Diversity and inclusion are on the March 5 ballot
Massachusetts Democrats will have the opportunity on March 5 to renominate President Joe Biden and elect local Democratic state, ward and town committee members. I’m Justin Klekota, your Democratic state committeeman, and it’s been an honor representing the 2nd Middlesex District including Somerville, Medford, Cambridge and Winchester. I am the first member of the LGBTQIA+ community to win this seat. Together, we organized dozens of phone banks, drawing hundreds of volunteers for Biden-Harris and Senate Democrats, knocked thousands of doors and advocated successfully for climate and mail-in voting legislation that is now law.
This year, the stakes are higher: My opponent Rand Wilson is running on a divisive and discriminatory platform to eliminate half of the State Democratic Party by targeting “Black, Hispanic, LGBTQ+, disabled, labor, senior, veteran, French- and Portuguese-speaking and youth” members elected to the Democratic State Committee to increase diversity, including many serving more than 20 years.
After months of attacks by Wilson, most recently in his 2023 State Democratic Convention resolution near-unanimously rejected in subcommittee, I feel compelled to defend my state committee colleagues and make it clear the Democratic party must remain the “big tent” embracing diversity if we are to defeat Maga Republicans.
Contrary to the claims in Wilson’s failed resolution and platform published on Medium, every member of the Democratic State Committee is democratically elected by the presidential primary ballot, at a caucus or by the committee itself: No members are “appointed.” Wilson’s claims that Diversity “add-on state committee members are not elected from or held accountable to the constituency groups they purport to represent” and that “they are not nominated by the Afro-American, disabled or LGBTQ+ or other constituencies that they are purported to represent” reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of diversity in our party.
People of color, LGBTQ+ and disabled members are elected as equal partners to represent the entire party: not elected to represent only their race, orientation or disability, as Wilson suggests. Wilson suggesting that African-American, LGBTQ+ or disabled persons be elected only by members of their race, orientation or disability is discriminatory: Segregating voters by race, disability and orientation is undemocratic and contrary to our values as Democrats.
“One person, one vote” is our core mission as Democrats: Only allowing people to vote for their race, disability or orientation diminishes everyone and fractures the Democratic coalition that made history by uniting to elect Deval Patrick, Maura Healey, Barack Obama, Biden-Harris and many others.
Why would anyone choose this divisive platform? Wilson believes his platform appeals to “young adults and a growing number of working-class voters being seduced by the far right.” Our Democratic Party deserves better.
On March 5, if you believe in party strength through diversity and oppose discrimination and segregation, I ask for your vote. Being a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I understand the importance of diversity and inclusion: It’s about fairness, and it’s our path to victory in 2024.
Justin Klekota, Conwell Avenue, Somerville
The writer is a Democratic state committeeman in the 2nd Middlesex District.
Justin, why are you attacking Rand if you want a big tent?
When someone called me a homophobic slur at a meeting of the Cambridge Democrats, we couldn’t vote as a body to remove them because they were a 20-year member, and 20-year members can’t be removed for any reason. They only resigned when they were shamed in the national media. This is a huge problem!!! 20-year members should be accountable to basic principles of respect just like any other member. Reform of the Democratic Party is needed, and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community you should appreciate this. I’m sure that Rand’s proposal has merit…if I could vote for him, I would.
Remember in 2022 when Justin Klekota’s response to criticism that the drafted committee bylaws were transphobic was to block everyone on Twitter?
https://twitter.com/JustinKlekota/status/1552482641068363777
This included residents and even the current Medford City Council presidents:
https://twitter.com/zacbears/status/1552686201542516737
Justin Klekota’s letter shows his ignorance about the party he wishes to continue to lead.
The Massachusetts Democratic Party is losing members. In the 1980s about 48% of all registered voters in the Commonwealth registered as Democrats. Since then, there has been a slow, steady drop, with the current percentage at 29. That is, over the last 40 years there has been a 35% drop in the membership of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.
Many of us believe our party must be more focused on the issues that matter to working families to stop the steady loss of working-class voters who feel no candidate represents them. Rand and many others have pointed out, “We can’t afford to have them stay home in November.”
Part of the problem is that the the leadership of the Party, the Democratic State Committee (DSC) does not represent its grassroots base; it is not a democratic institution. What is the evidence for this? The Party’s grassroots base does not democratically elect a 57% majority of the DSC’s 420 members. The largest group of unelected DSC members consists of 132 lifetime members who have gained permanent committee seats after serving on the DSC for 20 years. Think of it, a person can be elected to the DSC at 25, become a lifetime member at 45, and continue to serve for another 40 or more years. As a group, these lifetime members are older, whiter, and more conservative than the Party’s base.
The second group of undemocratically elected DSC members is composed of “add-on” members created to increase the representation of historically underrepresented groups on the DSC. Having add-ons is a good thing. How they are chosen is a problem. There are currently 99 add-on members. These add-on members are self-nominated and then elected by members of the DSC. They are not nominated by the Afro-American, disabled, LGBTQ+, or other constituencies that they purport to represent. They are internally elected by DSC insiders, of whom one-third are unelected lifetime members.
The remaining DSC members (currently a minority of 173) are elected through “ballot elections” in the 40 state senate districts via the presidential primary ballot, or at “caucus elections” by representatives from local Democratic ward and town committees.
Last year, Rand Wilson, and other progressive reformers, including me, brought a resolution to the Democratic Party’s Resolution Committee to address this problem. The resolution proposed:
“Therefore, be it resolved that: The State Committee establish a balanced subcommittee, ensuring the prominent inclusion of advocates, alongside other members with diverse views, to collaboratively develop recommendations for revising the party’s Charter and By-Laws to ensure that a majority of the members of the State Committee of the Massachusetts Democratic Party are elected, not appointed; and Be it further resolved: That the subcommittee present its recommendations to the Democratic State Committee no later than June 30, 2024.” What was proposed is completely different from what Klekota has charged.
On March 5, progressive Democrats have the opportunity to elect Rand who will help “put democracy back in the Democratic Party.” It’s long overdue.
For the four years that Justin Klekota has been on the Democratic state committee he has done nothing to push the party in a more progressive, proactive direction. For the last 40 years, Rand Wilson has been deeply involved in struggles for workers’ rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and reproductive rights. He has helped lead the fight to make the Democratic Party a stronger, more effective advocate for and protector of those rights.
Leslie Cohen and Dave Slaney