the Carter Center to mediate and monitor the resolution of the Florida and Michigan delegate issues.

Posted by Nicholas Lefevre | March 12, 2008 5:49 PM

Californian:


There's no doubt that "shall" is forceful, it's just a question of what it requires. As I read the rules, it requires that any process for selecting delegates include a mechanism for giving slots to the superdelegates. In other words, it provides a binding metric for assessing the adequacy of delegate selection processes.

I think it's fair to say that the processes in the other forty-eight states and various other jurisdictions all met this standard. If there were a process in place in Florida or Michigan, it would have to meet this standard, too. That's what it means to have a binding standard. The problem is that the DNC has determined that there is no valid process in those states for selecting delegates. The proposed processes were found, for other reasons, to be 'non-compliant.'

Posted by FlyOnTheWall | March 12, 2008 6:04 PM

Howard Dean rewrites and updates his MOST FAMOUS SPEECH.

"Now we're going on to New Hampshire, Tom Harkin, then we're GOING TO IGNORE AND DISMISS MICHIGAN AND FLORIDA, then we're going on to Oklahoma and South Carolina, and ........YEAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!"

Posted by robert ethan | March 12, 2008 6:37 PM

They should be doing a nunc pro tunc to allow 50% of delegates and superdelegates of the contested vote.

Posted by Californian | March 12, 2008 6:51 PM

Don't forget dear Ambinder readers.

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Posted by swarty | March 12, 2008 8:28 PM

Hey, dim, dumb, Dems..... Can't you see the
final solution? Big Al loses 50 pounds, strides
into the internecine fray ...and picks Obama
as his veep. He then names Hillary as his Counsel on Race Relations, Bill as Director
of Whitehouse Interns, and Chris Lehane as
his future press secretary. Problem solved.

Posted by interferon | March 12, 2008 11:47 PM

Hey Deaniacs from '04...aintcha glad this
boob never made it to 1600 Penna. Ave.?
Me too. Then you clowns made him the head
honcho of the DNC....one begins to wonder
what side of sanity you guys drive on.
Ask Eliot Spitzer for some thoughts as to
how to resolve this legal mess....oops.

Posted by interferon | March 13, 2008 12:09 AM

TO ALL SUPERDELEGATES

Read these two links and make sure you do - the future of the Democratic Party depends on it. Now is NOT the time for paralysis:

www.alternet.org/election08/79506/
www.fivethirtyeight.com/

Posted by Jay | March 13, 2008 6:27 AM