Dodd's Defense Of Holmes Proof Of Radical Agenda?

If Ivan Holmes is to succeed as chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, he's going to have to tip-toe through the fallout of "radical" resolutions adopted by delegates that elected him, party sources say. They add they are not at all surprised to learn that Tulsa County Democratic Chair Elaine Dodd (at left) is defending Holmes; they claim it was Dodd, a member of the party's Resolutions Committee, and other liberal party activists who engineered adoption of the resolutions that most concern some party moderates and conservatives.

The resolutions that apparently most trouble some are those promoting the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender lifestyle. A part of the discussion on that issue involved attacks on conservative Democrat Dan Boren, the only member of the congressional delegation from his party.

A sitting Democratic member of the Okahoma State Senate, nearing the end of his service there due to term limits, said the party is "now controlled by the far left. Can't you just see me running for office out here promoting gay marriage and keeping God out of schools? Good Lord, I'd get killed." He predicted Democratic candidates for the Legislature, in particular, will "run from these resolutions" if they want to win election. He also predicted Republicans "will beat us over the head with them."

The senator defended Holmes, saying he simply "went with the flow" at the convention. The senator also expressed surprise at Holmes' victory over former Vice Chairman Ben Odom of Norman. "You'd think Ben, who's pretty liberal, would have been their choice, but it didn't turn out that way."

As evidence of the assertion that Dodd and other Tulsa County Democratic leaders pushed the resolutions with help from Holmes, one party insider cited this column which appeared on a party blog in the wake of the convention.

By Michael Christopher, Tulsa County ~ There's some great news that I just can't wait to share. The Oklahoma Democratic Party has finally found some courage on GLBT issues. Not one, but THREE resolutions regarding GLBT rights were passed at the party convention this past weekend.

They are: "Oklahoma Democrats celebrate diversity among people and recognize the inherent dignity and value of each person and believe that no person should live in fear or threat of violence because of any characteristic, affiliation, or sexual orientation."

"We affirm the role of government at all levels in providing education and protection of the basic civil and human rights of every person regardless of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, age, gender, gender identity, sexual nature or orientation, religion, creed, disability, employment, civil service or political affiliation, any of which may be actual or perceived."

"We support legislation that would allow establishment of civil unions permitting the legal designation of next of kin and affording civil rights accordingly regardless of gender."

No, they don't go far enough, and resolutions are mostly symbolic in effect, but this represents a huge step for Oklahoma Democrats. 600 delegates from most of the state's 77 counties read these resolutions and only one of the items raised a concern -- the civil unions resolution. However, when we voted on whether to strike that resolution from the document, you should have heard the resounding shouts of "Nay!"

To understand the significance of this event, you have to know a little about the processes of the party. As just one delegate, I had very little to do with getting these resolutions adopted -- it was accomplished by many people working mostly independently all over Oklahoma. The work started in local voting precincts all over the state, where most party resolutions begin. They are passed to the county conventions where they are approved or rejected, then to the congressional district conventions again to be voted on, and finally on to the state convention. At each step, a Resolutions Committee combines and prunes a long "wish list" of resolutions, many of them very similar, into a Resolutions Committee Report which is then presented to the delegates for adoption or rejection.

How do you get GLBT delegates elected from conservative Tulsa County? For that, we have Gary Allison to thank. He and his organization, JustProgress (http://justprogress.org/), have been working to revive the progressive movement within the Democratic party, and to empower new, progressive voices. At the Tulsa County convention, Gary arranged for an amendment to the rules which changed the way delegates to the state convention were elected. It's called Proportional Representation, and it shatters the absolute power long enjoyed by certain old-guard groups within the party. My partner, Marty, and I simply stood up in the middle of the room and announced that we were the GLBT group (called a "subunit" in party jargon), and invited others to join us. Other interest groups did the same. Each group would elect its own state delegates. The number we could elect depended on how many of us were standing up together. We had enough for two GLBTA (for "and allied") state delegates, and we elected Melanie Hamilton and me. Following in Rick Martin's footsteps last year as the first-ever GLBTA Subunit State Delegate, we had doubled our delegation this time. Proportional Representation rocks!

Leading up to the convention, the Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats circulated a press release reprimanding 2nd District Congressman Dan Boren, a Democrat, for his vote against the Matthew Sheppard Hate Crimes Act, which would have added crimes related to sexual orientation and gender identity to the Federal hate crimes law. Barbara Santee circulated information about Boren to her long email list. I sent an open letter to Dan Boren informing him that I would circulate a petition at the convention calling for his censure, and put it out to my list. Mike Workman organized a state party candidates forum and arranged for me to ask our party's leaders where they stand on GLBT rights. Mike had coordinated with Vernon Jones to make a video of the event, and Vernon put it out to his Oklahoma Gay News Network (http://www.okgnn.net/Censure_Boren.html).

One of the candidates for state party chairman, Ivan Holmes, answered that what needed to happen to bring GLBT issues into the Oklahoma party platform would be to move the consideration of resolutions forward on the agenda to prevent hanky panky (more on that below). Things were starting to come together.

Until this year, sexual orientation and gender identity rights resolutions that had made it through county conventions had not been able to make it all the way through the process to be voted in by the state convention. In previous years, the Resolutions Committee Report had been placed at the end of the two-day convention schedule. That made it easy for those who swing a lot of power in the party to get all or some of the resolutions rejected by using a "quorum call" tactic. To make a long story short, the party found its balls this year, moving the resolutions to the front of the schedule when virtually all delegates were present, eliminating the possibility of a quorum call. This meant that the party would not be able to sweep the resolutions under the rug or completely off the table as in previous conventions.

The Resolutions Committee was chaired by former state senator Cal Hobson. For those who don't know, Senator Hobson has long been a voice for human rights at the state capitol -- often a lone voice. When he introduced the resolutions, he made an impassioned plea for delegates to consider them in the light of the highest core principle of the party: fairness. I wondered where he was going with this; it became clear when he drew our attention to the Human and Civil Rights section of the resolutions. He told the delegates that there would be some resolutions here that would make some of them uncomfortable. He asked us to remember that we were judging the civil rights of the person sitting right next to us. He was talking about those GLBT resolutions, and he had made his point.

Before the meeting convened on Saturday, I had spent many hours lobbying delegates, hoping to sensitize them to our issues and to put a face on GLBT. I was asking them to sign a petition to censure Dan Boren for his vote against GLBT hate crimes legislation. I was surprised at how many delegates jumped at the chance to punish Boren, and at how passionate they were for GLBT rights. I had indicated to party leaders that I would not see a need to bring this petition to the floor if there were other GLBT resolutions offered. When the Resolutions Committee released its document, and when we were convinced that the resolutions would reach a vote, I withdrew the censure petition.

That's Christopher's total, unedited report as it appeared.

From the list of resolutions adopted at the convention, here are several that have party conservatives running for cover (titles are ours):

Abortion On Demand: We support a woman’s unhindered right and ability to decide upon and have access to her own health care, including reproductive care; furthermore, the government has no place asserting control over health care decisions made by a competent adult.

Tort Reform: We oppose so-called “tort” reforms that would threaten the rights of Americans to redress for physical and economic damage done by others, and would undermine the appropriate functioning of the jury system.

God In Schools: We oppose the introduction of any religious dogmas, including “creationism” or “intelligent design”, which have no scientific basis, into science courses of public schools. We oppose the insertion of disclaimer statements about evolution into any textbooks.

Gay Marriage: We support legislation that would allow establishment of civil unions permitting the legal designation of next of kin and affording civil rights accordingly regardless of gender.

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