Attention Convention Delegates Re Death Penalty Resolution

04/19/09

Dear Convention Delegate

Over the past 20 years, four or five resolutions have passed in favor of eliminating the death penalty in California. The normal progress of issues is from Resolutions, to Platform, to Legislative action. Nonetheless, this specific class of resolutions has consistently died after passage.

For many years we have tried to get opposition to the death penalty into the CDP platform, reflecting the stated position of a long string of conventions, but have been stymied at every turn.

I understand that there are those who still support the death penalty, but it is the opinion of many, including many law enforcement and legal professionals, that the punishment fails on all counts. It does not deter crime. As many relatives of victims oppose the death penalty as support it, putting in question the subject of “closure”, particularly when almost all discussion of :closure” is in terms of revenge. It costs the state and local governments millions of dollars a year that other remedies do not incur. To many it is morally repugnant to have the government kill anyone except as a last resort in defense of everyone.

A poll was taken at the 2007 convention which showed overwhelming support for abolition of the death penalty. A subsequent poll was taken by email to all delegates, which again showed support for abolition by a huge majority.

Most recently a resolution was presented at the November Eboard meeting, but due to a change in the rules, it arrived two days late, and was not scheduled. The discussion of the resolution in committee was stopped by a committee member’s veto. At that meeting the resolution was accepted for discussion at the 2009 convention. A promised vote on the resolution within the Platform Committee at that Eboard meeting was reduced to a ‘discussion” of the issue outside of the formal structure of the committee.

Subsequently, a revised resolution was timely submitted to the committee earlier this year with a partial list of signatories. We have continued to collect signatures and the support of many party organizations around the state. Many of those organizations forwarded our resolution to the committee over their endorsing signature.

On Saturday morning, over two months after the submission of our revised resolution, we were informed that the committee had developed a “consolidated” resolution. Their version mostly questions the costs, but supports only a continuation of a moratorium (there is no real moratorium) and supports as a choice, “the option of retaining the current system”. We were told “there will be no separate discussion or action on your resolution” and gave us three days to respond with our concurrence or we would not be included as “co-sponsors” of the committee’s resolution. We chose not to be included, as this “consolidated” resolution merely “consolidates” the position of the inner circle of the party, and does not reflect the clearly stated wishes of the body of delegates. The entire message from the Resolutions Committee is included at the end of this email.

This “consolidated” resolution does not mention abolition of the death penalty at all, thus it “consolidates” by eliminating the essence of the resolution. It cites as its foundation a 31-year-old survey of all Californians on the death penalty, and ignores the two surveys of California Democratic Party delegates taken in the past 12 months.

We who oppose the death penalty understand the reluctance of professional politicians and their supporters to take on any contentious issue. We believe that in this case they at last have no choice as the will of the party has been expressed time and again. We respectfully disagree with all who support continuation of this penalty.

The committee has stated that our resolution is improper because it calls for a change in the CDP Platform. We believe that we have accommodated that rule properly by calling for inclusion of abolition in the 2010 Platform, not the current one. We accept the rule that the current platform cannot be changed. We wish to mandate, once and for all in this resolution that the stated will of the party rank and file be included in the next platform Unless we include this, this resolution will disappear, passed or not, as have all of the others before it.

It is my intent to take this issue to the Committee, and if necessary, to the floor of the convention. I will need your support and your signature to make this happen. We will be collecting signatures in the lobby of the convention center. The Resolutions committee has been re-scheduled to meet during the Regional Director’s elections. We will try to surmount this obstacle, and request maximum attendance at the Resolutions Committee meeting. We also request maximum attendance at the Sunday General Session to support our original resolution.

Bob Handy
Regional Director, Region 10