Washblog

Beginning with a change to the Bylaws that would, for the first time, confer "official" recognition of certain caucuses that may be developed from the larger body, the proposed changes would add totally new political spheres of influence while eliminating other long-standing voting blocks.

The changes being proposed by the Bylaws and Rules Committee are the product of County Chair, Mark Hintz's desire to streamline the operations of the Executive Board and shift the emphasis of the County from the LDs to the greater county area. The primary focus for Hintz is the creation of new County Council District Caucuses. The proposal calls for the establishment of five Council District organizations comprised of the LD members in the existing County Council Districts. Each of these council district organizations would elect their own officers with one officer from each organization becoming a voting member of the Snohomish County Democrats Central Committee Executive Board.

In what promises to be the most controversial change, Hintz is proposing eliminating the voting members of the seven LDs that comprise the SCDCC. As the structure now stands, the proposal would eliminate nineteen LD votes (three each from the 1st, 21st, 38th, 39th, 44th and two each from 32nd and the 10th and replace them with 5 Council District votes to represent the same number of people in the county. The new structure would allow for one non-voting member from each LD to attend the Executive Board meetings.

In addition to these proposals, the Bylaws Committee has recommended the elimination of certain of the current standing committees (due to lack of participation) and elimination of the 2nd Vice-Chair position.

In speaking with Mark, he told me that the proposal for recognizing the caucuses came from an earlier proposal being discussed by the Progressive Caucus of Snohomish County Democrats and the Bylaws Committee some months ago. Hintz is running unopposed for re-election as County Chair.

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue