SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
'Incredibly Disappointing': Democrats Choose Tom Perez to Head Party
DNC 'chose to continue the failed Clinton strategy of prioritizing wealthy donors over the activist base'
Feb 25, 2017
Democrats on Saturday chose Tom Perez to lead the party, sparking criticism from progressive organizations who say picking the former labor secretary over the other front-runner, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), was a missed opportunity for the party.
Perez's win was secured in a second round of voting by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) gathered in Atlanta, getting 235 votes to Ellison's 200.
It marks the end of a race many observers saw as a choice between the establishment and the progressive wing of the party. Ellison had the backing of lawmakers like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and groups including National Nurses United and the Communications Workers of America; Perez was backed by "many from former President Obama's political orbit," as ABC News writes, and "is viewed--with good reason--as a reliable functionary and trustworthy loyalist by those who have controlled the party and run it into the ground," journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote this week.
Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action, which supported Ellison, said the outcome showed "[t]he DNC is out of touch with the American public and their needs. Democratic leaders were at a crossroads and today they chose to continue the failed Clinton strategy of prioritizing wealthy donors over the activist base."
"This incredibly disappointing result is another missed opportunity for a Democratic Party desperately trying to regain relevance and proves, once again, how out of touch party insiders are with the grassroots movement currently in the streets, on the phone, and at town halls nationwide," added Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America.
"Nonetheless, the Resistance will persist in showing progressive leaders how to unrelentingly take on [President Donald] Trump, with or without the leadership of the Democratic National Committee," Dean said.
Ellison, whom Perez chose as deputy, said following the results, "We don't have the luxury folks to walk out of this room divided." He added in a statement: "We must be united--because we live in times when the judiciary is under attack, when the press is under attack, and hate groups are desecreating Jewish cemetaries and defacing mosques."
Ahead of the vote for chair, the DNC's meeting got off to what one political observer described as a "very, very bad start." The Huffington Post reports:
Democratic National Committee members on Saturday voted down a resolution that would have reinstated former President Barack Obama's ban on corporate political action committee donations to the party.
Resolution 33, introduced by DNC Vice Chair Christine Pelosi, would also have forbidden "registered, federal corporate lobbyists" from serving as "DNC chair-appointed, at-large members."
A majority of the 442 eligible DNC members rejected the resolution after roughly a dozen members rose to speak for and against it.
Voting down that resolution coupled with choosing Perez makes it "[p]retty clear where the official party organ stands on the divide," tweeted Huffington Post reporter Zach Carter.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
barack obamademocratic partyelizabeth warrenenvironmentfriends of the earthkeith ellisonnational nurses unitedtom perez
Democrats on Saturday chose Tom Perez to lead the party, sparking criticism from progressive organizations who say picking the former labor secretary over the other front-runner, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), was a missed opportunity for the party.
Perez's win was secured in a second round of voting by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) gathered in Atlanta, getting 235 votes to Ellison's 200.
It marks the end of a race many observers saw as a choice between the establishment and the progressive wing of the party. Ellison had the backing of lawmakers like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and groups including National Nurses United and the Communications Workers of America; Perez was backed by "many from former President Obama's political orbit," as ABC News writes, and "is viewed--with good reason--as a reliable functionary and trustworthy loyalist by those who have controlled the party and run it into the ground," journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote this week.
Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action, which supported Ellison, said the outcome showed "[t]he DNC is out of touch with the American public and their needs. Democratic leaders were at a crossroads and today they chose to continue the failed Clinton strategy of prioritizing wealthy donors over the activist base."
"This incredibly disappointing result is another missed opportunity for a Democratic Party desperately trying to regain relevance and proves, once again, how out of touch party insiders are with the grassroots movement currently in the streets, on the phone, and at town halls nationwide," added Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America.
"Nonetheless, the Resistance will persist in showing progressive leaders how to unrelentingly take on [President Donald] Trump, with or without the leadership of the Democratic National Committee," Dean said.
Ellison, whom Perez chose as deputy, said following the results, "We don't have the luxury folks to walk out of this room divided." He added in a statement: "We must be united--because we live in times when the judiciary is under attack, when the press is under attack, and hate groups are desecreating Jewish cemetaries and defacing mosques."
Ahead of the vote for chair, the DNC's meeting got off to what one political observer described as a "very, very bad start." The Huffington Post reports:
Democratic National Committee members on Saturday voted down a resolution that would have reinstated former President Barack Obama's ban on corporate political action committee donations to the party.
Resolution 33, introduced by DNC Vice Chair Christine Pelosi, would also have forbidden "registered, federal corporate lobbyists" from serving as "DNC chair-appointed, at-large members."
A majority of the 442 eligible DNC members rejected the resolution after roughly a dozen members rose to speak for and against it.
Voting down that resolution coupled with choosing Perez makes it "[p]retty clear where the official party organ stands on the divide," tweeted Huffington Post reporter Zach Carter.
Democrats on Saturday chose Tom Perez to lead the party, sparking criticism from progressive organizations who say picking the former labor secretary over the other front-runner, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), was a missed opportunity for the party.
Perez's win was secured in a second round of voting by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) gathered in Atlanta, getting 235 votes to Ellison's 200.
It marks the end of a race many observers saw as a choice between the establishment and the progressive wing of the party. Ellison had the backing of lawmakers like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and groups including National Nurses United and the Communications Workers of America; Perez was backed by "many from former President Obama's political orbit," as ABC News writes, and "is viewed--with good reason--as a reliable functionary and trustworthy loyalist by those who have controlled the party and run it into the ground," journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote this week.
Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action, which supported Ellison, said the outcome showed "[t]he DNC is out of touch with the American public and their needs. Democratic leaders were at a crossroads and today they chose to continue the failed Clinton strategy of prioritizing wealthy donors over the activist base."
"This incredibly disappointing result is another missed opportunity for a Democratic Party desperately trying to regain relevance and proves, once again, how out of touch party insiders are with the grassroots movement currently in the streets, on the phone, and at town halls nationwide," added Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America.
"Nonetheless, the Resistance will persist in showing progressive leaders how to unrelentingly take on [President Donald] Trump, with or without the leadership of the Democratic National Committee," Dean said.
Ellison, whom Perez chose as deputy, said following the results, "We don't have the luxury folks to walk out of this room divided." He added in a statement: "We must be united--because we live in times when the judiciary is under attack, when the press is under attack, and hate groups are desecreating Jewish cemetaries and defacing mosques."
Ahead of the vote for chair, the DNC's meeting got off to what one political observer described as a "very, very bad start." The Huffington Post reports:
Democratic National Committee members on Saturday voted down a resolution that would have reinstated former President Barack Obama's ban on corporate political action committee donations to the party.
Resolution 33, introduced by DNC Vice Chair Christine Pelosi, would also have forbidden "registered, federal corporate lobbyists" from serving as "DNC chair-appointed, at-large members."
A majority of the 442 eligible DNC members rejected the resolution after roughly a dozen members rose to speak for and against it.
Voting down that resolution coupled with choosing Perez makes it "[p]retty clear where the official party organ stands on the divide," tweeted Huffington Post reporter Zach Carter.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.