So I decided to go to Saturday's DSCC meeting and network to get this blog known among Democrats throughout Louisiana. I met some interesting people, and I got to see some of the people I've only read about it in the newspapers in action, such as Karen Carter Peterson, Derrick Shepherd, Renee Gill Pratt, Don Cravins, and Buddy Leach.
Let's deal with the elections of officers first:
Chris Whittington was elected to his serve his first four year term as Chairman. I know that there are folks who thought he needed to move on, but I will give him credit for raising the necessary funds to keep the Louisiana Democratic Party functioning after Hurricane Katrina. Further, with the help of DNC over the last two years, as part of the 50 State Strategy, the LDP has hired organizers who have begun the process of rebuilding the grassroots of our Party. I can't recall the numbers of the top of my head, but I will find out and put it here.
The other folks that were elected are:
Name
Town/City
Position
Michael McHale
Lake Charles
1st Vice Chair
Elsie Burkhalter
Slidell
2nd Vice Chair
Wesley T. Bishop
New Orleans
3rd Vice Chair
Alton Bailey
Leesville
4th Vice Chair
David Gereighty
Jefferson
Treasurer
Arlenda Williams
Houma
Secretary
City Councilman Brian Thomas
Opelousas
Vice Chair for Elected Officials
Kenny Hooks
Baton Rouge
Legal Counsel
Arthur Morrell
New Orleans
Clerk
State Sen. Derrick Shepherd
Marrero
Parliamentarian
The DNC members that were elected are:
Name
Town/City
Position
House Speaker Pro-Tem Karen Carter Peterson
New Orleans
Democratic National Committeewoman
State Rep. Claude "Buddy" Leach
Leesville
Democratic National Committeeman
Ben Jeffers
Baton Rouge
DNC Member-At-Large
But the best news of the day came when Mr. Whittington asked candidates for Congress to get up and speak ...
Gilda Reed got up and just told the crowd that they better get behind her, as she is going to make history in LA-01 by taking that seat come May. Folks, I cannot emphasize enough that if we want more and better Democrats, we have got to put our money where our mouths are. Go donate to Gilda. And add .08 to your donation so they know it came from the Louisiana netroots.
And then Gil Pinac of Crowley got up and gave a very, very brief speech. You know know what that means ... we just may have a good candidate to take on Boustany in the LA-07. He has not made it official, he just wanted to thank everyone for their support.
If he's going to run, I would highly urge him to declare soon. If he doesn't, I would love to see Mayor Donald Cravins, Sr. of Opelousas take another shot at it.
I think both Pinac and Cravins, Sr. would walk away with the race, as they would get more than enough votes from the Lafayette area to add to the Democratic votes from Lake Charles to defeat anti-middle class Mr. Boustany.
