The chairwoman of West Virginia’s Democratic Party isn’t backing down over the handling of an affirmative action plan that has generated outrage among fellow Democrats.
Chairwoman Belinda Biafore released a statement today that did not include an apology or any suggestion of an altered course but instead expressed support for what party leadership has already done.
“The West Virginia Democratic Party is committed to doing the work to make itself more inclusive and representative of all West Virginians. We’ve always had an affirmative action program in place. The work we are doing now is to make it more robust,” Biafore stated today.
“We’re confident that our draft affirmative action plan, created in a fair and transparent manner in accordance with our bylaws, is a major step forward towards those goals. We look forward to working with the new members of the Affirmative Action Committee and all West Virginia Democrats to build on this draft plan and continue building a stronger, more inclusive party.”
Biafore was reacting to questions over a meeting that prompted anger among Democrats all over the state.
Hollis Lewis, the co-chairman of the Democratic Party’s affirmative action committee, said the only communication he’d received from leaders over the past few days was the statement — and that doesn’t particularly measure up.
“All we’re working with is this statement, and this statement is just sort of the same tone. It’s what we previously saw,” Lewis said. “So I would say, to answer your question, it’s a little bit lackluster to say the least.”
When the Democratic Party’s executive committee met online Thursday night to establish an affirmative action plan, members of a newly-formed affirmative action committee weren’t yet sworn in, didn’t get to participate for about an hour and wound up having no say-so in the draft plan that went forward.
Democrats contended that members of the affirmative action committee had been stonewalled.
Various members of the party went on talk radio and participated in a press conference to push back on leaders’ actions.
Lewis expressed disappointment with last week’s actions and the followup today.
“I think there are several problematic aspects to her response,” he said.
Lewis objected to how little participation was allowed at last week’s meeting. And, as a leader of the affirmative action committee, he said it’s news to him that there’s been any previously-established affirmative action program.
“This is, to the extent of my knowledge, the first time an actual affirmative action committee has been seated as a member of the executive committee of the Democratic Party since its inception,” he said. “So the response was, somewhat, filled with misnomers and misinformation about how things have been handled thus far.”
Lewis, who has served as a Kanawha County magistrate, said an apology would only go so far. He wants concrete steps to involve affirmative action members.
“While apologies are great, we would be more adept to hear some actionable items that we are actually a valued member of this committee and not just a box to be checked,” he said.
The affirmative action issue developed from reform efforts stretching back two years by Democrat Selina Vickers. She and state party leaders reached agreement on a memorandum of understanding, and establishing an affirmative action plan is an aspect of that.
A change to party bylaws on March 15 allowed two months — until May 15 — to get in line with the national charter. The affirmative action plan was a key component of doing so. State party leaders asked for an extension on that aspect, and the Democratic National Committee allowed that until June 4, which was Friday.
The affirmative action committee met for the first time last week. Members never weighed in on an affirmative action plan. Instead, what was adopted was a plan produced by party leadership.
On Thursday night, Biafore described the deadline to submit the affirmative action plan and emphasized that it was a draft. She acknowledged the affirmative action committee was just being formed and described it as customary for the executive committee to come up with a first draft.
Vickers continues to say party leadership isn’t measuring up.
“Word and Actions. Actions are what matters. The lack of commitment to inclusivity was very clear Thursday night,” Vickers said today.
“The agenda was altered to exclude Black, Asian, Latin, Youth and Disabled representatives, that were supposed to be voted onto the Executive Committee at the beginning of the meeting. This kept them from participating in a discussion about the AA Plan that they had already soundly rejected. They were literally kicked out of the meeting. That is certainly not commitment to diversity.”
Vickers looked ahead to a June 15 hearing scheduled before the Democratic National Committee’s credentials committee.
“I look forward to seeing Biafore explain her disrespectful treatment of diversity members and her blatant refusal to abide by the newly adopted Bylaws at the hearing scheduled before the DNC Credentials Committee on June 15th. That committee has the authority to remove Biafore, Rod Snyder, Patrick Maroney and Elaine Harris, as members of the DNC and order new elections.
“In my opinion, based on the facts and the actions that are before them, they would have to do procedural back flips to justify and condone the actions of Biafore.”