Dems use ignored rule to oust gay candidate

[IndianaGreen]

Dems use ignored rule to oust gay candidate

Alabama party committee disqualifies winner, loser in primary runoff

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A Democratic Party committee Thursday night disqualified an openly gay candidate for the Alabama Legislature and the woman she defeated in the primary runoff because both women violated a party rule that party officials said no other candidate has obeyed since 1988.

The committee voted 5-0 to disqualify Patricia Todd, who was attempting to become the state's first openly gay legislator, and Gaynell Hendricks.

Committee chairwoman Amy Burks said earlier Thursday the party's executive committee would make the final decision and select a nominee for the seat from Birmingham's House District 54 at a meeting in Montgomery Saturday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14505740/

[boolean]

1. Fucking disgraceful

[MADem]

2. They'll have to dump the whole ticket, then.....

Attorney Bobby Segall told the committee earlier Thursday that if the party disqualified Todd for not filing a financial disclosure form with the party chairman it would also have to disqualify the party's nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, and for lieutenant governor, former Gov. Jim Folsom Jr.

[MadMaddie]

3. Because of bullshit like this....this is why we are having so

many problems...Democratic Party what the hell is wrong with them...they had somone that could have one but they choose to enforce a rule that is never followed....this is where Dean needs to go in and crack some heads...

[sonroadera]

4. What % voted to pass the gay marriage ban in Alabama?

Wasn't it like 85% or something? I guess when you have a number like that, there must a lot of dumb ass Democrats in the state.

[foreigncorrespondent]

8. Ummm...

...I am pretty sure you will find there is actually more dumb repukes than dem's in this state!

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Rowdyboy]

6. Since its a majority black district, a white lesbian can't represent it?

The voters decide and they did. For Democratic party thugs to overturn their decision by stealing an election because of the winners race is sickening.

[foreigncorrespondent]

7. Once again...

...the Dem's manage to show us just how welcome we are under their "big tent."

[TechBear_Seattle]

9. And yet, somehow, they are "better" on gay issues than the GOP

Yet again, the Democratic Party proves that they are democratic only to the point where it interferes with the bigotry of those running the party.

[sui generis]

10. And this is also why we need party discipline

I would like to get all dramatic and say this is a reason I don't really want to be a democrat.

But the reality is, those assholes are the ones who aren't democrats, and we need to pull their rug out from under them at every opportunity.

We have the same bullshit right here in Dallas on city council, for exactly the same ugly reasons, race versus orientation.

The difference is, I don't believe that if the situation had been reversed that Mary Todd would have condoned the caucus pulling that bullshit to get her IN office.

They are disgusting myopic embarrassments to the democratic party.

[dbackjon]

11. Call them - I did

Toll Free: [phone]

Tell them they are an embarrasment to the Democratic Party, and they should be removed from any position of leadership.

[Sapphocrat]

12. Those assholes!

Typical! Just fucking typical!
:nuke: :grr: :nuke:

[rogue emissary]

13. In case anyone missed it on Americablog . . .

Patricia Todd is the victor in Alabama -- finally
by Joe in DC - 8/26/2006 03:26:00 PM

Wow. Big news from Alabama. The Alabama Democratic Party today voted to dismiss the challenge to Patricia Todd's primary victory.

Birmingham Blues put it best: WE WON.

The Victory Fund released a statement from Chuck Wolfe:
"Finally, the voters have prevailed. We are enormously proud of the courage and tenacity Patricia showed throughout this ordeal, and equally proud of her supporters in Alabama and beyond who stood by her unfailingly. The Victory Fund and its network of donors have worked to ensure Patricia had a level playing field and a fair chance to show that a qualified, committed public servant can win the trust of the voters regardless of her sexual orientation. We have no doubt her career in the legislature will reflect the same determination and skill she showed in her campaign."
Congrats to Patricia Todd and all the folks who made her victory possible. The Victory Fund did a tremendous job....and thanks to Kathy at Birmingham Blues for the great coverage and for keeping us informed of the shenanigans. And I need to thank David L. for getting AMERICAblog hooked on this race in the first place.

Patricia Todd with be the first openly gay member of the Alabama Legislature. That's some big history to make.

UPDATE: Kathy from Birmingham Blues wrote up an account of the Alabama Democratic Party meeting. I thought this was especially interesting:
Patricia was all smiles, and her supporters were ecstatic. I walked out with party Executive Director Jim Spearman, who told me that Howard Dean had called eight times during the meeting to find out what happened. He said he’d been on the phone with Dean all week, and that the DNC was frantic because of all the negative feedback. People were ticked off, and no funds were coming in.

So thanks to all of you who contacted the DNC, the Alabama Democratic Party, your local committee members, and anyone else who would listen to insist that justice be done.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/08/patricia-todd-is-victor-in-alabama.html

[cboy4]

14. And what year is this again? - - -

1912? What a joke.

[HeavensHell]

15. Terrible

We're losing the one party that kinda catered to we glbt's. I say catered cause it was only for votes and money.... The democratic party is slowly becoming the same as the republicans. I was running in NY and of all places was shut down by the democratic party back in May. I lost the ballot line by 9 votes. Was it because of my platform? Nope... Because of my age? No again. It was because one of the committee found my myspace page and informed the others that my orientation was gay. One of my campaign people sat in on the meeting. I was told it was because the one committee was afraid to angry the republican if I lost, but I was informed otherwise. What a bunch of BS!!! I will still vote for the democrats in NY however.