According to the Daily Journal this morning, former State Representative and candidate for lieutenant governor Jamie Franks may run for chair of the Democratic Party.
Current chair, Wayne Dowdy, will not seek reelection. Jim Herring, the chair of the Republican Party, is also stepping down this year.
Thoughts?
I think we need somebody young and energetic to fill the utter void of the past few years, especially in terms of the amazing primary turnout. It needs to be somebody who can reach out to both the white and African-American communities, and get that "Found 300,000" active, voting, and involved.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that's Sen. Franks, but I sure as heck know it ain't Congressman Dowdy.
I think Jamie can do it.
ReplyDeleteParty Chairman Franks = Republican's worst nightmare
ReplyDeleteErgo, an excellent choice for party chair.
Jamie Franks would be a great choice. I hope he can get the support necessary to not only win, but also make needed changes at the state party office.
ReplyDeleteJamie Franks is the perfect man for the job. I fully support him in his endeavor to be party chair.
ReplyDeleteFranks' campaign generated the lowest percentage of any Democrat running for lieutenant governor in an open seat race in the history of the state of Mississippi--and he got there by bashing gays and immigrants at every turn.
ReplyDeleteNot to be too hard on the guy--I guess he's young, at least--but what's with the endless succession of Republican-lite white males when the party is two-thirds black and over 60% female?
Tome, I agree with what you are saying about the gay bashing. But here in the real world of Mississippi, there is no way one can be elected with a socially progessive platform. We have to walk before we can crawl, meaning currently the focus needs to remain on poverty, education, our regressive tax code, among others, before we are ready to address the socially liberal issues. One main reason is that without a higher education level, we will neevr be able to use reason to address socially progressive issues.
ReplyDeleteJeff, I'm not talking about saying, if asked, "No, I don't support same-sex marriage." I'm talking about ranting about gays in his stump speech and on his campaign web site, and, in at least two instances, surrogates attack his opponents (and their families) using anti-gay slurs. I still have a blog entry saved from "Flip-Flopping Phil," the last thing posted there, that was the most disgusting attack I've ever seen in local politics that did not involve race-baiting. And there is a very credible story I've heard from the 2003 campaign that suggests that this has been a long-term strategy.
ReplyDeleteI don't expect him to be pro-gay and pro-immigrant. I've long ago stopped expecting mainstream white Mississippi Democrats to have any actual convictions. But when he goes out of his way to bash gays and immigrants, he loses my support. And my vote.
SB 2988 passed because of people like Jamie Franks, and I refuse to buy into the old Dixiecrat argument that amounts to "vote for a bigot or the people will starve." Sorry, no. I won't vote for a white nationalist, and I won't vote for Jamie Franks. There are some lines that we have to draw as voters or our votes will mean absolutely nothing. If he's willing to sell out gays and immigrants, what makes anybody think Medicaid and education funding won't be next if that's where the political winds happen to be blowing?
I feel where you are coming from, but I think his convictions are strong on the issues that matter most. To compare him to a Dixiecrat is laughable at best.
ReplyDeleteIt's laughable now, but 40 years ago many good Democrats used the same reasoning: We'll pick the bigot because at least he'll take care of the poor.
ReplyDeleteAnd Rep. Franks isn't even willing to do that much. As he said in the JFP interview: "[T]the rich have their lobbyists, the poor have their advocates, and average Mississippians have no one. I want to be that voice." So there he is stating, in very clear terms, that he doesn't even consider himself an advocate for the poor.
Does that mean that if it becomes fashionable to throw the poor under the bus, much like gays and immigrants have been, will he take that route, too? I can't see any reason why he wouldn't. That approach has served him well so far.
I can understand the Franks argument when the alternative is a Republican, but why does he get to be party chair, too? So he's a better candidate than the entire Legislative Black Caucus? A better candidate than rising YDA stars like Kenneth Griggs and Kate Jacobson? On what grounds?
The Chairmanship is an unpaid position and needs the support of a majority of the executive committee. That severely limits who can serve as chair.
ReplyDeleteI do, however, think Kenneth Grigsby would also be a good choice.
I've only heard two names in the race so far and Jamie is by far the better of those two. Do you know anyone else with interest?
As far as "why does he get to be chair?" it's not something he's being handed, nor is it a treat. It's a difficult job and you can see that in how it's worn down Wayne Dowdy.
I think you are being unnecessarily harsh on him overall. (More harsh than I or you have been on many Republicans.)
John, I don't intend to be, but part of it is that I hold Democrats to higher standards on these things. Judging from the 2007 vs. 2003 primary turnout, I think a lot of voters like me were turned off by the new style of Eaves and Franks.
ReplyDeleteI'm also troubled at the lack of diversity among the party chair candidates. In 2004, George Dale gave an interview on Gallo in which he remarked that the first criterion they had in mind when they were looking for a party chair (back when that chair was Wayne Dowdy) was that he be white. In a party that's majority African-American, that just strikes me as weird. In a party where the few elected officials who are willing to stand up for the values of the national party are almost exclusively black, it strikes me as doubly weird.
The party chair is supposed to be a standards bearer, I think, and that requires that the party chair have standards to bear. I just don't have much confidence in Jamie Franks as party chair, but if y'all do, I can only say that I hope you turn out to be right about him and I turn out to be wrong.
With respect to the names in the race: If the other name is who I think it is, Franks would indeed be the better of the two. But if those are the only two folks who are in a position to lead the Mississippi Democratic Party into the Obama era, that's kind of depressing.
ReplyDelete