Polygon, the Dancing Bear

Occasional notes on politics, history, technology, architecture,
and the life of a county clerk

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Current entries

Wednesday, July 28, 2004, 9:02 am

All In The Family? As part of building my web site, PoliticalGraveyard.com, I've been incorporating delegate lists from past Democratic and Republican national conventions into my database. At last count, I had more than 55,000 delegates listed.

The 2004 Democratic delegate list is now online at the convention's official web site. The most striking aspect of this new list, compared with past conventions, is the much greater number of delegates who appear to be related to one another. Same surname, same hometown, same candidate preference, hmmm.

Just a small piece of the list, up through Colorado:

Alabama:
- Maudie Bedford and Roger Bedford, of Russellville, AL
- Beatrice Brooks and Bernest Brooks, of Enterprise, AL
- Artur Davis and Carolyn Davis, of Birmingham, AL
- Tyna Davis and Warren Davis, of Montgomery, AL
- Grover Dunn and Priscilla Dunn, of Bessemer, AL
- Jim Folsom and Marsha Folsom, of Cullman, AL
Alaska:
- Carol Anderson and Willie Anderson, of Juneau, AK
Arizona:
- George Miller and Roslyn Miller, of Tucson, AZ
- Ed Pastor and Laura Pastor, of Phoenix, AZ
- Carmen Prezelski and Theodore Prezelski, of Tucson, AZ
- Evangeline Rios and Joe Rios, of Kearny, AZ
- Ash Silverburg and Barbara Silverburg, of Tucson, AZ
- Karl Tucker and Sue Tucker, of Tucson, AZ
California:
- Floyd Allen and Maureen Allen, of Norwalk, CA
- Eugene Benavides and Vida Benavides, of San Leandro, CA
- Caren Bolinger and Robert Bolinger, of Westminster, CA
- Dean Florez, Elsa Florez, and Fran Florez, of Shafter CA
- Maggie Florez, Nina Florez, and Rudy Florez, of Visalia CA
- Erika Girardi and Thomas Girardi, of Pasadena CA
- Carl Henley and Cynthia Marroquin-Henley, of Los Angeles, CA
- Bradley Johnson and Nicole Johnson, of West Covina CA
- Greg Morgan and Kathleen Morgan, of Palmdale, CA
- Christine Pelosi and Nancy Pelosi, of Washington, DC
- Carmen Stone and Lawrence Stone, of Sunnyvale, CA
- Antonio Villaraigosa and Corina Villaraigosa, of Los Angeles, CA
- Fabian Wesson and Herb Wesson, of Los Angeles, CA
- Ernest Winslow and Laura Winslow, of Lafayette, CA
- Barbara Yaroslavsky and Zev Yaroslavsky, of Los Angeles, CA
- Betty Yee and Leland Yee, of San Francisco, CA
Colorado:
- Josie Heath and Rollie Heath, of Boulder, CO
- Bill Moore and Patricia Moore, of Westminster, CO
- Alexis Perlmutter and Ed Perlmutter, of Golden, CO

There is certainly nothing new about husbands and wives (or fathers and sons, or whatever) serving as party convention delegates. And indeed, it should be no surprise that people in political families are involved in politics.

Nonetheless, there are now so many related delegates that it is getting worrisome. It begins to suggest either a shortage in the pool of potential delegates, or a delegate selection process so open to manipulation by insiders that it's easy for a politico to get voting credentials for family members.

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum — Comments

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