D.C. Party Is Resistant To Audacity Of Change

By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 15, 2008; B01

Like thousands of young Barack Obama supporters, Kahlill Palmer has poured his soul into the politics of change.

He's volunteered at the polls, taken road trips to knock on doors, and done his part to help build those big rallies.

Now Palmer, a 30-year-old lawyer from Northwest Washington, is ready for the next step: his own run for elected office. Palmer and a dozen friends from the volunteer group D.C. For Obama are part of a slate bidding for seats on the D.C. Democratic State Committee. They are touting ideas and experience from the national campaign that they say can energize and grow the local party apparatus, whether it's using the Internet to organize or broadcasting meetings to boost visibility.

And they're getting their heads knocked hard against the wall of political reality.

Their idealism and enthusiasm have crashed into a formidable opposing force: the local Democratic Party, with its internecine rivalries and territorial squabbles. The District, after all, is that proverbial "small-town big city," where everyone knows everyone and insiders aggressively control tiny fiefdoms.

These insiders have called the newcomers Johnny-come-latelies who don't know the city and haven't paid their dues. The old guard is intent on keeping them at bay.

Four of the newcomers, including Palmer, have had their nominating petitions challenged at the Board of Elections and Ethics by rivals hoping to keep them off the ballot. Two others from Palmer's slate were denied seats on the city's delegation to the Democratic National Convention, after losing votes against longtime D.C. politicos. And several more newbies said they were told by longtime party leaders that they should wait their turn and drop out of the race.

"I did not even have a moment to relish that I was a candidate," said Palmer, whose petition was challenged by 77-year-old incumbent Horace Kreitzman. "I'm sensing some resistance and hesitation for people to embrace change."

Kreitzman says he respects Palmer and the others for their work on Obama's campaign but wonders how much they understand about the District.

"They're very active and very sincere folks, but some of the people I talked with didn't even know what precinct they vote in," Kreitzman said. "All of a sudden they're active? Good, I'm glad. But some might say they should not start at the top."

A similar dynamic is taking place in pockets of other cities, as first-time candidates, inspired by Obama, try to make inroads in a party long-controlled by those with ties to his Democratic primary rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and her husband, Bill.

In New York, for example, Paul Newell, 33, has challenged powerful New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, 64, who supported Clinton. Newell's campaign manager, Evan Hutchinson, said Silver has been backed by the establishment, with its money and endorsements, so Newell will rely on a network of Obama volunteers who helped him get on the ballot.

"We will be able to mobilize aspects of the Obama team," Hutchinson said. "What it's going to take is face-to-face contact on a grass-roots level."

That's something Jehan Gordon, 26, a candidate for Illinois state representative out of Peoria, knows a lot about. In the Democratic primary in the spring, Gordon, a graduate of Obama's leadership camp, eked out a victory over Allen Mayer, Peoria's party secretary, in a campaign that turned nasty.

Though Gordon had initially been recruited by local party leaders, Mayer jumped in against her when the Republican incumbent dropped out to seek higher office. "It's something that was an obvious distinction that people tried to draw," Gordon said of her youth and inexperience. But, she added, her grass-roots organizing efforts "overpowered this whole age thing."

In Virginia and Maryland, newcomers are entering the party in strong numbers, but party leaders have said they're generally being welcomed and counted on to turn out the vote, particularly in the commonwealth, a battleground state in the general election.

Kahlill Palmer and his friends from D.C. For Obama hope to capitalize on their grass-root experience as Gordon has done in Peoria.

The D.C. Democratic State Committee, with 79 elected members, is responsible for growing the party through voter outreach and registration, lobbying for D.C. voting rights in Congress and selecting delegates for the national convention every four years. But the group has struggled to remain relevant in a city where 90 percent of the electorate is Democratic and there is no rival party to reckon with.

Palmer and his colleagues talk of turning the organization into a more activist group, including road trips to other states to help on Democratic campaigns and using technology to improve outreach to younger party members. They envision streaming video of state committee meetings on the Web so people can watch from home, as a way to increase interest.

"There needs to be more people with creative minds, more youth and more people brought into the party," said Kim Morton, 31, head of D.C. For Obama, who grew up in St. Louis and has lived in the District less than a year. She helped recruit Palmer for the slate, which is called Obama4UnityBeatsMcCain.

"It seems like everybody on the state committee has been there for years," Morton said.

Almost as soon as the new slate was formed -- it has 48 members -- the backlash began. Rival slates were formed with current insiders. At a state committee meeting in the spring, two newcomers, Miriam Sapiro and Linda Nguyen, lost in their bid for seats to this month's convention, falling to D.C. Council members Harry Thomas (Ward 5) and Yvette Alexander (Ward 7).

Tom Smith, 55, head of the Ward 3 Democrats in Northwest who initially supported Clinton but now backs Obama, has spoken out against Palmer's slate and endorsed a rival. At a recent gathering of about 15 ward party leaders at his house, over champagne and hors d'oeuvres, Smith gave a toast thanking his colleagues for their hard work, then added that he was disappointed about the growing divide inside the party.

"I don't know these folks," Smith said in an interview. "I've heard many stories about the wonderful work they did in the Obama campaign outside the city. But if you want to represent ward Democratic voters on the state committee you have the responsibility to be engaged on the grass-roots political process on the ward level."

Jocelyn Nieva, a member of the new slate, said the ward structure is old-fashioned: "It's not activism; it's just a bunch of meetings."

Some party leaders have also questioned the newcomers' sincerity, casting them as pawns in a master plan hatched by other old guard members to overthrow Democratic Party Chairman Anita Bonds, 63, and replace her with Jeffrey Richardson, 30, a lawyer. In fact, the Obama4UnityBeatsMcCain slate includes two dozen party stalwarts, among them former D.C. Council member Arrington Dixon, 65, and activist Philip Pannell, 57.

Bonds, who counts among her achievements retiring $45,000 of state committee debt and relaunching the annual Kennedy-King banquet, has created her own slate called Obama For Change, composed of nine older activists. Bonds worked in city government and served as Ward 5 party leader before taking over the committee two years ago, and said the newcomers should concentrate on ward issues.

"It's not about paying dues," Bonds said. "It's about staying committed."

So far, the newcomers remain determined -- and on the ballot. Kreitzman withdrew his petition challenge of Palmer, but three others -- Nieva, 48, law professor Frank Wu, 40, and Obama volunteer Shana Mosher, 30 -- successfully defended their petitions against challenges.

"I saw e-mails go back and forth with people saying, 'Who are these people? We don't know them. They're too young, they're not involved, it's not their time,' " Mosher said. "That almost motivates me more. I have friends who are among the new crop of younger voters. I do not think what is in place now represents those of us looking to get more involved."

An incident this week speaks to the recent tensions. During a candidates forum, Nieva was hit in the face by a rival gesturing to make a point. Nieva said yesterday it was an accident, but her supporters say it looked as if she had been punched.