California Democrats unanimously call for rejection of Negroponte & Bolton

[Padme Amidala]

Are Boxer and Feinstein paying attention?

Resolution to Reject Bolton & Negroponte Nominations

WHEREAS: President Bush’s nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, has shown nothing but contempt for the United Nations throughout his entire career and has demonstrated a disturbing propensity to politicize the intelligence-gathering process by making false claims about weapons programs in Cuba and then trying to have an intelligence analyst punished for disagreeing with his incorrect views;

WHEREAS: President Bush’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte had close ties with Honduran strongman General Gustavo Alvarez who was directly linked to the infamous death squads which killed thousands of people in Central America in the 1980’s. Negroponte also encouraged illegal, covert activity and was engaged in a policy of deception as to his activities in Central America and the extent of the death squads and their support by the United States; and

WHEREAS: Both Bolton and Negroponte represent the worst possible choices for the United States as we work to repair our relationships with our allies and rebuild our image around the world and also work to clean up and repair the credibility of our intelligence agencies.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the California Democratic Party, meeting in the convention on April 15-17, 2005, calls upon U.S. Senators to do their duty and oppose the nominations of Bolton and Negroponte; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That a copy of this resolution be sent to every Democratic U.S. Senator.

Submitted by the Patrick Henry Democratic Club

Adopted by the Resolutions Committee
At Its 2005 State Convention
Los Angeles Convention Center
April 16, 2005

Adopted Unanimously by California Democratic Party
April 17, 2005

[welshTerrier2]

1. will the people have a voice?

this gets to the essence of what's been going on in the Party ... groups like DFA and PDA have called for Democrats to take a more active role in internal Party business ... the recently passed platform in California has a plank in it about ending the Iraq war ...

so, what will the process be now?

will elected Democrats go off and do whatever they choose to do or will they in any way be constrained by the will of those who define the Party's platform?

frankly, absent a much better dialog, neither method is very good ... voters and party activists may not be in the best position to understand all the political implications involved in policy setting ... on the other hand, having elected representatives ignore the will of those who elected them is not much of a democracy ...

the missing ingredient here is reform ... we need to have regular town meetings, very regular, to give elected Democrats an opportunity to educate voters and to give voters an opportunity to educate their elected officials ... the goal is to make legislators more responsive to the electorate and to make the electorate better informed ...

and where is Howard Dean on issues of reform? Dean has been a great advocate for Party reform over the past year ... let's hope that he encourages immediate dialog on the Negroponte and Bolton nominations ... it may be too late in the game to do this now ... but the theme still stands ... reform should start with greatly improved intra-Party communication ...

[zann725]

2. Sounds good to me! And yes, Boxer "IS listening."

She was AT the CA Dem party last evening in L.A....where I assume this was presented and Unanimously adopted.

[genius]

3. It was adopted on the floor today, Sunday. Saturday it was prioritized.

When you say "Boxer 'IS listening,'" do you base this on something she said? Have you spoken to her?

[Constitution]

4. Alex and Natasha got that resolution passed.

If the senators listen to the California Democratic Party and defeat Bolton and Negroponte, these kids will deserve a big "thank you" from all of us.