[Mpls] A Hero at the DFL Convention

[Shawne FitzGerald]

My hero at the DFL Convention was Pati Jurewicz, chair of the Ad Hoc 
Resolutions Committee.  The Resolutions Committee was only formally 
organized by the DFL in early May.  By that time, paper copies of 
resolutions passed at caucuses and conventions were mislaid.  Pati, with 
help of Brian Melendez, sent out email alerts and managed to get copies 
of 15 resolutions.  The Resolutions Committee met at her house days 
before the convention and abbreviated the text to the resolutions ballot 
that DFLers saw at the convention.

The undercount of delegates at the convention meant that there was a 
shortage of resolutions ballots (Pati ran to the Augsburg copy center 
and got more) and that turning in the ballots was delayed from noon to 2 
p.m.  Finally, something like 1225 delegates turned in resolutions ballots.

Then came the big blow:  the DFL had said the convention tellers would 
count the resolutions ballots but no one informed the tellers.  They 
refused.  There was no space - not a table nor a chair - to seat 
volunteers to count resolutions ballots.  Undaunted, Pati started 
organizing.  Razzle-dazzle organizing.

She and a small committee sat on a hallway floor and counted the 
physical ballots into piles of 50.  Then, they created a hand tabulation 
form - all copies handwritten on a yellow legal tablet.  Pati recruited 
volunteers from those staffing tables in the basement, many 9th Ward 
delegates seated near her, and a few other volunteers to tabulate the 
resolutions ballots in  piles of 50.  The math was 1225 x 15 questions 
for a yes or no vote plus 1225 x 15 questions on a vote to debate the 
resolution.  It was a huge job of manual tabulation!

Pati, who never missed a candidate ballot on the convention floor, and 
her volunteers got the tabulation done in time to present a Resolutions 
Committee report at the Convention.  Hats off to all - especially to 
Pati!   I was on the Resolutions Committee and one of Pati's part-time 
convention volunteers and it was an honor to serve with her.  Pati is a 
relative newcomer to the DFL and I sincerely hope to serve with you 
again, Pati.

A special thanks to Edna Brazatis who was a volunteer at the progressive 
parks people table.  Edna lent her laptop to the Resolutions Committee 
unquestioningly and without that computer, Resolutions could never have 
tabulated all the tally sheets during the DFL convention.

Since the Resolutions process was not clear in this round of city-only 
precinct caucuses and conventions, the Resolutions Committee report can 
only be judged for what it is - a poll of 1225 DFL activists taken at a 
stressful city convention on 15 resolutions.  I'll leave it to the DFL 
and the Chair of the Resolutions Committee to post the results of that 
poll.  But I do want to say thanks to all who stood up for issues, for 
their own or just to have them included,  in the new city-only DFL City 
caucus and convention process.  With very special thanks to Pati Jurewicz.

Sincerely,
Shawne FitzGerald
Powderhorn


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