By the time you read this on a South Dakota Saturday morning, it may all be over, save for the moving truck. Or not, and failed Congressional Candidate Paula Hawks’ attempted coup d’etat against “Effective” Ann Tornburg for captaincy of the Titanic Chairman of the South Dakota Democrat Party was put down like the insurrection it was.
The Democrat’s Central Committee meeting is scheduled to begin at 9AM. And we will see who emerges as chair when the battle for the cardboard throne is over.
So. what brought Democrats to their little “Game of Thrones” drama? The folks at Drinking Liberally Sioux Falls have a good synopsis of what went down to bring Democrats to their current state of chaos:
As we noted last week, political intrigue may dominate the usually mundane SDDP’s Executive Board and State Central Committee meetings. As you may recall, Rachelle Norberg, a USD law student from Burke, SD, proposed a number of amendments to the SDDP’s Constitution, some of which would cut short the four year terms of the Party’s current executive officers and trigger an immediate election of new officers. Ms. Norberg submitted her proposal on an apparently unsuspecting Executive Board following the abrupt resignation of the SDDP’s Executive Director, Suzie Jones Pranger. Suzie is a recent USD law school graduate, originally from the Burke area. In her resignation letter, Suzie said she was leaving to work on a statewide campaign. Speculation has it she will work for State Senator and Democratic minority leader Billie Sutton who has expressed an interest in the 2018 race for Governor. Billie is also from Burke, SD. In case you haven’t visited Burke or known any of the 604 people who live there, here is a link to its profile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke,_South_Dakota
Anticipating a snap election of new SDDP executive officers, the current Chair, Ann Tornberg, announced she would seek re-election if the proposed amendments passed. Paula Hawks, the 2016 Democratic nominee for the US House, also announced her candidacy for Chair. God only knows what is going on or what the results will be.
And
…I repeat what I said last week, “I am not a big fan of the current SDDP Chair, but a snap election initiated in this manner with almost no notice seems deeply arrogant on the part of the conspirators and very wrong-headed. There are right ways and wrong ways to do things and this is the wrong way.”
Where is this going to fall out? That’s a good question.
Unsuccessful Democrat State Senate Candidate Cory Heidelberger fanned the flames of a Tornburg ouster into a blazing fire, but after pushing for the no confidence vote to happen, possibly recognizing the will to right the ship doesn’t exist, he has backed off in recent days. Why? A recent comment by long-time Winner, SD Democrat activist and Blogger Doug Wiken (Dakota Today) might be very telling:
Paula Hawks mailings were dreadful. She did not respond to e-mail or attempts to contact her. She barely made it into west river SD. I do not remember a single issue position she held. She was a mediocre communicator. A good future for the SD Democratic Party will not have a Paula Hawks at the controls.
And lest we forget the comment above from the Drinking Liberally people..
I am not a big fan of the current SDDP Chair, but a snap election initiated in this manner with almost no notice seems deeply arrogant on the part of the conspirators and very wrong-headed.
Apparently, Democrats hate Ann, but they hate it when people step out of place even more.
But if (or when) this morning’s revolution goes south, what’s going happen to the conspirators? Heidelberger may have directly tipped Democrat’s hand:
The best possible outcome is that everyone meets, speaks, and departs as allies united around a common plan of action. Anyone who talks about anything other than our practical goals and action, anyone who gripes and moans about personal grievances, should be slapped back to reality or, if they keep griping and moaning, thrown out….
…Gripers and moaners add no value to the party.
Apparently, gripers and moaners (i.e. dissidents) can expect to be thrown out.
Let the Democrat Party purges begin!
Stay Tuned.
Thrown out? We will leave gleefully.