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Monday, March 17, 2008
Texas Democratic Party denies Clinton camp’s request for convention postponement
The Texas Democratic Party is refusing a request by Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign to postpone the March 29 county conventions, according to a statement released today by party chairman Boyd Richie.
On Friday, the Clinton campaign said that a postponement of the county and senatorial district conventions would be necessary to verify the eligibility of participants in precinct caucuses held earlier this month. However, Richie said that the party would not “circumvent” its own rules to set up an “unnecessary, ad hoc, ‘verification’ process” because it already has such a procedure in place.
“The Party has never stated any intention to set up a verification process of this nature because Party rules already provide for “verification” through our credentials process,” Richie said in the statement. “Candidates who wish to disqualify delegates must pursue formal challenges based on evidence filed appropriately in accordance with our party’s rules.”
The Clinton campaign said in a letter sent to the party on Friday that it has received more than 2,000 complaints of violations of party rules at the precinct conventions, which in many cases were overwhelmed by historic turnout.
Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign, which has dominated most caucuses throughout the country, criticized the Clinton campaign’s efforts to postpone the county conventions.
The party has estimated that about 1 million people participated in the caucuses that were stymied by long lines and crowded facilities.
“These problems are not unique to Texas. Similar problems, in proportionately similar numbers, occurred in pure caucus states like Iowa and Nevada,” Richie said. “The overwhelming majority of problems reported in Texas do not affect the legitimacy of delegate allocation.”
The party chairman said that candidates wishing to disqualify delegates must pursue formal challenges based on evidence filed in accordance with party rules.
“Both campaigns have the opportunity and responsibility to do their jobs by documenting evidence, filing challenges if warranted, and turning out their delegates in a system that rewards such an effort when final delegate results are determined at the State Convention in June,” Richie said.
The party is working to turn the record Democratic turnout experienced on March 4 into a positive outcome for Texas Democrats in the November general elections, he said in his statement.
“We are proud of both our Presidential candidates who helped create that turnout,” he said. “We ask now that the campaigns work with us rather than become an impediment to this extraordinary opportunity to build our party.”
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