Dean on mission to Denver

[rodeodance]

Source: DNC

Dean on mission to Denver
By Ian Swanson
April 11, 2007
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean will fly to Denver today to try and put out a political fire that has led labor groups to threaten to withdraw support from the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

In urgent meetings with union leaders and members of the convention host committee, he will attempt to take action to head off the threat that Democratic delegates attending the convention next year will have to cross picket lines to get in.

The dispute, which tarnishes Dean’s first visit to Denver since the party selected the city to host the convention, arises from labor’s fury over what it sees as a betrayal by newly elected Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter.

Ritter vetoed pro-union legislation just weeks after Democrats selected Denver as the convention’s host city. His decision outraged and surprised national and local unions, whose members believe they were influential in Ritter’s successful election last fall. The veto led to suggestions by national leaders of the AFL-CIO and Teamsters that the convention be moved, and it provoked a confrontation in Washington between Ritter and the Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa.


Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dean-on-mission-to-denver-2007-04-10.html

[msongs]

1. maybe some people can't see the forest for the trees eh? nt

[bluestateguy]

2. This problem needs to be solved

If the party only has conventions in union hotels and union convention centers, that will mean that the party only has conventions in big cities that are in blue states (NYC, Chicago, LA, SF, Boston, etc.) Having the meeting in Denver is important to broaden the party's appeal to light red states in non-union regions.

The unions need to compromise, but the party also needs to be more sensitive to a potentially embarrassing situation at the convention which could overshadow the nominee's four days in the sun.

[Demeter]

3. This Is Beginning To Look Like Tilting at Windmills, to Me

Yes, it would be nice to stick a thumb in the eye of every pompous, righteous RW idiot in Colorado and surrounding Red States and host a convention there--but the first goal is and must be saving the country from the Fascists who are suborning and destroying it.

We do not have to convene in Denver to do that. But we do have to have a successful convention.

[John Q. Citizen]

4. Since Ritter first committed to the bill and then later switched sides, I think the

Unions have every right to be pissed off at Ritter.