State Executive Committee Members,
I have met with our Executive Council via teleconference and am gratified by their strong support for my continued Chairmanship. They have consulted with our Party attorney and are clearly as satisfied as am I that there was no cover up and that the personnel matter was professionally and appropriately handled by the Party's attorney using the highest ethical standards.
This is to announce that there will be a meeting of the State Executive Committee in Raleigh on Sunday, June 17, 2012, the day after our State Convention, which I will Chair. At that SEC meeting we will, in addition to the conduct of regular business, hold elections for all Party office vacancies and hold a referendum on the State Party Chair, which I will not conduct. If there are multiple candidates for State Chair, we will have an election. If there is a single candidate, there will be an acclamation.
The meeting should be as energetic and spirited as when we gathered in Greensboro on January 28. Chairing that meeting and feeling your exuberance as we conducted the business of our Party mere days after our Governor decided not to run for re-election was absolutely wonderful.
I look forward to moving this Party forward from now until June 17. In the interim, we will be changing our personnel policies and searching for a new Executive Director.
I have every confidence that we will have an Executive Director (ED) on board by then. The ED Search Committee plus a member from Charlotte and another from the East is being formed now -- the Search Committee members that I have contacted are ready to serve.
The concerns of the Elected officials, while unfounded, challenge us to discern the leadership direction of this Party. The good of the Democratic Party must be my polar star to guide this ship into battle in the Fall. While we should focus on fighting the Republican philosophy that is turning our State back to the 1950's, we must focus for the moment on Party Unity. You may expect and demand the same strong, assertive leadership from me as you have had since you elected me in January of 2011. This Party belongs to all Democrats, both those who do the work and those who are elected to serve.
I look forward to District Conventions on May 19, the State Convention on June 16, 2012 in Raleigh where we will elect National, Delegates and adopt our Platform and to an invigorating SEC meeting on June 17, 2012 in Raleigh where we the Democrats will decide our direction as we go into the battles of the Fall.
This is our Party, our State and our future.
David Parker
Chairman, North Carolina Democratic Party