PDHblog
This is a place for members of Progressive Democrats of Hawai‘i to express their thoughts
and exasperations about political happenings. The opinions and views are not necessarily
those of PDH's steering committee or membership as a whole.

Last night at our monthly PDH meeting we went around the room and people reported the major issues that had come before the different Convention Committees. To summarize, there seemed to be different dynamics operating in the different committees. In some (e.g. National/International), much work was done “behind the scenes” so the battle in committee was cordial and no fight made it to the floor of the convention. In some (e.g. platform, health), there was significant debate within the committee that resulted in removal of some “progressive” language that was then added back in via floor debate the next day. In at least one (rules) there was major debate within the committee, which resulted in preventing a few changes that may have caused an uproar on the floor of the convention. It is one of those battles that I want to expand on here.

A rule change was proposed that would have implemented mandatory dues for all Democratic Party of Hawai‘i members. (more…)

A few days before the State Convention, I started a thread where I intended to outline all the elections that would take place there. I didn’t have enough information or time to complete it. Oh well. But since I started on that topic, I figured may as well list the results of those elections. The delegate results are currently posted on the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i website and are copied below. We also voted for the new State Central Committee (I won my contest) and Electors, but I don’t see those results anywhere.

Superdelegates

• U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye (Clinton)
• U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka (Obama)
• U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie (Obama)
• U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono (Obama)

Democratic National Committee Members

• Brian Schatz, State Party Chair (Obama)
• Kari Luna, State Party Vice Chair (Obama)
• Richard Port, National Committeeman (Clinton)
• Marie “Dolly” Strazar, National Committeewoman (Obama)

Party Leader Elected Official

• State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa (Clinton)
• Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann (Obama)
• State Sen. Donna Mercado-Kim (Obama)

Congressional District 1

• Chuck Freedman (Obama)
• Donna Hoshide (Obama)
• Jadine Nielsen (Clinton)
• Kathleen Stanley (Obama)
• John Waihee (Clinton)
• Andrew Winer (Obama)
• Albert Lono Lyman (alternate) (Obama)

Congressional District 2

• James “Kimo” Apana (Clinton)
• Michael Fox (Obama)
• Katherine Keith-Agaran (Obama)
• Al Lewis (Obama)
• Stephanie Ohigashi (Clinton)
• Jonathan Starr (Obama)
• Jennifer Tsuji (Obama)
• Melodie Aduja (alternate) (Obama)
• Edmond Arquero (alternate) (Clinton)
• Gilbert Keith-Agaran (alternate) (Obama)

At-large

• Jo-Ann Adams (Obama)
• Faye Kennedy (Obama)
• Dayton Nakanelua (Clinton)
• Caroline Sinavaiana (Obama)
• Ann Freed (alternate) (Clinton)

Unpledged Add-on

• James Burns (Obama)

As we mentioned in our outline of what to expect at the State Democratic Convention coming up in in less than 2 weeks, one of the orders of business will be to elect people to a number of positions. I will outline the races and candidates that I know of and invite others to weigh in on candidates that they are supporting.

[Note: I will update this as I get more information.]

1. National Committeeman
2. National Committeewoman
3. National Delegates (4 at-large delegates will be voted on by the new SCC)
   • Obama
     • 4 from CD 1
     • 5 from CD 2
       • Shea Grimm
       • Michael Zola
   • Clinton
     • 2 from CD 1
     • 2 from CD 2
4. State Party Chair
   • Brian Schatz
   • Annelle Amaral
5. State Electors
6. State Central Committee Caucus representatives
7. State Central Committee Youth representatives
8. State Central Committee District representatives (1 man, 1 woman from each State Senate district)
   • Dist 9
     • Rachel Orange
     • Faye Kennedy
     • Josh Frost
     • Jay Ishibashi

Yesterday was the deadline for submission of resolutions for consideration at the May 23-25th State Convention . Most of the resolutions  are those which were adopted by the county conventions held this past weekend. Those resos should soon be available online, if they are not already. A smaller number of resolutions have been submitted by individuals.

NOTE: It is still possible to introduce LATE resolutions by 4 pm on the Friday afternoon of the Convention. The maker must provide 75 printed copies and an electronic version a CD.  The same submittal form, with the necessary signatures, must be filled out.

Please post comments with links to online versions of proposed resolutions.

The pre-convention workshop that we helped to coordinate was last Saturday, which was also my birthday. After the workshop, I went off to do things of a more recreational nature and was pretty busy for the remainder of the weekend. When I got back to my email on Monday, there were several notes waiting for me asking about the workshop. Several were from people on islands other than Oahu, who wanted to know more about how they could be involved. Rather than answer each individually (although I will still do that for specific questions), I will post what information I can here for them, and others, to peruse.

Pre-Convention Workshop Agenda: This is the outline of what we covered at our workshop. The second page summarizes the guidelines for submitting a resolution to be considered at the State Convention.

DPH State Convention Draft Agenda: Summary of each day’s activities during the State Democratic Party Convention. This is a DRAFT and very subject to change. Just to be used as a general guideline.

Official Forms relating to State Convention (particularly note the resolution Submittal Form)

Resolutions passed at State Convention in 2006: These can be used as a starting point for reso’s to be submitted this time

Resolutions submitted for the Oahu County Convention this weekend.

The resolution topics discussed in the break-out groups are posted in the comments of the sections below. Please feel free to add your thoughts, and send me a note if you want to be put in touch with others that were interested in working on those topics.

If you aren’t sure whether you are a delegate or not, call Democratic Party HQ ASAP to double-check with them!

Update

I need to preface this post with an acknowledgment of Sen. Inouye’s service to our country in general, and Hawaii in particular. To quote from Trapper John’s blog today,

Dan Inouye is one of the greatest living Americans. That ought to be stated at the outset of any post which is critical of the man. Inouye is a bona fide war hero — a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient — who lost his arm fighting for a nation which was simultaneously interning thousands of his fellow Japanese-Americans. He’s a son of immigrants, who after the war joined with a number of other Nisei veterans to found Central Pacific Bank — a venture which helped provide capital to scores of Japanese-Americans in Hawai’i unable to obtain loans from other sources. And he was the first Japanese-American elected to the US House of Representatives, and subsequently the first Japanese-American elected to the Senate. I was lucky enough to live in Hawai’i for a few years, and one of the first things I learned upon moving to Honolulu was how justifiably revered Dan Inouye is in the islands. He’s a truly remarkable American.

That said, I know that back during the last Ice Age when Hawaii and Alaska became states, Sen. Inouye and Sen. Stevens became BFF. But really, now that Stevens’ corruption has been exposed, and Democrats need a more than paperthin majority in the senate, why does Sen. Inouye continue to honor this friendship with this kind of support? I have no objection to their remaining friends, but there ought to be some limits. For details, see this blog:

Why is Daniel Inouye Raising Money For Senator Toobz?

By: Jane Hamsher Wednesday April 30, 2008 12:01 pm

And then also take a look at the remainder of Trapper John’s blog at DailyKos

Dan Inouye, Heartbreaker

by Trapper John, Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 12:40:13 PM PDT

This is the same Senator Inouye who was one of the Gang of 14 who enabled the nomination of Judge Alito to the Supreme Court to be approved. BTW, some of the other members of that gang? Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Joe Lieberman.
Bob

This morning there was a workshop, sponsored by the Progressive Democrats of Hawaii and the Hawaii Chapter of Americans for Democratic Action. It was designed give an orientation to delegates and alternates to the convention so they can participate effectively in its activities. A great deal of attention was paid to  the importance of resolutions and encouraging people to come together to write resos on issues of importance to them.

PDH is offering space on this blog to party members to help discuss issues appropriate to the respective committees, with an eye to helping people come together to write resos. Also, if proposed resos can be found on County websites, you can post links to those resos here.

Completed resos should be submitted to the Democratic Party headquarters by close of business on May 6th (5 pm). Each reso must be signed by two delegates to the convention (the maker of the motion and the second) and signed by ten party members, who need not be delegates.

To participate, you need not be a member of either PDH or ADA, but people who are NOT members of the Democratic Party are asked NOT to comment in these discussions.

Thanks.

Use the comments section to post ideas, drafts or reactions to possible resolutions appropriate to this committee for the State Convention. If you have completed drafts, you can post them here to allow members an opportunity to review them prior to the convention.

Use the comments feature to post your ideas on possible resos to be introduced dealing with issues appropriate to this committee.

This is the place for ideas for resolutions, suggested drafts and discussion on proposed resos for this committee.

Here is the resolution submitted by ADA/H in 2004. Still good.
Universal Healthcare Reso, ADA/H

Background document created by ADA/H
Basics of a Healthcare Security Act

Draft resolution based on PNHP doc, submitted by JE
Universal Healthcare Reso, JE