As many of you now know, Don Bivens is the heir-apparent for the
Democratic Party Chairmanship as David Waid steps down to pursue other
opportunities. Don is a commercial litigator who recently sold his
boutique law firm to Snell and Wilmer and decided to get re-involved as
an active member of the Party.
As a younger man, Don was active
in the ill-fated 1980 primary challenge of sitting President Carter by
Edward Kennedy and was the head of the Young Democrats in Arizona. In
May, when David had made his decision to step down, he was approached
by Fred Duval about the possibility of taking a leadership role in the
Arizona party. Don laid out a few conditions, which included
fund-raising commitments from some principal office-holders, and buy-in
from members of the State Committee. Well, Don had his demands met, and
it looks like many key party officers are ready to lend him their
support. The main question that remains in the succession is whether
the grassroots will accept Don.
Don has been traveling
extensively in the ‘out’ counties trying to address concerns about the
process by which he seems to have been anointed to head the party. I’ve
heard rumblings of several candidates who might challenge for the
Chairmanship at the State Committee meeting on August 11th, some of
whom I would seriously consider supporting myself, and the most frequent issue I’ve heard is the seeming illegitimacy of the selection process for Waid’s replacement (not to mention more than a little annoyance that the rumors from the time of Waid’s election that he didn’t intend to serve the full two-year term seem to have been proven true). Don says that while
he seems to be the poster boy for a broken process, he doesn’t take
responsibility for that process. He thinks that rather than having a
relatively unknown quantity, like himself, sprung upon people, in the
future we should seriously consider having a chair-elect already
waiting to take over in a leadership change like this. Other state-wide
volunteer organizations ensure continuity of leadership in this way,
the Democratic party in Arizona ought to consider similar measures that
reflect the importance of continuity and unity in the Party’s on-going
operations.
My own impression of Don is that he’s a smart
businessman who has some solid ideas about how to take the Party’s
fundraising efforts from Sugardaddyism and dependence on the list of
donors Don calls our ‘yellow leaves’ (referring to the antiqued pages
on which the donor base is recorded), to a new generation of affluent
donors who haven’t been actively courted as yet, and to systematic
programs for small-dollar donations. His focus seems to be on creating a viable and permanent financial structure on which to build a
majority party in Arizona.
I also heard Don address a diverse
range of progressive policy issues in a very open-minded and
sympathetic manner. But what fool wouldn’t at this point? Don does have
some notches in his belt that indicate his sincerity on some of these
issues, however. He has done some pro bono work on voter’s rights in
his practice, and he seems committed to the idea of strongly pursuing
an election integrity agenda not just as a Democratic issue, but as a
vocally bi-partisan issue. Of course, the Chairman of the party has a fairly
limited policymaking role, but he can make it harder or easier for
activists by lending support and resources to their efforts or
withholding them. Putting more resources into providing tools for
grassroots organization, such as putting the Blue Book of PCs and Party
Officers back online and providing workgroup tools on the State
servers, and new technology programs at the local level, such as
predictive dialers and teleconferencing equipment, also seemed to be
projects that Don says he considers important.
They say that
clothes make the man. If that’s so, I’m not sure what that says about
Don. Last night when I met him, he was wearing a bright orange power
tie with a tiny pattern. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the
pattern was hundreds of tiny baby seals and bunny rabbits. Make of that
what you will…
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People who are criticizing the process do not realize that we have a Democratic Governor and the Governor is the titular head of the party in Arizona. She has selected Bivens. The elected congresspersons who have a lot to loose if they don’t have a solid and supportive chair have endorsed Bivens. If we want a different system, we can amend the by-laws to provide for a system of succession. Once he was announced as the heir apparent, he immediately began making himself available to the Democrats in the party. He came to the LD 26 meeting and submitted himself to questioning. He was cheerful and forthcoming. He came to the Sonoita Monsoon party and was surrounded with Democratic party functionaries. The conversation was animated and everyone seemed to find it useful. He met with all the elected Democrats on Monday last, drove to Green Valley to meet with concerned Dems (actually, all Dems are concerned as a condition of existence about just about everything and all the time) and in the evening came to Pima county headquarters and made himself available to answer questions. Clearly, he is willing to work hard at the job and wants to work with all of us. Do I think we will agree all the time? NO. Do I think he will be conscientious about his responsibility to the party? Yes. Do I think he has the experience to do the job? Well, if he has had a position working with a large congregation in the Maricopa area and been head of the AZ bar (not the one at the Shanty), I think he can be the chair of the Arizona Democratic Party.
There has been some dissatisfaction with the selection process – so, amend the by-laws. As far as I’m concerned, I have the sense he will do a good job.