Letter to the Editor
February 28, 2018
RE: Article Entitled “Dolphin Dems Accused of ‘Rigging’ Their Endorsement.”
I am writing in reference to your article entitled “Dolphin Dems Accused of ‘Rigging’ Their Endorsement.” The reason Mr. Smith was not on the ballot for endorsement at the February meeting is because he did not comply with the endorsement process as stated in the bylaws and was therefore ineligible to be endorsed.
The Dolphin Democrats is undergoing major changes in its leadership and community involvement. Membership has more than doubled in the past year and new board members are actively engaged in rebuilding the organization. In November 2017 the Bylaws Committee met and completely reviewed the bylaws of the organization and proposed amendments to update them. The revised bylaws were submitted to the membership and voted on at the January 10, 2018 meeting.
One amendment says candidate endorsements are made for one race only and candidates seeking endorsements must request to be endorsed for each race separately. Primary, general and special elections are all separate races. All amendments were publicly available on the Dolphin Democrats’ webpage prior to the January 10th meeting. An announcement was made at that meeting that all candidates seeking endorsements for the upcoming Fort Lauderdale race in March had to submit their request by January 22, 2018 to be eligible for consideration at the February 21, 2018 meeting.
The bylaw amendments were approved by a 2/3 vote of the members attending the January 10th meeting. Mr. Smith voted for the bylaw amendments. Mr. Steven Glassman was the only candidate who correctly followed the bylaw endorsement process. Thus, Mr. Glassman was the only candidate eligible for the endorsement vote at the February 21st meeting.
Although Mr. Smith was not endorsed, his contributions to the organization and the LGBTA community should not be diminished. We wish Mr. Smith luck in his campaign and hope we may continue to receive his long-standing support in the future.
Thank you,
Scott Herman
President of the Dolphin Democrats