Newly-elected Arizona Democratic Party State Chair Andrei Cherny (left) and Cochise County Party Chair Bob Bland, who nominated him. (Photo credit: Pamela Powers)

On Saturday, the Three Sonorans, Blog for Arizona, and Rum Romanisn and Rebillion reported that Andrei Cherny– No Labels co-founder and former candidate for Arizona state treasurer– won the office of Arizona Democratic Party state chair.

While progressive bloggers reported Chery’s win, none of them bothered to mention his role as co-founder of the National No Labels movement. (I’m sure Andrei appreciated the softball.)

I mentioned his connection with No Labels in my non-endorsement of either candidate on Friday but didn’t realize he was national co-founder until today, sorry loyal readers, for this mis-step.

The Rest of the Story
As venerated right-wing journalist Paul Harvey would say, today, I will report the rest of the story.

For some, at the Arizona Democratic Party State Committee Meeting, the big issue with the state chair elections was eligibility. Former Tucson City Council Member Rodney Glassman faced off with former candidate for state treasurer Andrei Cherny (who has never won an election).

Glassman’s personal issues (as annotated in excruciating detail on the Three Sonorans’ blog) aside and Cherny’s No Labels affiliation (as mentioned by no one but me) aside– there were several issues regarding Cherny’s eligibility to run for state party office.

The Three Sonorans, the Feathered Bastard and the other political bloggers tossed out or ignored those facts. It is also fascinating to me that Cherny NEVER mentioned his No Labels love affair in his speech yesterday or his Democratic Party pre-vote propaganda.

The Bylaws Controversy
Although the Three Sonorans and the Feathered Bastard want to paint the disconnect with Cherny’s candidacy and Arizona State Statute as trivial, it’s state law. Apparently, Maricopa County Democratic Party bylaws, Arizona Democratic Party bylaws, and Arizona State Statute all conflict regarding who is qualified to hold an office in an official political party. (Several people speak to this in the video.)

Excuse me… but with so many lawyers involved in politics, many at Saturday’s meeting were wondering why they didn’t see this disconnect before Saturday. Actually, according to outgoing State Chair Don Bivens, they did. Bivens said from the podium that the discrepancy was a known problem that the party had worked around it in the past, and he seemed to wonder what the big deal was this year.

There was extensive debate about this issue at the Democratic Party meeting– with multiple lawyers and politicos weighing in– including Pima County’s Jeff Rogers, Bill Risner, and Jeff Latas. (See the video below.) Risner, well known for election integrity lawsuits on behalf of Pima County, cited Arizona Revised Statute– which states that candidates for state party chair must be elected precinct committee persons and elected state committee persons– which Glassman is and Cherny isn’t.

Many theorized that Bivens, white male lawyer (see video), anointed Cherny, another white male lawyer, to be chair. (Of course, Glassman is also another white, male lawyer.) One can only speculate, but check out Bivens’ beaming smile as Cherny is elected. In my opinion, one picture tells 1000 stories.

Personally, I think Latas has a good point in the video: If you let the state chair bend the rules that lends itself to cronyism and corruption. (He clearly states in the video that he is not implying anything about the current situation.) The video below starts with the debate in the Progressive Democratic Caucus– dubbed “Progressive Wack-a-doodles” by the Feathered Bastard last week when he originally dismissed the eligibility issue. The video takes you through the whole meeting– from the morning Progressive Caucus through both candidates’ speeches (around 9 minutes) to Cherny’s election (279 Cherny – 232 Glassman).

What will be the future of Arizona’s Democratic Party under this new leadership? Only time will tell… I’m leaving an open mind but also have open eyes– not obscured by rose-colored glasses. If the party moves more toward Republican-lite, I believe this would be a huge mistake. There were hundreds of very progressive Democratic Party foot soldiers in attendance on Saturday, and the party would be remiss if it dismissed their views and glided further to the right.

On Thursday, two Arizona Democratic Party luminaries– Terry Goddard and Raul Grijalva– asked the party faithful to delay the vote for new officers which is scheduled for tomorrow, January 22, 2011, in Phoenix.

Citing the need to heal and grieve after the events of January 8– when Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and others were shot– the two suggested re-electing the current officers for one month and rescheduling a second vote then– thus requiring statewide committee representatives from all over Arizona to schlep back to Phoenix. (See the letter below.)

I agree with the Feathered Bastard that Saturday’s election for state chair could be a “donnybrook”, although I have been calling it a dog fight. Former Tucson City Councilman and former US Senate candidate Rodney Glassman is running against former state treasurer candidate Andrei Cherny for state chair of the Democratic Party.

For months, Glassman was the only candidate, but in recent weeks Cherny entered the race. Unlike the Three Sonorans, who has come out strongly for Cherny, I have resisted backing either candidate because I believe they both have issues. I wish there was a third choice.

Obviously Glassman has burned LOTS of bridges with multiple politicians and constituencies in his short career as a politician. There is a long list of Democratic politicians who have jumped on the Cherny bandwagon in recent weeks. (I think there is a significant percentage who are backing Cherny just because he is not Glassman.) Although none of his fellow Tucson City Council members are backing him, Glassman has his supporters, most notably Congressman Raul Grijalva– Glassman’s former boss.

Cherny has been painted by some as the “shining star” in this race, but I have a problem with how this star rose in the sky. To run for state party chair, the party bylaws dictate that you must be an “elected” precinct committee person (PC)– a foot soldier of the Democratic Party. Cherny wasn’t any type of PC– elected or appointed– until after he decided to run for chair. He also is a strong supporter of the “No Labels” movement. Many are asking: Why would the Democrats elect a state chair who supports No Labels? There are so many under-informed voters in the US that if you delete the Ds and the Rs from the candidates’ names many will vote based on the last TV commercial they saw. (We all know who has the money to buy an obscene amount of TV time, and it ain’t the Democrats.)

Greasing the skids and bending the rules to shoe-horn Cherny into the state chair election is a fix, as I said on Steve Leal’s “All Things Political” radio show. The Cherny supporters should just own up to it, in my opinion, but that kinda tarnishes the shining star.

Anyway, given Glassman’s history (on multiple levels) and the political fix behind Cherny– I don’t support either one.

The Pima Dems’ Reorganization Meeting was on January 8. After about 2 hours of confusion trying to find out more about Gabby and fellow Democratic Party volunteers, we came together and voted in our officers.

Asking for a delay of tomorrow’s votes isn’t about Gabby. The party machine doesn’t want the election to blow up in the press– which it already is. Multiple political bloggers will be at tomorrow’s event. Several bloggers are Democratic Party PCs and will vote; others are going to cover it. Stay tuned.

The Democrats should vote on Saturday, as planned.

Goddard-Grijalva e-mail to Democrats asking for a delay of vote. (Image Credit: Feathered Bastard, Phoenix New Times