SPJ delegates OK ‘one member, one vote’

September 27, 2011 | Filed under 2011: New Orleans

SPJ delegates OK ‘one member, one vote’

By Ashley Carnifax
The Working Press

Every member of the Society Professional Journalists will be allowed to vote for national and regional officers under a bylaw change adopted at Tuesday’s closing business session ending a decades-long tradition of voting by delegates only.

Voting on legislation, such as resolutions and changes to the bylaws, will remain as is. Each chapter will continue to be allotted one delegate — and one vote — for every 50 members.

The measure known as “One Member, One Vote” passed by voice vote.

Incoming SPJ President John Ensslin supported changing the bylaws. He was granted permission to speak at the meeting although he was not a delegate to the convention.

Ensslin said an analysis he did of last year’s convention found that the delegates who voted at the business meeting represented only half of the membership.

“I look at this room and see a lot of empty chairs and suspect that that is probably the case again,” he said.

Reaction to the precedent-setting vote was mixed.

David Carlson, a North Central Florida chapter delegate, argued for passage. He said that if 10 percent of the membership votes in an election, it would still be about 800 votes, compared with the approximately 200 delegate votes currently cast.

Carlson said more voices would be an improvement over the current practice.

Scott Cooper, Region No. 8 director and Oklahoma chapter member, said his area has fewer members than other regions.

Cooper said giving individual members voting rights would put small chapters at a disadvantage, because it will cause larger discrepancies in the number of votes needed to sway an election.

“If you combine all of the members in my region, you might have half of the members in the Chicago chapter,” Cooper said. “I totally understand the disenfranchisement issue, and it is a top priority with the board to address that.”

Lauren Bartlett, a Greater Los Angeles chapter delegate, urged other delegates to defeat the measure, because she said SPJ had not asked its members whether voting in the elections was something they were interested in doing.

The cost of implementing the change also was a concern.

Parliamentarian Robert Becker cited executive director Joe Skeel’s estimate that instituting an online system for all-member voting would add “no more than $5,000” per year to the organization’s costs.

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  March 9, 2012 • 6:54 pm
  
  I really think Chris and Ann are htlyrveneipating and seeing conspiracy theories where none exist. Chris seems to be all bent out of shape that the Obama Campaign sent him a reminder postcard that their convention is coming up. I would think Chris would be happy Clinton delegates are being reminded to show up. What am I missing here?Concerning caucuses in general, Chris and Ann seem to think that Obama-who only came on to the national stage two years ago-somehow invented the caucus system. What Ann and Chris seem not to know is that the Clintons have been running the Democratic Party for over eighteen years now. Are they unfamiliar that Bill Clinton was president and was the titular head of the party from 1993 to 2001? Terry McAuliffe-the Clinton’s main political operative-was head of the DNC from 2001-05. If the Clintons did not want State parties to use the caucus system to select delegates why did they not say something before now?Under normal circumstances the caucuses should benefit institutional candidates like Hillary Clinton. Now that caucuses are benefiting the better organized insurgent candidate team Clinton is crying foul. Unbelievably shameless.
  
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- Kira
  March 12, 2012 • 12:11 am
  
  There are whispers among the Democratic sultrdepegaees that the party will lose the White House if either Clinton or Obama are nominated. Therefore, let’s come up with the profile of the likely compromise candidate. First, the candidate would have to subscribe to the economic and foreign policy pronouncements of both of the present candidates. That is easily done, as many Congressional Democrats share the same worldview. The compromise candidate will also have to stanch the bleeding caused by the identity politics practiced by both Obama and Clinton camps. This would have to be done in two stages. First, to counteract the black vs. female battle, the compromise candidate would probably be a black woman. Secondly, the compromise candidate must have a record of backing the Clintons while they were in office but must also be able to reach out to the far left wing of the party. She must be “authentically” black to get support from the Sharpton-Wright subset of the black wing of the party. She must also be a proven fund-raiser from both domestic and foreign sources (just as the Clintons are master fund-raisers from foreign sources). This all points to one woman, and one woman only. The perfect compromise candidate for the Democratic Party would be…….Cynthia McKinney!CW
  
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  March 10, 2012 • 11:27 am
  
  , “What am I supposed to do about that?” Guess who he pptuorss. The Delegation Chair-who is supposed to be unbiased and fair-was asked by two Hillary supporters if he had given Obama’s people the Hillary list. He neither confirmed nor denied. What do you think?I absolutely feel that the same exact thing happened in Chris’s county in Texas. Of course Hillary supporters are becoming more assertive. At least we are not sneaky. And now, as Hillary supporters, we are forced to call Obama supporters. I applaud my Party’s unprecedented ground campaign, but if we can’t be fair and ethical, we should quit. Obama keeps himself above the mudslinging and accuses Hillary of being negative. I do not believe he is that unaware or unseeing. I do not know whether he initiated this behavior, but he has to know what his supporters are doing. By not stopping this behavior, he must approve.Supporters of Obama, please stop destroying our party! I know this is politics, but you are essentially burning down your own home. We are going to end up with another Republican in the White House and heaven help my children. They are the ones who will suffer from this behavior.
  
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Daryl, the email from the Travis County Democrats (as Chris indicates) iactonns more than I copied there. Here’s more:Very soon we will be sending out answers to such questions as: WHEN AND WHERE MAY I GET MY DELEGATE OR ALTERNATE CREDENTIAL? WHAT DO I NEED TO PRESENT AT SIGN-IN? I HAVE A NOTE FROM A DELEGATE APPOINTING ME (AN ALTERNATE) TO REPLACE HIM/HER . WHAT DO I DO? HOW DO DELEGATION CHAIRS KNOW WHO IS MISSING? I’VE BEEN ELEVATED FROM ALTERNATE TO DELEGATE. WHAT NOW? I’M COMING IN THE AFTERNOON. HOW WILL I GET MY CREDENTIAL? We are looking forward to seeing you at the largest Democratic County/Senatorial District Convention in Texas! Thank you all for your understanding and patience during this most unusual, but exciting! primary season. TRAVIS COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION, SATURDAY MARCH 29, 2008Sign-in begins at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 10:00 a.m. As we are ex expecting thousands of people, please come as early as possible to sign in. We cannot stress this enough.Convention call to order is expected to be at 10:00 a.m.Expect the County Convention to last until at least 7:00p.mWe hope you plan to stay the day enjoying being in arena filled with thousands upon thousands of like-minded Democrats with only one thing on their mind- electing a Democratic President in November!!!PLACE: Travis County Exposition Center, Luedecke Arena, 7311 Decker Lane#37 Colony Park bus runs to the Expo Center about every 30 minutes for most of the day on Saturdays.Concession stand open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.Parking at the Expo Center is $5.I’m laughing at the line “We hope you plan to stay the day enjoying being in arena filled with thousands upon thousands of like-minded Democrats”… personally, I wouldn’t want to do anything with a group of people that went on for 12 hours, but being in arena filled with thousands upon thousands of like-minded Democrats… that’s a nightmare!

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SPJ delegates OK ‘one member, one vote’

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