Thursday, April 9, 2009

What Does ACDC Stand For?

I can't see "ACDC" without thinking Malcolm and Angus, but a post at Progress Pittsburgh suggests I should try harder to recall that ACDC also is the acronym for the Allegheny County Democratic Committee.
Committeegrrl recounts the rule obligating committee members to support endorsed candidates (and to refrain from working against endorsed candidates); mentions some history of party discipline and waning party influence; curiously omits the recent consideration of the issue at a recent ACDC bylaws convention; and wonders whether several committee members (identified by name, including one whose name rhymes with fluke) will be called to account for openly supporting Anthony Coghill at the expense of endorsed candidate (and apparent beneficiary of at least one fraudulent vote by an imposter) Patrick Reilly.
[Note to ACDC: Public and serious consequences for those who sought to defraud the committee (and public) by blatant use of an imposter in an endorsement vote is overdue.]
Committeegrrl raises some worthwhile points. The party has nominated enough losers (literally and figuratively) to populate several Pirates rosters. The misguided city committee, one of the entities most responsible for Pittsburgh's dysfunction, continues to possess disproportionate influence. Some of the region's most promising elected officials, including Bruce Kraus and Patrick Dowd, won without the committee's endorsement. The committee has endorsed a number of unqualified judicial candidates, and outdid its customary level of disgrace this spring when several substandard candidates (including one who concluded that four years of mediocre law practice was adequate preparation for the bench) outpolled Phil Ignelzi, one of the best candidates willing to run the ACDC endorsement gauntlet in decades.
Rumors contemplate that discontent among sentient committee members with respect to the recent judicial endorsements is so severe that many members intend to flout the endorsement, and that some committee chairs are pressing for a declaration of an open primary.
Unless committee leaders address longstanding problems and acute embarrassments, committeegrrl's warning about waning relevance could be prescient. As the ACDC ossifies and the region declines, many Democrats -- including some of the best committee members -- are exhibiting disdain for the county committee's judgments and practices.
ACDC: A Critical Debate Coming?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm a big Ignelzi fan...so thanks for recognizing that the ACDC was ridiculous in not endorsing him!