Scratch another alleged candidate for state chair

With the recent announcement by longtime state chair Paul Berendt that he intends to resign the position he has held for the last 11 years, there has been appreciable speculation as to who might want to replace him.  As far as I know, only former King County chair Greg Rodriguez and outgoing King County Commissioner Dwight Pelz have definitively thrown their hats into the ring.  A number of other respected leaders and putative candidates, such as former 21st LD chair Bill Phillips and former 21st LD State Representative Mike Cooper, have already made it known that they aren’t running.  In fact, Phillips has endorsed Rodriguez.

Today, I received confirmation that another of those whose names were bandied about by the newspapers is definitively not a candidate for Berendt’s position.  Here’s a portion of an email sent today by Dick Kelley, who chairs the most Democratic Legislative District in the state, the 43rd:

I just wanted to let you know, for publication if you wish, that I will not be a candidate for chair of the state Party.  It was not a hard decision, and it was kind of people to offer their support, but I think we will have a strong field of candidates and the Party will be in good hands.

Dick’s name was mentioned solely because he ran against Berendt in 2003.  That run had been intended more to persuade Berendt to open up the oft-shrouded state party machinery and to be more communicative with the party faithful than a serious attempt to oust the chair, and it served its purpose rather well.  For selfish reasons—he’s my LD chair, and we couldn’t replace him with anyone even half as good—I’m pleased to see that Dick isn’t leaving his current post in the District.

I won’t even begin to work out who I might like to see as the next chair until the field settles out.  Not that my opinion on the matter means much.  The decision will be made by the State Central Committee (a man and a woman from each of the 49 LDs and each of the 39 counties, plus a few others ... a total of about 180 individuals) at its January 27-28 meeting.

That said, I’m sure I’ll have more to say about our next state chair in the next six weeks.

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