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DNC Responds To Lawsuit

Posted Sep 25, 2007 by William March

Updated Sep 25, 2007 at 10:55 AM

The Democratic National Committee, which is now threatening Florida with sanctions over the state’s too-early Jan. 29 primary date, has filed a response to a lawsuit by two Tampa Democrats over the sanctions.

“It is well-established that political parties have a constitutionally protected right to determine the method of selection of delegates to their national nominating conventions; that the states do not have the power to require the parties to recognize the results of state-run primaries in the selection of delegates”; and that individual voters don’t have the right to dictate the method of delegate selection, the response says.

The national party says the state’s Jan. 29 primary is too early and violates party rules, so it won’t seat has a Florida delegation to its national convention if the delegates are chosen on the basis of the primary.

Vic DiMaio, a Tampa-based political consultant, filed the suit along with Tampa lawyer Mike Steinberg, saying the sanctions effectively deny them their right to vote in the primary.

They asked a federal court in Tampa to decide whether the national party has the right to impose the sanctions. They say either the sanctions should be lifted, of that the state party should produce a delegate selection plan that complies with party rules—which the state party has refused to do.