UPDATED: Oklahoma Democratic Central Committee – “Moving forward in unity” says Sen. Johnson

Former Oklahoma State Sen. Connie Johnson is the Vice-Chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party. File photo.

By Rob Howard
Associate Editor

At the Oklahoma Democratic Party State Central Committee meeting Saturday morning in Oklahoma City, national politics was on full display as officers and committee members seek to ensure as many national delegates for the candidate they support - Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders -  as they can muster at next week’s State Convention.

After an article posted at 6 p.m., Sen. Connie Johnson contacted The Gayly with her take on the day's meetings.

At one point, officers ordered all non-members out of Democratic Party headquarters, and posted the Sergeant-at-Arms at the door to prevent entry. According to one attendee, state chair Mark Hammons introduced a motion to “sanction” Democratic Vice-Chair Connie Johnson. There was also reportedly a motion to sanction Hammons.

According to Nadine Gallagher, a Democratic activist, on Friday evening at Democratic headquarter, she overheard Hammons say to Johnson, “I’m going to move to sanction you tomorrow.” She said Johnson responded, “Go for it.”

Gallagher reviewed the by-laws of the party and found that they do not contain the word sanction. Officers can be removed by the state convention, if a petition signed by 30 percent of the delegates is presented calling for the removal. The convention would then vote on removal.

Before the meeting broke for lunch, the motion to sanction Johnson was reported to have been “rescinded.” As a resolution to the dispute, according to observers, Hammons and Johnson are to meet together.

Any motions made regarding either Johnson or Hammons were made in executive session. Asked if there were motions made, Hammons declined to answer, citing the confidentiality of the executive session.

Gallagher believes that the dispute is actually about getting national delegates selected at next week’s convention. Vice-Chair Connie Johnson, a former state senator, is one of the four “super-delegates” to the national convention; Johnson supports Bernie Sanders.

After the state presidential primary, which Sanders won 52 to 42 percent for Clinton, Sanders should receive 21 delegates, with Clinton getting 17. According to sources, three other super-delegates support Clinton.

Each campaign has presented an approved slate to be elected as delegates to the National Convention. But according to Gallagher, who is on the slate presented by the Sanders campaign, “there are many people besides those on the campaigns' slates seeking delegate slots.”

According to Hammons, the party has very little control over who will become a delegate after the campaigns have presented their slates. He did observe, “I don’t have a problem with the candidates vetting the candidates [for delegate]. I would personally prefer that they’ve got to nominate at least twice as many candidates as there are seats, but that is a battle for the national committee.”

“With heavy lobbying going on from those additional candidates, said Gallagher, “It is not certain that the approved delegate nominees will be selected by the state convention.” Hammons believes the slates will prevail.

Also embroiled in controversy at the state party level is an effort to form a Women’s Caucus as part of the state party. Organizers say that state chair Hammons wanted the women to work with the American Federation of Democratic Women, Oklahoma Chapter.

The organizers of the new group voted Friday night not to join with the Federation, because they don’t believe that it gives enough support for women, and that they are very ineffective. The Federation was invited to Friday night’s meeting, but chose not to attend, according to Gallagher.

The meeting reconvened after a lunch break, but according to Gallagher, there was no further discussion of delegates, and no action of any consequence was taken. Gallagher said it was, “a complete waste of everyone’s time.”

Asked to comment on his relationship with Sen. Johnson, Hammons responded, “I don’t think it would be appropriate to do that. It is the obligation of party officers to maintain a relationship. But it’s like a family thing, if someone thinks you heard something about your spouse, you’re better off not commenting on that.

“What’s between me and Connie will be between me and Connie, and if it goes beyond that, it will be between me and Connie and the Central Committee.”

Senator Johnson echoed Chairman Hammons' observations, saying, “We can all work together as Democrats. We are continuing to get as many people involved in the party as possible, particularly behind Bernie’s win. People are taking steps to get more involved in the party.

“At the end of the day, I just want to be on record as making a positive statement about today’s meeting, and the outcome. We are getting people voting, educated, and involved.

“We talked about a process to go forward in unity, and what he said is very much the case. We are a work in progress. We have to work together.”

The Gayly – April 2, 2016 @ 7:30 p.m.