State Committee Winter Meeting

Dear Democratic Party of Georgia State Committee Members,

The Fourth 2011 State Committee Meeting of the Democratic Party of Georgia will be held on December 3, 2011 at the Wyndham Peachtree Convention Center in Peachtree City from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Registration for the meeting will begin at 9:30 am.

The Wyndham Peachtree Convention Center is located at 2443 Highway 54 West, Peachtree City, GA 30269 (map).

As you know, the primary purpose of this meeting we will be to conduct an election to fill Executive Director Page Gleason’s unexpired term on the Democratic National Committee.  This term expires in August, 2012.  The winner of the election will be invited as a DNC member to attend the Democratic National Convention in September.

We will also vote on the adoption of the Party’s Platform for 2012.  The Platform was approved by the Executive Committee and is now being submitted to the State Committee for ratification.  It is important to note that this vote is up or down.  There are no provisions for amendments and/or modifications to the Platform of any kind.

As far as the DNC election, you must be properly registered and credentialed in order to vote. A quorum of 50% is necessary to conduct the vote.  If a quorum is not present at the time the voting begins, the election will be cancelled and reset to a later date.

If you arrive after the DNC voting begins, you will not be allowed to vote in that round but will be allowed to vote in subsequent rounds.

Qualifying for the position has closed and the five candidates are [in alphabetical order]:

Kimberlyn Carter
Laverne Lewis Gaskins
Liz Johnson
Jay Trevari
Cheryl Williams

Please note that the Chair, Officers and DPG staff are neutral and have not endorsed any candidate in this race.

Serving on the DNC is an honor. As such, it does require a significant amount of travel and expense. We ask much of our DNC members, and this added time and expense can be significant.

All candidates for this position should be mindful of the resources needed to take on this critical function. Neither the National, State or County Parties reimburse for these expenses. This is an important consideration in running for this position.

There are usually at least four DNC meetings every year. You should budget between $4,000-10,000.00 per year toward your travel costs and expenses.

Here are the Basic Election Rules:

The Chairman of the Party shall oversee the election process. The electors will sit by Congressional District and the Congressional Chair or their designee in each District will be responsible for the collection of ballots.

Each Candidate that has qualified according to the rules will be given the opportunity for brief (3-4 minute) nominating speech.  A seconding speech (1 minute) seconding speech may also be made. The nominees may then address the State Committee for no more than 5 minutes. The speeches will be done in alphabetical order unless otherwise agreed by all of the candidates.

Voting will proceed using ballots prepared by the State Party office, with a provision for write-ins.  There is no provision for nominations for this position from the floor and for any write in candidate to address the State Committee. Each candidate may have an observer watch the counting of the votes.  All votes are open and there is no secret balloting. Ballots must be signed in order to be valid.  Any ballot that is not signed will be excluded.

After each round of voting, the candidate with the lowest total number of votes will be dropped from contention and we will proceed to the next round until one candidate receives at least 50% plus one of the total votes cast. [Very much like the TV Show “Survivor”].

Thank you so much for all you do.  I look forward to seeing you on Saturday, December 3 in Peachtree City!

Sincerely,

Mike Berlon
Chairman