Nashville YDA Conference Day 1: Bureaucracy, Politicking and Transparency

Sorry I'm not live-blogging much from YDA. I'm having issues with the WiFi and can't get reception anywhere except in the hotel lobby. Here's my thoughts on Day 1.

The YDA National Convention is split into two parts. On the first day - when most participants are still flying in - the organization takes care of internal business. Committees meet, people speak in a foreign language based on Robert's Rules of Order, and YDA generally takes care of all of it's internal business for the next quarter. All meetings are open to the public and anyone can attend. The second day is much more action-oriented and I'll have some thoughts on that later.

Yesterday I was able to sit in on two meetings - so this isn't at all a representation of the whole conference, just my limited experience. These were the meetings of the Judicial Committee and the Campaign Committee. In both instances, organizational transparency seemed to be the root topic up for discussion.

The Judicial Committee needs something of an introduction. It's been over a decade since this committee last met. The cause for it's revival was ostensibly an internal dispute regarding YDA's Bylaws and tax status, which prevent YDA from endorsing candidates, and public declarations by two of YDA's three superdelegates as to their intentions in casting their Super Ballot at the convention. In reality, it was more about the internal politics of the organization and people in leadership positions (or wanting to be) mucking up the waters in preparation for the next YDA officer elections.

David Hardt, the President of YDA (and at the time of this writing an undeclared superdelegate), referred the matter to the committee, requesting a determination as to whether Crystal Straight and Francisco Domenech, YDA's DNC committeepersons, violated the rules when they declared their intention to vote for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (respectively) at the convention. Also on the table was whether or not Francisco and Crystal should be impeached from their positions if it was determined that they had violated the organization's bylaws.

In talking to a few people, Hardt is understood to be operating as a proxy for Chris Gallaway, YDA's previous president, as well as Chris Anderson and Billy Joyner, who want to move up in the YDA leadership after Hardt's term as President ends. Crystal is seen as a top contender to be the next YDA President and on some level this was all about fucking with her potential candidacy. It's all internal politicking, which is unavoidable when you get to this level in any political organization. It's exacerbated by the fact that YDA has become a somewhat powerful organization in recent years. They have a budget in the millions of dollars now and with the youth vote surging, YDA's stature in party politics is likely only going to rise making leadership positions more powerful, more coveted, and thus more competitive. It's one of the less attractive parts of Party politics, but it does make for much more politically savvy operatives. Democrats are always getting out-played procedurally by Republicans, and this sort of thing teaches our future leaders how to play brass knuckles on that playing field. And compared to what the College Republicans do to each other this is like touch football.

After a brief scuffle over the rules as to whether or not the committee could deliberate in a closed, executive session (they couldn't), the committee unanimously voted that Francisco and Crystal did not violate YDA rules, but not before some very interesting issues were brought up regarding organizational transparency. During her presentation to the committee, Crystal stated that her declaration was not only lawful, but good in that it let the membership hold her accountable. Rather than cast a secret, unannounced ballot in Denver, she let her choice be known, as well as the reasons for that choice. Her declaration of intent gave the membership the opportunity to question her decision and monitor for any sort of improper (or at least unseemly) quid pro quo. Judging from the final vote, and the fight over whether the session would be open or closed, I think Crystal's call for more transparency in the organization was refreshing and sought-after among many of the members who attended the meeting.

The interesting upshot of this dog and pony show was that the committee determined the rules in the YDA bylaws to be contradictory and vague on the matter of how YDA superdelegates should cast their ballot. As a result, the matter was referred to the Rules and Bylaws committee to take up at a later date, opening up the possibility that the charter could be amended and new precedents could be set for how YDA superdelegates act. Assuming that the Rules and Bylaws Committee takes this as a serious opportunity to more effectively shape the influence of young voters in the party, it's a prime opportunity to initiate one of the alternative superdelegate options I've advocated, including polling the YDA membership or linking YDA superdelgate votes to the popular youth vote (proportionally or winner-take-all).

I'm running out of time here. I'll post about the Campaign Committee meeting shortly.