By Lupe Weaver, El Paso Metro
The self-styled progressives within the Democratic Party have decided to form a John F. Kennedy Chapter. In a press release, the group stated that forming a Kennedy Democrats chapter was important because the El Paso Democratic Party was no longer “meeting” their needs.
First of all, the El Paso Democratic Party is, increasingly, being infiltrated by Republicans wanting to get elected. The latest infiltrators are from the City Council who, last week announced they were converting. No one believes they are Democrats but their ambition is stronger than their conviction.
On the other hand, the Tejano Democrats have become the strongest arm of the party. But, their policy of serving alcoholic beverages has gotten out of hand. Drunkenness is common at Tejano and El Paso Democratic functions. This creates a terrible image for young Democrats and chases away mature people.
Most distressing to Progressive Kennedy Democrats is the unwillingness of the Party leadership to be fiscally accountable. Previous leaders have absconded with Party resources. Today, money is in the control of various individuals and there are no checks and balances. A move to restore fiscal responsibility was defeated by a group of precinct chairs in violation of the rules. According to party rules a quorum is necessary to vote on Party issues. There were only a handful of precinct chairs present on October 10th and they gave control of the Party building funds to a leader of the Tejano Democrats. I told him that there was no quorum but he ignored my concern.
Finally, the current slate of elected officials have been pushing their weight around to the point where they have taken over the leadership and do not follow the rules. The arrogance they display at City Hall and in their state offices does not compare with the disrespect they show all Democrats when they speak for the Democratic Party without taking other members into account nor respecting citizen initiatives. This may be part of the reason the current Party Chairperson Queta Fierro has decided she will not run for re-election.
We hope that with the formation of a Kennedy Democratic arm of the Party, we can hope for a dedicated organizing strategy for the Democratic vote. We need to reinforce the principles of honesty, maturity and abstinence of drugs and alcohol so prevalent among our youth and, unfortunately, so common in Tejano Democrat and Democratic Party functions.
All Democrats interested in joining the Kennedy Democrats may reach me at 757-6430. We will be having an organizing meeting in the next few weeks in order to prepare for the March primaries. We want to place responsible and progressive precinct chairs in most areas of the city.
