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Chaos reigns at Denver Dem meeting

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Contributed by: John Wren on 5/13/2008

9-18-08 Correction. Jeniffer Coken and Denver County Democrats did not control the 1st Congressional District convention. I should have spoken directly with her before posting this story. I regret my error. John Wren

Are they intentionally trying to kill our potentially wonderful caucus-assembly system for nominating to the primary ballot? Many, many of the alternate delegates at our precinct caucuses Feb. 5 were newcomers to Denver and Denver politics. Any of you reading this, please don't quit. Yes, tell us about your experience here, write letters to the editor, tell everyone that we are mad as hell and we aren't going to take it anymore!

Yesterday, I attended our First Congressional District Assembly at Denver's South High. The Denver Post this morning said little about it, this is the comment I just posted onlittlestory they did run: http://www.denverpost.com/localpolitics/ci_9219624

There were thousands of Democrats in Denver's South High yesterday for our 1st Congressional District Assembly and Convention. This was a big, big story. Where's the news coverage in today's paper? Would someone help me understand why the Denver Assembly wasn't front page news today? Annette, did you attend, it's hard to tell from your story. Why no photograph?

I got to the assembly late yesterday. Since it was so poorly organized, those in charge had given themselves plenty of time. As I walked to the front doors, I stopped and put my hand over my heart; the flag was just being raised by a color guard of young people on the flag pole in front of the West entrance to the school. As I walked in I saw Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher talking to State Party Chair Pat Waak looking into the auditorium, and Denver Chair Jennifer Coken whizzed by me in the hall, foreshadowing the chaos that lay ahead.

I was directed to the check in table at the opposite end of the school, and was there told to just sit down and wait, that the check in had concluded. I insisted to talk with someone who could tell me why the check in had stopped. Others coming in were asking the same question. Directed to a classroom around the corner, a man too frantic to explain much wrote "10:18" on my ticket and pointed me to the gymnasium.

I wandered around this purgatory, talking with people I know, asking people sitting along what they thought of the process, passing out copies of the front page of www.JohnWren.com that I'd printed for the occasion. Many of the people were very, very irritated and who could blame them?

We were all people who'd been elected by our neighbors to represent them at the meeting. What would we tell them when we went back to our caucus next time?

This was a holding tank for alternate delegates like me, all of us waiting to see if we would get called from the bench to go into the auditorium where the delegates were listening to speakers, cheering, voting, having the experience that we alternates were being denied.

My handout was what you see on www.JohnWren.com today, except for the post I made today that links to this article. As I handed my one- page faux-front-page to people, I pointed to my picture, the first frame of the videoof our first session last Sunday of the new Denver Speakers Corner, and I encouraged them to join us at our next meeting June 8th to talk about the experience they were having as an alternate, their favorite candidate, an issue, or anything else important to them. Most were very glad to take my hand-out and to chat.

A few people, so angry they could spit, took it out on me. One woman, a retired teacherwho recently moved to Denver to be with her son whose work had brought him here, was particularly upset. She hated the way Denver politics worked, our traffic, and the low pay for teachers compared to California. (I checked with a teacher friend, he says pay in California is about the same is here when the cost of living is taken into account.)

Every once in a while names were called, the few people asked to form a line, and then they were marched out. After watching this for a while, curious about who was issuing the names, I followed the flow of information back to it's source, the control room for the day.

I talked with people leaning against the wall, those who were complaining that the check in had been discontinued. They got the same hand written time on the ticket that I'd been given, apparentlyfrom the same man. I could see they were calling names of alternate delegates out of a computer, so it was clear his hand written note meant nothing.

Jennifer Coken was hand counting the stack of tickets from the people who had already been called to be real delegates. An argument broke out about whether there should be 2 more Clinton alternates called or 10. So she asked everyone to leave the room except for county and state elected party officials.

As we walked out into the hall, I saw former Mayor Wellington Webb and gave him a copy of my www.JohnWren.com hand out and asked him to speak at our next Denver Speakers Corner. He seemed open to the idea.

A herd of people came out of the auditorium and filled the hall way, getting ready to vote. It became clear that the calling of alternates was at an end. So I walked down the line passing out my flier, talking with people I knew. I worked my way to the door, and I left.

It was a beautiful spring day, and a woman who was also headed to her car and I talked about what a chaotic operation it had all been, but also that we were not altogether unhappy to be released; it felt a lot like getting out of school early.

It's a known fact that we get what is measured. The media is the measuring stick for government and politics. Where were they yesterday? Where's the media? Until someone starts paying attention, things will only get worse. Where were the political reporters? Where are the stories in the paper today?

There is no problem with our Colorado Caucus system itself. But there is clearly a problem with the leadership. Denver Democrats should issue a formal apology to the alternate delegates for yesterday. It was an insult.

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John Wren

Denver

John Wren has posted 4 stories and 4 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. John Wren's average story rating is 0.

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