Democratic Party Airs More Dirty Laundry

The ongoing public feud with the Champaign County Democratic Party has continued to be pushed into the public by its own leadership for months now. From the Party Chair, Maryam Ar-Raheem denouncing the racism of her party at a recorded Champaign County Board meeting to endless public fights over appointments at public meetings and forums. The County Board Chairman Giraldo Rosales clarified on his campaign website recently that he wasn't invoking Goebbels as an attack on fellow Democrats after warning fellow Democrats against using propaganda tactics.

The recent candidate forums involving the Champaign County Democrats have involved comparisons of other Democrats with the tribalism of Cuban communists and accusations of Democratic Party cliques against diversity. Now those same accusations have been made by the Party Chair in emails sent to Democrats and Republicans on the County Board and since made public.

Again the accusations appear to suggest more coordination against diversity in Democratic leadership positions. The County Board Chairman, the Party Chair, and surrogates continue to accuse other members of the Democratic Party as being a part of the effort along with "predominantly white" young progressive groups, while including African-American members, a Latina member, women and Members of Color.

In the recent emails, the Party Chair accused the African-American Champaign County Clerk of acting in a way that could be seen as supporting one side of the feud against the Chairman Rosales and his appointments:

Dear County Clerk,

I am incredulous that the gross errors listed below appear on the County Clerk website.

1. Pranjal Vachaspati is still listed for County Board 9, although Cynthia Fears was sworn in to represent the district on January 23rd.

2. The term for Giraldo Rosales is listed a "12/2016 - 11/2022". His term ends 11/2020. Please be reminded that there are no six year terms on the County Board.

Fortunately, no county board member has publicly repeated the threats that Eric Thorsland made in response to the appointment of Connie Dillard-Myers, however, one could easily surmise that you may be using your office to show support for the acrimony of the County Board members who have targeted Chair Rosales and the persons he has appointed.

I am requesting that you expeditiously take action to correct the County Clerk website.

Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.


Maryam Ar-Raheem

The County Clerk responded by refusing to become part of what he deemed a "ridiculous feud" and pointed out that the County Party's website contained some of the same errors and out of date information:

Madame Chair,

I am responding to your email now as a member of the local Democratic Party.

Below are screenshots of the Champaign County Democratic Party's website as of yesterday AFTER you sent the email.

You all but accused me of using my office to further the ridiculous feud that is happening within the local party. Your assertion is that by not replacing Pranjal's picture and information with Ms. Fears information and picture, that I was doing something nefarious. Yet the party's website, that YOU control, still has Pranjal as the Representative for CB9. Should "one surmise that you are using your position to show support for the acrimony of County Board members who have targeted Chair Rosales and the persons he has appointed?"

For the record, Ms. Dillard-Myers called me on MLK Day to raise her concern and it was addressed within a day or two. Not sure Ms. Dillard-Myers why you thought it was appropriate to chime in on the email thread with that information but since you did, were you seconding the motion of the Chair that I was doing something inappropriate, or did you just think it needed to be said to the entire county board for some reason? I sure hope you take a principled approach with Ms. Ar-Raheem and ask her to spell your name correctly on the County Party's website as well. You were appointed before Ms. Fears so there has been plenty of time to make that spelling correction don't you think?

Let me be Crystal Clear Madame Chair. I have nothing to do with any perceived threats, or any attacks on you, Giraldo, Ms. Fears, Ms. Dillard-Myers or any other Democrats on the County Board. Your baseless attack just highlights the paranoia you have operated under since being elected to your second term and that is something I cannot help you with.

Lastly, given that we are Democrats, I am incredulous that you would send what is meant to disparage my character and ability to run my office, to the Republicans who are still reeling from losing to me and looking for every opportunity to tear me down. Maybe it was your intent for them to use your lies to hurt me... be advised, NO weapon formed against me shall prosper!

Connie Dillard-Myers added a reply riddled with misspellings, errors, and frequent ALL CAPS to repeatedly demand the County Clerk "proof, reproof, and then proof it again" in order to be a professional person such as herself. As much as that may sound like a biased description, the exact text with errors left as they appear will show it to be accurate:

COUNTY CLERK Aaron Ammons - I CHIMED IN BECAUSE IT WAS ME WHO.POINTED OUT THE ERROR IN MY NAME ON YOUR OFFICIAL WEB SITE to you and CCDChair Ar-Raheem. The initial error started on your office's official web site and spreaded from there. I can tell because one on the ELECTED OFFICIALS site was identical to the initial spelling on your site. So, this stems from your ERROR. Spoke with you that night. You changed the certificate, but fail to correct any other documents connected to you offices process because somehow it made to your website as the official spelling anyway. Why? It should have been corrected because I pointed this out before the processing of being added to the county county CLERK's official web site. This is so elementary because as professionals, we always proof and reproof your work, especially as an official governing body -- this is unacceptabl, escially since YOU are the county's record keeper. Should we be inspecting all your work? I hope this takes priority for office today and serve as a learning lesson. PROOF, REPROOF AND THEN PROOF IT AGAIN. Don't get mad. Get busy and do your job. Clean up your mess. Yall quick to criticize other but can not take it when its your turn.

Sincerely

Connie Dillard-Myers

Please note that there is only one "E" in my last name and its after the "Y"

Connie Dillard-Myers gives some weight in these emails to a couple sources that saw her appear to go after her primary opponent after the LWV Candidate Forum earlier this month. Her forum conclusions criticizing Democratic cliques and her clear disdain and frustration with other Democrats was on display there and she appears to be in alignment with the County Board Chairman and Party Chair in believing there is an organized racist effort against them. Apparently they believe this is being done even with the help of other Democratic Party members who are People of Color.

In elected offices, on the County Board, and other candidates, they have been suggesting that there is a coordinated effort against diversity in positions of power by other Democrats, even as they openly target a diverse range of Democratic Party members as being part of those efforts.


Preliminary Reaction:

A couple initial reactions from other County officials and candidates included County Board member Jim Goss:

Honestly I am more worried about our clerk and the upcoming election with new software that has not been adequately tested than I am about what I perceive as an inner party issue.  The issues at the county are larger than someone's name being misspelled.

Emily Rodriguez who is running in a primary race against the current County Board Chairman Giraldo Rosales said the emails made her cringe, but that she wasn't surprised:

In my experience, that is how old-guard Democrats like Rosales communicate with constituents. It’s one reason I’m in this race. If our most vulnerable neighbors weren’t paying the consequences, the chaos they cause would almost be comical.

On March 17, voters will decide what it means to be a Democrat in Champaign County. The progressive candidates running for Champaign County Board share a vision. We want to use the county board as a safety net for those that need it. We want to solve problems. We’re raising expectations. Every vote cast for a progressive candidate is a vote to revitalize the Democratic Party of Champaign County from the bottom-up.

Jennifer Straub, who is running in another primary race with one of the Chairman's appointees expressed confidence in the County Clerk's office:

I have total confidence in the ability of the County Clerk’s Office staff to remain neutral and professional in the way they conduct their work. 

Most of the other people involved in the email exchange or referenced in it did not respond to questions or opportunities to add their perspective.

Primary elections, by definition, involve infighting between competing interests within a party. In elections where the biggest coalition often wins, it also by that same virtue invites more competing interests to the table. Normally these battles are fought with some civility and decorum for the sake of winning in the general election. Rivalries, frustrations, and personal slights play out behind the scenes, just as with almost all human affairs. It never helps a party to hurt its overall image in the public square.