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Dean addresses gays at Florida fundraise
DNC chair responds to concerns about ‘disenfranchised’ voters

PHIL LAPADULA
Friday, February 08, 2008

MIAMI — The day before voters in 22 states went to the polls on Super Tuesday, Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean stood in a Miami Beach gay bar and answered questions about whether or not the votes of 1.5 million Florida Democrats will count at the party’s national convention.

Dean spoke at a fund-raising event at Halo, a gay bar in South Beach, on Feb. 4. In a speech before a sparse audience of about 50 local officials and residents, Dean emphasized the party’s commitment to equal rights for gay people. He referred to the Bush administration as the “most right wing and incompetent administration” in history and said it had been a “tough seven years for the LGBT community.”

But reporters’ questions after the speech focused mostly on Florida’s disputed primary election. The DNC stripped Florida of all of its delegates to the national convention because the state held its primary before Feb. 5, in violation of party rules. Critics have accused the Democrats of disenfranchising their own voters.

“At the end of the day, we’d like to get this resolved before the convention,” Dean said in an interview following his speech.

Dean also said it would be possible for the Florida Democratic Party to hold a caucus between now and the convention to allow voters to choose delegates. But a spokesperson for the Florida Democratic Party said there are no plans to hold a caucus.

Meanwhile, Amy Shoosmith, president of the Dolphin Democrats, a local gay Democratic club, described the primary situation as “insane” and said it was “disheartening” to Florida’s Democratic volunteers.

“I’m flabbergasted by it,” Shoosmith said. “I thought it was insane from the first moment I heard about it. It’s a disenfranchisement of Florida’s voters once again. It’s upsetting that you go to cast your vote and it doesn’t count.”

Shoosmith, who is a Hillary Clinton supporter, said she is concerned that Florida’s absent delegates could be the deciding factor in the close race between Clinton and Barack Obama. Clinton won the primary in Florida by a wide margin over Obama, but none of the Democratic candidates campaigned in the state. Clinton also won the Michigan primary, but the DNC also stripped that state of its delegates as punishment for holding its primary before Feb. 5.

“I think it’s terrible [Clinton’s] not getting the delegates, and I would feel the same way if Barack Obama had won Florida,” Shoosmith said. “I think the national party made a huge, stupid decision.”

Shoosmith said the situation was disheartening to volunteers. “But the Dolphin Democrats will work as hard as we would have if this hadn’t happened.”

Damien LaVera, a DNC spokesperson, said he had handled numerous angry calls about the primary situation. “But I don’t buy the premise that voters were disenfranchised,” he said.

LaVera thinks the primary mess will soon fall off of the radar screen. “At the end of the day, what really matters to voters is the choice that they have in November, not what happens in February,” LaVera said. “I think by November, the voters are going to forget what happened.”

LaVera noted that a record number of Democratic voters have turned out to vote in every state.

“The voters are going to have a clear choice between a third Bush term and a Democratic president who offers the change the American people want,” LaVera said.

Alejandro Miyer, press secretary for the Florida Democratic Party, described the primary situation as “senseless.” “It definitely doesn’t help the democratic process,” he said.

But he added, “We’re confident that the delegates will be seated at the convention.” He said state officials have been in talks with the DNC and are “hopeful that we’ll find a remedy.”

Miyer confirmed that it was the Republican-controlled state legislature that voted to hold the primary on Jan. 29. But he said the bill setting the primary date had bipartisan support because it also included a measure to change from electronic voting machines to paper ballots, which Democrats support. As of the August primary, Florida will switch over to optical scanning machines.

In his speech at Halo, Dean touted the Democrats’ LGBT delegate program. “Twenty-five LGBT delegates were allotted in Florida,” he said.

Ironically, as it currently stands, none of those delegates will be seated at the convention.

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