State Democratic Convention wrap-up

Submitted by Shane on Tue, 2005-06-14 11:31. Current | Politics

Because of sparse media coverage you probably wouldn't know that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin held its state convention last weekend in Oshkosh unless you were actually one of the people there as a delegate, bystander, or protester.

In fact, a quick look at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin website has little indication that the event even happened. Note to Dems: you might want to feature the event prominently on your front page.

Here are some highlights:

Governor Jim Doyle brushed off criticism that he has too often caved to Republican interests by saying that being a governor requires you to make hard choices which when run through the decoder means that he is unable to justify his support of the Great Minimum Wage Compromise of 2005, cutting thousands of state jobs, and wilting at just about any sign of Republican opposition but he still thinks he deserves support for his decisions because they were, you know, "hard". Who else does that style of rhetoric remind you of? It seems more logical to think that compromising with the majority party is the easy choice, and fighting them is the hard choice but we'll leave that up to you to decide which choice is harder.

It was no surprise that Joe Wineke was elected State Party Chair over Jeff Rammelt.

There were two fairly interesting things that happened at the convention. A resolution calling for the impeachment of the President, Vice-President and Secretary of Defense passed.

Quote:

WHEREAS, the Downing Street Memo shows that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld began planning and executing the war on Iraq before seeking Congressional and UN approval;

WHEREAS, UN weapons inspectors showed prior to the invasion that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; and

WHEREAS, there is further mounting evidence that the Administration lied or misled about "mushroom clouds," "connections to 9/11," and "war as a last resort" as they sought UN, Congressional, and public approvals;

THEREFORE, RESOLVED, the DPW asks Congress to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

And local civil liberties activist and rabble-rouser, Ben Masel was harrassed by a DPW worker who didn't think Ben belonged at the convention.

Ben describes his experience in this thread at The Daily Page Forum:

Quote:

I showed up at the Wisconsin Democratic Party Convention in Oshkosh rather late yesterday. Paid $20 guest fee. The folks doing registrations had run out of laminated Guest Passes, so they gave me a handwritten job.

Hours later, Dane County Supervisor Rob Fryst, a candidate for State Treasurer, approaches me in the convention hall, asks to see my pass. (he was wearing a Seargant at Arms badge.) I explained the problem at the registration desk. "If you dont have 'one of these,' you'll have to leave. "Rob doin't be silly." "If you don't leave now, I'm calling the Oshkosh Police and you're going to jail."

Find out the thrilling conclusion by reading the rest of Masel's story on the forum.

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