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Professor Handwerk Party Chair

Lynda Woolard52min

Lynda Woolard

00:08

Welcome to Louisiana Lefty, a podcast about politics and community in Louisiana, where we make the case that the health of the state requires a strong progressive movement fueled by the critical work of organizing on the ground. Our goal is to democratize information, demystify party politics and empower you to join the mission, because victory for Louisiana requires you.

Lynda Woolard

00:32

I'm your host, Lynda Woolard. We've been on winter break. But recent events with Louisiana Democratic Party leadership prompted us to quickly put out an episode with Steven Handwerk, who's our resident expert on all the nuts and bolts of the Democratic Party inner workings. As we recorded this podcast, many Louisiana Democrats were in DC for Washington Mardi Gras. And no doubt some developments are bound to occur when so many politicos, both Democrat and Republican, are together in a small space for a condensed period of time. With no idea of what stories may be breaking in the coming days, we opted to focus here on the process and logistics of how we get or change a party chair.

Lynda Woolard

01:22

Stephen Handwerk, or as we call you, Professor Handwerk on Louisiana Lefty, thank you for joining me again. I asked you back specifically because there's been a lot going on with leadership at the Louisiana Democratic Party. There's been a lot of conversation online. There have been a whole lot of news articles printed recently that people are responding to -- some of them are more accurate than others, I'll say, but I can forgive folks a little bit about not being accurate, because the inner workings of the state party are complicated. That said, we do expect journalists to do their due diligence and fact check. So those are a couple of competing things happening there. But I have promised online that the next Lefty I put out would address some of the stuff about how you get to be a state party chair or how we elect a state party chair or how you might change a state party chair. And so you are a perfect person to bring on for that.

Lynda Woolard

02:31

This is an episode we would have done anyway. This just expedited our need to do the episode. As I mentioned to you before we started recording, I believe this is now going to be a series of episodes, because there are so many aspects to what's happening now that need to be addressed, that we can't do them all in one. But I also want to be really focused here on the process and the logistics of getting a chair. I have you on occasionally and call you Professor Handwerk because of your deep knowledge of Democratic Party inner workings. And so I'm going to do a caveat because you still do work with the Association of State Democratic Chairs. If I say anything controversial on this podcast, I don't intend to but if I do, that's me saying it, not you. But you do have a lot of experience, which is why they do continue to hire you as a consultant.

Lynda Woolard

03:29

I did want to get into it because our state party chair is doing some sort of questionable things and has been doing some questionable things. Folks are asking online, A: "How did we end up with this person?" and B: "How would we change?" Real quick, after she got elected in 2020, I actually wrote a piece for the Bayou Brief that outlines how we ended up with that chair. It was a weird year, 2020. We had the pandemic; we had the natural disasters; there were a lot of delays in all the elections that year. So it is a good reminder of how we ended up here. I do not spill the tea in that article, which we're not even going to do here. I may do that on some other episodes. But it really does talk about the process and how we ended up with the chair we have. So that's something I'll link to in the Episode Notes for folks to look back on. But welcome. Thank you for joining.

Stephen Handwerk

04:31

Thank you, you know how much I enjoy these. So when I got the note from you saying, "Hey, I think it's time to bring Professor Handwerk back," I went out and I ironed my bowtie and I am ready to go.

Lynda Woolard

04:48

Full disclosure, Stephen, most folks will know this, but if they don't, you were the executive director for the state party prior to this term. And I actually was on the ballot against the chair when she ran for this office. That was not the intended role that I was running for. I ended up running for that position just a few days before the election, when her opponent, then-Representative Ted James, dropped out of the race at the last minute. I felt very strongly that folks should have an option. I felt very strongly that our elected DSCC members should have to go on record of who they were voting for and have to answer to their constituents for that. So I wanted to make sure there was an opponent and folks had asked me to do that. I've always said Peyton Rose Michelle was the deciding factor for me when she called me and really impressed upon me in a very vulnerable moment for her the importance of someone running in that position. That was really a decisive moment for me. But I did that and those votes are public, and we can link to those in the Episode Notes, as well.

Stephen Handwerk

06:12

Yeah, well, and also for full disclosure, because you know, we do that on our side. The Republicans not so much. But in full disclosure, I am a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. When I decided that I was no longer going to be the executive director no matter what happened moving forward, I decided to go ahead and run and got my seat back that I held prior to being executive director. So I am one of those voting members that proudly cast my vote for you.

Lynda Woolard

06:43

Well, thank you, Stephen. So let's talk about that. Let's just nuts and bolts, some stuff here. So people know. Every presidential election year, we have our presidential preference primary in Louisiana. When does that take place? I know, you know, some of the logistics of that.

Stephen Handwerk

07:04

Yeah, so we vote in March for the presidential preference primary. And oftentimes, we'll do a little bit of hand wringing and we'll move those dates around a little bit. But it looks like that is what is going to happen again here. And because this is not technically a federal election, this is a state election, I do believe that we will be voting on a Saturday for that election. But again, what really happens is there's two things on the ballot, it is your presidential preference. So that means any and all Democrats who want to run for president will be on that ballot, it'll be all of the presidential candidates, and then it'll be all of the candidates of the party. And that's kind of the cool thing. All of the state central committee members and DPEC members, Democratic Parish Executive Committee members will be on the ballot, as well.

Lynda Woolard

08:01

DPECs, or the Democratic Parish Executive Committees, those are the Democratic entities that are over the parishes. And then the Democratic State Central Committee members are the governing body of the state party. And there's two, a man and a woman, for each house district, because again, as the Democratic Party, we like to make sure there's some equity there. Currently, we have 105 State House districts. So there's the potential to have 210 DSCC members.

Stephen Handwerk

08:42

That is correct. That is correct. And oftentimes, when when folks say, "Well, why don't you always have 210?" Well, it's because sometimes, there are districts that are incredibly conservative, and it's hard to be a Democrat and be on the ballot for that. And so we are always kind of scrambling as a party to make sure that all of those seats are filled. And as we're starting to see now, a lot of people are resigning their seats in frustration. So there is that constant ebb and flow. But you're absolutely right, when fully staffed, when fully ready to go, that would be 210 seats, and that would be 105 men, and 105 women, as the current bylaws read.

Lynda Woolard

09:25

So before we move off from the Presidential Primary ballot, I just want to reiterate that, first of all, you have to be registered as a Democrat in Louisiana to vote in those elections. So in order to go in and vote for whichever candidate you want to represent the Democratic Party for president, you have to be a registered Democrat. Additionally, in order to vote in those party elections, you have to be a registered Democrat. In order to run for any of those seats, you must be a registered Democrat. So that's a reason - that's not me saying "Rah rah Democratic Party" - but it is a very legitimate reason to want to make sure your registration is Democratic. If you're not sure, you can go to the Secretary of State website or the Geaux Vote app and check your registration and make sure it says Democrat, and not No Party.

Stephen Handwerk

10:24

And we frequently will take - I call it "incoming" - people complaining, "Why can't I vote in your guys's primary, because I want this more liberal candidate?" We see that a lot. Well, here's the example that I like to give: Would you allow someone from New York City to come and be a voting member of your homeowners association? Probably not.

Lynda Woolard

10:50

Right.

Stephen Handwerk

10:50

You want to be able to have individuals that have that buy in, and it should be the Democrats choosing who they think best represents them and wants to be their stalwart for that election. So that's why that's how it is.

Lynda Woolard

11:08

And so it's membership, right? You're saying this is a sort of a club. Club is not the best word. But it's a club that you have a membership in, but it's free to join, you can register as a Democrat for free. So there's good reason to, when you go into the booth to vote for that presidential candidate, make sure you continue and vote for those party elected officials, because that's how we end up with the leadership we end up with when you elect your DSCC members. Those are the people that are going to go choose your state party chair for you. Now often, here's the other rub, Stephen, that I think we should talk about: There are seats, as you pointed out, that no one runs for because they don't want their name on the ballot. In very conservative areas, some people do not want to be identified as a Democrat. But that's not true everywhere. Some of these people go in unopposed, so you won't see them on your ballot, because no one ran against them. And they go in automatically.

Stephen Handwerk

12:20

Yeah, that's exactly right. And guess what, that's where the rub is, in many cases. So often, we see, because this happens right around the Presidential Primary election, as that's heating up, we've had a lot of individuals that come in and decide that they're going to run for that, because somehow they think that they make themselves a delegate to the national convention, or they want to be able to be part of something that is around the Presidential, like they'll get to go to the inauguration. That has nothing to do with it. It's completely divorced from the two. This is literally about party leadership. And you really need to be committed to run.

Stephen Handwerk

13:00

But also I think, to the point that you're getting to, you need to research the people that are on that ballot. So if you do have a choice of who to vote for, you should probably reach out to them and have a conversation about what they want to see in a new chair. Because we are in a bit of a quagmire right now. And a lot of the folks that are wringing their hands are saying, "Well, we didn't know." I don't know if that's true, because there were a lot of people - and you, especially - that were out there talking about what we need to see in a chair and the skill sets that a chair needs to bring to the party. And so I don't know, that argument isn't really working very well with me right now.

Lynda Woolard

13:47

So yeah, so how would they find out who their candidates are on that ballot, who they're going to be able to vote for? That's, again, Secretary of State website, right?

Stephen Handwerk

13:57

Sure. And here are some tick tocks. Mark, your calendar, guys, you heard it here, first. Check your Secretary of State's website for the candidates that come up in December of this year. Because qualifying will be happening in December. That is when folks will have to go and fill out their paperwork. They are going to have to pass those two tests in order to be on the ballot. They're going to have to first pass the test of being a registered Democrat, as you already pointed out. But the second test that we require is that they actually reside in the district that they are running for. So that is really important. Those are the two qualifications that we enumerate as a party that's the lowest threshold for you be able to meet. But again, you know, that's why you need to then dig in a little bit more. The good news is they're listed on the website. Most of them put their telephone number in it. They certainly put their address and everything, so it gives you that opportunity to reach out to those individuals, and maybe call a meeting invite your friends over and have a little bit of a of a of a coffee klatch at your house to get to know the candidate better, and to also make sure they know that you're going to be paying attention. You're going to pay attention to the next four years as they run this party; you're going to pay attention and see how they're voting, how they're engaging, and how they're engaging you as a constituent.

Lynda Woolard

15:20

And they have to pay a qualifying fee like any candidate. And should you choose to run yourself because you want to see a change in the Louisiana Democratic Party, you should be prepared to run a real campaign.

Stephen Handwerk

15:37

Yes.

Lynda Woolard

15:37

So it's a small campaign. Some of the seats are won with just a handful of votes. I think the person who got the most votes for DSCC last time around with Diana Bajoie, who got 4500-ish votes. But her district just happened to get the most votes of any district. A lot of these districts might not get more than 1000 Democrats voting in the race. So when you think about that, think about how many votes you need to get to get a win number - that kind of thing we talk about all the time for any campaign - it's not that many people that you need to make sure that they go out and vote. And you'll want to do the exact same things with them: Make sure that your friends are registered Democrats, and make sure that you're talking to everyone you know. I've not run for DSCC, because I've always had good DSCC members serving. So I have never tried to challenge them because I thought, "Well, I've already got someone serving that's doing a good job there." It was Irma Muse Dixon for many years, our former PSC commissioner. Now, just as a side note, the last election, Karen Carter Peterson moved into our district and asked us both to let her run and we both stood aside for that. That is where that is now, and that's another episode, I think altogether.

Lynda Woolard

17:07

So while I've never run for DSCC, I did run for DPEC in 2012. It may be different in Lafayette, but in New Orleans, Stephen, you might have a little more campaigning to do than other parts of the state. So I reached out to everyone I had any kind of relationship with in all the nonprofits I'd worked with, all the volunteers that had helped on the Obama campaign when I was regional organizer for that... I found votes wherever I could find them, and made sure people knew, because a lot of folks don't even know these races are happening. I just made sure they knew that that election was happening, and "Please go look for my name. Please make sure you find me and vote for me. If you don't choose anything else on that ballot but Barack Obama and Lynda Woolard, make sure those are two names you push." So that's the sort of thing you need to do. I did phone calls. I did texts. I had pushcards. I went around my neighborhood and knocked doors. Because I walked my dogs in my neighborhood, I would stop and talk to people. And they'd be like, "Yeah, we see you walking your dogs all the time." I'd give them my pushcards and say, "I need your vote. I need your vote." So it's that kind of thing that you need to do. It's a real campaign, but it's a little one. It's not a big mountain to climb.

Stephen Handwerk

18:35

It's really not, because there are races throughout the state. I mean, I think the times that I've been on the ballot, many times folks would either put their paperwork in to challenge me and then realize who I was, and they decided to back out and they would withdraw. But then also, I've had my own races to run. Two of them, I won, and one of them I didn't. And it was because I probably should have worked a little bit harder. And so it all depends on your location for both for DPEC and for the DSCC. DPEC again, being that local committee, and then the state central committee running the actual state party. And those are two separate and distinct things.

Stephen Handwerk

19:21

And guess what you can run for both. You don't have to just run for one, you can actually run for both. It's not considered dual office holding. And now the other thing that I want to point out, because some people do get nervous about this, while this election is run by the Secretary of State, these are not, technically by Louisiana code, elected officials. So you don't have to worry about filing ethics reports. You don't have to file campaign finance reports. None of those things. So don't let the worry of that become the reason why you just write this off and decide you're going to sit out.

Lynda Woolard

20:00

So it may be a good time, if you're interested in getting more involved in the party and making sure that it represents you better and works to get more Democrats elected and better Democrats elected, maybe it's a good idea to start looking at who your representatives are for your district on your DPEC and your DSCC. See what they're doing. If they're doing things that you like, then maybe you just support them. If they're not, maybe consider running or recruiting someone to run for those seats against them when the time comes.

Stephen Handwerk

20:40

That is so incredibly important right now, because it's not like you have to wait until December and wring your hands until them and just say, "A pox on all their houses." It literally is something that you can do right now. There are members that are serving in the seats, and you can access that either through the Democratic Party website, which is louisianademocrats.org or you can go to the Secretary of State's website and actually pull the elected officials database with that Asterix that I just mentioned a few minutes ago, but they are listed on there, according to the Secretary of State, and sometimes those two lists don't match up. But the state party is the one that I would probably count on being the most accurate, simply because they are more easily able to manage that list. And you can always call the state party office and ask for a copy of that list to be emailed to you. And you'll get it in an Excel spreadsheet. And that way you can more easily manipulate those lists and be able to find out who represents you and start calling them, start asking them how are they voting on this? What are they intending to do about the current crisis that we're in?

Lynda Woolard

21:47

So it's important to find out how your people are voting. If you're okay with how they're voting, you may want to talk to them about the current chair, if that's a concern of yours, and ask them - whether or not they originally voted for that person - do they still support them? And what do they want to do about it? And what do they think can be done about it? It's a good time to start asking those questions. Because that may be determinative for you too, as to whether or not you want that person to continue in that seat. Now, some of those folks have been in those seats for forever. So there's a couple things there. That may be because they've never been challenged. Or it may be because they've been there so long, everybody just knows their name, and they automatically vote for them. And so I'm not gonna lie, some of those folks may be hard to unseat. But that's why you have to run a real campaign and make sure you're looking for your voters where you can find them.

Stephen Handwerk

22:47

That's absolutely perfect. I couldn't have said it any better. But you know, the time is now. There is no more waiting. You know, if you rewind the clock, about a decade ago, a little bit more than a decade ago, we were unhappy with where the party was. We were unhappy that we were not seeing the strides forward, that we would did not have resources. And so we did something about it. And there was a collective and a group of people that started up together and started recruiting in every one of the districts that we could find. And ultimately, we were successful in getting a working majority as part of the committee. And it was the first time that I have known that something like that was done. And so it can be done. But it takes work. You know, you constantly point out to individuals that there is not wishin', there's not hopin', there's work. And you can be smart about how you do that work. And there's a lot of great tools that you put on this podcast, Lynda, that people can readily access that can be applied to this type of race, too. It's all the same. It's all the same. Those same sort of muscles that they learn to exercise in previous podcasts are things that they can deploy now for themselves or for candidates that will better represent their views.

Lynda Woolard

24:07

And I'm reachable for folks who have questions. I can connect them to you if they have questions. And by that same token, I haven't mentioned social media yet, but folks, if they're running campaigns, obviously should use social media in all the ways a campaign would do so. But it's another way to connect to these folks who are already in these positions. Once you get a name for someone, if you can't find an email or phone number for them, you are most likely to be able to find them online and connect with them that way, if that's something you're wanting to do. So one of the things you just mentioned was that folks got together, that was back in 2012 when folks got together, and recruited a bunch of people to run for DSCC seats so there could be change made. Quite honestly, some of that was done in 2020 as well, where there was - it's a convoluted story because it started out one way, and then went another way, and then wouldn't yet another way, but that's maybe another episode - but the effort was made. People started early. And so the warning there is: Be careful if you start a movement that it doesn't get hijacked away from you. So be careful who you trust. Be careful who you bring into leadership of such movements. Make sure you're guarding your work so that it stays your own. But there was an effort to recruit people to run for these DSCC seats in 2020. It did effectively create a coalition that elected the current chair. But the model is the same. It's still the same thing: You start now to try to look at where you can find people to run for seats, who can be your allies. You may not want to be chair, but you may want to see a different chair or just a different leadership in general. And so that's what you want to do is find people who are simpatico and allies to you who you can get to run in these different 105 different districts, who you can count on to vote with you when you're going up not just for state party leadership, but different things you want the party to be doing like different resolutions you want the party to vote on. And so that's the work that should start now, if you want to see change in 2024.

Stephen Handwerk

26:40

The one piece of advice that I would give folks to be able to create a coalition that is actually manageable and something that you want to stay and remain a part of is, you should really begin with the first conversation of: "What are the things that we're fighting for? What are the things that we are going to stay true to?" Identify those things, because you don't want to get caught up in a cult of personality. We saw that in this previous chair's election, that many folks were throwing in behind one certain candidate. And then they became so blinded that that was their candidate that they weren't looking at what else was going on, and they weren't listening to the rest of it. You should actually go in with a set of core values of "This is what I'm going to support." The last thing I'll say on this, which I think is is equally important, it also matters who you're electing as the first vice chair, the second vice chair, the secretary, the treasurer... those roles are all incredibly important because they're officers of the party. And when something goes wrong, when there is a "break glass because there is an emergency," those individuals have to be ready to step up rather than sit on their hands. And that is imperative. So making sure that you balance that and that you're recruiting for all of those is imperative.

Lynda Woolard

28:07

Right. So as you're recruiting people to run for those seats, the DSCC seats, think about who you might want to serve in the executive committee leadership of the party. And let's pivot to that a little bit, Stephen. First of all, you can serve on the executive committee, I believe, or maybe it's just the chair, I know, you don't have to be on the DSCC to serve as chair. Do you have to be on the DSCC to be the treasurer or first vice chair?

Stephen Handwerk

28:37

You do not. And again, I'll put an asterisk beside this, because I know that there's been a lot of bylaws changes that quite frankly, are giving heartburn to a lot of individuals right now. But at the end of the day, no, I don't believe so. We've never had that requirement for someone to be a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. Oftentimes in the past, we've had a very strong governor. And so the governor would say, "This is who I'd like to be chair, this is who I'd like to be..." you know, whatever. And then obviously, members of the State Central Committee give due deference to to the governor and others with political influence.

Lynda Woolard

29:18

I just want to weigh in, so that you don't get yourself in trouble, that when you say have a strong governor, you mean a governor with a strong attachment to the party.

Stephen Handwerk

29:27

That is exactly right. I'm a big fan of our current governor. But yeah, some governors want to have an arm's length from the party, other governors want to be really involved. And I think that that's changed over the years. I don't know where it's going to go in the future. But yes, that has been a thing.

Lynda Woolard

29:46

So we get our DSCC members elected.

Stephen Handwerk

29:50

Yes. And I will say if I could, two things about that, that I think are really important to recognize. Because you do have this in places like Orleans Parish and Lafayette Parish in some cases: If there are more than two people running, and not one person gets 50% plus one to outright win the race, whoever the top vote getter is gets the seat. There are no run offs. There's no straw drawing. It is literally the person who gets the most amount of votes gets the seat. So in cases where you have four or five or six people running, the odds are you may not get 50% plus one, but you still need to get a majority of those votes in order to be able to get the seat. So the election happens on the Presidential Preference Primary. 99.9% of those seats are determined that Election Day. When polls close, and those numbers start coming up on the Secretary of State's website, you'll know if you have that seat or not. And I am telling you Sunday, your phone will start ringing. And it will be people that are campaigning for the next race, which is going to be those officer positions. And again, the only people to get to vote for who's going to be chair is going to be the individuals that hold one of those 210 seats.

Lynda Woolard

31:06

I should not have to say but probably do need to say, the chair race is a highly political process. These are all politically active people. They're party officials. So this becomes a very political process. There's horse trading that goes on; there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. So some folks might not like all of that. But that is what it is. Just be aware that this is a political process. It's not your basic knock on a door, ask a voter to go vote for you, grassroots thing. There's a lot of politics involved with these party leadership elections. When do the officer elections happen traditionally? I know 2020 was a weird year for all the reasons we talked about before. But traditionally, when do those officer elections happen after DSCC members are elected?

Stephen Handwerk

31:59

The rules had beenm and I believe that this part stayed, that the reorganizational meeting must happen within 30 to 45 days of the actual election happening. So that means that if this happens, like on March 17, and I don't have the date in front of me for the Presidential Preference Primary. Let's just say that's the date. And then all of a sudden, within 30 to 45 days of that, we're looking at April, mid to late April for that meeting to happen. It typically happens on a Saturday, typically happens in Baton Rouge. Now the outgoing chair will call that meeting. But they will not technically run that meeting. So that is an important note to make. Because the chair elections will then be the first matter of business to happen. And as soon as the new chair takes over, they take over the meeting.

Lynda Woolard

32:56

Okay. Now, in 2020, what we saw happening was prior to the SEC members being elected, the current chair was already campaigning to be chair, and mostly speaking to people who were running for reelection, with the assumption that many, if not most of those, would be reelected. And I think there were some conversations with folks who had just qualified, as well. So she had been campaigning for many, many months. And the only reason I mention that is because you're saying there's a very short window between DSCC elections and the officer races. So it can be that short of a campaign. But there are ways to start campaigning far before that.

Stephen Handwerk

33:49

That's right. And I mentioned that coalition that we put together to be able to recruit more progressives to bring into the party. You know, we when we first started the work of recruiting people, we didn't have a chair candidate. Back in 2011, the candidates qualified in December, we were doing the work all of 2011, but we didn't identify the candidate who was going to get our support to be chair until late November, if I'm correct. So qualifying was going to happen days later, before we had really even solidified around and I don't think we really even at announced those intentions until like January, as to who we were uniting around. So there is that time when there is going to be parallel courses that are happening all at the same time. Right? And so folks should be realizing that, and I think you pointed it out best, this is a political process. So you know, you're going to have to probably roll up your sleeves and work in different areas.

Lynda Woolard

34:59

So while officers do not need to be elected to the DSCC, they still need to be registered Democrats.

Stephen Handwerk

35:06

Correct. And they have to be registered in the state of Louisiana. So there are those requirements. Yes.

Lynda Woolard

35:14

Okay, let's say party leadership elections happen. And you elect all of the executive committee there, except there will be later additions to that that come from congressional districts. Correct?

Stephen Handwerk

35:29

Correct. And that's been done 100 different ways. But again, the rules are that congressional district representatives, you have a male and a female from each congressional district. We have six congressional districts, so that's twelve seats. Those individuals are supposed to be elected at a meeting of the caucus inside that district, once the leadership of the party is selected.

Lynda Woolard

35:54

So let's clarify that. So the party leadership gets elected, the Executive Committee, and then for each congressional district, all the DSCC members in the state house districts within those congressional districts, will have a caucus meeting. And from that caucus meeting, they will elect a man and a woman to represent that congressional district on the executive committee.

Stephen Handwerk

36:18

Correct. And there will technically be four separate elections, in that meeting, minimum, okay? They're going to elect a male and a female representative to the executive committee. But then they're also going to elect a chair and a vice chair for the caucus. So those could be four separate people, or it could be two separate people, as long as you have a male and a female in those roles. Those are what the party rules require.

Lynda Woolard

36:45

So I'm gonna point out right now, think about all those people that we're talking about who get elected. From every one of the 64 parishes, each has DPEC members. You've got 210 potential DSCC members. You've got all those state party executive committee members. You've got all these congressional caucus leaders. All those people are supposed to be working for the Democratic Party. They're all supposed to be working for you. If you do not feel like your Democratic Party is doing enough for you or enough to get Democrats elected in the state, you need to be contacting those people and finding out what they're doing. Because a lot of them talk about things like "I've been doing this for years," but don't have a lot to show for it. And so I think that that's something that you should be asking, what are those folks doing for you?

Stephen Handwerk

37:49

That's so important. It's sometimes difficult when you realize that, you know, these are all volunteer positions, that nobody's getting a paycheck for them.

Lynda Woolard

37:58

That's fair.

Stephen Handwerk

37:58

And because of that, things get in the way, right? Life happens. We get sick, a family member gets sick, one of our animals needs extra attention, work changes, COVID happens for God's sakes. There are a lot of different things that can come in the way. That being said though, you should be able to enumerate the things that you've done for the party. And in having those conversations, they should be able to articulate that, "I'm attending meetings; I'm actively engaged; this is how I feel." Those are those conversations that you should be having. Absolutely.

Lynda Woolard

38:33

The last thing I think we should talk about today is if folks are unhappy - there seems to be a growing discontent with the current state party chair - and if folks are unhappy about that, is there anything that a regular Democrat who is not on the DSCC could do to express that discontent? Is there something they can do? And I and I guess I'd like that to lead into what would need to happen to change chairs?

Stephen Handwerk

39:09

Yeah, look, well, first and foremost, I am going to say - and sometimes it's hard not to put this on your playbook - the first thing is don't give up. Don't switch to No Party. Don't throw up your hands. We need your voice in the room. And I realize that is a very difficult thing to do. Because oftentimes people, when there's drama, when there's bad things happening, you want to disassociate. You want to pull back from that and say, "I'm not part of that mess." But the only way you can be part of the solution - because of the membership thing we talked about earlier, this is like a club and you're a member of that club - only club members get to determine what the future is right. So that is, in my estimation, the important thing, so that's number one. Number two, engage with those who do hold those seats. Right now they desperately need to hear from you. They need to be engaged, invite them to the local library and bring some friends so that you can actually talk about what's going on. Talk about what it is that can be done by that state central committee member to insist that a meeting is called, that these grievances are aired out, and that they're worked through, and that there's some sort of semblance to save this election cycle. I cannot stress how heavily this is, and all of my friends are talking about it right now. We have made a lot of good things happen in the past eight years that John Bel Edwards was governor. We didn't always agree with him on every issue. And we were strong enough to actually make our voices heard. But also realize that you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, right? We also realized that there was a lot of good, Medicaid expansion being probably the preeminent thing that we were able to do to save hundreds of thousands of lives here in Louisiana and make their lives better. So we have to first realize that. But every single house seat, every single senate seat is up this year. We need good candidates running. Voting is going to happen in October of this year. And that is something that is vitally important that we engage in right now. And we need a party that is going to do something. And the only way we can get that done is if DSCC members unite together, call for change, demand things happen, and then we must hold their feet to the fire to make sure that they do.

Lynda Woolard

41:38

That's not to say we'll necessarily get a new chair. Honestly, some of the folks that are elected to the DSCC have political leadership they follow. There are voting blocs within the DSCC. The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus members are, you know, going to vote with politics in mind. Right? It would be folly to assume that a change at state party chair is eminent or definitely going to happen. I think it's possible for a change. I don't know that there will be huge change in direction. There might be. But it could be a change in leadership at the top that's subtle or a mild change and may still not be what most of the voters want. So there's there's two things that people need to think about doing it. If you want change at the top, you should lobby your DSCC member. But you should also, more importantly, plan for 2024. What do you want to do in 2024?

Stephen Handwerk

42:43

And to those legislators, those elected leaders that are going to be on the ballot this year, I'd like to just point something out to them. Right now, you may feel that you are in a good space. You may feel like you need to back current leadership and back current policies, because you're currently in the good graces. Look how quickly that can turn. We have seen this in races where the state party has engaged in Democrat vs Democrat races and invested thousands, tens of thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands in total, against good Democrats fighting for the things that we universally agree on. Right? Think about how they engaged in that, that they wasted those resources, not on organizing, not on bringing more people into the tent, but instead on D vs D races, right? And so think about how sure is your footing. How sure are you that you are not going to get turned on and those dollars those resources be turned on you? Because I tell you, in talking to many of my friends, they never thought that they would be turned on until they were.

Lynda Woolard

43:53

And so to call out what you're saying, just to name it, because there's a lot of articles about this right now: The state party did raise money and invest in races that were Democrat versus Democrat races. And I'll say that's part of the outrage that's happening right now and why there is a call for a change in leadership. This was happening at a time when there were Democrats running against Republicans who needed support and weren't getting it. And that's really what the party should be there to do is to try to help flip some seats for us, and if not do so, at least start to build the infrastructure up in those areas, support those candidates, like we talked to Robin Parrot in season one who was one of those Democrats that ran in a red district but talked about the importance of her race and going out knocking doors and speaking to voters and getting voters to understand that Democrats are not demons. We're just like you and we have the same values as you, possibly more so than the Republican opponent. And those are the kinds of things that if we want to grow the party we really need to invest in, rather than playing in these factional races where you're going to get a good Democrat elected either way. And then sometimes, that may not be the case, but certainly as we saw on the PSC race, backing a Democrat using utility and oil and gas money against the up and coming Democrat Davante Lewis, who ended up prevailing nevertheless. He had to run against the party, but ended up winning. That's just not a great use of party resources.

Stephen Handwerk

45:45

It's not, but think about it from not only the money that was going out, think about the time that was spent in negotiating raising the money in the first place. You know, that's the thing that also galls me from being on the inside and being in those conversations when I was worried about the checkbook and I was raising the money and having those conversations with donors. That's probably what I'm also galled about is that there had to be a concerted effort to actually raise those funds specifically for that use. And to think about that, that time, that effort, that hutzpah that was put towards that, when it could have been in those D verses R races, ones that would be so much easier in so many cases to raise money for if you talk to Democratic donors. The problem is they weren't talking to Democratic donors. They were spending that time talking to Entergy and others.

Lynda Woolard

46:39

And I'll tell you just from speaking to some of the folks working on those D versus R races, folks who were managing those Democratic campaigns, there was huge frustration before we even had that information about those donations and what they were being used for. There was just huge frustration that they were not receiving support. So that's not great. That's not a great space for the party to be operating in. And of course, the bigger thing that people are talking about that's really launched the bigger conversations recently is this ad that has now launched where the chair of the party has a big ad buy across the state where they haven't even mentioned the party and are flirting with this idea that they may run for governor, it so appears. I guess more importantly, if you're chair of the party, you should be recruiting someone to run for governor right now, not signaling to them that you may be their opponent in that race. And I'd much rather see that ad money spent on introducing Louisianans to that governor candidate that we'd like to see.

Stephen Handwerk

47:50

100%. And a while I'm not going to, at least not today on this show, get really deep into the weeds on what's going on with that, I will tell you this: This is one of the conversations that I had with my chair while I was running the party as the chief executive. And I made very clear, in no uncertain terms, that if the chair was going to even play with the notion of running for a statewide office, that that person needed to resign as chair of the party, that those conversations couldn't even really seriously happen. They can't happen with donors, they can't happen with other candidates, they cannot happen with other elected leaders, because that's not the job of the chair. And as soon as you do that, you are cutting the legs out from underneath all of your staff, you're cutting your legs out from underneath all of the other candidates, it completely throws a whole wedge into everything that you're doing. And so while those early, early, early conversations did happen. You have to make that very clear. You can't serve dual masters like that. And that was incredibly important, I think, to do and so now we're in a quagmire because those rules are not being followed, because everything is being turned on its head. And then you also have the problem of this outside PAC that's funding it, which is also problematic because it brings a lot of questions in about the ethics involved in that. So I don't know how that's going to ultimately play out. But I can't know. I don't know anyone right now that's happy about the current situation.

Lynda Woolard

49:35

Well, we've touched on a lot of different topics that I believe deserve their own episodes, you know, the previous chair and the previous administration, and the election of 2020 of the party leadership - you probably don't want to be on that episode, but there was a whole lot of tea that went down that year that I think at some point needs to be spilled - but anyway I think we've left people with at least some roadmap to what needs to happen moving forward. I think the key for folks is to, as you said, not throw their arms up and walk away, but to get more engaged. And in order to be more engaged, I think people need to be more informed about how the party works. I think when there's transparency about that, and when there's not this big question mark and cloudiness of these backroom deals that go on and "I have no say over what happens in our party," when folks are more engaged, more informed and can see what they're doing with the party and be involved in that process, I just think overall, it makes for a better experience for rank and file Democrats who are going out to vote for these Democratic candidates.

Stephen Handwerk

50:51

100%. I think that it's so good to be able to have that. And I do look forward to having some of those other conversations, because there are other other things that we could and should be talking about. And I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to start talking about some stuff, because I believe that we're starting to close some doors and open up new ones. And so hopefully, Louisiana Lefty will be there to help discover some of those other pieces as well. But I can't thank you enough, Lynda, for the work that you're doing on this. I think that this is incredibly important for folks to realize that there is stuff that they can be doing right now to change the world.

Lynda Woolard

51:31

And if they want to know more, we're here. Ask us questions if we missed something. If we didn't give you info on some just glaring omission we forgot to talk about, shoot us an email, find us on social media, we'll be happy to answer.

Stephen Handwerk

51:46

We do not hide from social media. We are all over the social. So hit us up, guys.

Lynda Woolard

51:53

Thanks, Stephen. Thanks, Professor.

Lynda Woolard

51:55

Thank you for listening to Louisiana Lefty. Please follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Thank you to Ben Collinsworth for producing Louisiana Lefty, Jen Pack of Black Cat Studios for our Super Lefty artwork, and Thousand $ Car for allowing us to use their swamp pop classic "Security Guard, as our Louisiana Lefty theme song.

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