After many thought that the Alabama Democratic Party couldn’t possibly become more chaotic, the minority party in the Yellowhammer State appears to have descended further into that same chaos over the weekend.
In fact, Tabitha Isner, vice chair of the party, called the whole day “a sham from start to finish.”
In a controversial executive committee meeting, that saw close to 30 members of various Democratic committees barred from participating because of an apparent lack of paying a $50 fee, party leadership voted to eliminate three caucuses which many state Democrats view as vital for their platform.
The youth caucus, LGBTQ caucus, and the disabled caucus – required by the National Democratic Party – were all disbanded causing pandemonium and dissent from Democratic legislators throughout the state.
Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones urged party members to stay the course in a tweet over the weekend.
To all of you who were disenfranchised today by the leadership of the Alabama Democratic Party – do not give up. We need you to make Alabama a better place and I promise you that I will do everything I can to make sure your voices are heard.https://t.co/OMS8zqaYvt
— Doug Jones (@DougJones) May 6, 2023
Isner said party boss Joe Reed drastically overstepped.
“In a representative democracy, it’s expected that there will be discussions about how many chairs there should be at the table and who gets to decide who sits in them. What happened on Saturday, however, was not a discussion,” said Isner. “Joe Reed decided that there should be fewer seats for LGBTQ folks, fewer seats for young people, fewer seats for Hispanic and Latinos and Native Americans and Asians. And he decided that he should be the person who decides who sits in those seats.”
“That was the bylaws proposal he had made and it was the proposal that we all came ready to discuss and vote on. But Joe Reed didn’t have the votes to pass his proposal. So he simply declared, without valid reason, that the people currently in those seats weren’t allowed to vote. And he cut off debate so that there could not be a meaningful discussion about the situation nor about his proposal. And then he declared that the body had approved his proposed bylaws.”
Isner vowed that she and other Democrats will not stop until the party embraces its true “ideals.”
“The actions of this faction do not represent the principles of the Democratic Party, and I and many others in the party will not give up until the party is putting its ideals of equal participation, protection of minority rights, and fair elections into practice. I refuse to let these bullies take control of our party.”
In 2019, the Democratic National Committee mandated that Alabama Democrats pass new bylaws that created the three committees. This was an act that Reed opposed.
“We never should’ve even changed the bylaws,” he said.
It is not known if there was a quorum present to vote on the issues. Several reports say that the final voting tally did not actually match the number of individuals within the room.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
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