Chris Jerram Elected Douglas County Chair

Aug 26, 11:33 AM CST

Last night, Omaha attorney Chris Jerram was elected as the new Chair of the Douglas County Democrats. Chris has been a great friend of the Democratic party locally and on the state level, and we’re looking forward to working with him to move the county party forward.

Make sure to check out our Event Center for information regarding the Douglas County Party’s “Fall Frolic” on September 29th, featuring the Nebraska Wine Festival. Congratulations, Chris!

– by barry | Send this to a friend

  1. Having went to the Douglas County Democrats meeting last night to pass out the new Nebraska Young Democrat literature, I felt it inappropriate for me to comment during the meeting, but I have a few thoughts that I would like to share here.

    There was a great deal of debate over whether the by-laws of the Douglas County Democrats with regards to whether or not Ron Hug’s resignation had been sent out and it made clear that an election for a new chair was going to be held.

    While there was valid arguments on both sides of the debate, as someone who is outside of the organization and attended last nights meeting to share the new NYD Lit piece, I can say that over a dozen people told me to attend the meeting because there was going to be a special election and plenty of people to show the new NYD Lit piece to at the meeting.

    It appeared that the reasoning behind the motions being offered to postpone the election until a further meeting was one of three reasons:

    1) Because people honestly felt that there was not proper notice given. As I stated above, I do believe that enough people knew that an election was going to be held to justify holding it and I do recognize that some people may not have understood that the election was going to be held. This is typically the unfortunate consequence in notifying any group members of any election.

    2) Because Chris Jerram had the support of Ron Hug. And those who believe Ron is a horse’s ass (verdict is still out on this one Ron, just kidding) were taking it out on Chris.

    3) Because the 2 or 3 potential candidates, besides Chris Jerram, simply did not have the votes to win the election and chose to use the delaying tactic to try and acquire the votes over the upcoming week.

    I can respect the first reason for postponing the election, however, I cannot respect the last two. Having seen in the past, in regard to the Nebraska Young Democrats, how unclear by-laws and unjustified proposals based on unclear by-laws lead to the division of the group, I cannot respect the reasoning for delaying the election on the last two principles.

    The good news is that the Douglas County Democrats have a new leader and he acted with courage and conviction at last night’s meeting. Newly elected Douglas County Chair Chris Jerram supported a motion to create a future group to review the by-laws of the Douglas County Democrats. The motion had some resistance in the beginning as it was unclear whether the executive committee or the whole body could propose such a group.

    Chris Jerram acted in a way that shows that the Douglas County Democrats will be:

    1) Honest

    2) Inclusive

    3) Accountable

    We have a lot of work to do for our candidates in 2006 and Chris Jerram needs your support as the new Douglas County Chair. For the reasons listed above, I encourage all Douglas County Democrats to attend the next meeting whether they have belonged in the past and fallen out of touch with the group or are new members looking for an exciting organization to join.

    *On a separate note, the subject of financial accountability did come up at last nights meeting of the Douglas County Democrats and I just wanted to let everyone know that the Nebraska Young Democrats have addressed our own financial accountability questions. Kevin Bernandt, newly elected chair of the Lancaster County Democrats, is serving as our treasurer and we have profit and loss statements and a balance sheet available for any donor or supporter who requests one.
    — Lee Clausen    Aug 26, 11:34 AM CST #
  2. An error in my previous statement has been pointed out to me. It was just the perception of two individuals that I overheard last night that Chris Jerram had the support of Ron Hug. I took that as the truth when it was in fact just the statement of two individuals at the meeting. My apologies to Ron and Chris.
    — Lee Clausen    Aug 26, 02:49 PM CST #
  3. Lee,

    While it is true that you did inform me about the election. I have to disagree that proper notice was given to any and all who wanted to attend the meeting.

    I did not find out about the meeting until that Monday and I hate to say it but Douglas county is doing a half ass job getting black and brown people active in the county party.

    The website is pathetic at giving out information and their response time to signing up on the site is just as pathetic. I certainly think that some form of politics were being played with this election.

    Otherwise why the rush chose and interim chair and then hold elections that are well publicized so all registered Dems in Douglas county can attend.
    — Robin    Sep 05, 07:43 PM CST #
  4. Are there really people who don’t think Ron Hug is a horse’s ass? Not kidding, Ron.
    — A. Voter    Apr 05, 11:50 PM CST #

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