The former secretary and current chairman of the Independent Party of Delaware sounds more like a villain out of the Harry Potter series than a political official. But hey, as Jason has said, there is more comedy gold in this News Journal piece than just funny names. Namely, the way the party contacts its members and supporters. In 2004, the party held its nominating convention in a bar owned by their nominee, Frank Infante.
“We had about 14 people show up,” said Mike Dore, now a Democrat, who was the Independent Party’s nominee for lieutenant governor that year. “We paid about $350 to publish a small advertisement in The News Journal, inviting anyone who was a party member and giving notice of the convention. Each member who attended cast their own ballot. It was very open. That’s what we were about. It was built into our bylaws.”
This was in 2004, the age of telephones and e-mails. You mean to tell me that the Party does not have the email addresses and phone numbers of their active members. I mean, everytime I go to a party function, I routinely sign those sign-in/volunteer sheets and those often request your address, telephone number and email address. If you are committed party member, would you not provide that information to the party you so fervently support?
We also know via this article that the preferred candidate of the disgruntled Independent Party members is Floyd McDowell, who is 81 years old and undergoing cancer treatments. We know the party has no access to its website. We know the party has $24 in its coffers. We know Liz Allen writes emails full of grammatical errors. We know some party officials view our Chancery Court to be a “pee wee” court.
And we know that this current Independent Party is in no way a vehicle for reform and change, not when they blatantly disregard the laws of this state, but their own bylaws.