This is a sincere question

[Madam Mossfern]

and I hope I'm posting it in the right forum. I'm the Democratic chair for my town. I recently attended a County Committee executive meeting where we were told that County Committee candidates would be running on Hillary's line. I personally support Sanders in the primary and I do no want my name on the same line as Hillary.

Do I resign as chair and from the county committee? Do I notify my district leaders that they will be running on Hillary's line so that they may chose to run or not? What about the district leaders that support Sanders? If the majority of my town's district leaders don't support Hillary, do we go rogue? Is that even possible?


on edit: I'm in New Jersey

[Arazi]

1. I don't understand the question

What do you mean by "same line"?

[TCJ70]

4. Yeah, I don't understand...

...what that means.

[Madam Mossfern]

6. The same line on the election ballot

There will be a line for Hillary and a line for Bernie.
In this scenario, all the democratic district leaders names would be on Hillary's line and none on Bernie's.
It's a blatant way to influence the outcome of the primaries.

[pinebox]

2. THAT is concerning.

Something sounds very wrong with this.

[bkkyosemite]

27. show me the money or the trail

[HERVEPA]

3. Of course you go rogue.

Why should they tell you which line you need to run on? Very heavy-handed.

[onehandle]

5. Hillary is 40+ points ahead of Bernie in New Jersey. nt

[Madam Mossfern]

7. So?

I would assume that she would be if these shenanigans are typical.
No?

[JaneyVee]

15. So you dont want a tea party takeover.

Which would happen trying to defend a "socialist" who wants to raise middle class taxes.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

18. So Clintonian.

He is proposing to SAVE the average family THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS per year in health care costs. But I suspect you already knew that.

[JaneyVee]

19. Im saying how Repubs in those districts will go after him.

Its no mystery.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

22. To be clear then. You don't believe what you just posted.

The GOP will have a field day with Secretary "I was for the TPP before I was against it" Clinton. What if he asks her about how she feels about gun control or Keystone, etc.? Which Hillary will answer? Annie Oakley or 2016 Hillary? Bernie won't even hesitate to answer. What happens if her GOP opponent asks her whether she is a moderate or a progressive? She can't even answer effectively in the primary.

[bkkyosemite]

29. It's a mystery to me what you think and why.

[bkkyosemite]

28. Janey you sound like the pundits. You forgot the rest of your comment

about raising taxes.

[whatchamacallit]

12. Can't believe you just wrote that

On second thought I can

[TwilightGardener]

14. "She's the presumed nominee, in other words, no need for impartiality."

Now we're beginning to understand Iowa, folks.

[whatchamacallit]

21. Clinton supporters seem to share her values

[H2O Man]

24. Brendon Byrne used to be governor. n/t

[Ron Green]

8. You could poll the other town chairs and see

if there's some dissatisfaction with this behavior, then gather whatever candidates you can to join the future.

[NCTraveler]

9. Do you have a past or current ballot they plan on using in the NJ primary?

That might help to put this in a more visual perspective.

[firebrand80]

10. Give their emails to the BernieBro army on Reddit

They'll have it straightened out by this time tomorrow

[Motown_Johnny]

11. Who told you that? Tell them that you support Bernie and make them force you out.

Screw 'em!

[global1]

13. By All Means - Don't Resign - That Is Just Handing It To Them To Do Whatever They Please....

fight it or go rogue.

Again - what has happened to the Democratic Process in this country. Is everything fixed?

[Vincardog]

26. ++ exactly fight them at every turn. It is our party the are just a short time infection

[bkkyosemite]

30. I truly believe so at this point.

[MineralMan]

16. I'd stand my ground, if I were you.

Don't resign. Make them force you out, if that's what they want to do.

It's up to you, really.

[brooklynite]

17. I think I understand the issue...

...the Democratic Party in NJ actually endorses candidates and petitions on their behalf, and the Primary ballot is divided into a "Party Endorsed" line and and "other" line.

I'm not from NJ, but I think that the best approach is to talk to your County Board of Election, about rejecting the "endorsement" and putting yourself on the ballot seperately.

[Madam Mossfern]

20. I thought about doing that, but what would it accomplish?

This is NJ - too many sleazy behind closed doors deals. I'd be on the ballot as a public protest. I'd rather resign and join the Sanders campaign.

[brooklynite]

23. Do you want to serve as Party Chair?

If so, you'll have to get on the ballot on your own terms (which probably also means doing your own petitioning). The Sanders campaign, as a number of people have commented, is not doing any work with down-ticket candidates.

[Madam Mossfern]

25. We always do our own petitioning

it's no big deal. I'm not interested in leading a rebellion in this County, it would take a whole lot more energy than I'm willing to expend. We would have to overthrow the County machine - not an easy thing to do in NJ. What we can do, in protest is not run anyone for County Committee to send home a message. It would look bad for the leadership of the County, but honestly none of the populace cares a whit.

[JonLeibowitz]

36. The Sanders campaign has its own issues with the establishment even accepting it as credible

I don't know whether to characterize the lack of work on down-ticket candidates as due apathy or instead due to being locked into mortal combat for what the party even represents.

[winter is coming]

31. I don't get why you'd be running on the same line as a Presidential candidate.

All the primary ballots I've ever used had all the races listed separately, i.e., there's no "slate" voting in a primary that's like a straight-party ticket for a general election.

[bkkyosemite]

32. I'm sorry your going through this. If you feel you can stand your ground and

let them know how you feel then do it. If you don't want to do that then report them. If you don't want to do that then resign and volunteer for Bernie. But it has to be your decision.

[Euphoria]

33. Contact John Wisniewski, Assembly. (D) 19th Distri

He's supporting Bernie big time.

[senz]

35. Good suggestion.

[senz]

34. Can you broadcast the situation on local media? Radio, news, TV?

Do not resign as chair; that is a position of power. Use your position to protest.

Good luck, and let us know if we can help.