A panel from the Democratic National Committee unanimously rejected an election challenge to party leaders in West Virginia today, while at the same time several county organizations have taken no confidence votes on state Chairwoman Belinda Biafore.
Both are tremors in the ongoing conflict over whether Biafore has properly cultivated meaningful participation in party activities, including by traditionally underrepresented groups.
“Is there more to do? Absolutely,” Biafore acknowledged today during a hearing before the DNC’s credentials committee. “I want this party better and more representative of all West Virginians.”
Party divisions over Biafore’s leadership broke loose during a raucous, livestreamed June 3 meeting to adopt an affirmative action plan. Members of the new affirmative action committee concluded they were being cut out while, up against a deadline, the party adopted a boilerplate plan to send to the national party.
This week, the Wood, Monongalia and Greenbrier county Democratic executive committees have voted no confidence in Biafore, pushing for leadership changes.
Today’s hearing of the DNC’s credentials committee is related to all that but also broader. And today’s hearing isn’t a direct result of the June 3 affirmative action meeting. It was already scheduled. It’s more like the affirmative action committee meeting was part of the lead-up to the credentials hearing.
Democratic Party activist Selina Vickers has been challenging the state party on a variety of matters for a couple of years.
“Regardless of what happens here today, we have already won,” Vickers told the DNC’s credentials committee today. “Three counties have called for the resignation of chair Biafore just in the last week.”
Today’s DNC hearing was the culmination of challenges on whether the election of Biafore and three other current state party leaders was properly noticed last year or whether party members were informed passively.
And the credentials hearing focused on whether West Virginia has been properly living up to national expectations on affirmative action issues.
“I have always been transparent, reachable, and I have never denied anyone involvement in party relations,” Biafore told the credentials committee.
Biafore began serving as Democratic Party chairwoman in 2016. She was re-elected last July. Also elected were vice chairman Rod Snyder plus Elaine Harris and Pat Maroney as DNC national committee members.
Biafore, Snyder, Harris and Maroney were unopposed, which DNC credentials committee members described as a key factor in their decision.
“This is a challenge to the unanimous elections of four DNC members,” Biafore said. “No one ran against us.”
Vickers and others contended that notification of the election — including location, format and positions open — was weak sauce.
Vickers pointed toward one newspaper advertisement and emails that remained a mystery about who received them. Displaying the newspaper ad on a slide, Vickers was incredulous. “Hardly less information could have been provided. It doesn’t even provide where to attend. This notice cannot be called adequate and effective notice.”
Minimal elaboration of the election meant minimal challenge to the current leadership, Vickers said.
“If no one knows about those meetings and you only find out about it with five days notice, would any of you run for chair of the party?” she asked. “It is incomprehensible to think anybody would even have a chance at that.”
Biafore described a multi-pronged notification effort. Because that election was conducted via livestreaming, she said, more people participated than usual.
The other issue was state party efforts toward diversity.
Vickers contended West Virginia’s party has had an inadequate affirmative action program for years, out of line with DNC guidance.
Biafore described a series of annual diversity efforts and pointed toward the inclusion of diversity guidance in the delegate selection plans to the national convention.
“I won’t deny that our party is less diverse than what we would like,” she said. “Our party has engaged in numerous outreach programs.”
Leah Daughtry, long associated with the Democratic National Committee, was asked for guidance about whether West Virginia had been in compliance on affirmative action.
Daughtry described a lot of latitude for state party leadership. But she said what is monitored closely is state submissions as part of their delegate selection plan to the national convention.
“We allowed state parties to implement affirmative action programs in the manner they see fit. We do not require state parties to do this in any particular way,” she said.
After some back-and-forth, DNC member Rick Wade introduced an already-produced resolution backing Biafore. All members of the credentials committee voted for it, with some commenting that West Virginia’s party really does need to improve its diversity efforts.
“I’m disappointed by what I’ve heard today,” said DNC member Michael Kapp of California, who voted to clear Biafore anyway. “I encourage these diversity and inclusivity efforts to continue in a collaborative and welcoming manner. I believe you have a special responsibility to bridge these gaps that we’ve seen before us here today.”
Meanwhile, back home, statements against Biafore’s leadership continued.
The most recent came from Greenbrier County, where the local Democratic committee issued a vote of no confidence. In a statement, the Greenbrier committee cited the recent affirmative action dispute but said this situation has been building.
“This follows years of decline of the Democratic Party under her leadership, taking us from us super majority to a super minority in our state. Support for our county Democrats has been non-existent, resulting in the disastrous loss of numerous state and local offices in the 2020 election,” stated chairman Paul Detch on behalf of the Greenbrier committee.
“Statewide assistance for promoting candidates, voter registration, and get out the vote projects has been left entirely to local clubs and organizations, with no strategy or planning from our state office. These losses have stalled and lead to the reversal of legislation meant to help the people of this state.”
Monongalia, another of the three counties calling on Biafore to step down, offered similar reasoning.
Shane Assadzandi, chairman of the Monongalia Democrats, called for “a change of leadership at the very top.” He described broad dissatisfaction coming to a head with the June 3 executive committee meeting. “It was an absolute disaster,” he said on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
He added, “I think the bigger story here is this was a referendum on the failure of the West Virginia Democratic Party leadership to perform basic functions.”
Shane Assadzandi, Chair of the Monongalia County Democratic Executive Committee, talks with @HoppyKercheval about the vote of no confidence for Belinda Biafore. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/echzAJXzON
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) June 15, 2021