This is not surprising, as in people don't last forever in these positions, but Ian Carleton leaves the Democratic Party helm at a time when it does not have an executive director either.
In an e-mail slugged "time to move on," he announces he's moving on, listing accomplishments of the party. Missing, as one might expect, is any mention of the 2008 gubernatorial race.
After three rich and exciting years of serving as Chair of the Vermont
Democratic Party, it is time for me to move on. As of this Saturday, I
wish to resign from my position as State Chair. Our able Vice Chair Judy
Bevans, with whom I have already discussed this decision, has graciously agreed
to serve as acting Chair until such time as the Party wishes to hold a special
election for Chair (see Article XX of the VDP Bylaws), or until this November
when the Party is statutorily required to undergo complete
reorganization.
Looking back over the last three years I am struck by the array of changes, accomplishments and milestones this Party has experienced. Here are a few that come to mind as I write this morning:
For the first time in decades the Party undertook, and
completed, a comprehensive, multi-phase revision of its Bylaws.
We vastly increased representation on the Party’s Executive Committee by tripling
its size and creating specific positions for representatives from all across the
democratic spectrum.
We expanded and standardized our endorsement
policy so that the Party was empowered to reach beyond its own membership to
support candidates of any political persuasion if the circumstances warranted
such support.
Then we promptly used our newly expanded
endorsement authority to discuss, debate, and ultimately embrace the successful
candidacy of Independent Bernie Sanders for U.S. Senate, in the process
defrosting nearly two decades of unnecessary and unproductive political
tension.
We hired our first female Executive Director ever, Jill Krowinski.
In 2006 we had one of the most successful elections in
Vermont political history, obtaining unprecedented majorities in the State House
and Senate, sending Peter Welch to Congress, Bernie Sanders to the U.S. Senate,
and obtaining four of Vermont’s six statewide constitutional offices.
With the help of Howard Dean’s 50-State Strategy, we tripled the Party’s staff, moved into new offices, and vastly increased our organization’s ability to organize the grassroots, communicate with activists, and help our candidates win office.
And finally, in the 2008 presidential election we not only led the charge by being the first state in the nation to be declared for Obama, but we also reached beyond our own borders to deliver victory in other states by making over 100,000 get-out-the-vote calls to Florida and Pennsylvania and knocking on 35,000 doors in New Hampshire.
- Terri Hallenbeck
