Where Are They Now? Jay Parmley

Jay Parmley resigned his post as chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party in the spring of 2005 and...vanished. At least it seems that way to many given Parmley's high visibility in the 2004 elections. But Parmley has far from "vanished" in Democratic Party politics elsewhere, as this story from U. S. News & World Report, dated July 17th and datelined Diamondhead, Mississippi, reports: "Here's what the front line of Howard Dean's revolution looks like: two dozen senior citizens seated inside this gated community's clubhouse listening intently as operatives from the state Democratic Party pitch them on becoming precinct captains. A rep named Jay Parmley approaches an oversize easel and flips to a page showing John Kerry's share of the 2004 presidential vote here in Hancock County. '28%' is scrawled in magic marker. 'Kind of scary,' Parmley says." Parmley, whose politics skews to the liberal and who was among the first party chairmen to endorse Dean for the national party's top leadership post, has been working in Mississippi since he left Oklahoma. His departure surprised some, given his connections and heavy involvement in the state party. His rise to the party chairmanship occurred, at least in part, because of his association with former Governor George Nigh and now-party vice chairman Ben Odom. When Parmley left the state party, it had a huge debt it is still trying to pay off; some blame Parmley for that, but his defenders say that's unfair. The debt, right at half a million dollars, came because of Congressman Brad Carson's unsuccessful campaign for the U. S. Senate and the resources the party poured into it trying to beat Republican Tom Coburn. After Parmley left, the party dismissed all of its paid staff and operated with volunteers. It now has paid the debt down by a substantial sum and has a paid staff, even if much of it is funded by the national party and the employees are flaming liberals straight out of the Dean school. As for Parmley, Dean named him to the Democratic National Committee as an at-large member in the fall of 2005. Parmley reports, "I am alive and well." He said he is directing the state party coordinated campaign in Mississippi for the 2007 state elections. "I just figured that since I went out on a limb for Howard to be chair of the DNC and really put forth a meaningful 50-state strategy that I should have the guts to back up my endorsement with work," Parmley wrote in an email to TMRO. He adds, "I am in Oklahoma all the time. I try to spend at least a week each month at home." He still owns his home in Norman and his family is here, as is his Tulsa-based girlfriend. Parmley is the past national president of the Young Democrats of America, the first Oklahoman to hold that post in the group's then-70-year-old history. Previously, he was president of Young Democrats of Oklahoma. He was student body president in his sophomore year at Northeastern A&M College and student body president during his senior year at the University of Oklahoma. He worked as assistant to the president of OU from 1993-95 and was chancellor's student relations liaison for the State Regents for Higher Education from 1995-97. He then was director of the Oklahoma City Downtown College Consortium until he was elected to his first two-year term as state party chairman. At the time, 2001, he was the youngest chairman of a state party. He's now 35.

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