Another good year for Democrats is no guarantee Dwight Pelz will keep his job as chairman of the state party.
His term expires in January and he’s not announced if he will seek another term.
Mark Hintz, leader of the Snohomish County Democratic Party, isn’t waiting to hear. He’s revving up a campaign for the job. And there are others said to be considering a run as well.
Such internal commotion might seem odd given the results of the general election.
President-elect Obama won handily, Gov. Chris Gregoire soared to a recount-proof re-election and rancher Peter Goldmark unseated Republican Doug Sutherland as public lands commissioner.
Sure, Darcy Burner did lose, again, to Congressman Dave Reichert and Republicans seem certain to gain seats in the state Legislature on both sides of the Cascades. There are few perfect records in election seasons.
The issue with Pelz is not the party’s wins and losses and fundraising in his tenure.
It’s his style.
Pelz’s serial use of profane language offends several in the rank-and-file.
Periodically, he’ll refer to a body part or bodily function in an analogy and make people grimace.
In January, it got him a rebuke. Party leaders were discussing eliminating one of their boards. He suggested it had outlived its usefulness like tonsils — unlike penises, which he asserted are still important.
Angered members of the women’s caucus drafted, but didn’t pass, a resolution directing Pelz to “refrain from public discourse on the importance of penises.”
The measure was intended simply to embarrass Pelz, supporters said. He did apologize.
More notably, Pelz, who is from Seattle, upset folks by pushing for the party to endorse Randy Dorn for state schools chief and contribute $50,000 to his campaign. These critics didn’t think the party should invest so much money in a nonpartisan race when there were Democrats needing the dough.
Endorsing Dorn also angered the Washington State Labor Council, which backed incumbent Terry Bergeson. Labor leaders reportedly kicked Pelz out of a session at their annual meeting in Vancouver in August.
In September, Pelz fended off an attempt to get the Democratic Party to issue a new dual endorsement of Dorn and Bergeson. He turned back the effort on a 9-8 vote in the executive committee.
Because of his actions, Pelz has incited talk he will net a job in the Dorn administration and not seek another term.
Hintz has heard all of this and more and insisted it is not why he’s running.
“I look at what we’ve done in Snohomish County as a reflection of what we could do as a state party,” he said.
Winning requires capturing a majority of votes of 176 Democratic Party activists — two from each county and two from each legislative district.
Hintz tried in 2006, then withdrew in a contest Pelz won. He said this time he won’t get out early.
“I’m doing it for the love of party,” he said.
Dwight Pelz does, too, and he’s got the record to prove it.
Stay tuned.
Political reporter Jerry Cornfield’s blog, The Petri Dish, is at www.heraldnet.com. He can be heard at 8:15 a.m. Mondays on the Morning Show on KSER (90.7 FM). Contact him at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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