madison.com

madison.com
Dems swing party chair vote by crashing grass-roots meeting

By Samara Kalk Derby
April 10, 2005
Local Democratic Party members crashed a meeting of Democracy for Wisconsin after learning that the group was voting to endorse a little-known, grass-roots contender for Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman.
About 100 people packed into a small upstairs room at the Madison Public Library downtown Wednesday night. The standing-room-only crowd was more than twice the number that typically shows up for the citizen group's monthly meetings and swung the endorsement vote in their favor.
Democracy for Wisconsin and other Democracy for America groups grew out of the presidential campaign of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. For two years the local organization has worked to develop a network throughout the state to foster stronger, sustained participation in American democracy.
The majority of core local Democracy for Wisconsin members support Jeff Rammelt, the longtime chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, to chair the state party.
The others - a group that included students and activists along with Madison Ald. Austin King and Tim Sullivan, president of Dane County Local 65 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - support former state Sen. Joe Wineke, who sat in the front of the room.
At the end of the meeting, when the hands were counted, there were fewer than 30 votes for Rammelt. So many hands went up for Wineke that DFW organizers didn't bother to count.
DFW went ahead with its vote even though many "