It is the middle of 2009, the middle of a heated national debate about monumental issues like health care reform, energy policy, and re-regulating the financial industry. There is an incumbent Republican United State Senator up for re-election next year who has moral and ethical problems that would put even other Republican members of the Senate to shame. The seat is there for the taking (with a fight, no doubt, but more winnable than anyone had expected it to be after Vitter won election in 2004).
We have a Republican Governor who trashed federal stimulus spending while bragging about the state's economic performance - which has been fueled by years of federal disaster relief dating back to the storms of 2005 and those since. That same governor is in the process of dismantling the public health delivery system by shutting down public hospitals - a long-cherished dream of Republicans and a mission that Jindal has pursued since his days working for Mike Foster.
But, the Louisiana Democratic Party is no where to be found in any of this. Not standing up for our President. Not working with candidates to develop a strategy to take Vitter's seat. Not pointing out Jindal's budgetary hypocrisy (fueled by his apparently incurable case of Blind Ambition). Not working with legislators and local government leaders to deal with the upcoming reapportionment of political districts after the 2010 Census.
The party's absence is directly attributable to the person who sits as chairman, Christopher Whittington. The actions of the executive director Whittington hired as part of his re-election bid has made the party the target of at least two lawsuits.
The highly regarded communications director left shortly after the executive director did.
The entire staff of the party consists of two people, neither of which has any executive power. They are merely at the party's Government Street headquarters in Baton Rouge to turn the lights on and off, answer the phone and get the mail.
The Jefferson/Jackson Dinner in Baton Rouge two weeks ago was a farce. James Carville spoke, but for less than 10 minutes. There were no statewide elected officials in attendance. Senator Mary Landrieu was not there. There were about seven members of the state Legislature in attendance. The event started late and ended early. The speaking ended before 8 p.m. Had Rep. Karen Carter Peterson not given a stem-winder of an address that out-lasted Carville's talk, the event would have lasted less than 30 minutes.
Word is now that Whittington has said that the party will not hire an executive director at this critical time, that "we are going to take a vacation from that."
Imagine that. A political organization taking a vacation from political work.
Anyone who has watched Whittington fight to keep his job while letting the party's work wither will not find this as a surprise. Whittington's fight has always been about keeping control of the party apparatus so that he and his cronies can keep control of the money and the favors that flow through the state party during election cycles.
The crony list includes lawyers, consultants and various hangers-on.
Meanwhile, the party does not do the basic work of crafting a message, registering voters, and winning elections.
But, that's OK with Whittington because, again, this is not about politics. It's about control of money and favors.
There are people on the Democratic State Central Committee and even on the party's executive committee whose efforts guaranteed Whittington's re-election who are now said to be disenchanted with the course things have taken. That course is no different now than it was when they worked and voted for Whittington; he is still playing the same game only now those former allies find that Whittington does not care about the party and its fate. They are shocked! Shocked I tell you! That this petty little man has turned on them.
The sad fact is that the party's constitution and by-laws are such a shambles that any attempt to oust Whittington is a waste of time and effort. He and his various legal advisers twist the interpretation of those rules to make them say whatever it is that serves Whittington's purposes.
This is not a political organization. This is not a political party. It is a club run by an ever-shrinking group of insiders who are determined to hold control of the organization for the sole purpose of demonstrating that they can.
Every additional day that Chris Whittington holds the otherwise meaningless title of "Chairman" of the Louisiana Democratic Party is further proof of his complete and total disregard for the well-being of the party and its interests.
Chris Whittington has brought this party to the brink of ruin. Why is he holding on? Why is the state central committee letting him?
While some of the many Louisiana elected officials that call themselves Democrats were in attendance at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner (Congressman Charlie Melancon, PSC Commissioner Foster Campbell, State Rep. Karen Carter-Peterson, Mayor Cedric Glover, Mayor Jacques Roy, and a handful of state legislators in both chambers, as well as a few local elected officials), the fact remains that there are personality conflicts amongst the power brokers within the Louisiana Democratic Party. For the good of the party, they need to get over it, and come together to remove Chris Whittington from the chairmanship, and appoint a wartime consigliere to oversee the 2010 elections.
