What was stacking up to be one of the most contentious Shelby County Democratic Party re-organizations in quite some time, turned out to be an orderly exercise in the Democratic process.
At issue, the race for SCDP chair between Jay Bailey and Van Turner. While the race between the candidates had been civil, the behind the scenes maneuvering turned into a contentious battle over the number of Executive Committee members to be seated on the body. For more information on this, check out this previous post as well as this and this piece from LWC.
In the end, the SCDP decided to follow the order of the TNDP and allow 83 members on the Executive Committee, an issue that was at question before the Convention started.
The election of Executive Committee members occurred with few problems, though some former members did express displeasure at the way their districts were handled after the meeting.
In the end, Van Turner won the Chair of the SCDP, 49 to 32, with one absent, and one abstention.
After the Vote, Mr. Turner took the stand and recognized Jay Bailey, who asked the party as a whole to come together, put aside old differences, and get to the business of electing Democrats.
No one knows if his supporters will heed his call for unity, but we’ll likely find out on April 6th, the first meeting of the newly re-organized SCDP.
Congratulations to all the new members of the Execom, and Van Turner, and remember, the bloggers are watching! 😉