Achelpohl Statement on Douglas County Party Press Conference
Feb 08, 07:00 PM CST
Nebraska Democratic Party State Chair Steve Achelpohl released the following statement this evening:
“In holding our state’s first Presidential Caucus, our hope has always been that we will get more people involved in the political process and the Democratic Party.”
“The decision of the Douglas County Democratic Party to release results Saturday afternoon before all caucuses have convened threatens this goal.”
“The Nebraska Democratic Party will not release any statewide official results until 7:15 p.m. Central time. At that time, all caucuses will have convened throughout the state.”
“We believe strongly that we have a responsibility to do everything within our power to ensure all caucus participants make a decision without the influence of early results.“
“The Nebraska Democratic Party does not support the decision of the Douglas County Party and encourages the Party to strongly reconsider.
“We ask all members of the media to not release results before official returns are reported.”
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— brent hultine LD 33 Rules Committee Feb 08, 08:34 PM CST #
— Peg O'Dea Lippert Feb 08, 09:46 PM CST #
This is why we lose elections. Stupid intra-party fights getting in the way of doing things right.
Is the state chair telling us all he couldn’t have worked this out with the county party privately, rather than:
a) Attempting to disenfranchise all of Douglas County’s Democrats by revoking their delegation to the state convention – a decision that was rejected by the SCC.
b) Attempting to embarrass the county party in the press?
So, how does this help our caucus become a success? Unless the goal was to air our grievances in public. In which case, I guess it’s not over until the feats of strength.
— Dave Sund Feb 08, 10:24 PM CST #
— Trevor Fitzgerald Feb 09, 05:58 AM CST #
The SCC motion failed by a couple of votes.
— Eric Fought Feb 09, 06:38 AM CST #
— mark Feb 09, 06:39 AM CST #
Also, note that we encourage the County Party to hold a press conference to highlight the hard work and accomplishments of everyone involved. This isn’t about keeping anyone from the limelight, it is about being fair.
— Eric Fought Feb 09, 06:42 AM CST #
“The Douglas County Democratic Party (DCDP) acknowledges receipt of the statement from the outgoing chairman of the Nebraska Democratic Party, Steve Achelpohl, regarding the DCDP’s planned announcement of its official caucus results at 3:00 p.m. on February 9, 2008.”
“The DCDP is both shocked and disappointed that the outgoing chairman would issue a statement which appears in direct contradiction and defiance of the ruling made by the governing body of the Nebraska Democratic Party (NDP), “The State Central Committee,” at its December 8, 2007, regular business meeting. At this meeting, the topic of the timing and means of dissemination of caucus results was thoroughly discussed and it was the decision of a majority attending not to restrict the timing and means of the release of each county’s caucus results.”
“Had Mr. Achelpohl attended this meeting or read the minutes from the meeting, he would have known this.”
“Since the time of the adoption of the caucus plan by the NDP, the county Democratic Parties have had to take on the responsibility for planning and implementation of the caucuses due to the lack of Mr. Achelpohl’s commitment to the caucus process.”
“The DCDP remains committed to the pledge made to its members and, indeed, to the calls made by many Douglas County residents to release to them the results from our caucus in an expeditious manner. What the media does with the information provided is, of course, within their First Amendment discretion.”
“The DCDP has the utmost confidence in the citizens of Nebraska to express their preference for their choice for President regardless of the preference expressed by the citizens of Douglas County. No doubt, this is an exciting time to be a Democrat in Nebraska.”
— Kris J. Pierce, Executive Director - Douglas County Democratic Party Feb 09, 07:10 AM CST #
— Richana Lessley Feb 09, 07:40 AM CST #
— Jeff K Feb 09, 08:36 AM CST #
This is CRAP… I think the Dems in OMAHA need some new leadership!!!!
— Paul McFarland Feb 09, 09:42 AM CST #
— Lisa Hannah Feb 09, 10:34 AM CST #
I am going to recommend that our State Chair, Steve Achelpohl, step down immediately rather than wait until December to vacate his office. His continuing defiance of decisions made by the State Central Committee have been gross violations of the duties of his office.
Brian T. Osborn
SCC delegate – LD38
— Brian T. Osborn Feb 09, 11:38 AM CST #
— Don Kuhns Feb 09, 11:40 AM CST #
— Brian T. Osborn Feb 09, 12:03 PM CST #
— Paul McFarland Feb 09, 12:07 PM CST #
— Trevor Fitzgerald Feb 09, 12:09 PM CST #
— Jeff K Feb 09, 12:19 PM CST #
Who owns the Nebraska Democratic Party? Does it belong to the State Chair, the candidates, or does it belong to the people as represented by their County Chairs and duly elected delegates to the State Central Committee?
Exercising democracy in the light of day is the best way to keep it thriving. Closing everything behind closed doors and treating everything as though it were in James Bond’s briefcase is the best way to maintain the status quo.
Are we or are we not for CHANGE?
— Brian T. Osborn Feb 09, 12:36 PM CST #
Announcing the results early with do nothing but hold down turnout in areas that haven’t caucused yet. The same areas that could really use a good does of Democratic politics to prove that we aren’t these evil beings that talk radio has made us out to be.
The Caucus is being held for all Nebraskans, not just those from Omaha.
Potentially suppressing turnout over the rest of the state and causing confusion just so that the DCDP leaders can have their moment in the limelight is, to put it mildly, arrogant and irresponsible.
— Jeff K Feb 09, 12:59 PM CST #
That doesn’t make it right.
If the DCDP needs to get their story out to the press in print / video, they SHOULD ask them to sit on it until the rest of the counties have either begun or completed their own caucuses.
Leaving Steve Achelpohl COMPLETELY out of this… it STILL looks bad… and it is pissing off the grass roots… I just polled 50 Democrats in Lancaster County and they all agree
Douglas county should have / should wait to release the news…
I realize that Douglas county couldn’t care less, but this does LOOK bad to everyone else in Nebraska, at least to the average on the Street Democrat.
Sometimes I wonder if the NDP leadership even thinks about how things look at the grass roots level before they make decisions….
This is pure arrogance by one county to showboat their own importance, and party unity
just took a setback…. period.
This decision is a pig, and putting lipstick on it doesn’t make it any less of a pig…
— Paul McFarland Feb 09, 01:03 PM CST #
— Jeff K Feb 09, 01:07 PM CST #
If the Douglas county Leadership is so arrogant to go thru with this badly thought out idea, then they need to realize there will be blowback from the grass roots.
The main question is, do the leaders in the DCDP listen to the grass roots?
Perception IS reality…
— Paul McFarland Feb 09, 01:19 PM CST #
I’m about as grassroots as they come and I’m not pissed. No one polled me for my opinion, but I’m giving it anyway.
All this rancor towards Douglas County, whipped up for the most part by Lincolnites that feel their own thunder stolen, really is much ado about nothing. I’m willing to bet you that most of the folks in rural Nebraska that intended to go to the caucus will anyway, despite all your outrage.
— Brian T. Osborn Feb 09, 01:28 PM CST #
Your claim to be grassroots is laughable…
Actually you are –
NE-Phelps County Chair
Delegate – NDP State Central Committee
Secretary – 3rd Congressional District Organization
So in REALITY your opinion is that of a party insider.
Thank you for minimizing the average Democratic voice on the street.
And by the way, it is not now nor has it ever been about Lincoln, it’s about one county party grabbing headlines over playing nice with ALL democrats in Nebraska.
— Paul McFarland Feb 09, 01:48 PM CST #
Brian, it’s people like you that 15 years ago drove me from being active in the local central committee, (in Omaha ironically) and its people like you that keep me from returning.
It has never been about Lincoln, it has been about what is best for the party and winning in November.
Unfortunately, this discussion IS all about Omaha and it’s desire to be in the limelight, at any cost.
In 5 minutes, this debate will be moot.
Good day, sir.
— Jeff K Feb 09, 01:59 PM CST #
How in the heck can you expect to actually accomplish anything at the grassroots level if you don’t get involved with the party? Please explain. I’m all ears.
I guess I could sit out on the street corner with a sign touting my candidate of the day, but that doesn’t get much done now does it? I have accepted the positions I have within the party so that I might influence the way it does its job. I want the people to have a voice, not just the lawyers and millionaires. I found the way to make that happen is to dive in head first and work hard to achieve those goals. I guess I could sit on the outside and complain, as you are doing, but I want to actually accomplish something.
So call me an “insider” if you’d like, but I think a lot of the “insiders” are going to disagree with you.
— Brian T. Osborn Feb 09, 02:05 PM CST #
“I QUIT!” is your answer when you can’t get your way? Me, I’m a fighter, and I’ll keep fighting for what is right.
— Brian T. Osborn Feb 09, 02:08 PM CST #
I agree with much of what you push forward, and your ideals, but you have no grasp of what the grass roots really is..
Not in todays world, not in my opinion.
Being IN “The Party” limits what you can do, and where you spend your time and effort.
Being simply a facilitator of the voice on the street of the average Democrat, like I try to be.
has much more power than anyone sitting in a commitee in the state party.
Because ultimately you are beholding to the people for whatever power you have.
And the REAL power in this country resides with “we the people”.
And if you don’t care what the average person on the street thinks, you are a very poor leader,
and you are only representing yourself.
It’s time you quit minimizing other people’s opinion, Brian.
And start actually having a two way conversation
with those you disagree with.
Oh and by the way, I AM in the party… I am just not part of the disfunctional party leadership.
— Paul McFarland Feb 09, 02:59 PM CST #
— Daniel H Feb 09, 03:08 PM CST #
We are on a steep learning curve here.
The agreed upon rules are the agreed upon rules and Douglas County is free to report its results if it wants to.
For the other counties, if you were really concerned about voter suppression then you should have held your caucus earlier.
Don’t blame Douglas County for this situation.
Personally I though it was a bad idea to hold the caucuses at different times for just this reason. But it was what was agreed upon. We can fix this next time.
Anyway you look at it; this it is a great day to be a Democrat in Nebraska!
— Rodney H Feb 09, 03:30 PM CST #
Tell you what Steve – next time, give the county parties some assistance, then you can dictate what they do with their results. Your enormous ego does not give you valid cause to censure the organization that, more than any other and unlike the NDP, actually did the hard work required to make the caucus a success. What a joke.
I’m with Brian – Achelpohl succeeded in creating an utterly pointless conflict on of the brightest days in the history of the NDP; for that, he should step down immediately. If he cared at all about the party he would do that and let someone who could lead effectively take over. This is less about the issue at hand, and more about the State Chair habitually ignoring the SCC, and treating the state and county parties like they’re his own personal chattel.
By the way – props to Chris Jerram, Kris Pierce, Burke Summers, Peg O’Dea Lippert, and everyone else who worked to make the caucuses an enormous success.
— Tyler B Feb 09, 04:15 PM CST #
— Dave Lovewell Feb 09, 04:25 PM CST #
In the past few weeks I have been in Grand Island twice, once at the very first official meeting of the 3rd Congressional District Organization, and again to meet with a new, potentially very valuable ally for our party. I have traveled to Omaha to discuss party issues with the gang at Douglas County. I was in Omaha yesterday picking up Obama placards then went around to all the county chairs in my LD distributing them. Today I had a caucus in Phelps County that was probably the largest ever gathering of Democrats in this county. Tomorrow I am traveling to Broken Bow to help Custer County Chair, Paul Carothers, get his new computer (which I helped him pick out) up and running. Next weekend I will be in Lincoln for a Rules Committee meeting.
Just so you know, I am, at the moment, semi-unemployed, so all this is on my dime and my time. I can ill afford to do this, but I do it because it is right. So please don’t assume that I know nothing of the grassroots just because I don’t spend ALL my time just blogging away the day.
— Brian T. Osborn Feb 09, 09:50 PM CST #
— Paul McFarland Feb 09, 10:08 PM CST #
You have no idea how many people I talk to every week, nor how many I listen to. You haven’t even tried to understand what motivates me to volunteer so much of my time to reforming this party.
Tell me what the grassroots means to you. To me it means getting out there every chance you have to carry the message to people that they have to get involved. Being involved in the party is not the same thing as being what you consider to be an “insider.”
Being involved in the party means talking to people and helping them understand that to make the necessary changes within the party that it needs, you have to work within the party. If you don’t volunteer your time and energy to attend meetings, you don’t volunteer your time and energy to be a member of a caucus or a committee, you don’t volunteer your time and energy to communicate with others about what is right, AND what is wrong, within the party, then all you are doing is making noise.
To give a voice to more and more Democrats, which, to me is what grassroots development means, we must ensure that the party has a structure that allows that. We must ensure that the party leadership is listening. I’ll admit. I am a squeaky wheel, and a bit of a loose cannon. If I were the “insider,” in the bad sense that you evidently intend, then I guess I’d be just spending all my time kissing the State Chair’s ass instead of holding his feet to the fire of accountability.
Tell me, what have you said that I haven’t heard. I’m listening.
— Brian T. Osborn Feb 09, 11:12 PM CST #
You are a super delegate who has yet to announce your intent. Please vote with Nebraskan Democrats and vote Barack Obama.
Thank you
— Dan H Feb 10, 01:45 PM CST #