Berendt Reelected as State Party Chair
Paul Berendt, the leader of the state Democratic Party since 1995, has been reelected to another term.
Berendt won 100 of the 169 votes cast Saturday, said Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirstin Brost. King County Chairman Gary Rodriguez followed with 44, while Snohomish County activist Bill Phillips had 18 and Kat Overman, former Snohomish County chairwoman, had eight.
Berendt was strongly backed by Christine Gregoire and the Thurston County delegation. While Berendt is a good fundraiser and seems to have done a good job supporting Democratic Party candidates, he needs to do a better job with public affairs. In fact, the entire Democratic Party needs to do a much better job of defending itself and its candidates.
As long as the Republicans are out there feeding the electorate misinformation and the Democrats are not loudly refuting it, people are going to buy it. We need to give people another perspective and not allow the GOP to drown out the truth - because they will. Republicans have shown they will say whatever it takes to win the battle of public opinion.
So Democrats need to fight back with a powerful and unified message. And Paul Berendt must make sure this becomes a very important priority for the party. Otherwise, there may very well be consequences in two years. A US Senate seat and the state Legislature are at stake.
Berendt won 100 of the 169 votes cast Saturday, said Democratic Party spokeswoman Kirstin Brost. King County Chairman Gary Rodriguez followed with 44, while Snohomish County activist Bill Phillips had 18 and Kat Overman, former Snohomish County chairwoman, had eight.
Berendt was strongly backed by Christine Gregoire and the Thurston County delegation. While Berendt is a good fundraiser and seems to have done a good job supporting Democratic Party candidates, he needs to do a better job with public affairs. In fact, the entire Democratic Party needs to do a much better job of defending itself and its candidates.
As long as the Republicans are out there feeding the electorate misinformation and the Democrats are not loudly refuting it, people are going to buy it. We need to give people another perspective and not allow the GOP to drown out the truth - because they will. Republicans have shown they will say whatever it takes to win the battle of public opinion.
So Democrats need to fight back with a powerful and unified message. And Paul Berendt must make sure this becomes a very important priority for the party. Otherwise, there may very well be consequences in two years. A US Senate seat and the state Legislature are at stake.
