It's a brand new day and a brand new outlook for North Carolina Democrats since electing new state party officers in a marathon meeting of the State Executive Committee on Saturday, January 29th in Raleigh.
The highly contentious campaigns for state party chair drew 632 State Executive Committee members (91%) to the McKimmon Center in Raleigh along with another 90 or so party activists, guests and elected officials who filled the rear gallery.
Three hours into the meeting, the North Carolina Democratic Party elected a new state chair: David Parker, a trial attorney from Statesville with a 35-year history working for the Democratic Party most recently as a NC Super-Delegate since 1995. Parker easily defeated State House Representative Bill Faison and Dannie Montgomery, a former state party officer. Parker won with a clear majority of 355 votes to Faison's 262 votes and Montgomery's 15 votes on the first-round ballot.
Nearly every incumbent officer lost his or her campaign race by the end of the nearly seven-hour meeting.
Incumbent Stella Adams came in a distant third for the First Vice Chair race behind Gwen Wilkins (1st District Chair) and June Mabry (8th District Chair). With only 119 votes, Adams was dropped from the second-round ballot and took the podium to endorse Wilkins who led the race with 264 votes, not a clear majority. Despite her 195 votes, Mabry surprised the crowd when she stepped forward and withdrew from the race, handing the election to Wilkins and avoiding the need for a second-round voting session.
The Second Vice Chair race also concluded on the first-round ballot with Ralph Johnson and incumbent Delmas Parker losing widely to Douglas Wilson of Mecklenburg County who ran on the theme of "Productivity, not Activity." Wilson won with 293 votes to Parker's 123 votes and Johnson's 57 votes.
Only incumbent Tony McEwen managed to retain his seat defeating Paul Brandon Johnson and last-minute entrant Laurene Callender for Third Vice Chair. Due to age and gender requirements across the five elected state party offices, this office is traditionally held by the out-going president of the state's Young Democrats to meet an under-35 age requirement. But in a surprise move, McEwen chose to run again both in 2009 and 2011. McEwen clearly appeared worried as incumbents lost broadly but ultimately McEwen was elected to a third term garnering 339 votes over Johnson's 40 votes and Callender's 28 votes.
One contentious moment rose when Dr. Lavonia Allison of Durham stood to protest a motion to move up the Secretary's election ahead of the vice chairs instead of being the last office elected as has been the norm. The motion was put forward in the interest of somehow saving time because the Secretary's position does not come under any representational mandates for age, gender or racial requirements from the NCDP Plan of Organization.
Allison gave an impassioned speech protesting the motion for preempting SEC members from the opportunity to insure they elect a diverse body of officers. Ultimately, the motion passed and Melvin Williams, who is caucasian, was elected over 34-year-old Kevin Smith, an African-American candidate. However, 69-year-old Williams of Beulaville does bring a different form of diversity and point-of-view to the board; that of senior citizen Democrats.
These new officers were immediately installed upon election and will serve a two-year term through January 2013. They are:
- Chair David Parker (Mooresville, age 54, caucasian, male) david@voteparker.com
- 1st Vice Chair Gwen Wilkins (Rocky Mount, age 55, american Indian, female) gweniepooh13@msn.com
- 2nd Vice Chair Douglas Wilson (Charlotte, age 32, african-american, male) douglaswilson06@yahoo.com
- 3rd Vice Chair Tony McEwen (New Hanover County, age 31 , caucasian, male) tmcewen@ncdemocraticparty.org
- Secretary Melvin Williams (Beulaville, age 68, caucasian, male) melvin535@dishmail.net
NCDPpolitics is pleased to have contributed in some small measure to the new slate of officers by publicizing an aggregate list of candidates prior to the actual election meeting. We measure our success by the fact that not one office went unopposed. However, as thrilled as we are with new Chair David Parker, we do have some reservations about the changes to the process used to elected the new party secretary.
Dr. Allison's diversity concerns appear to be quite valid as this new executive board is now 80% white and male. The past state party executive board was 60% white and male when comprised of three white men and two african-american women. We can't help but feel Kevin Smith was robbed of a proper election opportunity after the Secretary's office was moved up in the election schedule under the guise of somehow saving time in a six-and-a-half hour meeting. Kudos to Dr. Allison's astute observation. She was completely right.
Perhaps going forward, the secretary position will return to being the last elected office as has been the norm and, unfettered by the NCDP Plan of Organization's diversity requirements, allow the SEC voters to elect the Secretary candidate that best balances a more diverse and democratic state party executive council.
